Decoding the "Beginner" Classes

I went to many "Beginner" classes, and it didn't take long to realize my definition of "Beginner" didn't match the instructors. Now, I've learned that in the dance business, the real term is “Beginner, Beginner” if you want a class that assumes you haven’t danced before.

A "Beginning" class often assumes you've done some dancing, and they move at a reasonably fast pace. I was always a slower learner than many others, partially because I had only (publicly) danced 3 or 4 times in my life before age 40. Many instructors label their class “fast beginner” or “beginner/intermediate” so they can get away with teaching whatever they want, based on who shows up.

The problem for the instructor is simple: If they really teach what a beginner should learn for long-term success, most people get bored and won't return. As soon as someone learns "basic," most guys want to learn complex turn patterns and the ladies want some sexy styling. So instructors move it along, knowing most people aren't doing basic "well," but they're doing it "good enough" to move on to more steps.

Since most people are dancing for fun and social reasons, that's fine; but if you're serious about improving, you probably need to look toward private lessons to supplement your group classes. (More on selecting instructors in a future article.)

At the ballet you see girls dancing on their tiptoes. Why don't they just get taller girls?
-Greg Ray

If You Like Them - Tell Them!

When you see a couple looking great on the floor, what do you do when they finish?

Before you turn, walk away, and ask someone else to dance, try going over to them and saying something like the following:

• "Wow, you two look great together!"
• "You two really inspire me!"
• "It's great to see someone having fun and you two looked great."
• "It's nice to see a couple dancing to the music and looking so sexy."
• "I loved how you danced to the music."
• (Something else in the same spirit, finding something specific about their dancing.)

Here is the process:
You're taking a break and this couple is just tearing it up on the floor. As soon as the song ends, try to get them while they are still a couple and let them know you enjoyed watching their dance. They appreciate it, they feel good because someone actually noticed, and it costs you nothing. I especially do this with the people who are NOT pros, as these dancers don't get as much feedback.

Why tell them anything?
First, I don't say anything unless I mean it. (In LA it's easy to find great dancers in the clubs.)
Second, it has some strange and interesting side effects that I never intended:

• That couple will forever remember me. Few people say anything to a couple unless they are pros (and they already think they are great).
• While I never ask the woman to dance immediately, later that night if I ask the woman I don't ever remember being turned down. (This is one of the unintended side effects.)
• I've had cases where the guy immediately asked me to dance with his partner and basically handed her off to me. (I didn't intend that either.)
• When I see them later, either individually or as a couple, they always say hi to me, and I've had great side conversations with these people later when our paths cross.

Next time you're in a club, find a couple that others aren't noticing and tell them what you liked! They will greatly appreciate it, and you'll build another set of friends. The more people who know you in your favorite club, the better time you'll have while you grow as a dancer.

Let me know what you do when you see a great couple!

Inspiration exists, but it has to find us working.
-Pablo Picasso

The Power of Greetings

Want to increase the number of good dances you have? It's easier than you think if you become well-known in your favorite club(s). If you're just starting, set yourself up for success much sooner. You can do this the first week you start club dancing before you master the basic footwork. Of course, I'm assuming you also do some work toward improving your dancing over time. If you constantly improve your dancing and expand your face recognition, some nights you'll feel like you own the place.

First things first: Dancing is a social event for most people. The guy with a recognizable face has a huge advantage when asking someone to dance. When you walk into a club, who do you greet? Your friends? People you've danced with? Someone from a previous class or from work? I take a different approach.

My Dad got me started with this concept: Everybody is important and should be treated with respect. He put this into practice by saying hello to the checker at the grocery store, the drug store, the waiter, postman, guy driving the garbage truck and saying hi to the person pumping gas (in the last century, someone actually pumped gas for you!). He didn't always know their name, but he would say hi to everybody, especially people others tended to ignore.

When I walk into a club, I say hi to the person taking the cover, the bus boys, servers, musicians and every dancer I recognize or think I recognize, both men and women. I generally learn the names of the security people and people taking money. And I say "hi", "hello" and/or "good to see you again" to every dancer I've ever seen in the past (and some I haven't, just to see their reaction...)

Funny thing is, until I say hi they may not immediately recognize me. They may not remember meeting me in the past but since I'm saying hello, I get bookmarked in their mind and later they start saying hi to me. Soon we are having conversations and/or they are introducing me to their favorite dancers and their friends.

If I've seen them once, I take the initiative and say "Hi, good to see you again!" or something similar. Sometimes it's too loud so I do the old "head nod" (like saying "yes") with a little hand wave with the "good to see you look" on my face. (I avoid hugging the guys; they get the handshake, while the ladies all get hugs like we are old friends...)

A strange thing happens over time. I walked into Mama Juana's the other night and I must have had 20 people greet me within the first 5 minutes of being in the club. I shook hands with 8 or 10 guys and got hugs from at least 10 women. I felt like a celebrity. I suspect some people who didn't know me thought I was important, since so many people greeted me as I walked around.

If you want to have some fun, say hi to people who you don't know, and watch their reaction. I get hugs from some women and I'm thinking, "Who is this person?" (Sure, it could be worse...) I've done it myself: Since I teach quite a bit, others may have attended one of my classes but I don't remember them. If they act like they know me, I play along and then figure out who they are... and I certainly remember them next time and greet them warmly.

When I ask someone to dance, I get turned down less than many other guys in my regular clubs (I do get turned down; I'll discuss that in the future.) I also get more women asking me to dance than most guys. I'm a good lead, and since I'm friendlier than most, I suspect I'm more approachable...

The more people you greet, the larger your pool of potential dance partners AND it's more fun for everyone. People like interacting with people they know and turning down someone you greeted earlier isn't the norm.

Just say "Hi"! Try it yourself and let me know what happens for you!

Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.
-Groucho Marx

Great dancers are NOT always the best teachers

If I had six hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend the first four hours sharpening the axe.
- Abraham Lincoln

Dancing well does NOT make me a great instructor! In some cases, great dancers ARE great instructors. But sadly, that is not the norm. Teaching is a combination of art and science, and many dance instructors look great themselves, but they are not necessarily the best instructors.

If someone dances very well, sooner or later someone will ask them to show what they do, so most better dancers fall into the teaching business at some point. They didn't plan on teaching, and they didn't really study teaching. Teaching has occurred for thousands of years and there are established methods and theories for what works for the majority of people.

I often use this example: I can walk, and when I was in high school, I was on the track team for a while since I was a pretty fast runner. I suspect you also walk pretty well, and maybe you've run a few times in your life. If I had a stroke, and you were assigned to teach me how to walk again, what would you teach me? Assume I can't remember anything. (For fun, ask someone to "teach me to walk" starting from sitting in a chair and follow their instructions to the letter... It's an eye opening experience.)

Unless you are a physical therapist, the vast majority of people who walk very well could not quickly teach you or me how to walk again. It's actually tough to teach an adult since we don't have the same attitude about falling down hundreds of times like little children (being taller and heavier, it hurts more...)

Most people select an instructor based on the instructor's dancing ability. In a short time they are frustrated when they can't dance like the instructor does. I'll provide tips for assessing instructors and selecting those who will get you the farthest in the least amount of time. More to come on this subject...

My Favorite LA clubs

Since I go out to many clubs, I'm often asked where I go to dance. My first question is "which night?". I'm experimenting with the new My Maps feature of Google maps and I have my first couple of clubs available. I'll add more as time permits.

This is a work in progress and I plan on providing larger reviews in my blog. Let me know what you think.

Click here to see the map.

Others will underestimate us, for although we judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, others judge us only by what we have already done.
-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Late Bloomer - Short Introduction

Salsa dancing isn't something most people think of when they see me. I'm older than most, not Latino, haven't mastered "Cuban motion" (yet), have short gray hair, grew up in Detroit, Michigan, and in almost every way, I'm not most people's image of the "typical" salsero. Before people know my name they often think of me as "the gray-haired guy" since that is different from most of the "classic" salseros in LA.

I suspect a few other people will benefit from my experience of moving from a TOTAL dance beginner, to someone who teaches and/or dances 3 or 4 nights per week. In some ways I'm quite advanced, thanks to some great instructors, private lessons and concepts I learned as a musician. In other areas I'm a complete work in progress and almost embarrassed by my lack of current skills. I'll add some pictures soon so you can see for yourself.

I'm wasn't voted "most likely to win a dance competition" in high school/college or any other school. As a teenager I started playing drums (later considered "music" but in the early years it's primarily noise). I've watched others dance at my thousands of gigs as I played music, and taught drums for a living in my early 20's. (BTW - Most musicians don't dance... and I have some strong theories about "why" that I'll outline in future postings...)

After 43 years of NOT dancing and watching others, I needed to lose some weight and started with "cardio salsa" at my local World Gym (darned clothes were getting smaller in the dryer). I didn't know "basic", cross-body leads, that people would argue endlessly about "on-one" or "on-two", that male salsa dancers are called "salseros" (I couldn't even spell that word!), or that salsa was really a partner dance. For me it was a good cardio workout and a challenge to learn the footwork. I loved the music and it worked with my latin-jazz/big band/studio musician background. The music was my first hook, and over time I started losing my gut and gaining confidence in my dancing.

Fast forward a few years and now nearing age 47, I teach Salsa dancing and dance 3-4 nights per week in the LA area. I teach with "Edie the Salsa Freak" at her LA boot camps, have taught at Mama Juana's (a famous LA Salsa club), in Palm Springs for the semi-annual Salsa-Mambo Festivals . I work with and/or sub for some of LA's best salsa instructors and like most, I teach private lessons. I specialize in both salsa dancing and musicality, AKA "dancing to the music". My music background provides context and insights that many dancers don't think about and I'll provide details in future blogs.

Again, I'll fill in more back story in later blogs, and I'll chronicle some of the more interesting moments I've had in clubs and teaching. I'm a total work in progress, and every month I continue to improve since now I'm taking jazz classes, private lessons, watching salsa videos, and constantly continuing my dance education. Along the way I've learned a thing or two and I'll share to make it easier for others to join the fun.

I may be unlikely, but I've had the privilege to dance with some of the best female dancers in the clubs and I'll give you the tools to do the same. At the end of the day, you'll figure out if someone like me can learn to dance, so can you.

Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson