Finding Instructional Clips Online

Over the last couple of years there has been an explosion of video clips available on the web. I wouldn't be surprised to find my dog and cats are partnering for a new salsa series, and I'll just stumble on them one day. The problem isn't finding salsa (or dance) clips, it's finding out which ones are worth your time and can teach you something interesting.

Recently, I've been exploring a new site called "WonderHowTo.com". As of this writing, they have over 600 "Dance" clips including 70 in the "Latin Dance" subsection. I've found a few clips I doubt I would have found otherwise, and this site is an interesting concept.

At first I was trying to figure out why I shouldn't simply go to YouTube and search for "salsa," but now I get it. All the videos on this site are instructional in nature, and the site rejects performance, promotional or entertaining clips that don't teach something. Everything is focused on the free "How To" concept. That's an interesting nitch, and I suspect this site will grow more popular over time.






All "submitted" clips are hosted elsewhere and this site catalogs them for you. Often you are watching embedded YouTube or Yahoo clips, but they catalog video from many, many sites, so just as often you're sent to sites you'd probably otherwise miss. This casts a much wider net than simply doing a YouTube search when you're in the mood to learn. Users are encouraged to submit URLs to more instructional clips, so it promises to be an ever expanding universe of learning material.

Of course, like all video viewing, this site can also be a huge time sink, but with the focus on learning, at least you're not wasting your time watching dancing birds and young girls fighting.

Check out the "Categories" link to find "Dance" and then start watching. The grading system seems a little questionable to me at this point, but that has great promise as more and more people view clips and grade them.

I like the concept and suspect the site will do very well over time. I haven't explored all the dance clips, but I did find some interesting ones I hadn't seen in the past.

Please let me know what you're doing to find instructional clips and let me know what you think of WonderHowTo.com. If you see my pets dancing, let me know.

We don't know half of one millionth of 1 percent about anything.
--Thomas Edison

Careful: You Become What You Watch

Someone once said, “You’ll become what you think about most.” It doesn't always work; if it were totally true, most guys would have been a beautiful girl by the end of high school. And a few older guys would be a hot salsera by now!

Still, you'll eventually dance like people you watch the most. View great dancers consistently, and some of their moves and styling will become yours. You should find a set of great videos and watch them over and over, so your mind has quality input to draw from as your dancing matures.

Think about our speaking voices. It doesn’t happen in month, but wherever you live you’ll pick up their regional language tendencies over time. Southerners say "New Orleans" distinctly different from someone from New York, California, or London. It's all "English", and it's all good, but once you move into an area, your accent will gradually change to fit within your environment. You may never lose the accent from your childhood, but gradually you'll move toward the norm in your current area.

The same effect applies to dancing, and you want to take control of those influences. Watch great dancers regularly, and especially watch those you like over and over. It's a very gradual process; some influences will show up in weeks, and some will come out years from now. If your favorites are famous, established dancers, buy their instructional DVDs. Watch them over and over and over, 20-50 times EACH! There is nothing like the details they tell you while breaking down the moves; it's way beyond just watching people do patterns while club dancing.

I have my money where my mouth is on this one... I have over 30 DVDs from world class instructors including Edie the Salsa Freak, Super Mario, Luis Vasquez and others.

Unfortunately, most of the social videos onYouTube are weak or just plain bad examples. If you watch them repeatedly, you'll find yourself imitating those people someday. I've seen lots of people pick up a pattern from someone else or a YouTube video, but the way they do it makes it obvious they don't know what they are doing. You can find good examples there, but the quality varies greatly and until you are a very seasoned dancer, be sure your watching includes instructional DVDs.

As a mature drummer, I sometimes hear myself play a variation on something I heard over and over when I was a young drummer. I have music that I listened to hundreds of times, and I'm amazed when 20 years later something just comes flying out without my thinking about it. I didn't plan on playing something from the past, but the moment was right, and my brain output something based on input from many, many years ago, without me directly practicing that pattern. That works because in parallel I studied with some of the world's best studio musicians in LA.

As you become a more seasoned dancer, you’ll be able to tell who influences other dancers in the clubs. For example, it’s easy for me to pick out the dancers who really like one of popular LA instructors, because they do their signature moves, patterns and styling. I once had a excellent follower from Japan do a shine and I immediately knew she was influenced by Edie the Salsa Freak (and excellent choice to emulate).

If you watch a quirky style constantly, you'll pick that up too. So be sure you're watching great dancers and over time you'll find yourself dancing variations on their style, just like picking up regional accents in your speaking voice.

Let me know who you like to watch.
Who inspires you?
Have you built you DVD library from the world's best instructors?
What DVDs or YouTube videos are you watching?

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

Video Yourself Often - But Be Kind

If you want to tear up the floor sooner rather than later, video cameras are your best friend. They're also a brutally honest critic. My direct experience is that the video camera is among the best tools for refining my moves. It shows me my good, bad, and "maybe I should just kill myself now" moments.

While refining your dancing, the camera greatly accelerates your learning by providing that needed outside reference point. Too much mirror-watching while dancing can be fatal, but during the playback you see it all happen. You notice that strange finger motion, your inappropriate shoulder shrug, or that pointed foot that looks out of place. Your progress is also obvious when you compare tapes over time.

You should consider taping regularly, both your practice and club dancing. Performers always use video to refine their movements.

Sometimes I hate it, because in my mind's eye I’m just amazing, while on tape it’s obvious I'm a major work in progress. I also get these glimmers of “Hey, that doesn’t look too bad! And it's certainly a vast improvement over last month.”

Be careful not to be discouraged. Most people are self-critical at a level that is borderline-insane, and the only other videos they watch are of pros. That's a very difficult standard, since the pros have years of experience. It’s just an unfair comparison.

The camera takes your best and worst and puts it right in your face. Most dancers should video their dancing at some regular interval, view the playback once or twice, and then delete the tape if they find it bothersome. The point is to use the tape as a tool to see your progress, not to constantly beat yourself up. Be sure to pat yourself on the back as you see improvements. It’s easy to focus on the weaknesses, but you need to see both sides or the tool becomes too painful and you fall into the dreaded, "I guess I should just go play ping-pong instead."

Everybody should also use mirrors, but that's another blog.

I tape ALL my privates so I can review and remember the finer points of the lesson (and recommend my students do the same). I won’t take lessons from someone who says, “No taping.” I will sign a document that those tapes are for my private use ONLY, so I can remember, review and learn. No instructor wants to see their lessons given to others free or posted on public sites.

I did a contest a couple years ago, and it's still painful for me to watch the video. We came in 3rd place, but when I see the playback, I realize how immature I looked compared to the vision in my head. We had plenty of positive feedback from the audience, but I hated the tape since it was so brutally honest. On the other hand, that view gave me a very clear focus on areas that were ripe for improvement. Over time, my taped reality gets closer and closer to my internal vision.

Video is one of the secrets of the pros. They see themselves on tape regularly and they can fix/refine or remove stuff that they don’t notice while dancing. They take their best and do more, and refine out the weaker movements.

Bottom line: It’s a great tool, and you should use it to your advantage. Soon enough you’ll be tearing it up and you’ll have the tape to prove it.

Tape yourself a few times and let me know how it works for you.

You know that look women get when they want sex? Me neither."
-Drew Carey