Top 5 of Worst Salsa Instructional Videos for Beginners Part 1

I can agree with you on two elements: the music is way too fast for beginners and the rhythm of footwork becomes 12 stop 56 stop (instead of quick quick slow quick quick slow). I can understand Will when he is praising Addicted2salsa's work, it of course doesn't mean that there can't be flaws or weaknesses in his teaching or in his video's. I do believe myself that teachers should teach the quick quick slow rhythm from the start, teach the proper position of the feet from the start and teach the use of the ball of the feet from the start ... I'm also convinced that many teachers don't do that: the level of salsa dance instruction is a problem worldwide i guess as there are no organized instructors' scholing programs ...
Carl

First of all I will admit that I'm also a great admirer of the work Addicted2Salsa has done and is still doing. But, I think that no one - and I do mean that from the bottom of my heart - is free of constructive criticism. I criticize myself constantly (I'm doing it right now), and I am sure that Anthony and the rest of the Addicted2Salsa crew does the same all the time. You cannot grow without critique. Great artists such as Michael Jackson and Elvis Presley died because of their inner circles not being able to criticize them or give a 'no' for an answer.

I looked at the videos from my own experience of dancing Salsa since 1983 and teaching it since 1997.

@ Will:

a) using the correct steps. The basic step is not explained 'correctly' IMHO.
b) transferring their weight and not just prodding feet forward and back. IMHO he does not take the time to explain the basic step correctly.
c) able to connect steps with the music. Anthony seems unable to connect the steps to the music, because the song he chose is even too fast for him to count on.

I think this way we learn our students to run, then walk, and finally teach them how to crawl. This is - again in my opinion - the reversed way to teach Beginners. It's the commercial way of teaching Salsa classes, but I think you can grab the opportunity to do it "the right way" when instructing online.

@ Carl:

The level of teaching Salsa will remain the same until the World Dance Council works together with top and world-renowned Salsa Dance instructors to develop a 'Standard' Salsa Dance Codex. This is the only way to give Salsa dancing its much needed lift, and to officially separate the 'ligit' from the 'phony'. It will be a hard task, as most of us do not desire to change the 'freestyle' nature of Salsa!

I will repeat it: I think Anthony is one of the best teachers out there instructing Salsa on the Internet.

Opinions?

I think it a little harsh on Anthony to use one of his earliest videos (embedding this video from the youtube channel).

He's subsequently redone and updated things so there's a new "Basic step" video. If you go to
http://addicted2salsa.com/videos/beginner - there's the May 2010 Salsa Dancing Basic Step video.

Let's use this to compare the criticisms of the original.

Breaking on the whole feet - I remember if I recall rightly Anthony talking about this previously as a beginning way to introduce people to salsa. Just as in teaching Chemistry, or Physics - you might start off with the simpler explanation and way of doing things, before bringing in refinement. 123 567 and quick quick slow is enough to blow the head off many a beginner - there's just too much coming at them - and they're likely to be coming from a position of little if any dance experience.

I'd say the reason that people might teach the oversimplistic version of the basic, but actually be shown to do a more refined version - is to show the better way, and how it looks better, without getting into the detail of it all. It's visually more appealing - and at some level it'll be noticed. Should the 1st video lasting 100 seconds, that a users looks at their first port of call, be talking about contra-body motion? Cuban styling? detailed full body movement through the basic? Styling?

http://addicted2salsa.com/videos/lesson/the-salsa-dancing-basic-step (Dance lesson 64)
00:46 - Anthony calls them pauses, not stops in talking about counting.

I think it's useful to quote the accompanying text with the updated video:

"We have done this salsa dance lesson video before, but we though it was time for a modern update. We had a very old salsa dancing video lesson explaining this, and thought it was time to modernize the salsa dance video quality. We kept the dance lesson short since there are several salsa videos out there with the same content."

I would say that Anthony knows the compromises made in this video - but that he's catering the 1 and a half minute introduction to salsa, to be simple. To get the person hooked and involved, not bogged down, and reconsidering why they'd thought they could/should try salsa. Same with the Right Turn -

http://addicted2salsa.com/videos/lesson/basic-right-turn-in-salsa-dance (Updated in May 2010, dance lesson 67).

In these new videos - you can see what they're doing with their whole body. I think it's harsh to not point out that Anthony's the person who is doing HD quality *free* content - versus crappy resolution (and that includes DVD at this point - it's shocking in comparison to 720p or 1080p).

Is the music choice too fast? Well let's correct another omission - the fact that there is free music on Anthony's podcasts, that he's also put out a free iPhone, iPod Touch app out that specifically has instrument training to practise with. If you watch several of the videos, it seems that they usually do minimal takes - they don't do multiple takes and splice together - they're either doing from the top of their head or minimal notes off camera - rather than a script.
Anthony knows that there could be an improvement on organising videos to better show progression and to link to more videos with higher level tuition on the basics. Rome wasn't built in a day.

As for safety precautions - The harder podcast videos do give this, in a humorous way. I think if you're going to be asking for H&S for a basic, then you shouldn't let those people out of their padded seats. If you're insecure enough to have an exacerbated heart condition, or fall over from doing a basic, then you should full well know that you need to take care. A basic isn't going to be causing shin splints, stitches, or torn muscles. It's a warm up exercise!

Yes, talking about being smooth with weight and not taking too big a step are vital issues - I think that they are covered in other videos. For completeness, it would be good to see them - but these are mini lessons - they're not alternatives to getting good tuition for the basics after watching this 1 video. I'd fully agree an overenthusiastic beginner can cause havoc, and that step sizes are as oversized as many people's initial judgement to their hip size in yoga, pilots etc - it takes a while for people to sink that message in.

I think that if you teach the basic as best as possible - and give a link to more detail, more refinement, more information, that's a good compromise.

I think it's information density, and also capability to link to the other related information - eg What about the basic follower steps, what's Julie's take? What about seeing the step on the floor in real life examples? Or refinements? Or styling? This will come (maybe? It's a hell of a request to Anthony for something he's doing for free!)

I think it's fair to say, that if you want to have a real beef with a video - pick up that video recorder folks, and reply in this thread, as to how you can do better.
there's no need to be waiting for some international body to formalise coda's as to how to do this - just incrementally up the game in the video teaching world for salsa.

Anthony's making progress here - there's no need "to turn the Salsa instructional tide around in the opposite direction. " - Anthony's going in the right direction - it's just that there's more ground to cover.

I don't know - just thought i'd defend Anthony on this one - To be bashing him out of the blue with "'Worst Salsa Dance Instructional Video for Beginners' 4th position" seems pretty snarky to me.

So Sederick - show us what you've got - in 2 minutes, demonstrate the Basic step for absolute beginner followers.

Or maybe make it an onlinesalsa challenge - and not just link to youtube moves?

I'm not sure about the World Dance Council info - do you have a link to a summary of this work - seeing what's happened in the UK in terms of dance teaching, I don't hold much hope.

Opinions? I think you should put "I think Anthony is one of the best teachers out there instructing Salsa on the Internet." as the first line of this post, not that last line of your comment in the comment section.

Well here in the UK we have the UKA that runs courses and offers qualifications to salsa teachers. Now to be fair I've encountered many different UKA qualified teachers and they had distinctly varying abilities as both teachers and dancers.

I think the problem is that Salsa just isn't a formal dance. It's a name given to a particular flavour of latin music that came out of Cuba, NY and Puerto Rico. That rhythym has been interpreted in dance form in quite a few different ways. Cuban salsa vs NY vs LA vs Colombian etc etc. There is no 'standard' salsa, and thank goodness. As I am always telling my students from their first lessons, Salsa doesn't even require a partner, just dance and enjoy!

Back to the video, well I would argue that if you can physically lift and plant your feet into position, your weight changes are at least on the right path. The point being you aren't just sticking your feet out front and back. Heck a number of my Colombian friends, from whom I learned even if I have developed in other ways since, are distinctly 'steppy' with their footwork, and it looks very very cool.

I will concede however that a slower track would have been greatly beneficial!

Heck the basic I was taught was not the mambo at all, but that's another story and entirely down to learning from Colombians who thought a cross body lead was some sort of funky device to take your dog for a walk! :P

Will

Worst Salsa tutorial ever. You can’t see a thing and the explanation is bad.

It is a bad tutorial, but they say it's Two Step and they don't use the term "Salsa". This means that we cannot put it in our list..

Hi Will,

Thank you for your response. It is much appreciated :)

Will: Well here in the UK we have the UKA that runs courses and offers qualifications to salsa teachers. Now to be fair I've encountered many different UKA qualified teachers and they had distinctly varying abilities as both teachers and dancers.

Sederick: The “problem” is that the actual Salsa Instructor's qualification syllabus of the UKA is very thin: you just have to pay a sum of money and you get your certificate with little effort. You can compare this situation with the Zumba qualification. IMO, one of the best Salsa Instructor's Diploma's out there is the one awarded by DanceFreak.com, Edie the Salsa Freak's own Salsa Dance Instructor's training and certification. Her organization has no direct ties with the World Dance Council, but the UKA is directly linked to the WDC.

Will: I think the problem is that Salsa just isn't a formal dance. It's a name given to a particular flavour of latin music that came out of Cuba, NY and Puerto Rico. That rhythym has been interpreted in dance form in quite a few different ways. Cuban salsa vs NY vs LA vs Colombian etc etc. There is no 'standard' salsa, and thank goodness. As I am always telling my students from their first lessons, Salsa doesn't even require a partner, just dance and enjoy!

Sederick: I do agree with you that Salsa is a “Freestyle Dance”. However, there are many arguments for standardizing Salsa such as: fair judging of Salsa dance competitions, stopping the uncontrolled explosion of Salsa “wannabe” instructors and because Salsa dancing evolved into a global industry. As a Dutchman, I'm thinking of a compromise between creating a framework with semi standardized versions of basic Salsa dance techniques such as the Cross Body Lead in which all individuals can maintain their own interpretations and add their own personal flavors (= Styling).

Will: Back to the video, well I would argue that if you can physically lift and plant your feet into position, your weight changes are at least on the right path. The point being you aren't just sticking your feet out front and back. Heck a number of my Colombian friends, from whom I learned even if I have developed in other ways since, are distinctly 'steppy' with their footwork, and it looks very very cool.

Sederick: I would suggest that the “Salsa standard” focuses only on minimal requirements for a certain dance technique to work and to always keep in mind that it has to be executed on a fully packed dance floor. I find most Salsa instructors are not paying much attention to the latter.

Will: I will concede however that a slower track would have been greatly beneficial!

Sederick: One main difference between Salsa dancing and other partnering dance forms is that the music dictates how Salsa dancers dance. This difference has to be highlighted whilst instructing Salsa. Eddie Torres' "Salsa Nightclub Style" – one of the first Salsa Dance instructional video's – reaffirms this notion by starting with the explanation of the basic rhythm in Salsa music before explaining the basic dance techniques.

Will: Heck the basic I was taught was not the mambo at all, but that's another story and entirely down to learning from Colombians who thought a cross body lead was some sort of funky device to take your dog for a walk! :P

Sederick: The self-centred way of looking at Salsa compelled Puerto Ricans living in the States to designate the Mambo Basic as THE “Basic Step” for Salsa. In the Netherlands, most Salsa instructors teach 3 basic steps: the Rumba Basic (or Side Breaks)from Cuba, the Mambo Basic (or Basic Step if they're teaching American Style Salsa)from New York and the Cumbia Basic (also called the “Cucaracha”) from Colombia. Some instructors like me also teach the most important basic, which is the Son basic “A Tiempo” (= "quick quick slow" on the spot and moving around on1)from Cuba and Spain.