Pro’s and Con’s of Salsa Dance Instructional Media

In 2010, Salsa and Mambo Dance floors are getting flooded with dancers and instructors getting their latest Dance Moves from the Internet or from hundreds of Dance Instructional DVD’s. New technology makes it possible to learn great dancing in the comfort of your home.

But is the media offering only good and well thought Dance Instruction? This is a short review of the benefits and disadvantages.

The Benefits

There are many benefits from learning to dance from the current media. To start, it is worth mentioning the influence Salsa Dance Media has (had) on the spreading of Salsa and Mambo Dancing worldwide. Many teachers and students have been able to hone their skills, get new insights, learn more dance styles in a short period, and keep up with the ongoing and never-ending evolution of the different Latin Dance Styles. Dance Instruction in the media brought Salsa and Mambo from just teaching the steps you know to your students to working with well thought Salsa Dance Syllabuses. Learning to dance from seeing what the instructor does makes it possible for everyone to learn at his or her own pace. These virtual dance instructions are also a good solution for those working in irregular shifts, or for people having other logistical problems, which hinder them into taking group classes. The Internet and Dance DVD students do not have to take the speed of the class into account, and it is much cheaper than taking Private Dance Classes or paying to attend at Salsa Dance Workshops during (international) Salsa Dance Congresses.

The Disadvantages

The first and real danger of following Dance Classes from the Media is the lack of feedback. The dancers executing these moves in a painful and dangerous way cannot be stopped. The second one, which is directly related to the first, is the failure of many Dance Instructors to clearly address Salsa Dance Etiquette and Security Measures, which should be taken before and/or during the execution of these flashy and exciting Dance Techniques  and Dance Combinations, which cannot be easily lead or followed on the social dance floor – the so called ‘Non Lead-able Dance Moves’ - are taught as if these moves can be lead or followed by any other Salsa or Mambo Dancer. 

Another problem is the overestimation of the capacities of budding Salseros and Salseras. A great deal will skip Beginners or Basic Dance Instruction and start immediately to memorize intricate and long Advanced Turn Patterns, Tricks, and Dance Moves. Basic Partnering Dance Techniques are considered ‘boring’ and ‘irrelevant’. The greatest danger lies in these ‘Dance Media Autodidacts’ becoming Dance Instructors themselves and teaching bad habits they learned from the media to their students.

Another hiatus in the whole Dance Media Industry is that every instructor presents his or her own work as the ‘best there is available’. In reality, there is a load of ‘crap’ being instructed under the guise of ‘Top-of-the-bill’ Dance Instruction. Many students are not able to distinguish the good from the bad. Even some Master Level Instructors put instruction on their DVD’s and on YouTube which they regret in a later stage of their own Dance and Instructional evolution.

Conclusion

The use of Salsa Dance Media is a good addition to regular Salsa and Mambo Dance Classes, Workshops, and Bootcamps. It is very wise to go through the material with, or ask the opinion of a Professional Dance Instructor first before starting to copy what the media sells as ‘the latest and proper way to dance’.

Last, but definitely not least:  it is worth mentioning that Salsa and Mambo are Social Dance Form. It is therefore imperative to learn Salsa or Mambo in a Social Setting such as Group Classes and on the Social dance floor to become a ‘real’ Salsero or Salsera.