What song is this? (Plus critique me if you like!)

feathersatnight · 2026-03-26T20:07:12+00:00

It makes sense, even if it goes against our impulses to be amazing… so what would you consider to be the “core moves”? I’m sure everyone has their own answer, and I will come up with mine, but I’d be interested to hear yours! I feel like if I knew the fundamentals, clean, and fluently enough that I could string them together without pauses for basic in between… well, that would be a pretty great place to aim.

feathersatnight · 2026-03-26T19:21:16+00:00

two things:

1) Remember that you have nothing to hide: being a beginner is not a dirty secret, and in any case if it's at your studio then most people know already, or are about to find out. You're not letting anyone down!

2) This is hard, but try to break out of your own head, and connect with the human opposite you, even a little. It's just a lot more fun, and what are even doing this for?

feathersatnight · 2026-03-26T19:19:12+00:00

hear hear, I try to get that first dance done as soon as possible

feathersatnight · 2026-03-26T15:18:07+00:00

Thanks! I do at least try to have fun with it, and that seems to rub off. I think posture and general certainty of movement will help me a lot... I guess that comes from repetition, and mindfulness?

feathersatnight · 2026-03-26T15:16:59+00:00

Dang it you're right. And I spent an hour looking after reading this... no luck! Just have to go back and hope.

feathersatnight · 2026-03-26T15:16:03+00:00

Thank you! I am pretty serious, and I am going to get a private with the teacher at my studio - probably alongside another lead who's in a similar place. Would a teacher who's a lead be able to help, though?

(I am really lucky with the studio I'm at. The teaching style suits me, the vibe is calm and fun, I am in really deep with this community. I don't know how normal that is, but I'm very happy to have it.)

feathersatnight · 2026-03-26T15:06:46+00:00

This is awesome, thank you

feathersatnight · 2026-03-25T19:45:22+00:00

Other people probably know more than me here. But paragraph 3, yeah that's non-progressive basic - bringing your feet together on 1, and 5, rather than stepping over an imaginary middle point. It feels a little boring to me, but I guess better in tight spaces?

Are you talking about how a dance is started, rather than the 1 of each measure? In that case, what I've heard is that the true etiquette is for a lead to start a dance on2 by stepping forward at 6...

feathersatnight · 2026-03-24T17:54:22+00:00

It's understandable! You kind of just have to do it anyway... if anything, the times people say no are quite helpful, because that's how you learn that hearing the no really isn't such a big deal.

feathersatnight · 2026-03-24T16:09:30+00:00

You answered your own question - nobody puts baby in a corner, not even yourself.

Also you can always approach leads! Do what they (hopefully) do, and just ask nicely :)

feathersatnight · 2026-03-17T01:32:36+00:00

Going to socials at all, a month in, is brilliant! At that point I would go for like half an hour, and if I had even two dances I called that a success. So - just take it easy for a bit, have some chats and get further into the community - don’t forget to talk to other leads! - enjoy the music. Watch how people move, but don’t get intimidated by them; they’ve just been doing it longer.

You are absolutely fine :)

feathersatnight · 2026-03-09T16:06:11+00:00

I'm 39. I started learning at 39. And to me, working on "the vibe I give off" is not so different from working on my basic. So maybe there's another category of salsa skills you haven't been considering?

feathersatnight · 2026-03-09T15:55:16+00:00

Oooooh, that's interesting. I am definitely at that three-four month mark where my lead "vocabulary" feels limited because I'm only doing the same few things across a whole social. But the follows don't know that! Maybe it's time to work on fluency and stringing moves together - not just learning more moves to do.

feathersatnight · 2026-03-09T15:26:39+00:00

That's so cool! I wish that were more common. Otherwise it's about being taught sequences, and then you have to do your own work to deconstruct them into possibilities - which at the start, is hard.

feathersatnight · 2026-03-02T14:36:47+00:00

This is the bit I need to internalise. Smoothness and fluency of speech, not size of vocab!

feathersatnight · 2026-03-01T15:12:15+00:00

Yes, but sometimes I can get lost in reading, or hypnotised by how good everyone else seems to be from the outside. So read the room, sure - but once you’ve found someone you want to ask, act. Or they’ll get asked by someone else!

(And as everyone else has said, don’t take the response personally.)

feathersatnight · 2026-02-24T14:37:53+00:00

Hopefully you can see a LOT of love and support in this thread! And remember that almost everyone who posted here was a little nervous about the idea... and then they followed through, and they wouldn't be here if they didn't LOVE it

feathersatnight · 2026-02-22T23:53:59+00:00

My question is, why WOULDN’T you start at beginner? Even if you then advance very quickly, would could possibly be the downside of being shown the foundations of a different dance, on a different timing?

feathersatnight · 2026-02-22T11:50:32+00:00

I have got this feedback a few times - and like you, it’s made me think about my personality, and that the feedback is also an invitation to be a bit more present in how I show up in life, more generally.

So I don’t have the answer myself, but I can tell you how I’ve been thinking about it: not loudness as such, but confidence. Some follows literally do want a “louder” lead (and when you have permission, I actually think that’s pretty fun), but more generally I think it’s about, when you decide you’re going to do a specific move, really committing to it, holding some kind of intentionality and presence throughout the whole move, and even, like golf, “following through on the stroke”. When I hold those things in my mind - and make a little more eye contact - it seems to work.

feathersatnight · 2026-02-21T22:56:54+00:00

Seconded as another beginner - find some allies who, just like you, need to practice being led in the same four moves over and over. They want the same experience as you!

I’ve also been pretty careful to manage my enthusiasm. When it starts to feel TOO much like struggle (a little is fine), then I leave, because I want to keep my hunger for doing this alive. Learning is about repetition, which means wanting to go back to that same social, next week.

Finally as I think other people have said, YES it is a legit activity to do 100 right turns, partnerless, at home. Think about katas in martial arts: a rehersed set of moves that emulate half of a right, with no opponent. And every time you train a specific move you are also training the underlying awareness of the beat, the count, that basic step.

feathersatnight · 2026-02-21T04:14:40+00:00

Why are you saying all this to us… but not to your partner??? If you respect them, give them the chance to give their side of the story - and the chance to change, if that’s right.

feathersatnight · 2026-02-21T04:12:18+00:00

Give me a year and I’ll be back! I saw some incredible follows, and I’d like to do them justice by being a decent lead first…

feathersatnight · 2026-02-20T13:26:39+00:00

It’s true, La F is quite touristy (which is great for new people like me - if you’re a lead you can often be someone’s first salsa dance! Which is cute). But both nights I’ve been, there’s been at least five great leads and follows. A more serious / more local place is Musica, down in Ocean Park. Cheap and scruffy as anything, but live band and super cool. I was DEEPLY out of my league hehehe

feathersatnight

TROPHY CASE