{"id":39604,"date":"2018-12-09T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-12-09T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/news\/salsa-101-how-to-dance-with-two-left-feet\/"},"modified":"2018-12-09T08:00:36","modified_gmt":"2018-12-09T17:00:36","slug":"salsa-101-how-to-dance-with-two-left-feet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/home\/salsa-101-how-to-dance-with-two-left-feet\/","title":{"rendered":"Salsa 101: How to dance with two left feet"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/rCOFIzBE9W4\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Heather Haugland has taught Salsa dancing for nearly 20 years.<\/p>\n<p>For many years, the Bellingham, Washington resident taught the Latin dance in Juneau, and Wednesday she was back in town to teach the dance to old and new faces during a pair of dance classes at the Red Dog Saloon.<\/p>\n<p>With notepad in hand, I tried to participate in the well-attended class, but both of my left feet were completely lost roughly five minutes into the warm-up activity. It was my super human arrhythmia, not a problem with the class.<\/p>\n<p>However, Haugland and a pair of experienced dancers, Eric Oravsky, dance instructor for a regular <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/events\/1670739113027077\/\" target=\"_blank\">dance group that meets Sunday nights at the Red Dog<\/a>; and Kristin Cox, a Salsa dancer of 12 years, dispensed advice for other first-timers thinking of giving the dance a try. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Clear up misconceptions<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Haugland said many first-time Salsa dancers have fundamental misunderstandings about the dance.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;They think people dance really close together, and that&rsquo;s not true,&rdquo; she said.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, those leading the dance were instructed to provide structure for their partners with arm tension somewhere between &ldquo;a noodle and a tin man.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;People are also uncertain about its origins,&rdquo; Haugland said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s Caribbean.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Haugland said some may be unsure of the difficulty of Salsa.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;As far as partner dances go, it&rsquo;s medium,&rdquo; Haugland said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s easier than tango but more difficult than the waltz and swing.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ditch the Xtratufs<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Attire isn&rsquo;t a particular concern for Salsa dancing, Haugland said.<\/p>\n<p>She recommended would-be dancers wear something comfortable, but there was more specific advise for footwear.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;d say wear comfortable shoes that slide easily,&rdquo; Haugland said. &ldquo;I discourage high heels.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>When the class started, there were stacks of jackets and clusters of neoprene boots on the fringes of the dance floor.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Keep pressure low<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Oravsky said a lot of times, someone will start taking dance lessons because they have an upcoming wedding, or think dancing might be a good way to meet a new romantic partner.<\/p>\n<p>He said both motivations aren&rsquo;t ideal, and the best way to approach dance is for fun without a lot of internal pressure.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t focus on on doing it right, focus on whether you&rsquo;re having fun, and dance through your mistakes,&rdquo; Oravsky said.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Find the beat<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Salsa dancing is based on an eight-count beat, and dancers step on beats one, two, three, five six and seven.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;In Latin dances, the break step is what&rsquo;s most important,&rdquo; Oravsky said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s when you&rsquo;re not stepping.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Haugland provided dancers with some instruction for how to find and respond to the beat.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s about feeling it in the base of your body,&rdquo; Haugland said during the class.<\/p>\n<p>She specifically mentioned the rib cage and hips rather than the shoulders.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;If you&rsquo;re not on the beat, the rest of your body can get funky,&rdquo; Haugland said.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Give it a try<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Cox, an experienced dancer who was able to fill both lead and follow roles during Wednesday&rsquo;s class, had simple advice for anyone who would like to give it a try.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Just show up,&rdquo; Cox said. &ldquo;Everyone&rsquo;s got to start somewhere.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><b>\u2022 Contact arts and culture reporter Ben Hohenstatt at (907)523-2243 or bhohenstatt@juneauempire.com.<\/b><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Leave the XtraTufs at home. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":474,"featured_media":39605,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":9,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,4],"tags":[73,116,319],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-39604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home","category-news","tag-ccw","tag-ccw-features","tag-video"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/474"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39604"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=39604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}