Hi,

I have heard that a new law has been passed in the UK that you must have a qualification in order to teach dance there, this also applies to Northern Ireland as far as I'm aware.  I've no idea with regards to down south though; I'd be interested to find out as well.

There is no legal requirement to teach Salsa in the south. Some promoters / teachers have UKA certification but there are currently no standards / requirments to teach here.

I found this thread and Jaks comments extremely interesting! I am rather late contributing to it as I am not a regular user of this site or of forums in general. But I have this to add to the debate on salsa teaching in Ireland.

I agree that by international standards, some of the salsa teachers in Ireland do not stand out on the dance floor. I also believe that you do not necessarily have to be an extraordinary dancer to be a good teacher. Some of the best international show salsa dancers on the congress circuit are less than average teachers even though they may be very creative in the moves they teach. Some of the teachers I have learned most from have not been outstanding dancers, nor had any training or qualification as dance teachers. Many teachers with professional qualifications are not good teachers. Having a qualification does not automatically make you a good teacher.

There is such a thing as a natural talent for dance, the same as some people have an aptitude for languages or science or whatever. Some people progress very quickly to a very high level with very little input, others take a long time, and still others will never be good dancers. There is also such a thing as a ‘natural teacher’, so to speak. I believe some people have a natural talent for teaching, other people need a long time to progress to being a good teacher. I have seen many teachers improve their methods. I also know from personal experience (as an unqualified but experienced salsa teacher and dancer and as a qualified and experienced teacher of language) that classes alone don’t make you an outstanding dancer. Three things are necessary in my view:

1) You need to get a good basic foundation from a teacher, usually this happens in a class situation
2) a special attitude combined with lots of effort and practice on your own
3) What makes you an excellent dancer in the end is exposure to good dancers and most of all dancing with as many people as possible on the dance floor.

Once you have the basic foundation the most important thing then is practice and this can only happen in a very limited way in a class situation, not matter how good the teacher/method. The same way as you will never be a fluent speaker of a foreign language if you have never been to the country, it is very difficult to become an outstanding dancer if you have never been out on the dance floor. All of us who have done this know that this is really where you hone your skills as a leader/follower, experiment with moves, combinations, styling & musicality, learn how to react to different styles of leading/following/styling etc and really have some fun!

Hi guys,

we learnt salsa in Hungary, Spain and France. Our opinion is that new york salsa gives an excellent base for salsa, it is very important to break down the steps at the very beginning so that people would not jump around in a non-sense way. After you have the base correctly it is easy to learn cuban dancing and it looks much better.

Siyo, I agree totally with the points you made. In particular i agree with your comments on the need for practice. I believe that most dancers try out a number of classes / teachers and can at times take 2 or 3 classes in a week from different teachers (who says salsa is addictive). Each teacher has something to offer and it is what each person does with that information and how they practice that shows through in their dance.

I found this thread very interesting because I took a number of classes recently and I want to share my experience of them.

First off, with one teacher on a Monday night in a city centre hotel there was no rapport. There was no exchange of names with the teacher and no sense of any personal interest. The teacher played two songs, one for the warm up. In a one hour lesson that's ridiculous in my opinion. The lesson consisted of repetition of a series of movements with constant voice prompt from the teacher. For the level in question this was a dreadful type of teaching method as it was the only one used and contributed to me feeling very bored. There was no sense that the lesson built on anything from the past, there was no opportunity to practice the movement in a "real" dance situation. Effectively, we were being treated like lab rats who were recalling a series of synchronised aerobic exercises.

Contrast this with a different Monday night when I went to a class in a primary school hall in a different part of Dublin. The teachers introduced me to all of the other class members by name. My name was used throughout the lesson as were the names of the other students. I was thanked for coming, offered the opportunity to watch first to see if the level was appropriate for me, and thanked again after the class for coming as were the other students. This level of rapport and genuine interest (coupled with excellent manners) made me feel that I had found a really great teaching team.

The lesson revolved around music, the moves that were taught were praticed in real dance situations, there was individual feedback from the teachers to each student-the teachers danced with all the students. There was an emphasis on styling and on the music. I came away from that lesson with several new moves that I use regularly now because I know them. This is unlike the other lesson where I barely remember anything that transacted.

The two lesson were a world apart-one was boring and impersonal and the other was an excellent example of how learning can be fun, focused and succesful.

Hi westman09

A few things I'm a little curious about:

1.   Size of the classs in each case?
2.   Style of the class in each case?  ( i.e. is the comparisson like-to-like? )
3.   Level of the class :  beginner/intermediate/advanced?

I do find it odd when I go to classes in Dublin that sometimes you can have a 1 hour class without at least 1 hour practice afterwards?  

Lab-rat training isnt as bad as it sounds - it can sometimes be quite enjoyable + relaxing, certainly for learning particularly complex moves, I find someone calling out the move to be very helpful  - the downside is you need to practice at home or during the practise session to really 'get it'.   Another advantages is the 'think it -  do it' phenomenon - vital if you have a really really fast song.

I'd agree with you 100% there must be a dance element for a class in order for it to be enjoyable, people should be learning to love the music as well as the dance.   2 songs doesnt sound like a lot to me assuming 3-5 minute songs...

/H.

Yo Hugh,

Class size was practically the same in each case - about 12 to 14 people.

I dunno what you mean by style-one of them didn't have much "style" in my view or much substance either.

Intermediate level.

It ain't odd-it's about the money I think for many of the "teachers".

Thankfully, there's a few for whom it's not!!!

I think style wise he meant LA, Cuban, On1, On2 etc? (Forgive me if I got that wrong Hugh )