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We were thinking of what “skills” we could show off to our guests during our wedding, and we decided to entertain them with a dance. Through recommendation from our friend, Colbert, we found out about Salsa. Jeamie, the instructor from SalsaJay.com had a blog and was termed the Hottest Salsa Community in Malaysia.

Immediately after checking out their blog, Harrace booked us up for private training sessions with the instructors. We had our first salsa class in mid May for a 1 hour session. I was sick with flu that day, but the thought of being able to lose some weight drove me to attend the class no matter what.

Well, i had no prior training in dancing (i’ve got not much skills except being able to talk fast, haha) so it was rather intimidating. However, Jeamie was patient and actually a very fun salsa teacher, who was swaying, and swinging me like a “passionate lover”. I was blushing fast, (maybe i was just feeling hot from wearing too much clothes?) and wished that i too could be performing with so much confidence.

So, what is actually salsa? I did a search online and found some useful background about salsa on wikipedia. There were even instructions on the basic steps, and the turns. It seems that salsa was “spicy” in Spanish, and therefore there should be fast movements and each partner should be moving near to each other. Initially i would spin away (far far away) from my partner and then had to make BIG steps to walk back to my initial positions. I looked more like a robot and cannot seem to sway nor move my body to look as sensual or confident as the instructor.

I preferred the 1 to 1 sesssion compared to the huge class sessions as i had difficulties in catching the steps. Even in normal aerobics classes or other workout classes in the gym, i’m one of those that couldn’t seem to control both my hands & feet simultaneously. In total i only had time for 2 private one hour sessions so far, and i was fortunate that i can still remember the steps from day 1. Next week when i’m back in KL, i’ll be signing on for 2 more hours of private training which i hope after these 4 hours of intensive training, we’ll be able to graduate with flying colours.

The 2nd session had more fast moves and poses so i’m hoping that our wedding guests will be mesmerised with our salsa dance on June 9. As for losing weight from salsa, maybe i’m moving too slowly but i don’t seem to sweat during the workout so don’t expect that you will burn lots of calories off too.

For couples thinking of showing off their dance moves with salsa during the wedding dinner, here are some tips:-
1. Get a reliable & patient salsa dance instructor to coach you 1 on 1

2. Start practising soon & regularly with other dance partners too (it seems less stressful when you are dancing with another student in the dance class, compared to with your actual partner)

3. Choose an appropriate dance dress for the performance, so it should be something short, but not tight as you will need to move your hips and feets have to be moving fast.
- initially i was thinking of wearing a pink feathered corset gown which had a short front part, but a little tail at the end. In the end, i finally decided to wear a short Beatrice Looi beaded couture lace short dress in lilac colour.

4. Dance to a music that both of partners have choosen and not just take whatever is given by your instructor

5. Record down both the correct postures by salsa dancers and your own dance. It’s easier to see how you dance from the video rather than rely on the mirrors in the dance hall.

6. Draw your own dance steps, or take down notes. Don’t feel shy to ask about the salsa moves, or steps if unsure and reading about salsa from text is so much different that trying it out yourself.
- in my first salsa lesson, i actually drew out the footsteps (1, 2, 3, 4 = Stop, 5, 6, 7 8 = Stop) with foot work sketches and that helped me a lot

Anyway, this was meant to be fun so even if we end up not being able to pick up 100% of the correct moves, we would at least have “entertained” our guests. Have you danced with your loved one lately?

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salsa, salsa lessons, malaysia dance school, wedding performance, latin dance, learn how to dance

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