Jan 222010
me and my friend are going to take dancing lessons together.She wants to take jazz or salsa and im pretty much fine with whatever she chooses.Can you explain jazz and salsa to me and do you have to wear anything in particular during dance lessons?and what is a reasonable price for lessons?
Jazz and salsa are completely different forms of dance. Jazz dance is a form of dance that you’ve probably seen on Broadway. It’s usually fast-paced and involves a lot of leaps, turns, kicks, and many different movements. Salsa is a form of ballroom dancing, so it’s danced in pairs.
Here are some examples of both.
Jazz – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCjmhT7xd…
Salsa – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IslaeaOO…
As for what to wear, for jazz you usually wear tights, a leotard, and either workout shorts/pants on top of your leotard. On your feet you wear jazz shoes, which you can buy at any nearby dance store, or even online.
For salsa, all I know is that you have to wear heels. I don’t know the exact attire since I’ve never danced it before.
Hope I could help!
Natassiack seesm to be a jazz dancer and so she has answered that part. I don’t dance jazz. But I do dance salsa. She said that it is a ballroom dance, this is only partially true. Salsa has been added to ballroom dancing as one of the “latin dances”, but salsa is really a street dance that developed around 1950 and continues to evolve today.
In clubs a rueda (wheel) might form a couple times during te night and anyone who knows how to dance rueda can join in.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrl1uAGw8…
I don’t know which type of dance your friend is thinking of. Ballroom dancing is more for competition. If you and your friend are looking for something that you can dance at clubs when you go out then I would not recommend ballroom salsa. Instead you should look for club salsa.
I don’t know where you live so I can’t give any specific advice on teachers/classes, but you can probably find some in your area by checking if any clubs offer lessons or by searching for “salsa” + the name of your city.
There are roughly 4 main styles of club salsa today:
New York Style, L.A. Style, Cuban Style and Colombian Style. There is also Miami Style but it is very similar to Cuban Style since it is taught by Cubans who have moved to the US. Here are some links that you and your friend can watch to see what you think of salsa.
Here are some example of the different styles.
NY Style (danced “on2″ and “in-the-slot” i.e. in a straight line backwards and forwards)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTIhekjRE…
LA Style (danced “on1″ and with lots of flash and acrobatics. Danced in a straight line)
This style is realtively new and the Vasquez brothers are credited with creating it.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vbYn9iJ7…
Cuban Style (danced “on1″ but unlike LA and NY style it is danced in a circular pattern not a line, with the couple constantly rotating and rather than using lots of spinning, the moves are very complex and tangly) Also note that at 1:20 the couple starts dancing Afro-Cuban Rumba)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-30RzT2wn…
Colombian Style (Danced “on1″ but htis couple is obviously adding LA moves to their dancing as well) The footwork is typical of salsa in Cali, Colombians in other cities dance more like Cubans.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEuhOR_Ar…
Rueda de Casino is a type of group salsa invented in Cuba so obviously it uses Cuban salsa moves. One person calls out moves and everyone performs them in unison. Kind of like square dancing only better
[...] More: Acoustic Prophecy – "Immortal" Music Blog » Can You Explain Jazz … [...]
[...] original post here: Acoustic Prophecy – "Immortal" Music Blog » Can You Explain Jazz … Share and [...]