Level 1
Beginners Level 1 is for new dancers. In this level you will learn the basic fundamentals of Salsa:

•   Structure of Salsa music
•   Basic footwork and timing
•   Leading and following
•   Basic turns
•   Cross body lead
•   Single turn for Girls and Guys

Level 2 - This level will be good for you if you have done at least 8 week course of beginners level.  Here you will appreciate the steps and routines being taught.  Also this will let every dancer appreciate the importance of learning the basic steps from Level 1.

Level 3 - This is the advance level to which every dancer challenges itself to perfection or if you have any plans of joining a salsa competition or performances

NOTE : We would recommend for people who just started learning salsa to at least start and learn a minimum of 8 weeks Level 1 beginners before moving up to the next level.  At the end of the day if you are a fast learner you would need not finish the whole of the 8 week term so long as you have learned the basic steps and the name of the different steps as required.   

Here are some tips to guide you on the dance floor.

• Be aware of people around you. You each have your own “space”. The better dancers are shown respect by allowing them more space than the less experienced dancers. Keep within your space. Men - glance behind you before you do a cross body lead, throw-away spin or similar move to make sure the girl has the room to complete the move. Just like on the footy field, you don’t lead your partner into trouble.
  
  
• The dance floor is a good place to try new moves, especially those you see being performed by dancers around you. BUT don’t do moves that could be dangerous – that is what practise sessions are for.
  
  
• Partner dancing means you are each responsible for the other. Women should not do a move they are being led into if it is unsafe, and Men control your partner’s movements to keep them in your space.
  
  
• Take small steps. We repeat this theme through this booklet, and once you start dancing in a nightclub you will know why. Small steps save you and others from bruised feet.
  
  
• Think before refusing a dance. Remember everyone has to learn and everyone is welcome in a Salsa Club. Refusing a request to dance can destroy a dancers confidence, so have a good reason before you refuse a dance.
  
• Having said that, if your partner is out of control then you should stop dancing, but explain why, just don’t walk off. Remember consideration for others feelings is a part of dancing etiquette.
  
  
• Men – your partner gives you signals of what she does and does not like. When you start your dance you should look for her signals that set the tone of the dance. If her frame is solid (she is keeping you at a distance) then dance away from her a little, and avoid the really sexy “hand down the sides of the body” and “layback” type moves. Remember the man leads the dance but the women sets the limits, so look for the signals.

Salsa is not easily defined. Who invented salsa? The Cubans, Puerto Ricans? Salsa is a distillation of many Latin and Afro-Caribbean dances. Each played a large part in its evolution.

Salsa is similar to Mambo in that both have a pattern of six steps danced over eight counts of music. The dances share many of the same moves. In Salsa, turns have become an important feature, so the overall look and feel are quite different form those of Mambo. Mambo moves generally forward and backward, whereas, Salsa has more of a side to side feel.

A look at the origin of Salsa

By: Jaime Andrés Pretell

It is not only Cuban; nevertheless we must give credit to Cuba for the origin and ancestry of creation. It is here where Contra-Danze (Country Dance) of England/France, later called Danzón, which was brought by the French who fled from Haiti, begins to mix itself with Rhumbas of African origin (Guaguanco, Colombia, Yambú). Add Són of the Cuban people, which was a mixture of the Spanish troubadour (sonero) and the African drumbeats and flavora and a partner dance flowered to the beat of the clave.

This syncretism also occurred in smaller degrees and with variations in other countries like the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Puerto Rico, among others. Bands of these countries took their music to Mexico City in the era of the famous films of that country (Perez Prado, most famous...). Shortly after, a similar movement to New York occurred. In these two cities, more promotion and syncretism occurred and more commercial music was generated because there was more investment. New York created the term "Salsa", but it did not create the dance. The term became popular as nickname to refer to a variety of different music, from several countries of Hispanic influence: Rhumba, Són Montuno, Guaracha, Mambo, Cha cha cha, Danzón, Són, Guguanco, Cubop, Guajira, Charanga, Cumbia, Plena, Bomba, Festejo, Merengue, among others. Many of these have maintained their individuality and many were mixed creating "Salsa".

If you are listening to today's Salsa, you are going to find the base of són, and you are going to hear Cumbia, and you are going to hear Guaracha. You will also hear some old Merengue, built-in the rhythm of different songs. You will hear many of the old styles somewhere within the modern beats. Salsa varies from site to site. In New York, for example, new instrumentalization and extra percussion were added to some Colombian songs so that New Yorkers - that dance mambo "on the two" - can feel comfortable dancing to the rhythm and beat of the song, because the original arrangement is not one they easily recognize. This is called "finishing," to enter the local market. This "finish" does not occur because the Colombian does not play Salsa, but it does not play to the rhythm of the Puerto Rican/Post-Cuban Salsa. I say Post-Cuban, because the music of Cuba has evolved towards another new and equally flavorful sound.

Then, as a tree, Salsa has many roots and many branches, but one trunk that unites us all. The important thing is that Salsa is played throughout the Hispanic world and has received influences of many places within it. It is of all of us and it is a sample of our flexibility and evolution. If you think that a single place can take the credit for the existence of Salsa, you are wrong. And if you think that one style of dance is better, imagine that the best dancer of a style, without his partner, goes to dance with whomever he can find, in a club where a different style predominates. He wouldn't look as good as the locals. Each dancer is accustomed to dance his/her own style. None is better, only different. ¡¡¡Viva la variedad, ¡¡¡Viva la Salsa!!!