Salsa!

Everything you've ever wanted to know...

So, you've been doing salsa for a while, you love it (naturally), and want to know more. Well you've come to the right place! Here you'll find all sorts of information, hints and trivia about your favourite dance.

Footwear

One question we are often asked is "Do I need any particular footwear for Salsa lessons?"
Here are some notes about footwear that we hope will help:

If you've just started Salsa, and were wondering what to wear to classes, our best advice would be to wear something comfortable that you can easily move in. Trainers are perfect (and worn by many teachers..)! Basically, wear shoes that you won't need to worry about, and know you can dance in, so that you can just focus on learning the steps.

If you get to the stage where you feel you would like to invest in some shoes especially designed for salsa, then we have some guidelines...

MEN: You can buy Men's Latin Shoes, but our advice is don't bother. They are expensive, and we feel, not really worth it. The Men on the Salsa team are advised to wear a comfortable pair of Black Dress shoes for performances.

WOMEN: While flat, comfortable trainers are good for lessons (especially if it's Cuban style), for performances, or for the serious dancer, we recommend a Lady's Latin Sandal. You will have to pay around £50-£70, so if you are going to invest, here are the guidelines the Team follow:

HEEL: Flared (not cuban or stilletto - cuban looks too chunky and stilletto too hard to dance in), 2.5 inch. Don't go as high as 3 unless advanced dancer and have danced in shoes like this before (it's a bit of a shock after trainers...).
SUEDE BOTTOMS - need this for dancing on wooden floors - lets you spin properly but also grip the floor.
COLOUR - a matter of taste, however we advise the team to go for flesh satin (seems to be the trend - kids have to have gold/silver, ladies tend to have flesh satin). Comes in a few different shades - can get pale or dark so try to match the colour to your skin colour. The aim is that the shoe blends in and is just an extension of your leg so you want it to match as much as possible.
STYLE - For beginner's,getting a style with a T-bar is recommended as it gives extra support.
ACCESSORIES:
Heel protectors - should always dance with these as they protect the heels (oddly enough), but also, some venues insist that you wear them anyway as the black heels can leave marks on the wooden floor otherwise.
Shoe brush - every time you wear the shoes, the suede on the bottoms will pick up dirt etc and also get smoothed down and shiny, and so won't grip the floor properly. The shoe brush will rough the suede up again to give a better grip.

The internet is a good place to look - we recommend Supadance.co.uk (look under ladies latin open-toe sandals), or totaldance.co.uk.