Learn to Salsa Dance, Vol. 2 (Beginners)

Learn to Dance Salsa, Beginner’s 1, 2, 3… Evan Margolin. A "2 star" rating.


These three beginner disks will be discouraging, I think, to most beginners.

The words, “tough,” “difficult,” and, “complicated” are presented again and again and again until it starts to be the only thing you hear. However, this is just standard beginner salsa with standard steps and standard ideas presented – except for the unrelenting and demotivating words just mentioned. I suppose it is meant as some kind of reverse psychology, but I don’t think it works in a positive way.

Also deflating for beginners is the order of presentation. “Connection,” for example, isn’t discussed until the last half of disk three – yet there it’s touted as “the most important thing.” If it is, shouldn’t it be first on DVD 1? In addition, there are many regressions to topics previously covered – but, wait - not really? That results in the clock running out as the viewer forgets what’s being taught in THIS segment...

These should get a better rating. It’s well filmed – except for the odd habit of the instructor’s feet often counter-productively facing the audience while showing footwork... And, it’s fairly well danced and slow enough, when demonstrated, that beginners should be able to keep track of “the moves.” And, it’s not like it isn’t an interesting topic – the material covered would be, once learned, very useful. But, the instruction (talking at length) takes so long to get anywhere… Tiresome.

To sum it up… The Salsa moves taught here are solid moves – with some clever flashes here and there that can be fun to see and learn. Just expect it to take “extra” hours of viewing – unless you’re active with the “next” button on the DVD player and can actively “dig around” for what you want. Tough call for a beginner, but more experienced dancers might find these worth “mining.” Then again, there are other disks to rent…