Search - Learn to Salsa Now :: Learn to Salsa Now

Introduction to salsa music and dance for the 21st century

12/02/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Salsa music is easy to enjoy but apparently is highly complex from a musician's point of view. ( See for example, Charley Gerard's, Salsa book on his "struggle" to master salsa. ). I got this product because I had read that it included a "music room" that appeared to be oriented to ear training specifically for salsa. Much to my surprise the "music room" is just one of several features of this product. In fact, the product is oriented to the growing numbers trying to learn salsa dancing. In my estimation it is a brilliantly conceived product that may well set the foundation for a new approach to dance instruction. Clearly, actual dancing is required to learn dancing but the rate of learning could be accelerated by a well conceived product such as Salsa Now. That is, Salsa Now could be used as a supplement to dance instruction.. The different components of the product are:* Choreography room
* Music Room
* Performance roomThe Choreography Room, as the name implies, is used to compose sets of steps. You choose the steps from a nicely arranged set of tab containing steps from basic to "sexy". By placing your mouse over a thumb of the video clip depicting the step the video comes alive, without the slightest delay, and you see a couple executing the step. Some of the steps are complex enough that this along strikes me as a terrific learning tool. Amazingly enough, you can string several such steps into a routine. That is, once you have made your selections you can play the routine. That is, a couple then executes the routine to a rhythm track. I'm not sure how they do this because the number of possible routines is so large that I don't think they would have filmed and recorded every possible one. Rather, I think there is some sort of on the fly stitching of clips together. It works well and is very well thought out because some steps require a "transitional step" and they add that automatically for you!. I played with several routine and was impressed with the results. The Music Room is fascinating in its own right. As far as I could tell there is a single song available. The intended use of this component is to turn on or off different instruments so that the listener learns to appreciate their role in a typical salsa. In addition to turning on or off instruments it is possible to "watch the beat". Salsa requires the dancer to perform two sets of three steps each within an eight beat count. This is accomplished by doing two "quick" steps followed by a "slow". Knowing where you are in the count after a turn or at any time during the dance is one of the challenges of the dance. The Music Room includes a visual beat as well as the ability to alter the tempo. That is, you can play the music slower or faster and the visual rendition of the beat goes slower or faster accordingly. This allows you to practice steps at different tempi while having a visual cue of where you are in the eight count. Brilliant as this idea is there is much more that can be added to the basic idea and I hope the developers continue enhancing the product. Finally, there is the Performance Room, a very well edited video of several couples dancing. It is fun to watch. Instructionally, the Performance Room and would have been better if there was some accompanying description of which steps were being performed.In short, there is genius behind this product and would be well worth it for anyone interested in better understanding salsa music or dancing."