Attire for first dance

Unless the studio requires you wear a skirt or a dress (probably not since they’ll need to see your legs), don’t go for this at first. Go with legging to form fitted athletic shorts and a fitted tank or tee. Don’t wear anything baggy or loose.

If you haven’t danced in a heel before wear a slick bottom flat or very low heels (not a kitten heel, a block heel) I’m talking less than 1.5”. Also don’t wear anything with a grip or rubber on the bottom.

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Thanks. Good to know. I was planning to wear leggings but was debating on the shoes. I've never learned to dance in heels. Ive only "danced" at friends weddings in heels but it was mainly just kind of swaying around haha.

I was just thinking for the day of for the first dance what would be better but I can probably see tonight what kind of moves they teach us and go from there whether I want to wear a shorter or long dress and type of shoes as well.

View Quoted Comment If you’ve never danced before they’ll probably ask you to refrain from dresses or skirts for the first few lessons to make sure you’re doing the right stuff. After 2-3 lessons they’ll give you more guidance.

All of salsa’s posture and style comes from the hips and legs. Honestly if you watch people do street salsa 90% of them are in sneakers. Good luck and have fun :-)

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Yeah I am actually scared that I won't be able to get the salsa part down. My wedding is in 5 weeks and there isn't enough time for us to make multiple lessons to learn anything complicated. I figured worse case scenario if I don't get the salsa part down I can wear a long dress and no one will notice my uncoordinated leg movements ( though hips might still be noticeable lol)

View Quoted Comment The basics of salsa can be learned fairly quick. My husband was able to learn a lot of the basics in three lessons. If you can find and follow a beat is a big part of dancing. Also I’m not sure if you heard it but the Urbana Sky remix really lends itself to salsa a bit more than the traditional or the *shudders* Justin Bieber remix. If it’s not obvious I love salsa and dancing. My husband learned for me and it makes for such fun date nights. I highly highly recommend learning dance even when you’re married because it’s such a fun bonding experience.

Also since you’re on a time crunch practice practice practice. Even if you have a few lessons just cut out 20 minutes 3 days a week to practice. It’ll make all the difference to have that beat internalized so you don’t have to count it out consciously.

gah I’m so excited for your BAM!

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I love latin music too. Just haven't learned to dance to it. Oh gosh no, I told my FH that we will NOT be dancing to the Bieber version of it haha.

We've always wanted to take dance lessons together but we rarely get the chance to. I work the normal 8- 5 shift and he works 12pm-8:30pm. So its hard to find time other than Fridays (he has Friday's off) to learn to dance. Also he works Sundays so Fridays and Saturdays are the only real time we have to do anything together.

But I'm hoping after our lessons we can maybe after he gets home from work we can practice for 20 min before I head to sleep.

My ex was a salsa DJ and that is how we met. We had a lot of salsa dancing out our wedding and even included a little 30 minute lesson for our guests. Our first dance was to a bachata.

I recommend you look at purchasing salsa dance shoes. They are super comfortable with a suede sole and some people even wear them as wedding shoes because they are so pretty. You can choose the heel height you want. Also, if you do plan to dance salsa at your wedding, you will need to wear a shorter dress so you don't trip over your hem. For my 1st wedding, I changed into a shorter dress for our first dance for that purpose.

Also, once you get comfortable dancing salsa, any shoe will work, but it will help if it doesn't have a rubber sole because you need to be able to slide and spin on the floor without friction. A lot of people you see wearing sneakers actually have their shoes resoled with a suede sole for that purpose. It will also help if the shoe is closed in the back (no flip flops or slides).

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Oh thats good to know! I will look into salsa dance shoes .

And I figured getting a shorter dress would be more practical for the dance. Its just funny because we have a mash-up of two songs and the first song is slow and will likely be some kind of ballroom dance so people might be confused why I am wearing a short dress. But about 1.5 min in they will figure out why

I wear leggings and sandals to my dance lessons. I'll eventually go with heels. I wore a maxi once and it did feel different.

Wear the heels you’ll be dancing in. Get comfortable straight off in them.