Customer Reviews

Hot & Spicy Salsa for Beginners (Shawn Trautman's Dance Collection)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

These instructors make you feel very comfortable. You will feel like you are on the dance floor with them during this lesson. They give you time to practice each step before moving to the next one and they present skill building techniques to advance in a way that is fun and easy to understand. I especially like the opportunity for the leaders and followers to have a chance to practice the steps during the lesson with and without a partner. The use of picture-in-picture technology adds panoramic views and makes it possible to see the steps from all angles! You will really enjoy learning Salsa using this video!

This is the third DVD from Shawn Trautman that I have gotten (Swing and Cha-Cha are the others), and they are all exceedingly well done. They start from ground zero and progress in very small steps that are a snap to follow. By the time it's over, you will understand the logic behind the dance and know enough to do well on a social dance floor. It will also get you pumped to learned more advanced steps; you won't feel intimidated. I highly recommend it.

Of the three Shawn Trautman DVDs I own, this is the best. (The other two are line dance DVDs.) This is an excellent introduction not just to Salsa, but also to couple's dancing. There are lots of helpful tips (Use "Ladies are always right, and the men get what's left." to remember which foot to start with.) and, in the review section, Shawn and Joanna emphasize not just memorizing a routine, but really learning how to lead and follow so you and your partner can mix and match steps with confidence. I absolutely would recommend this as a low pressure, fun introduction to Salsa dancing. What keeps me from giving it 5 stars? The audio is a little echo-y and the DVD navigation is off. (On my copy at least, I couldn't skip backward, and when I skipped forward I completely missed the chapter I was going for.) But the quality of the instruction more than makes up for any deficiencies in DVD authorship.

My wife and I found this video to be extremely helpful and more convenient than taking formal dance lessons. I especially enjoy the picture in picture feature that highlights the steps in detail. This dvd has a broad range of skill levels that goes from the very basics to more intermediate dance steps once you get the hang of it. I would recommend it to anyone wanting to learn salsa dancing.

Shawn and Joanna make it easier than I'd dreamed. Their presentation is broken into basic techniques that are easy to understand and easy to learn. Before you know it, you're doing the Salsa!!

This is one of several Shawn Trautman videos that I have purchased. I have been extremely pleased with all of them. The DVDs allow me to proceed at my own pace. The description of the steps is very clear, and Mr. Trautman is very careful to structure the presentations so that more complex steps develop from mastery of the more fundamental ones. His approach is very relaxed yet precise. I was having a hard time learning salsa and his video was the key to my getting this dance down. I'm convinced that his videos constitute one of the most effective and economical ways of learning to dance.

Having never before danced Salsa, we practiced to this DVD, took a one hour individual lesson, and then were able to do just fine in an intermediate Salsa class. The timing and repetition on this DVD is just like being in a live class. Steps are taught repeatedly, with partners together, then individually for the leader and then the follower, and finally back into dance frame and to music. We were able to follow along with the entire DVD without rewinding and repeating which is a huge advantage over other DVD's. Shawn and Joanna are much more interested in teaching you the steps rather than just trying to look good, which is my impression of other instructors on other videos. (they do look good, but they work much harder at teaching). Multiple camera angles help as well.

My wife and I have been dancing for about 10 years but we never took Salsa lessons. The instructions in the video are so easy to follow that we were dancing Salsa right after watching it. Experience in other dances might have something to do with it but the way the dance is presented by Shawn and Jaonna stimulated our interest. Since we are new with the dance, we have watched it repeatedly when we want to review certain moves. I recommend it highly especially to beginners.

Being possibly the only Cuban guy in the world who can't dance Salsa, I found this video to be excellent for beginners. The moves are taught very slowly to start off with and then repeated over and over again to give you a chance to learn them as you participate along with the video. Although I was already taking introductory Salsa lessons prior to purchasing the video, I found the video to be a great suppliment because, let's face it, once you leave the dance studio and go back to your regular life you pretty much forget everything you learned.

I really enjoyed this DVD by Shawn and Joanna. I was new to Salsa and the steps are demonstrated slowly. Ten the man's steps and the woman's steps are broken down and explained. I really appreciated the fact that they tried to demonstrate the various steps slowly. One aspect that is often lost in dance DVD's is that moves are explained too quickly. Unfortunately if one cannot do something slow, one cannot do it fast. In tennis, if one cannot hit forehands slow consistently, one will not be able to hit the ball fast consistently. The Salsa DVD explains dance moves in the slower fashion. Only later are the dances done in real time to illustrate what they would look like on the dance floor. I have enjoyed a number of their DVD's because I believe they understand how to teach. Thanks.