Review: The Quick an Dirty Guide to Salsa - Part 1: Beginner

[viking01]

Since I was very happy with this instructional DVD, I thought I'd whip together a little review...

The Quick an Dirty Guide to Salsa - Part 1: Beginners

The Facts
Medium: DVD - all regions - NTSC (will play in PAL territories when you have a NTSC capable TV)
Aspect ratio: 4:3 Full Screen
running time: +- 144 min.
language: english
released: 2004
pricing: USD 26.98 excl. shipping ( @ amazon.com )
Salsa style: Miami/Cuban

The Good
"Made by former struggling students of salsa..."
Instruction is given by a couple (Gigi and Pedro), and right from the start you'll feel comfortable with them.
They look like a couple you would meet at a club or a social; they lack any attitude and Gigi is just sooooo good looking.
Instruction is clear and precise, with Gigi doing the most of the talking, but I'll get back to that later on.

All moves are recorded at three angles at the same time (high, front and back).
This allows you to view a move from a different perspective, greatly enhancing your understanding of the more complex moves. Be prepared to push that angle button on your remote.
I really like this feature! You get to see Gigi from all sides and she is just sooo hot!
Seriously, just this feature is a reason to get this DVD.

The setting. Everything is recorded in a very nice mansion setting.
I think that was a great idea. It takes away the somewhat sterile environs from a traditional dance studio. While it's nothing big, I find it greatly enhances viewing pleasure.

The Bad
Instruction focuses mainly on footwork with (too) little attention given to arm movement.
This made me feel that it lacks a bit in the "how do i lead this move" department,since most of the time Gigi will be doing the explaining with Pedro making the occasional remark for the lead.
I feel this could have been done a bit more balanced. Leading is hard enough as it is, especially when you're a beginner.

The Ugly
That's easy... nothing ugly about this one!
And of course there's Gigi, wow, is she good looking! Or did I mention that earlier?

Conclusion
If you're a beginner at miami/cuban style salsa, I can fully recommend you this DVD.
This is a perfect DVD for practice with a partner, and even if you don't have partner, you'll find that you'll be spending a lot hours with Gigi and Pedro.
You won't be dancing like them after one viewing, but after a couple of hours with it, you'll feel a lot more comfortable on the dancefloor!
And as a final note: often, I find myself coming back to this DVD, not just to brush up on basics, but also to just "get in the mood"...

What's on the DVD?

Chapters/moves:

Basic Steps
- forward & back
- side to side
- backrock steps
- basic steps practice
- backrock turn

Partner dancing basics
- abajo
- exhibela
- exhibela doble
- exhibela dos con una
- dile que no
- guapeando/guapea
- practice

Beyond the basics
- enchufla
- enchufla doble
- adios con la hermana
- candado
- pa'arriba (candado)
- kentucky
- ronde (kentucky)
- el uno
- se fue (el uno)
- el uno practice
- el dos

Review

Review with music (music: El Preso by Fruko y sus tesos)

Credits
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Link: http://www.dirtysalsa.com

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[peachexploration]

Great review Viking01! Thank you. :) I was wondering about those video but haven't actually view them. Has anyone else seen them or have anything else to add?

[manitasmonas]

We just bought this DVD, I really like the 3 angles and the slow step by step instruction, I have to say that it doesn't do much in the leading and timing department. But still all around good and very east to follow.

[EMOYENO]

I found these reviews on Amazon

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Now anyone - and I do mean anyone - can learn to Salsa, September 19, 2004
Reviewer: Daniel Jolley "darkgenius" (Shelby, North Carolina USA) - See all my reviews

I used to believe there were two kinds of people: those who could dance and those who could not (and, more importantly, should not). I of course have always counted myself among the latter. The Quick and Dirty Guide to Salsa, Part One - Beginners has opened my eyes to a vast new world, however. Could I, one of the most uncoordinated individuals on the face of the earth, actually learn to dance? And I'm not talking about the kind of dancing Howard Sprague learned to do on The Andy Griffith Show - that's basically just walking around with a partner. I'm talking about Salsa dancing, the hottest dancing I know of, with all of its intricacies, fluid movements, and unadulterated fun. With the help of this amazing DVD, the impossible has truly been changed to the possible.

This DVD is specifically aimed at beginners; hopefully, DVDs for more advanced Salsa skills will be forthcoming from the guys and gals at Debdoot Das. When you begin the lessons, you immediately find yourself in very good hands. The lovely Gigi is a great teacher, and her partner Pedro adds a number of very helpful tips for male partners as we progress through the steps. Gigi starts at the very beginning, telling you what to do, showing you how to do it, and giving you the chance to do the steps along with her. As she gradually moves to more complicated moves, she works them into an increasingly comprehensive practice routine - what this means is that you basically practice all of the moves you have learned so far with each advancing lesson. You can't forget what has come before because Gigi doesn't let you. I won't name all of the different moves featured in this instructional DVD, but Gigi repeats each of them often enough that you know what move she is calling for when she calls for it. She also counts out the rhythm and pauses that make up each dance move, helping ensure you get not only the moves but the timing of those moves down pat.

The real secret to this DVD's success, aside from the wonderful Gigi, is of course the inclusion of three distinct camera angles. The instructional video runs for roughly 48 minutes; multiply that by the three camera angles and you get a thorough lesson of well over two hours. I would start, obviously, with the Front Angle because it lets you see the basic moves in the clearest of fashions (and Gigi is addressing you from this camera perspective). It can be hard to see what the dancers are doing at times, though, especially when one partner is moving in front of the other - that is where the other viewing angles come in. The High Angle viewpoint not only gives you a higher vantage point from which to observe the movements, it also offers a more close-up view of the action. The Back Angle is truly great and helpful - now you can see all the stuff you could not see from the other two angles (it also offers other advantages that I, as a guy, appreciated). These multiple-angle viewpoints are immeasurably helpful in making sure you can see exactly what each dancer is doing at all times.

It is also important to note that Gigi and Pedro make Salsa dancing fun, even when they are showing you the most basic of steps. They also make it seem easy to learn. Only after they have gone through all of the lessons and reviewed the moves multiple times do they add music to the mix. I also liked the fact that they did not actually dance until the end of the lessons - I think this is important because Salsa dancing itself looks like something I could never possibly learn. If I had seen how hard it looks before learning the basic moves, I would have been less confident and thus have gotten less out of these lessons than I did.

Simply stated, this DVD and a dance partner are all you need to learn basic Salsa dancing. If you want to learn but are too shy to take lessons, this DVD is perfect for you. You can't just watch the DVD and expect the information sink in, of course; you have to get up and do what Gigi and Pedro are showing you. At the very end of the lessons, Gigi and Pedro show you what more advanced Salsa dancing looks like, and I guarantee this will get you even more excited about practicing what you have learned and more than anxious to see a hoped-for follow-up DVD aimed at intermediate Salsa students.

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78 of 83 people found the following review helpful:

Arriba! Very simple and easy Salsa for beginners, August 25, 2004
Reviewer: Joanna Daneman (Middletown, DE USA) - See all my reviews

This is a very cute DVD lesson set for learning Salsa dancing. Gigi, the instructor and her partner Pedro take you from simple forward and back steps to "Kentucky" or a complicated turn. There are twenty-six lessons, and best of all, the DVD gives you a choice of angles to observe the steps. You can take front, back or high-angle and this gives you much more information about the dance steps than a single camera angle or cameraman's choice would ever do. The steps are called out by their names in Spanish: Enchufla, Adios a la Hermanas, etc, so you learn the proper terminology.

The chapters are organized by steps that are related to each other, then at the end you have a chance to review with music. And there's a teaser for Quick and Dirty Salsa Part Two and Three, where the turns get more complicated and there are some more moves (dips, etc.)

This is a nice, clean production with good organization on the DVD, nothing fancy but well-filmed, clear and simple. If you were taking Salsa in a class, this could be a fantastic review, and if you want to see if Salsa dancing is for you, try this. I think "Quick and Dirty Guide to Salsa" is very well-done, indeed.

Joanna Daneman

[amo_dile_que_no]

I just ordered this set because of the review. Thanks! I have some of Henry Herrera's Salsa Racing videos which I like, but most of his patterns are longer combinations of moves. I get the idea that Quick & Dirty videos are teaching more individual moves that you can combine. That's my preferred method. Got them at Amazon for $38 incl. shipping. Can't wait to get them. Thanks again for the review Viking01 & everyone else's input.