Below is some information which you may or may not find useful - do let us know if there's anything else you would like to see included here, as we are constantly trying to improve and update.

There are lots of great sources of salsa information out there - a great place to start for some background on salsa dancing is Wikipedia.

Salsa is danced to eight beats, but you only step on the first 3 beats of each set of 4. That's why you'll often hear us counting 1-2-3 5-6-7. We can count (honestly!) but we don't call out the 4 & the 8 because that is when we pause and don't move our feet.
 
The count is very important in salsa; once you can stay in time, you will be dancing both to the music, and more importantly perhaps, with your partner. Don't worry if this is difficult at first - with practice it will come. It also helps if you get a few salsa CDs to listen to - you start to tune in to the beat and should then be able to hear it more clearly when you're dancing. Click here for some suggestions of music you might want to try...
 
The other thing you can do is ask your partner if you're not sure whether you're in time or not - help each other out and you'll both learn quicker. Just remember to keep smiling :-)

You will come across a number of different styles of salsa as you develop in your dancing - you will hear people talk about Cuban style, cross body style, LA style, New York style, On 1, On 2... No particular style is better than another - they just differ slightly in terms of moves, timing and body movement - but many people have a personal favourite style for dancing. Mind you, ladies don't get much say as they generally have to go along with the style of the guy they're dancing with anyway!! At Purple Salsa we mainly teach cross body style - On 1. Visit Wikipedia for more on these terms.
 
Salsa is generally danced with a partner (although you don't need to bring a partner to the classes), with the guy leading (i.e. deciding what moves to do and using his body movements to convey this to the lady). If the guy lets his lady go, each person can do their own 'shines' - which basically means fancy footwork done individually. You will learn some of these in warm-ups or in classes and, of course, they are easy to practise on your own at home!
 
You may also come across a type of salsa called 'La Rueda', which is salsa danced in a circle with one person calling out the moves - it looks impressive when done well, and is always entertaining to try! Try our monthly rueda class if you fancy giving it a go... Rueda is much more Cuban than what we teach on Fridays - although the basic ideas in terms of timing are the same, the steps are slightly different. And all the moves are called in Spanish, which leads to much hilarity when nobody can remember the names!!