La Candela teaches a course system with a program of over 20 years of experience and adaptations. If you join us you will quickly be able to start dancing in Social dance clubs. If you follow the program and practice regularly you are likely to eventually become some of the best dancers on the dancefloor.
The program gives what you need to dance well within 6 courses, each course consists of 8 or 9 classes of 90 minutes. Each level takes it into account that you know the material of the previous level.
The courses are done in a closed format that doesn’t normally allow drop-ins. This ensures that we can advance together as a group, and allows us to ensure a good ratio between leaders and followers.
We do not recommend skipping levels and encourage you to self-assess yourself honestly. If in doubt you can contact us and we would gladly try to help. We are highly technical and coming without the expected knowledge is likely to make it a difficult class.
I have been dancing for a long time but I never took classes. which level should I go to?
This is very individual, But in our experience, dancers who “go with the flow” often overestimate their level. A good foundation is a must in order to perform complicated combinations. Unfortunately “going with the flow” more often than not creates bad habits.
While the Technique Foundation level might feel easy as a whole, it might become clear soon enough that many steps & techniques need to be corrected, and it’s a challenging task to stop bad habits. If you have the patience to improve, even the beginner level might give you many points to improve and will ease you up towards the Technique Foundation level.
I am a Salsa Linea dancer and I want to learn Cuban Salsa. Which level should I start with?
This is tricky and the key factor is how much patience you have. The thing is, while Salsa Linea and Salsa Cubana share some principles they are much more different than it seems. Generally, if you have patience and you want to dance Cuban Salsa well we still recommend starting with the Beginner Level. If you keep your ears open, you will discover the differences between the dances.
It’s important to note that the Beginner level is not a fast-paced course. If you don’t have the patience to dwell on details and dance with Beginners we recommend starting with private classes. Experienced dancers can sometimes learn the material at the Beginner Level in 2-3 hours. Alternatively, you can start from the Technique Foundation level, you might be able to catch up on the most important stuff. Keep in mind that in La Candela we respect levels – meaning that we strictly don’t explain material that was explained in previous levels.
I come from another school, I am at X level, should I come to the same level?
This is tricky since every school defines the levels differently, teaches a little a bit differently and every student is different.
Speaking from our experience, in the majority of cases, students from other schools tend to overestimate their level by at least one level. Sometimes it’s because of a gap of familiarity with the prerequisites, but more often because of the level of detail and control, they have with the prerequisite material.
When in doubt, we highly recommend not skipping the Technique Foundation level, it’s where we teach the core technique of Salsa Cubana, we teach it with a lot of care, many details, and it is the most important phase in our program.
Should I repeat a course?
This is highly individual. If you practice at parties the material you learn regularly, you probably won’t need to repeat a course – Practice is key!
BUT! By all means – YES! The best dancers always go back to basics to see what they can improve, even we do. By repeating a course, you will be able to notice better all the small details. We give a big discount to whoever chooses to repeat a course – because we want you to be a better dancer!
Can I come for a trial class?
We allow trial classes only in very specific situations. Normally we don’t allow trial classes for the partner-work classes as it doesn’t allow us to ensure a group with a balanced number of men and women. Additionally, many of our courses are fully booked by the time they start, so there is just no spot to spare.
In specific situations where there is a spot open last minute, we could permit a single class. you’d have to contact us to arrange for that.