About Us Salsa and Cha-Cha are international dances. The Salsa we dance here is Los Angeles is influenced not only by Swing, Disco and other dances, but also by dancers from around the world. As there are so many variations and styles of Salsa, the most important components of the dance, in our opinion, are timing and rhythm. Both of these are going to be firmly rooted in the style and tempo of the music you are dancing to. As Americans, we grew up listening NOT to Salsa music, but to Rhythm and Blues and Rock (whose illegitimate cousin we now commonly refer to as Hip-Hop). And, many of us grew up actually dancing Cha-Cha, not to Latin music, but to the Sound of Motown (The Temptations, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, The 4 Tops, etc...) As our Salsa dancing improved, we noticed that it was easier for us to dance to American R & B and Hip-Hop music than to Salsa music. For one thing, we can hear the beat more clearly. For another, we can understand the words to the music and therefore truly understand what it's all about. Heck, we've been listening to this music all our lives! In addition, we can now throw in R & B and Hip-Hop styling and syncopations into the dance that we just don't feel listening only to Salsa music. So, our goals are:

• Teach the basic fundamentals of Cha-Cha and Salsa dancing.
• Use those fundamentals as a base to build interesting and fun dance patterns (L.A. style, of course!).
• Put it all together and dance it to R & B and Hip-Hop as well as Salsa and other Latin music.

If you share our vision or want to expand on it, or simply want to learn how to dance Cha-Cha or Salsa, then come on down to our class! Everybody's welcomed. Also, for those of you who think you are interested in Salsa just because you want to dance Salsa, please check out the Benefits of Dance page. You may discover that dancing Salsa and/or Cha-Cha can transform your life (for the good) in many more ways than you've thought of. - R & B Salsa Crew