Salsa Tip #22 : Getting the bad ones out of the way...

Yes, #22 (which means it very important!). It is usually the case that you will learn something new in a salsa class and you will not get it right, right away. It is just the way we (as human beings) are built. We can't automatically duplicate an action - we are not built for consistency. Anyways, this of course is the main reason we practice - to perfect what takes us time to perfect. However, most students forget this little fact, and sometimes get discouraged when they haven't done it right by the 10th time.Now, lets go back to a little bit of history. Thomas Edison , a great inventor of the light bulb (among many other things). You know how many tries it took him to actually make a working and quality lightbulb? It took him more than ten thousand failed attempts. Have you ever thought of the times that we (in our lives) have tried something new, and maybe failed at it 10-15 times and thought about giving up? Imagine if Thomas Edison would have given up on the light bulb after try #1000. How bright would our world be?I usually tell students that when they learn a new pattern or footwork - it will take them at least 50 times to get it down and be able to do it smoothly without effort. Basically, telling them that on try #51, thats why they'll be able to do it perfectly. I tell them to practice it 50 times as soon as they can, so they can get to #51 as fast as possible. :-) This is because since you know you won't do it right until the 51st time, why not speed the process up by doing the pattern/footwork 50 times as soon as you can - so you can get those (bad ones or failed attempts) out of the way and start enjoying the good ones?