She Had Me at "Montuno"

If you are a dancer and you have a Facebook account, you may have seen some notices about a new online dance school being promoted by Irene Miguel. Ms. Miguel is a salsa instructor based in the U.K. You can learn more about her at her dance studio's site at irenemiguel.com.

I checked out Irene's You Tube channel "Digital Dance Academy" and I am really looking forward to the launch of this site!

Irene really hooked me with her explanation of the music, which is one of the videos on the Digital Dance Academy channel (you can subscribe to this channel)! Sorry, I'd include a link but somehow it's not working on my blog.

Irene has a nice video where she explains salsa movement in relation to the cowbell that is often heard in the montuno section of a salsa song. In years of salsa dance study, I have only been in one class where a teacher really focused on the music and how to generate responsive movement to the music you are hearing (and that was a class devoted only to musicality -- as if musicality is an add-on or something instead of something organically connected with dance). I would love to learn to dance along with more understanding of the music as I go. So I definitely will be checking out OnlineSalsaAcademy when it is launched.

In her very short teaser about the new site, Irene also talks about how the ability to hear live music --- and watch the instruments that are making the sounds --- influences how a dancer relates to the music. And I am all for anything that promotes listening to more live music!

I can't wait to check out this studio and blog all about it. I really like online studios and have subscribed to BaSO off and on (when my money allows). One of these days I will blog about what I think the benefits are to these sites, what I have learned from them, and what I definitely cannot learn online (like, how to follow!) I like to use online sites to optimize my learning when I can't get to a studio (one of the problems with being a single mom!).

I'd love to hear about your experiences with online dance studios or any online resource you use to learn to dance. Let me know! Thanks readers!