Where do I start if I have never danced?
How to start dancing salsa
What you need for your first salsa class, how long it takes to click, and why you need neither a partner nor a musical ear.
You do not need a partner
This is what stops most people and it makes the least sense. Salsa classes rotate: every few minutes you change partner and dance with everyone in the room. Coming alone is actually better for learning, because it forces you to understand people who lead differently.
Schools expect most people to arrive on their own. Nobody will look at you twice for walking in alone.
You do not need an ear for music either
Salsa is counted in eight and stepped in six: one, two, three — pause — five, six, seven — pause. That is all you need to hear at the start, and it is the first thing any class teaches.
Finding the "one" in the music takes most people a few weeks. It is not a sign of anything: it is the part you train.
How long until it clicks
With one class a week, in a month or six weeks you can get through a whole song without thinking too hard. Not well, but without losing the beat — which is what you need to start enjoying it.
What really speeds things up is dancing outside class. One night at a social teaches more than three classes, because it forces you to solve things on the spot.
What to bring to your first class
Comfortable clothes and shoes that turn. That is literally it. Trainers are the enemy: they grip the floor, and when the foot cannot turn, the knee does. Any smooth-soled shoe works to start; dance shoes come later, if you stick with it.
Bring water, and a spare shirt if you sweat. It is appreciated.