My Salsa Story – How This Stiff White Rhytmically Challenged Finnish Basketball Player Became A Salsa Dancing Star :)?

Here is my Salsa story

I have met many beautiful Latin people and I have often observed how many of them just have to hear a little salsa music and their bodies somehow magically and naturally start to contour to the rhythms of the music often without much conscious effort. Well, let’s just say that was not the case with me.

Growing up, I was a basketball player not a dancer. In fact, I remember often laughing at some of the guys in our high school who were dancers, as I thought they looked a little… hmmm… Let’s just say effeminate.

So how did I became to be a salsa dancer?

It was only after moving to United States that I happened to hear some salsa music. And something about the music simply captured my soul.

(Although in all honesty it probably had to do more with the couple of beautiful Colombian girls that I happened to see dancing to the music at the time ☺).

In either case, as I saw these beautiful dancers and heard some of the captivating rhythms of salsa, I was sold. In that instant, I knew I wanted to learn to dance too.

I only had one problem. There were no instructors in the city I was living in at the time. Luckily, however, I happened to meet a couple of natives from Central America who knew a few of the basic steps. Excited about learning salsa, I asked them to show me some steps.

Before I started I was nervous and worried that I was just going to make a fool out of myself. I was also a little worried that learning the dance would be hard for me.

Well, I think at least with the latter, it turned out that I was right.

I quickly realized that I had no talent for salsa dancing whatsoever. But I was determined. I guess it is that thing what we in Finland call Sisu.

I just knew I wanted to learn the dance. And believe it or not it took me months just to hear the rhythm of the music. I was terrible.

First off, I realized that my body is really not made for dancing at it is, and furthermore, my basketball movements were just so ingrained in me that trying to break away from my usually movements felt like I was trying to bend a thick steel bar using only my bare hands.

I started hearing the echoes of my Dad’s words in my head. As I was growing up, he used to jokingly tell me that for sure I could never be a dancer because I was so stiff. My Dad was a world-class marathon runner, so as I was growing up he was often giving me tips and advice on stretching and endurance training to help me on my basketball career.

But learning to move my body in a new way was probably the least of my problems in the beginning. It also did not help that I had no musical ear when I started.

While growing up I actually almost flunked my music class twice, once in third grade because I never learned to play the flute and another time in seventh grade because my teacher told me I had the worst singing voice in the whole school (but those are different stories altogether☺).

But believe me when I say that I have yet to witness a worse dancer in my salsa classes than I was when I started. I remember practicing my ability just to shift weight from one leg to another for weeks. Also, learning to hear the salsa rhythm seemed like an insurmountable task in the beginning.

For almost two years I did not even know about the importance of counting the music. And since I had no teachers or anyone to learn from my progress was slow if not non-existent.

So how did I go from a stiff white rhythmically challenged basketball player from Finland in five short years become a great dancer now competing head to head with some of the best salsa dancers in the world?

Well, here are my six simple salsa success secrets that I think made the difference in my salsa dancing.

1. Be Passionate

Sometimes it takes time to find out what it is that you really enjoy in life. But make sure to always search for your passion, and never to give up on that search if you have not found your passions in life yet. If you see me dance salsa, you can tell that I am passionate about the dance and the music. Finding out those things that you feel passionate about and love will bring you the greatest rewards in life. I believe life is too short to do something you do not enjoy. Learn to be in touch with your heart and learn to follow it.

2. Set Intentions

Don’t be afraid to dream. Once you find out what you are passionate about, set your intentions and visualize your-self effortlessly achieving or becoming what ever it is that you want. I knew that if I simply visualized my-self to become a great dancer, one day it would happen, no matter how far fetched and unbelievable my dream and aspirations seemed at the time. I simply visualized myself to become a great dancer and little by little that dream started to become a reality.

3. Have Faith

I am sure you have heard what Henry Ford said a long time ago: “If you believe you can or if you believe you can’t, either way you are right”. As you are setting your intentions, visualize your end goal in a way that seems like you are already effortlessly doing what you want to be doing or have already achieved what you want.
Feel how good it feels to have already succeeded in what you want to accomplish, be, or have. As I was setting my intentions I simply visualized and imagined how good I felt as a great salsa dancer, as if I already were a fantastic dancer, even though I was just starting out.

4. Be humble

To learn anything new, you have to become open to learning. In doing so you have to allow yourself to make mistakes. For example, I went and performed in the international student event (in the video above), knowing that I was going to mess up and not be perfect. But I was willing to take the risk and allow myself to make mistakes knowing that every mistake that I make would bring me that much closer to become a great dancer as long as I would be willing to acknowledge and learn from them.

5. Find Help

Whenever I traveled to out of state from Louisiana like to California, I always searched for the instructors that I respected and admired to teach me private lessons. I always searched and found out where instructors were teaching lessons in clubs or studios and went to every lesson that I could. When I had a chance to go to a salsa event, I would take all of the different salsa workshops that I possibly could.

And even when I was at home and could not do any of the above, I ordered numerous salsa DVD’s and videotapes to learn from. There is simply no substitute to learning from others and allowing and opening to others to help you along the way.

6. Practice

I practiced, practiced, and practiced. Whenever I visited a city with a salsa club, I went to dance every night I could. Not only that, I made sure I would dance every song during that night. Even when I only knew a basic turn and cross body lead, I would simply repeat my moves in as many different ways as I could. After the song, I would thank my patient follower politely :) , and go ask the next lady to dance. I would then simply repeat my same old moves with my new follower :) until I became very comfortable and proficient in my moves. After that each time I would then learn a new move, I would simply add that move to my existing repertoire and repeat that move the entire night until I mastered it.

So there you have it. I promise you if you apply these six secrets in any area of life, only the sky is the limit for you! I believe you can have, do, and be anything you want in! I think it is the first step that is the hardest and takes the most time for most.

But believe in your-self, never give up, and become the light that shines the way to showing others how to believe in themselves as well!

I hope I get to meet you or see you on the dance floor soon!! To find ways you can connect with me, check the tab on the top of this page.

Wishing you all of the best,

Mikko Kemppe

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