Shimmy Yourself Svelte

If your gym has just one dance class, then odds on it will be salsa. Here's why

As an aerobic workout salsa is low impact - and gets lower as you get better because the weight is kept on the ball of the foot in an elastic movement that cushions the step. It also works up more of a sweat than you might expect, particularly for beginners, so don't show up in your sunday best. Men tend to have a harder time of it than women, which has the bonus that they get a more thorough workout (in style-defined exercise you tend to bum more calories the worse you are). The downside is that they sweat like beasts of burden and may be hard to entice back.

What can I expect?

Classes don't normally start with an exercise workout as such but rather with a refresher of the most basic steps. You may find these about as hard as walking, but if like me, you've got two left feet, you may end up with your brow furrowed and your legs all over the place for the first couple of lessons. Stick with it and it will come.

Moving on from there the initial moves are practised as individuals, but all classes rapidly move on to partner work. Don't worry if you didn't bring a partner. In a typical class everybody will be rotated to dance with everyone else. Salsa is pretty traditional in its sexual politics and the man is expected to lead. Since men tend to be in the minority, this means any bloke who shows his face will be guaranteed a warm reception, if only from women bored of learning male steps.

You're not really going to learn dancing from the pages of a book, but here are a couple of general pointers to make life easier when you're in the class.

In salsa you avoid having the weight on your heels - you always step on the ball of your foot whether going forwards or backwards. It keeps you lighter on your feet, and more mobile.

When things speed up, through confidence or a shift in the tempo, remember to make life easier (and more stylish) by making your steps smaller.

Even though the hip movement is often the most outstandingly slick aspect of the dance it is not a separate skill from the leg moves. Don't worry about practising your hip movement, focus on the steps and the hips will follow when you are relaxed enough to let the rhythm take over from your head.

Relax your body and keep your eyes firmly fixed on your partner's face. Like they always say to people on window ledges, 'don't look down'. Start to think too much about your feet and they themselves will forget what comes next.