Roadmap
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New here? Don’t try to learn 200 moves. Start with Week 1. The path runs salsa and bachata in parallel — pick one column or take both. Each week pairs one fundamental with a few figures that teach it, plus a small improv challenge and a musicality prompt you can try on the floor.
The week-by-week path through Level 1 → Level 2, with the nine fundamentals woven in. Each week names its fundamental, its new figures (vehicles for that fundamental), an improv challenge, and a musicality prompt. Built on the verified library. Last updated: 2026-06-23.
How to read this. The roadmap runs salsa and bachata in parallel — a learner can take either column or both. Figures are named by their library slug. The 12 weeks map onto the five tiers: Wks 1–2 ≈ Beginner I, Wks 3–6 ≈ Beginner II, Wks 7–9 ≈ Intermediate I, Wks 10–12 ≈ Intermediate II; the Advanced tier continues beyond week 12 (sketched at the end). The library uses 5 tiers (B1/B2/I1/I2/A) targeting 100 moves/dance; this 12-week path covers the Beginner + Intermediate tiers, which is most of a dancer's journey. Every figure was chosen so its entry position is already reachable from what came before — the slot rule decides the order.
PHASE 1 — Foundation & Connection (Weeks 1–3)
Goal: a dancer who stays on time, stands tall, connects, and can lead/follow a few moves cleanly. Vocabulary is deliberately small.
Week 1· Timing & Footwork + Posture(Timing & Footwork Foundation, Posture)
The home base. Nothing fancy — stand tall, transfer your weight, find the beat.
- Improv
- stay on time switching between the basics for a full song.
- Musicality
- clap the beat first, then step it. Salsa — find your 1 (or your 2). Bachata — feel the 1-2-3-tap.
Consent & etiquette is introduced this week too, as the floor's ground rule.
Week 2· Frame & Lead-Follow Clarity(Frame & Lead-Follow Clarity)
The physical language. Lead from the body, not the hand.
- Salsa
- Cross-Body Lead, Dile Que No
- Bachata
- Box Step, Semi-Closed Position, Open-Close
- Improv
- basic → cross-body lead → basic, kept clean and on time.
- Musicality
- lead the cross-body on a phrase change, not mid-phrase.
Week 3· Comfort + Connection(Connection, Comfort)
Your partner feels safe and *seen*. Eye contact, soft hands, leaving space.
- Improv
- lead two turns back-to-back without rushing your partner.
- Musicality
- add a one-beat pause (a "your turn" moment) after a turn.
PHASE 2 — Vocabulary & the Slot System (Weeks 4–6)
Goal: the library starts chaining. Learners do moves they weren't told to sequence, because the slots match.
Week 4· Connection deepened (home positions as resets)(Connection)
Learn the three homes as safe harbours you can always steer back to.
- Bachata
- Hand-to-Hand Change, Chest Isolation, Hip Turn
- Improv
- when a chain breaks down, lead a connector back to a home position and restart — practice recovering, not just executing.
- Musicality
- match a home-position reset to a quiet moment in the song.
Week 5· Musicality (intro)(Musicality)
Let the song decide. Salsa breaks vs montuno; bachata Derecho vs Mambo.
- Bachata
- Body Wave — Forward, Body Roll, Cross-Body Lead
- Improv
- dance the verse small and clean; save a bigger move for the chorus.
- Musicality
- in bachata, do body movement on the slow Derecho; in salsa, hit one break with a freeze.
Week 6· Style (intro)(Style)
Your spice — but only on top of clean technique. Style in the gaps.
- Improv
- drop into a shine (salsa) / footwork break (bachata), style for 8 counts, re-collect into a move.
- Musicality
- pick one moment per song to add your own flourish — quality over quantity.
PHASE 3 — Improvisation & the Floor (Weeks 7–9)
Goal: travel, navigate a real floor, and string longer improvised chains.
Week 7· Floorcraft & Safety(Floorcraft & Safety)
Dancing well inside a crowded room. The lead is the radar.
- Improv
- dance a full song using only the space of a single floor tile — compact variants only.
- Musicality
- travel on the build, settle on the drop.
Week 8· Comfort (advanced — wraps & locks)(Comfort)
Close-position moves that need trust. Easy on the joints; never force.
- Bachata
- Hammerlock, Cuddle / Wrap, Neck-Wrap
- Improv
- lead into a hammerlock and out via the unwind back to home — smooth, no yanking.
- Musicality
- hold a wrap through a sustained note, unwind on the resolution.
Week 9· Musicality (deepened)(Musicality)
Read the whole song shape and choose moves to match.
- Salsa
- Setenta (70), Sombrero, Freeze / Hit
- Bachata
- Pretzel, Sombrero, Pause & Hit the Accent
- Improv
- plan three "hit" moments before the song and land them.
- Musicality
- in bachata, footwork/syncopation on the high-energy Mambo section; in salsa, a freeze on a major break.
PHASE 4 — Fluency & Personal Voice (Weeks 10–12)
Week 10· Style (deepened) + Connection(Connection, Style)
Your voice, woven into a dance that's still all about your partner.
- Improv
- a 90-second improvised dance with at least one styled moment and one "your turn" gap for the follow.
- Musicality
- mirror your partner's styling once — call and response.
Week 11· Floorcraft + Comfort (intro to dips)(Comfort, Floorcraft & Safety)
The first dramatic moves — earned, safe, and consented.
- Bachata
- The Lean, Cambré / Back Bend, Shadow Position
- Improv
- lead a controlled lean/dip only after a clear set-up your partner can read.
- Musicality
- save the dip for the song's biggest, most sustained moment.
Consent reinforced hard: sensual/dramatic moves go only as far as the partner welcomes.
Week 12· All nine, integrated — "the real dance"
No new fundamental — instead, put everything together.
- Improv
- dance one full song, unrehearsed, applying every fundamental — and record it to watch back.
- Musicality
- dance the song you're given, not the routine you planned.
Beyond week 12 — the Advanced sketch
Fewer new figures, more mastery. The advanced path is built from combinations, musicality, and refinement rather than a long list of new moves (the library is intentionally deep at intermediate, lean at advanced).
- Salsa advanced:
double-hammerlock,travelling-turns,setenta-complicado,breaking-on-clave, full Rueda calls (dame-dos,adios), long Cuban-Core combinations, the rest of the Cuban-Core engine (candado,balsero,montana,kentucky,ocho,paseala,coca-cola,vuelta-derecha,medio-sombrero,setenta-y-dos,sacala,exhibela,dile-que-si,enchufla-doble), advanced shines (hook-turns,pachanga,swivels,heel-taps,cumbia-step), styling depth (hip-motion,shoulder-shimmies,catwalk), musicality (double-half-time,pause-suspension). - Bachata advanced: the dips-drops family (
side-dip,drop-dip,candle-sentadilla), sensual depth (body-wave-back-side,body-wave-lead,shadow-side-wave),double-turn,free-spin,cross-arm-turn,travelling-barrel-turn,copa(bachata), dominican-footwork depth (triple-cha-cha-step,double-heel,cande-footwork,free-footwork,mambo-footwork,hesitation-pause),full-basic-madrid,diagonal-box-step.
Advanced fundamentals focus: all nine at refinement level — the question shifts from "can you do it" to "does it look effortless and feel inevitable." Musicality and Style carry the most weight.
Open content-roadmap notes
- Advanced salsa figures are thin (4 tagged Advanced). The advanced track leans on combinations + Rueda + musicality. If demand wants more net-new advanced salsa, that's a future content-creation target.
- Two-track vs one-track UX: decide in the app whether a learner commits to one dance first or runs both in parallel. The roadmap supports either.
- Pacing: 12 weeks assumes ~1 fundamental + 2–4 figures per week. Adjust per the eventual subscription cadence (this maps cleanly to a weekly lesson drop).
- Per-style move-by-move tracks (
Salsa-Track.md,Bachata-Track.md) can be generated from this roadmap + the library CSVs when needed.
Ready when you are — browse the full library for salsa or bachata, or read the fundamentals.