Others say give yourself a few months to fully enjoy Salsa.
They assume that it takes time to be good at dancing.
Is it true?
No. It's only half the truth. Time alone will not grant you a good dance.
Be good at a dance requires three things; (i) knowledge, (ii) physical ability developed through training, and (iii) confidence/right attitude.
(i) Knowledge can be acquired relatively quickly, if you know good sources and if you have been proficient at academic studies. Occasionally it is difficult to find "good sources", though.
Knowledge is important. For example, if you keep dancing Tango as if it is casual Country western, you are not really getting better at Tango. Over time you reinforce your habits, and you are stuck there. To get out of there and change your habits, you need knowledge.
(ii) Physical ability through physical training.
This is where you can make difference most.
Imagine you are learning basketball. If you want to be good at basketball, what would you do? Watch the professional games? Sure. Talk about last nights' game and criticize some plays and tactics? Fine.
But if you really want to be good at basketball, you have to grab a basketball, and start practicing basics. You practice in-place dribbling with your right hand, then left. Then you practice dribbling and moving. You practice shooting from various positions, from right side of the post to left, changing angles. You practice 3-pointers from afar, with different angles. The drills can go on.
Once you can handle the ball and maneuver in the court by yourself, then you are ready to practice with your friends for passing and role play for offense/defense. Game day will come after all these practices, if you want to play a decent basketball.
These practices are the point where you want to take your time to be good at basketball "quicker". They say no shortcut. Actually, knowing what to do and do it is the shortcut.
Even after only one week, concentrated practice every day will make a huge difference compared with untrained self one week ago.
Your body is an animal part of you. It has it's own intelligence (you don't have to think to digest, breath, or keep your heart beating), and it can be incredibly smart. But it follows its own rules for introducing something new and for improvements. It takes certain patience and repetition to train it.
Remember the time when you learn how to ride a bicycle. Train your body until your body takes care of the dance moves automatically. This is what you need to "get better quicker".
Note that training is very specific to the dance you want to install. If you want to be good at Tango, practice Tango. Just like in the example of Basketball, work on important basics you use for the particular dance.
If you look at athletic ability alone, a good soccer player may be well prepared for playing basketball. But he has to learn basketball to play basketball well. Does it not sound like a common sense? This notion is called deliberate practice or purposeful practice.
Once you have sufficient knowledge and physical training, (iii) your confidence should follow. Mental work is no less important. But for most people, I recommend to work on physical training first. It's easier to measure. Showing something through actions is much more trustworthy than "just saying".
The key parts are the first (knowledge) and the second (physical training).
If you want to get better quicker, (1) learn what to do to install good training for the particular dance (and to avoid acquiring poor habits). You may need a coach or an instructor who can help you do that. If they provide well-designed deliberate practice for you, that is great. (Do you remember "Wax on, Wax off"?). Then, (2) "just do it". Train your body until it takes care of the dance moves by itself. This "training" part can take time and patience, but can be a great fun part.
In case of Tango, you practice basics until your dance looks "clean" as a initial goal. For many followers, if she collects her feet neatly at her ankles, pivots on stable axis, and steps to a direction that is well-aligned to the direction suggested by natural body alignment, it looks much "cleaner".
I have seen very good dancers. A character they have in common is that at least at some time in their development, they enjoyed the practice and did it single-mindedly. They don't see practice as tough or pain. You don't want to do painful things. It may be work to some, but enjoyable work to them. Getting better than yesterday's self is their joy. This is the mindset that made them.
So, let's see "training is fun", shall we?
[Practice basics and train your body until you have clean basics. While doing it, have fun]
