Top 10 Basic Rumba Steps & Dance Routine for Beginners

Welcome to this Beginner’s Guide to learn to dance the International Samba! You will start by learning the Top 10 Basic Samba Steps and we’ll build your dance skills from there. Sometimes, when you first start to dance, it may seem so overwhelming because there is so much to learn and understand and of course, do.

For the samba, this is especially true, because it has a variety of timings, and the steps and footwork can be a little more challenging. So, even if you’ve been dancing the Samba for a while, this is still a really good tutorial to reinforce some techniques and skills. You may very well pick up a few extra helpful tips here and there!

In this easy to follow 20 minute latin dance tutorial, you’ll be learning:

1. The Top 10 Basic Samba steps for beginners (We show you the Leader parts and follower parts separately, as well as how to dance these 10 basic samba steps with a partner.)
2. Simple partnering Techniques for Latin Ballroom dancing
3. International Samba Timing and rhythms
4. Common Samba mistakes and how to fix them
5. Basic Samba Technique Tips
6. Tips on leading
7. Samba Timing
8. A basic Samba dance routine that you can practice with these 10 basic steps.
9. How to dance to music
10. & MORE!

For those who want a little more challenge after this, you can check out some other videos such as:

Basic Samba Cruzados Walks (Beginner – Int Tutorial)

Basic Samba Top 5 Mistakes in the Bota Fogo and how to fix them (Intermediate Tutorial)

How to dance Samba Batucada 5 Ways (Advanced Tutorial)

And if this tutorial seems too fast/ too overwhelming for you, no problem! Start with this other How to do Samba Voltas Beginner Tutorial instead – where LiWen shows you the basic volta step very slowly. Remember, this is a new language, so slow down the video, take your time to watch, practice and repeat. Move at the pace that works best for you. Most of all, have fun!

10 Samba Steps you’ll learn in this tutorial (Beginner/ Bronze level):

1. Samba (Reverse) Basic – 1:00

2. Whisk – 2:24

3. Stationary Samba Walk – 3:18

4. Volta – 4:05

5. Bota Fogo – 5:58

6. Under Arm Turn – 7:19

7. Promenade Samba Walk – 8:35

8. Side Samba Walk – 9:45

9. Criss Cross Voltas – 10:48

10. Criss Cross Bota Fogo – 13:04

Basic Samba Routine (with counts): 14:47

Basic Samba Routine (with music): 17:18

Learn Samba Timing – 19:21

Line of Dance (LOD) – 20:49

For each of the above steps, you’ll learn:

A. What the step looks like with a partner
B. Leader’s part
C. Follower’s part
D. Timing of the step with a partner

At the end of the 10 steps, you’ll put it together into a routine and finally dance along with us to music! OH YEAH! Try it out and if it’s too fast and makes you anxious, then just slow it down and do it without music until you’re comfortable with the speed.

There is no hurry for you to learn it all at once. There is a lot of information, and body awareness as well as muscle memory that is required for Partner dancing. So, take your time, create some goals for what you want and start moving!

What is easy? What is challenging for you? Leave us a comment below. And if you have any questions, we’re happy to answer them. 🙂