I've been taking pictures with a DSLR for quite a few years now and the best advice I can give is to concentrate on the basics first. Turn off all the automation and learn how to shoot manual. Then, when you understand aperture, shutter speed, focal length, ISO, spot metering etc. you can study the manual and try to figure out if any of the more automated features still make any sense to you. (To me they don't. I always use spot metering and shoot in either "aperture priority" or "manual" with ISO manually set).

Shooting good-looking images with flash is surprisingly hard. A friend of mine who went down that route and spent the better part of a year learning shooting with flash recommended this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Light-Science-Magic-Fourth-Introductio...

Also, you should learn how to use Lightroom, Aperture, Bibble or similar for post processing. (If you understand how the postprocessing tools work you can shoot with that in mind).

But most important: shoot every day. Practice as often as you can. Bring your camera with you everywhere. If you shoot a few thousand frames per month for a year you are bound to learn something.

Peter Norvig has a good summary of the basics on his web page: http://norvig.com/dance-photography.html