Cross-over salser@s!

S

salsachinita

Ok, I will take a wild guess that most of us here are die-hard salsa purists 8) ........

How many of us out there have embraced a fusion style....? I mean, isn't the term salsa itself suggest a mixture of more then one elements :P ?

Edie & Al, for example, have incorporated Hip-Hop into their Millinium style of salsa. Luis & Joby during Salsa Brava days seemed to have drawn influences from Afro-Cuban & Jazz Ballet.

Numerous ballroom dancers managed to make a smooth trasition into club salsa; our own CapricornDancer & SD* are excellent examples 8) ..........

One of my favourite local leads has a Ceroc background, he was great fun & totally unpredictable :D .......

Any cross-over dancers out there....? Do you think your own personal salsa style drwas influences from other styles?

To the rest of us....what's your experience in dancing with cross-over dancers...?

*See explanation below :oops: ..........*
 
Since I was a serious Hip-Hop and House dancer for the longest time those two styles naturally fused with my salsa. It works great for me because everyone in my scene is always asking me where I was taught since I look very different than the other dancers in the city. Gives me a uniqueness I wasn't sure I'd ever attain in salsa.
 
salsachinita said:
Numerous ballroom dancers managed to make a smooth trasition into club salsa; our own SD is one excellent example 8)
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Just to be clear, I was actually exposed to ballroom dancing through salsa and not vice versa... although that first salsa was ballroom salsa. :?
 
SDsalsaguy said:
salsachinita said:
Numerous ballroom dancers managed to make a smooth trasition into club salsa; our own SD is one excellent example 8)
Click to expand...
Just to be clear, I was actually exposed to ballroom dancing through salsa and not vice versa... although that first salsa was ballroom salsa. :?
Click to expand...

:oops: :oops: :oops: ........

......thanks for the clarification, SD...!!!
 
Yes, early on in my dancing, I first learned Ballroom, but one of my first teachers taught at the local Salsa club, and I was immediatley enamored by Salsa.
 
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It's funny that you ask that now because I just joined this forum and that's exactly what I wrote in my profile...that I'm fusing two types of dance hip hop and salsa. Hip-Hop or main stream soul line dancing is the dancing I grew up doing so I naturally fuse the two. I'm also taking classes in Hip Hop because the moves change constantly and I need new material.

I stopped going to regular dance clubs when I discovered salsa because there's a different agenda there (we all know what that is) and people are not into dancing as much as they are in a salsa club. I'm not saying people don't meet and date from there as a result but people are more serious about dancing at a salsa venue.

When I discovered Al and Edie which was around the time I first started taking salsa I was overjoyed. Here were some like-minded people who put lots of body waves, glides, pops & locks and funk into their salsa.
I had to first learn the salsa moves before feeling comfortable enough to add some soulful dancing to salsa. I mean leaders don't like you interrupting their lead and I didn't want to annoy them so I waited until I could fuse comfortably.

Luckily one of my teachers has a salsa style that is urban street. When I say that to people I dance with they don't seem to understand because they come from either no dance background or a different country that hasn't been exposed to the feel of the funk.

I am learning more on 2 style because I feel it is funky.
I still like hitting the breaks on 1 because that's funky.
I am learning more afro-cuban style because it is funky.
I have almost all of Al and Edie's tapes/CD's because their style is funky.
I'm not too crazy about ballet type (make ARMS extend up in the air) movements too much because they are not funky and I might hit someone on the dance floor.

...and I can't wait until Al and Edie come to Philly in March to my teacher's studio so I can take their workshop and get a couple of privates with them.
Country line dance moves are also fusible with hip-hop. That's becoming a craze that interests me too. So as you can see everything I'm doing in dance these days involves fusing these types of dance.
I'm glad you asked.

dance.gif
Here's to getting your groove on.
 
ArtsySalsera said:
I am learning more on 2 style because I feel it is funky.
I still like hitting the breaks on 1 because that's funky.
I am learning more afro-cuban style because it is funky.
I have almost all of Al and Edie's tapes/CD's because their style is funky.
I'm not too crazy about ballet type (make ARMS extend up in the air) movements too much because they are not funky and I might hit someone on the dance floor.

dance.gif
Here's to getting your groove on.
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That's what I'm talking about! 8) Awesome ArtsySalersa. :D
 
Going for unique...

Hi Everyone,

Taking a study break to post for the first time. I'm currently in Med school, but in my "free" time I salsa. My dance background is hip-hop and break-dancing, and it was actually through ballroom that I was exposed to salsa which I dabbled with whenever they happened to have a class in it. What eventually happened was that I tried to go out club dancing once and was blown away by what I saw. What I was learning didn't cut it, and the poor girl who I first danced with look like she was having about as much fun as a trip to the dentist. :oops: Well to make a long story short, from that moment on I made up my mind to devote my time mastering this exciting, sexy dance.
As for my style, I can't say I have one yet, but once I work it out and improve more it will definitely be a mix of Afro-cuban (what my instructor teaches) , NY, and LA style...with my very own somethin' special from my hip hop & break dancing of course!!!
 
Mixing different dances is a topic of big interest for me.

I've been dancing tango argentino/milonga/vals for almost 5 years now, and dancing it still feels unbeatable. I've had a time of heavy addiction with taking 2-3 classes simultaneously + dancing > 5 nights a week. I'm a decent dancer on this field I'd say, I've been teaching beginners + intermediate classes and I can reproduce most moves of any tango performace by watching once or twice. But I don't like tango music very much. It's too sad, heavy, depressive, ... for my ears, I never listen to it outside of dancing context.

Salsa music (and similar styles) OTOH is like audible sunshine for me. It's my favourite since I've seen "Buena Vista Social Club", I could listen to it 24/7. Unfortunately until last summer I've not been able to invest enough time to learn dancing salsa properly. So now I've been taking classes and going out regularly for social dancing for ~ 8 months.

I like dancing salsa a lot but I doubt it'll ever feel as great for me as tango/milonga with its close contact that gives me the possibility to perceive and move the body of the woman dancing with me as it was a part of my body.

My goal is to create a fusion of salsa and milonga, danced on salsa music I like listening to so much with much milonga movement integrated. My experiments are very promising so far. The biggest problem is that in the salsa crowd I know there are no people (especially women) who know tango/milonga basics (-> following) good enough. I know some tango women though who used to dance salsa, but they don't seem to have any interest in salsa anymore. So my only chance is trying to infect some tango people with the salsa virus. ;-) I'm working on it. 8)

I'll call the result "Salsa - Buenos Aires Style" :twisted:

Cheers tigre
 
Hmm. My previous dance training is in Scottish country dancing, and whilst I can do a decent paddy-ba I'm not sure that it fits with Salsa timing!
 
Hi SalsaMD! welcome to the forum!
Here is another Med student. In fact, i use to say that i'm a salsera, and in my free time i study medicine... or at least, that's what i try to do ;)
 
I mix the styles together since my beginnings.

Casino, NY, BO2, LA, mambo, Jala Jala.

I usually set the style to fit better with the partner, I'm not a specialist, but good enough to have fun together... :D

When it's possible I mix in the style other influences from hip hop or any move I feel good in that moment...

I like to be free dancing...
 
I used to dance with a Ukranian Dance troup as a teenager, but apart from spotting during spins I don't feel it's influenced my salsa at all. However on the tango / salsa fusion thing....I was dancing at my local fave salsa night last week and found myself dancing with a guy I didn't know - he actually asked my friend who knows him quite well, but she was tired and said 'dance with Clare instead' so very nicely he did. Now this guy dances AT as well as Salsa and I have never had an experience like it. I'm quite a sensitive follow i'm told, and he was making me do stuff I'd never even seen before it was great! Total salsa AT fusion. He said to follow his body not just his hands and we were away - I said 'I don't know how to Tango' he laughed and said 'your doing it' so all in all an extremely positive experience. We'd worked our way through 2 tracks before I'd even realised. Bless the DJ for not throwing on a merenge while I was having fun!
 
I came to salsa through flamenco. In the early days it was commented that I had a very upright posture - this wasn't a bad thing :) There's still one move I do that is pure flamenco :D

I've incorporated an AT style lean as a dip - I repeat it and if the lady is fast enough, will wrap her leg around me :D
 
salsachinita said:
Ok, I will take a wild guess that most of us here are die-hard salsa purists 8) ........

How many of us out there have embraced a fusion style....? I mean, isn't the term salsa itself suggest a mixture of more then one elements :P ?

...Any cross-over dancers out there....? Do you think your own personal salsa style drwas influences from other styles?...
Click to expand...

Of course there are crossover styles. Depending on the song and my partner I will find myself using all kinds of dance styles to interpret my salsa. From lindy-hop to tango, brazilian samba, belly dancing, flamenco and marinera to compas, hip-hop and ballet-jazz. Everything goes.

Salsa is forever changing and evolving. That is the nature of the concept. The very term "salsa purist" probably qualifies as an oxymoron.
 
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