peachexploration
12-30-2004, 12:42 PM
From dancefreak.com
The Miami Salsa Scene Issue …
"Out-of-Towners" in Miami… There are issues? You mean in Miami? The Capital of Salsa? With the biggest Salsa scene in the world? So what’s the "issue" Edie? Hm?
Just as outsiders who don’t know the calls are not welcome into a Rueda circle, outsiders from out of town don’t feel welcome at the clubs.
Yup, I’m here to tell you, that the Miami Salsa scene
is quite different from the rest of the world.
Here’s why.
Ever since Salsaweb’s inception in 1997, I’ve had countless emails from travelers all over the world who have gone to Miami, only to be disappointed that they are consistently turned down when asking a woman or man to dance. I didn’t want to believe it, until I actually went there last year, stayed a month or so, and tried asking several men to dance at various clubs after not being asked to dance for about 30 minutes. I asked guy after guy. After the fifth "turn-down", I started believing my readers. And I RARELY get turned down ANYWHERE in the world I’ve traveled. If it weren’t for Jacira Castro (Salsaweb’s Miami World Correspondent) and Gal Ben-David, who introduced me to several of their friends during my stay last December, I would have sat out most of the evenings.
If you’re travelling to Miami and have never taken a Rueda "Miami style" class, and only plan on staying a night or two, Bring Your Own Partner (BYOP). You’ll get your fix, avoid the frustration of being constantly turned down and not understanding their unique dance style.
If you’re on an extended stay in Miami and are alone, I highly suggest you look up one of the local dance schools, and learn their way of dancing. More importantly, get to know your fellow peers in class so you’ll have people you know at clubs that won’t turn you down.
Miami Dance Style…
The Miami style comes from Cuba. However, it is not typical Cuban. There are many Cubans who dance on Two, and move entirely differently. They do more solo dancing in Cuba than Miami. In Cuba the man will let the woman’s hands go for a while. In Miami, this is a rarity.
Eye Contact…
Another thing that astounded me was that the men rarely look at you while dancing. In fact, I rarely got a glimpse of their eyes at all during the dance. My theory is that they learned Rueda first, where your eyes must be fixed on the Caller. Because of that, when they get to partner dancing, they are not trained to have eye contact. So don’t expect any eye contact. There is nothing wrong with this, there is nothing right with this either. It’s just something to "not" expect.
Ladies….
As a woman, another very important thing for you to remember to get you through the evening in one piece is spaghetti arms. If you’re a woman dancing with a Miami Salsero, you must have spaghetti arms. This is completely opposite from what the rest of the world is taught. Miami Salseros put women into the most amazing arm knots I’ve ever seen in my life. They are very intricate and difficult to learn. Some men only look for the "loosest" and longest-armed women to actually get through some of the moves they learn. When I first tried dancing "my" standard tension-arm style, both of my arms almost broke during a complex behind-the-back move a Miami Salsero did on me. My shoulder muscles were strained and hurt for two days. A hard lesson learned about the spaghetti arm rule in Miami.
Men…
For the man coming in from out of town, it’s a different story. A couple of women who saw my dance partner performing and teaching the "LA Hollywood Moves" workshop with me were eager to dance later on with him. Now I don’t know if it was his teaching, his dancing, or his good looks, but whatever it was, they were DEFINITELY interested in a "taste" of what his lead was like. The women looked fine dancing with the local Salseros they knew. They asked him to dance, and my he gladly accepted. Here’s his story…
"Before we even started dancing, the minute I held their arms, they felt droopy and weak (spaghetti arms). The tension in the arms that I was accustomed to, and trained to expect was simply not there. I started in a basic, and by the fourth step, we were already off. The more I danced with them, the more I got lost. It was like speaking a completely different language. After the night was over, I got to speaking to Thomas, a local instructor from the Salsa Lovers Dance Studios. We were trading moves when he and his girlfriend helped us figure out the secret of how to lead a Miami Salsera. They explained that they step on every beat of the music. It was the tap-step on the Four and Eight count that was throwing me off. There is nothing wrong with this style, however, I can see why it would be extremely difficult for others to dance with Miami Salseras from different parts of the world."
The best thing for a man to do is take a few classes "Miami Style", master the Tap-Step on the Four and the Eight, and learn a few complicated arm-knot turn patterns. With a little added sultry sabor, you just may get away with looking like a native…
This is not a punch at Miami Style Salsa but I was just wondering if any other Salser@s encountered this while visiting this beautiful city? Being as though I live in Florida and have taken quite a few Casino Rueda classes, it would be a little easier for me moreso than someone who doesn't live in the area. Your thoughts? :D
The Miami Salsa Scene Issue …
"Out-of-Towners" in Miami… There are issues? You mean in Miami? The Capital of Salsa? With the biggest Salsa scene in the world? So what’s the "issue" Edie? Hm?
Just as outsiders who don’t know the calls are not welcome into a Rueda circle, outsiders from out of town don’t feel welcome at the clubs.
Yup, I’m here to tell you, that the Miami Salsa scene
is quite different from the rest of the world.
Here’s why.
Ever since Salsaweb’s inception in 1997, I’ve had countless emails from travelers all over the world who have gone to Miami, only to be disappointed that they are consistently turned down when asking a woman or man to dance. I didn’t want to believe it, until I actually went there last year, stayed a month or so, and tried asking several men to dance at various clubs after not being asked to dance for about 30 minutes. I asked guy after guy. After the fifth "turn-down", I started believing my readers. And I RARELY get turned down ANYWHERE in the world I’ve traveled. If it weren’t for Jacira Castro (Salsaweb’s Miami World Correspondent) and Gal Ben-David, who introduced me to several of their friends during my stay last December, I would have sat out most of the evenings.
If you’re travelling to Miami and have never taken a Rueda "Miami style" class, and only plan on staying a night or two, Bring Your Own Partner (BYOP). You’ll get your fix, avoid the frustration of being constantly turned down and not understanding their unique dance style.
If you’re on an extended stay in Miami and are alone, I highly suggest you look up one of the local dance schools, and learn their way of dancing. More importantly, get to know your fellow peers in class so you’ll have people you know at clubs that won’t turn you down.
Miami Dance Style…
The Miami style comes from Cuba. However, it is not typical Cuban. There are many Cubans who dance on Two, and move entirely differently. They do more solo dancing in Cuba than Miami. In Cuba the man will let the woman’s hands go for a while. In Miami, this is a rarity.
Eye Contact…
Another thing that astounded me was that the men rarely look at you while dancing. In fact, I rarely got a glimpse of their eyes at all during the dance. My theory is that they learned Rueda first, where your eyes must be fixed on the Caller. Because of that, when they get to partner dancing, they are not trained to have eye contact. So don’t expect any eye contact. There is nothing wrong with this, there is nothing right with this either. It’s just something to "not" expect.
Ladies….
As a woman, another very important thing for you to remember to get you through the evening in one piece is spaghetti arms. If you’re a woman dancing with a Miami Salsero, you must have spaghetti arms. This is completely opposite from what the rest of the world is taught. Miami Salseros put women into the most amazing arm knots I’ve ever seen in my life. They are very intricate and difficult to learn. Some men only look for the "loosest" and longest-armed women to actually get through some of the moves they learn. When I first tried dancing "my" standard tension-arm style, both of my arms almost broke during a complex behind-the-back move a Miami Salsero did on me. My shoulder muscles were strained and hurt for two days. A hard lesson learned about the spaghetti arm rule in Miami.
Men…
For the man coming in from out of town, it’s a different story. A couple of women who saw my dance partner performing and teaching the "LA Hollywood Moves" workshop with me were eager to dance later on with him. Now I don’t know if it was his teaching, his dancing, or his good looks, but whatever it was, they were DEFINITELY interested in a "taste" of what his lead was like. The women looked fine dancing with the local Salseros they knew. They asked him to dance, and my he gladly accepted. Here’s his story…
"Before we even started dancing, the minute I held their arms, they felt droopy and weak (spaghetti arms). The tension in the arms that I was accustomed to, and trained to expect was simply not there. I started in a basic, and by the fourth step, we were already off. The more I danced with them, the more I got lost. It was like speaking a completely different language. After the night was over, I got to speaking to Thomas, a local instructor from the Salsa Lovers Dance Studios. We were trading moves when he and his girlfriend helped us figure out the secret of how to lead a Miami Salsera. They explained that they step on every beat of the music. It was the tap-step on the Four and Eight count that was throwing me off. There is nothing wrong with this style, however, I can see why it would be extremely difficult for others to dance with Miami Salseras from different parts of the world."
The best thing for a man to do is take a few classes "Miami Style", master the Tap-Step on the Four and the Eight, and learn a few complicated arm-knot turn patterns. With a little added sultry sabor, you just may get away with looking like a native…
This is not a punch at Miami Style Salsa but I was just wondering if any other Salser@s encountered this while visiting this beautiful city? Being as though I live in Florida and have taken quite a few Casino Rueda classes, it would be a little easier for me moreso than someone who doesn't live in the area. Your thoughts? :D