The best salsa city in the U.S.

[salsero23]

I am a salsero from indianapolis,IN. I love salsa. :D I think about it all the time. I'm always thinking about moves and body isolations and the rythum. Not about style though cuz i like to let that flow naturally heh heh heh. Basically i'm starting to hit my peak here in the city and in a year or two i think i'll have outgrown the scene. There are only about 2 salseras here that let me dance up to my potential. Sure i love to make the others look great and all.... ,and i even took up following!, but i think that i will have to leave to continue to grow as a dancer. Maybe i'm thinking about this the wrong way. The scene is starting to get big with salsa blowing up everywhere. I just don't feel like there are enough salsa addicts like me. Does anyone know a good city to move to with some advanced follows? And does anyone think i'm thinking about this wrong? Looking for opinions.
:?

[memphis salsero]

Los Angeles, California, that would be kind of a big move, but I am moving there from Memphis Tennessee in about 5 weeks. When I decided to move out I picked Los Angeles for that reason. It would probably be a good idea if you could just visit different cities like NY, LA, Dallas, Miami etc. to get an idea of what city dances your style. I dont know whether your thinking on this is wrong or not, I'd like to hear some opinions on that myself

[sarita1011]

DC is also a great place for salsa.

[mambonewb]

DC is also a great place for salsa.

As long as one doesn't wear jeans to certain places? ;)

[sarita1011]

Ha ha. :D

Hey, my jeans are usually form-fitting so I have no problem with that. ;)

[salcero2005]

NYC, I don't think any other place can compare for Salsa. You have a multitude of quality salsa events every day, great bands, great cultural events, great dancers, history etc. You might have 5 or more quality salsa events in one day in NYC. The large number of Boricuas gives you a direct line to PR as well.

L.A. would be my second choice. After that, maybe San Francisco.

[salsero23]

Thx for the suggestions. I will definitely have to visit l.a. and ny. Maybe miami too. Does anyone have and opinions on whether me leaving is a good idea or what they would do?

[kdogg]

DC is also a great place for salsa.

Yeah, DC salsa scene is not so bad; I've yet to check out salsa scene in NYC, Miami, and LA to compare it with.

[salcero2005]

DC is also a great place for salsa.

Yeah, DC salsa scene is not so bad; I've yet to check out salsa scene in NYC, Miami, and LA to compare it with.

For a small town, the DC Salsa scene is decent, but not on a scale of NYC. DC might have 1 or 2 decent salsa events on a good day. Since NYC is much bigger and has much more of a salsa history, there might be 10 or 20 times as many venues to get your grove on.

I would go to the various city websites and see how many clubs, instructors, styles, etc., you have in the various cities. LA, NYC, and Puerto Rico have the biggest Congresses in the USA. Also, see where the music comes from. Outside of Puerto Rico, you have good music in New York, Miami, etc.

Speaking for NYC, groups like Spanish Harlem Orchestra and Jimmy Bosch are the new school and then you still have the Hall Of Famers like Willie Colon and Larry Harlow. In NYC, you can see El Canario a few times a month for free. You have the home of NYC On2 style, salsa socials, and salsa culture represented by artifacts like the clothing of Mambo Fateegz that everyone wears. It all starts right here, baby. The salsa culture is very strong in NYC.

I've never lived in LA, but from what people tell me and what I've seen on the Net, anyway, it looks strong as well.

[Anthony]

wooo~ forget that! u should come to Brisbane, Australia!

We've got a decent place to dance probably every 2-3 days... A lot of clubs play too much Zouk, Cumbia, Merengue... etc... Though u'll always find a good number of couples dancing salsa to all of these. There's probably only 2 venues here that I reckon have good music and play salsa consistently... one of them is held only once a month, the other is once a week.

yeah! forget LA, NY, DC.. come to brisbane...

lol :cry: :cry:

i need to move too.. =/

p.s. lol.. I once asked the guy in charge of music at a venue to play a bachata song.. he had no idea what bachata was, then put on some zouk and asked me if that's what i was talking about. that's how bad it is here sometimes =p

[Jones, Nikka]

My Top 5 salsa cities in North America

1.- New York (of course)
2.- Los Angeles
3.- Miami
4.- Montreal
5.- Chicago

[SDsalsaguy]

Welcome to the SF Jones, Nikka! :D :D :D

[Jones, Nikka]

Welcome to the SF Jones, Nikka! :D :D :D

Oh, wow! the moderator
*bows down to authority*

Thanks! :D I like it here!

[SDsalsaguy]

Welcome to the SF Jones, Nikka! :D :D :D

Oh, wow! the moderator
*bows down to authority*

Thanks! :D I like it here!
:lol:

Glad you like it here.

FYI, Peach (short for peachexploration) is actually the person who runs this site more than anyone else. YAY PEACH!!! :cheers:

[Up in the Air]

Miami is a terrible city for salsa. Yeah, I said it.

Schools
There is only one (1) decent school (Salsa Driven) for LA-style salsa. The others suffer from lack of women, poor location, too many beginners or too costly.

Socials
Nonexistent. I tried to organize a social at Flamingo Park, and the Director passed.

Clubs
Terrible. Parties last a few weeks at the most and then die - or switch venues. Even the smaller venues that have lasted (Tapas y Tintos) have tons of guys standing around waiting for women to show up.

Fort Lauderdale (Broward) surprisingly is better - not by much.

[timberamayor]

Miami is a terrible city for salsa. Yeah, I said it.

Schools
There is only one (1) decent school (Salsa Driven) for LA-style salsa. The others suffer from lack of women, poor location, too many beginners or too costly.

Socials
Nonexistent. I tried to organize a social at Flamingo Park, and the Director passed.

Clubs
Terrible. Parties last a few weeks at the most and then die - or switch venues. Even the smaller venues that have lasted (Tapas y Tintos) have tons of guys standing around waiting for women to show up.

Fort Lauderdale (Broward) surprisingly is better - not by much.
Sounds like I need to go to Miami if there is such a dearth of ladies :)

[olamalam]

As long as one doesn't wear jeans to certain places? ;)

Ahh yeah. And a valid id (in my case passport). For the first time I havent been accepted to a salsa club because of that. (Eve though I had my turkish id which works everywhere)

[bailar y tocar]

Miami is a terrible city for salsa. Yeah, I said it.

Fort Lauderdale (Broward) surprisingly is better - not by much.

Agreed. IMO its one of the worst cities for salsa in the US. And not just LA style, the Cuban style dancers are among the most cliquish I have ever experienced.

Ahh yeah. And a valid id (in my case passport). For the first time I havent been accepted to a salsa club because of that. (Eve though I had my turkish id which works everywhere)

Funny story comes to mind. A guy who is a grad student, had just moved to town and joined our rueda team was in a bar and wanted a drink. Bartender says his driver's license has expired. I told him that he could get arrested for that around here if he got caught driving with an expired license. I think I ruined his night.

[timberamayor]

Agreed. IMO its one of the worst cities for salsa in the US. And not just LA style, the Cuban style dancers are among the most cliquish I have ever experienced.



Funny story comes to mind. A guy who is a grad student, had just moved to town and joined our rueda team was in a bar and wanted a drink. Bartender says his driver's license has expired. I told him that he could get arrested for that around here if he got caught driving with an expired license. I think I ruined his night.

OK ID stories. Going to a club in Fort Collins Colorado with my Swedish boyfriend at the time. He has his Swedish drivers license which was about the size of a passport rather than being something credit-card sized like in the US. The bouncer kept looking and looking and wasn't sure if he should let him in until my brother yelled out "That's the biggest fake ID I've ever seen!" at which point the guy laughed and let him in.

[EMOYENO]

ok... Puerto Rico is a US Territory.. so still I find it the best place to
Salsa dance, but because of the venues and the parties all year around.

Now if you're considering only continental us - not overseas- then i'd def say NYC!!
and New Jersey is not far behind. ;-)

[timberamayor]

ok... Puerto Rico is a US Territory.. so still I find it the best place to
Salsa dance, but because of the venues and the parties all year around.


*like*

[bailar y tocar]

ok... Puerto Rico is a US Territory.. so still I find it the best place to
Salsa dance, but because of the venues and the parties all year around.

Now if you're considering only continental us - not overseas- then i'd def say NYC!!
and New Jersey is not far behind. ;-)

Win an award and slacking already ? Someone got ahead of you ;)

The 'Most likely to resurrect an ancient thread' award
Winner: Emoyeno

[Up in the Air]

I know there's much more to a scene than numbers, but it's a starting point for further discussion.

I'll start:

Schools
LA: 4
Casino: 4

Socials/Practices
0

Clubs
Mo: 0
Tu: 1
We: 0
Th: 1
Fr: 1
Sa: 1
Su: 2

[combo]

I'll just pile on and say New York - best dancing city in the World (well maybe tied with Cali, Colombia (hi Ara!)). I also agree with the others' comments on Miami. I've never been so let down by a dance scene as I was by that in Miami.

Having said that, you're not too far from Chicago, which I proudly think has a pretty decent scene. If you don't want to leave the beautiful weather in the Midwest, Chicago would make sense.

[SnowDancer]

Speaking for NYC, groups like Spanish Harlem Orchestra and Jimmy Bosch are the new school and then you still have the Hall Of Famers like Willie Colon and Larry Harlow. In NYC, you can see El Canario a few times a month for free. You have the home of NYC On2 style, salsa socials, and salsa culture represented by artifacts like the clothing of Mambo Fateegz that everyone wears. It all starts right here, baby. The salsa culture is very strong in NYC.

I've never lived in LA, but from what people tell me and what I've seen on the Net, anyway, it looks strong as well.

:cheers: Totally agree. Also, in NY, every night you'll see loads of random dancers who are so good you feel like you should be paying to watch.

[terence]

IF you like clubs that are 99% latino, with good dancers,then Tampa and Orlando.. Atlanta also has a vibrant "scene"