How do you act when you meet salsa stars?

SnowDancer said:
Thinking about it again, I probably wouldn't even recognize most salsa stars. In Palm Springs, I went up to Sonja (of DanceSport, and one of the festival's promoters and instructors), and asked her if she did cha-cha.:oops:
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I don't think it is embarassing. I asked several "famous" dancer not knowing them, and they typically turn out the be nicer and politer than the average women.

A have a similar story to share: I visited some mambo party in Budapest/Hungary. On2 dancing is not as popular there (around 80% is Cuban), but this party was an exception. I just went in and asked the first woman that was standing around and asked here which style does she prefer etc. Then we danced NY on2. After that I was chatting with some local guy who complained about the on2 scene in Budapest. Then I made the remark that I couldn't complain so far: my first dance was quite OK. "Of course", he replied, "she is the dance instructor, the wife of the DJ and they organized the party..." :)
 
heh, for many of them, like friends who have not seen each other in awhile :)

i've seen the best and worst of them on and off the floor. some are really great people, some may seem like asses at first but are actually really nice and then there are others who are exactly opposite.

to me, the best way to act, is to be yourself and to treat them like any other person you meet day to day. accord them the respect for their talent, skill, work but don't fawn. most (not all) of them would prefer to know u as u and are really just great people who are talented and who work hard but enjoy what they do.


J
 
Alright, I'll do it. I call bs on all of you :P If there is anything I've learned in my short time in salsa, it is that salser@s are notoriously self-conscious.

You put Griselle Ponce in front of me and not only will I get nervous, (that is if I get a chance to do partnerwork) I might end up just spending a good amount of time doing shines just so I can admire her style. :D I danced with a well known and very skilled pro tonight, and wow....maybe because one of my friends has raved about her for so many months, was I a little fazed, but I had a great time. My musicality was on point, but man I definitely didn't have my best technically. I'll blame it on my new shoes. :P

Back on topic: Ya'll are frontin' :P and I'm the only honest one in this thread.
 
opm1s6 said:
Alright, I'll do it. I call bs on all of you :P If there is anything I've learned in my short time in salsa, it is that salser@s are notoriously self-conscious.

You put Griselle Ponce in front of me and not only will I get nervous, (that is if I get a chance to do partnerwork) I might end up just spending a good amount of time doing shines just so I can admire her style. :D I danced with a well known and very skilled pro tonight, and wow....maybe because one of my friends has raved about her for so many months, was I a little fazed, but I had a great time. My musicality was on point, but man I definitely didn't have my best technically. I'll blame it on my new shoes. :P

Back on topic: Ya'll are frontin' :P and I'm the only honest one in this thread.
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Interesting post and thanks for your honesty. BTW, I've only had the pleasure of dancing with Griselle once. I think everyone likes the idea of being able to dance with the so-called salsa superstars because in your mind it gives you an idea of whether or not you can hang with the "big dogs."
 
I tend to be quite gushing if I liked their performances. If I do that though I generally don't ask them to dance that time as I don't want it to seem like I'm being a fan just to get a dance. I'll find them later that night and just ask straight out.

As has already been said, they are all ordinary people outside of salsa so you should really just treat them normally. Having had Supermario and Susana Montero as my teachers for over a year before I went to my first congress I found it a real surprise how famous they were. I'd be chatting to one of them and would always be interrupted by people wanting their photo taken with them.
 
AguaDulce said:
I think everyone likes the idea of being able to dance with the so-called salsa superstars because in your mind it gives you an idea of whether or not you can hang with the "big dogs."
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Actually I don't relish the thought of dancing with anyone who is leagues above me and won't ever do it knowingly! A level or two higher than me is fine. As a leader anything beyond that is pointless imo.
 
Offbeat said:
Actually I don't relish the thought of dancing with anyone who is leagues above me and won't ever do it knowingly! A level or two higher than me is fine. As a leader anything beyond that is pointless imo.
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I have a slightly different take on this with a similar result. Its happened to me several times where I accidentally ask someone at a salsa congress who would rather follow on2 and as I dance Cuban or a Cuban style hybrid (depending on the music) I can't get a satisfying connection. In the past I have made both of us suffer through the 20 min band song. My resolution for the future: If I am not feeling it I'll just offer my dance partner to quit early and end our joint misery.

I would rather dance with someone where I am feeling it rather than with soemone who is well known and great to look at as a bystander.
 
'Salsa stars' are only 'famous' within the world of salsa so think some of this may depend how you react to really famous celebrities anyway.

Me, I'm so disinterested in celebrity that often when I see them I can't decide at first where I know them from! Couple of times I've done a double look and thought it must be someone from salsa or work before realised.

As for ones I've spent more time with, they are just people albeit often living a rather different life.
 
Considering outside of work, my life pretty much is salsa right now, that makes salsa celebrity status that much more socially significant. While they are the Beatles, I definitely do react differently when dancing with better follows, usually by getting nervous and focusing on musicality as much as I can. Simply by taking the time and watching someone, you're making a comment, about that celebrities status within the salsa heirarchy. Nothing wrong with it, but people are reacting, even if they think they aren't.
 
I think if I ever had the chance to meet Emily I probably would not be able to speak! Shes that gorgeous. No frontin out of me. Outside of just a few people I dont know whos famous and not yet...In fact in SF I didnt even realize that Albert Torres was the old guy cracking jokes on stage for a while....lol....my friends would point out people to me like o look there famous and I was just like well ok....perhaps things will change when I am not so ignorant.
 
Offbeat said:
Actually I don't relish the thought of dancing with anyone who is leagues above me and won't ever do it knowingly! A level or two higher than me is fine. As a leader anything beyond that is pointless imo.
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But once you reach a certain intermediate level, where you're competent on the dance floor, does it matter that much if your partner is far beyond that? I think some advanced women are happy to dance, as long as you lead smoothly and give them the chance to style.
 
My daughter is a very talented dancer and what I have noticed is that the ones with the ego, do not like my daughter an wish she'd disappear. This is probably because her youth mocks them and they feel insecure. The big stars that do not have ego issues...i.e. Gaby, Liz, Josie, Zul, to name a few follows, know that Missy is just a good dancer and that the biz is really hard and she is way to young to handle it. So, they offer her a spot on their teams. LOL
When you get to know some of these stars......you'll find that each has their own story. Sometimes it's a rather sad story.
 
I had two relatives who worked in the movie industry, an aunt who was a hairdresser and an uncle who was the head of makeup at one of the studios. They both said the same thing: The big stars were generally really nice people who were easy to work with. I think the same is true in the salsa world, with top dancers mostly very kind and friendly. I used to think the snotty girls in my scene were too far above me; and now I realize that they're just snotty.:twisted:
 
SnowDancer said:
I had two relatives who worked in the movie industry, an aunt who was a hairdresser and an uncle who was the head of makeup at one of the studios. They both said the same thing: The big stars were generally really nice people who were easy to work with.
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Very true. I remember when Ben Kingsley stopped in for supper. He was a theatre actor in London touring Europe with Yvonne Bryceland and others in one of the productions mentioned in the link. My mother was a theatre tour manager at the time. Ben was really quiet and self-effacing, Yvonne did all the talking. I could imagine that he is still very quiet.
http://www. thepresidency.gov.za/orders_list.asp?show=326
 
Some of these superstars scare me. I mean, take a look at what Samual L. Jackson did to Michael Sheen for taking the last sandwich at craft services. (That's my daughter in the middle with Carrie-anne Moss).
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agarcia97 said:
I think if I ever had the chance to meet Emily I probably would not be able to speak! Shes that gorgeous. No frontin out of me. Outside of just a few people I dont know whos famous and not yet...In fact in SF I didnt even realize that Albert Torres was the old guy cracking jokes on stage for a while....lol....my friends would point out people to me like o look there famous and I was just like well ok....perhaps things will change when I am not so ignorant.
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Emily is a tripple threat ... she can dance, she is beautiful, and she is very sweet. I think you would pick up on her warmth right away and feel at ease. As for dancing, I think she has seen just about every trick in the book so it would be good if you could really bring it, but she might tone it down to your level as well ... I've never danced with her so I wouldn't know.
 
haha..."triple threat"...i like that

As for asking to dance with her, she will be here in February for the SLC Congress but I doubt I will have the "cajones" just yet.
 
When you dance with a top follow, don't worry about impressing her with moves, 'cause as AguaDulce said, she's seen them all. Just try to relax, dance smoothly, keep it simple, stay on time, and give her the chance to style. She'll take care of the rest.
 
I would love to say that I am totally cool about 'salsa stars' but I'm not. I ignore them completely. I often would like to try to dance with them, but I get the feet equivalent of tongue tied with nerves and go to pieces on the dance floor. I would never knowingly ask a 'salsa star' to dance. I remember when i was starting out someone talking unpleasantly about the kind of girls that hang around the good dancers (teachers / stars etc) and won't dance with anyone else. I remember thinking 'I'll never be that kind of dancer' and somehow that has morphed into this all consuming terror. I'll be honest it has to do with being watched I think. If you dance with a 'name' people watch you and that just makes me go to pieces. I have been a student of Inaki Fernandez and Supermario, I have danced with Inaki 3 times and Mario once for half a dance. The last time I danced with Inaki was about 3 weeks ago and it was horrible. He is a totally lovely sweetheart that I know relatively well - but I still went completely to pieces and was all over the place. I really don't dance to perform - and dancing with salsa names feels like a show, even if they are not putting on a show - you are aware you have an audience anyway. I've been dancing for 4 years now - and it is not getting any better. The only salsa star I danced completely comfortably with was Lee. But he was always in a class of his own.
 
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