Getting pretty sick & tired of obviously advanced dancers attending beginner classes..

AlejandroKubano said:
Yes, you are correct. As a beginner, I have found my motivation purely in older followers. Were it not for them, I probably would not have kept this up because the way that beginner follows treat beginner leads is with a total lack of understanding & care; and a big part of that is their expectations set by far more experienced leads.
Click to expand...

As a beginner lead you are acting insecure, and that is unfortunately exactly what young women, out of an instinct, dislike the most in men. They gravitate towards self-confident men, and not few of them have this naive view that cool guys have always been cool and insecure guys will never become cool. This view is wrong, as has been proven millions of times. When women get older and more life-experienced they get more reflected and more tolerant about this, that's why you had better experiences with them. But as we are talking about an biological instinct this will never change, and every new generation of beginner leads will struggle with the same again. Welcome to planet earth, just show that you are stronger and fight your way through it.
 
You sound a bit frustated with "advanced dancers going to beginner classes" but I'm wondering if those guys aren't even that advanced?
I've been dancing for over a year and you can definitely see the difference between me and a lead just starting out (obviously as I've done most of the patterns lots of times)
Still, 90% of the times I go to a class, I'll go to a beginner one.
There are plenty of reasons someone might like beginner level classes, I'll try to shed some light into this:
  • Most follows on intermediate/advanced classes aren't that great. A lot of them can perform complex figures but they might still not be following or have lots of bad habits.
  • Beginner classes teach you to lead you more clearly
  • Beginner classes allow you to learn new styles (line vs cuban style for example)
  • The schedule might work better for them
In my particular case, it's a mix of things. I'm not as dedicated now and thus I don't have the mental energy to learn new complex moves that I don't see myself doing in a social environment. I also enjoy helping my teacher, and most times there are leads missing, so I'll usually give her a hand.

PS: I've made both male and female friends on the beginner class, depending on how open people seem to it. I've seen plenty of leads benefit from my advice and improve faster than I did so overall, I believe there's not much harm in what I do.
 
AlejandroKubano said:
EXACTLY, THANK YOU. The moment that the beginner follow dances with some guy who obviously knows his thing, it is like they can care less about you or worse start lecturing you about things that even they don't know. A dance with them is just something to pass the time and go around the rueda to your favourite salsero. This is why I always prefer to dance with advanced followers at socials, they're always much kinder and willing to actually give the newbie a chance, and seem really happy to dance with anyone who has no bad intention.
Click to expand...
It's actually a huge pet peeve of mine when I see a beginner follow "lecturing" a beginner lead. The truth is, learning to lead is though and that simply shows that the follow has no clue. Don't worry about it. That's part of the process, just make sure to use your frustation to practise harder. I got to a point where I was so frustated with some girls that I decided to triple the number of hours per week. Worked great :D
 
AlejandroKubano said:
I know salsa is welcoming & all but, honestly, why are they there? It's quite predatory in a weird salsa way, like going to high school to hook up with teens but you're not gonna go to prison.

I see it all the time: people who have clear obvious experience attend these classes because they want "to learn" & proceed to woo up salsa beginner follows so they're like "wow omg you dance so well". There's always a few of these weirdos, and I hate it because I can't even have an equal damn footing in a class. **** is the main reason why I avoid socials, because beginner follows get swept up by these old vultures & couldn't really care less about me until I am on a great level.. and that's fine, at a party please show your skills but can you not go to a junior class?

I have Googled this & found no topic so I figured to ask. Does this happen in general or is it an isolated case? I've seen it often enough to believe it is a trend..
Click to expand...

I've been dancing many years and used to teach and I'll attend a beginner class if there is a need for more leads because it's follow-heavy, but that's the only reason I'll do it. Is it possible that these leads you're referring to might be doing it as a favour because the class needs more leads?
 
MamboJazz said:
As a beginner lead you are acting insecure, and that is unfortunately exactly what young women, out of an instinct, dislike the most in men. They gravitate towards self-confident men, and not few of them have this naive view that cool guys have always been cool and insecure guys will never become cool. This view is wrong, as has been proven millions of times. When women get older and more life-experienced they get more reflected and more tolerant about this, that's why you had better experiences with them. But as we are talking about an biological instinct this will never change, and every new generation of beginner leads will struggle with the same again. Welcome to planet earth, just show that you are stronger and fight your way through it.
Click to expand...

I would go further - no woman is attracted to insecurity.
 
Amun said:
but once you are out of beginners hell, you realize these guys are actually not good at all, they just learned a few moves that can seem good only to someone completely new. That's why they have to go after beginners.
Click to expand...

Ding ding ding we have a winner folks. Now as an advanced dancer the reason I don't like those guys is they drive new follows off. They are like coyotes. If you don't do anything about them in a few years you will find you don't have a dance scene.

That said a few points to the OP. One of the best things I did was take our progressive salsa 1 twice. I wasn't an "advanced" dancer but I'm sure a lot of the leads and follows in that class thought so. The first time I took the salsa 1 my focus was inward. Second time I was able to focus on leading.

Two, not to toot my own horn I've had a lot of now intermediate to advanced follows say that myself and a couple other leads are the only reason they kept dancing because we were the only ones who would dance with them when they were just starting out. The new guys are too shy and intimidated to ask and while some advanced dancers may come to a salsa 1 the fact of the matter is that many advanced lead's noses couldn't get any higher in the air when it comes to socials. They don't want to look bad so they only dance with a select few follows. This furthers the OP's problem of being intimidated because advanced lead with advanced follow intimidates the new guys. If advanced lead can only do those moves with an advanced follow . When reduced to stationary right, left, cross body right, left and maybe a social step because they are working with a new follow the new shy guys wouldn't feel so intimidated.

Three, new salsa leads are overwhelming one of two things. Super shy introverted guy trying to come out of their shell and have a life or overt grandiose narcissist trying to be the center of attention, and usually become a dance instructor as fast as possible after their failed DJ career.
 
Last edited:
AKon1 said:
Three, new salsa leads are overwhelming one of two things. Super shy introverted guy trying to come out of their shell and have a life or overt grandiose narcissist trying to be the center of attention, and usually become a dance instructor as fast as possible after their failed DJ career.
Click to expand...
see half of me thinks ‘that’s a bit harsh’ the other half is laughing bc it’s so true. Though to be fair to leads I see similar with followers, except I think followers tend to be less likely to have a failed DJ career and more likely to have a failed career as an Instagram dancer.
Eventually they join up and you end up with the final form of the ‘celebrity dance couple’.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top