How long before you started dancing at the clubs?

M

Morningstar

Hi, I am just beginning Salsa, I am still very awkward to say at least, and I was wondering how long it took you to feel comfortable going dancing at a club?

Also I am taking classes 2 times a week (1hr), I am a male and I have no previous experience dancing ANYTHING! Any guesses how long it might take me not to completely embarrass myself at a club/get comfortable?

I know that everybody is individual but I am trying to get a general sense (poll?) how long a majority of people took to be comfortable enough with their Salsa skills? If you could also indicate if you had any previous dance experience (besides Salsa) that would be great!

Thanks
 
I started dancing at the clubs as soon as I began taking lessons. How else are you going to practice?

P.S. I embarrassed myself at the club PLENTY of times...and I still do ;) Don't worry about it, people only pay attention to the good dancers anyway, so you won't even be noticed...until you start getting good ;)
 
I took lessons and controlled weekend group practice sessions for 6 months before officially going out and dancing socially. I never wanted to learn at someone's expense during social time so luckily the place I was taking classes at has a session every Saturday where current students and former students mingle together and dance. Worked out so when I officially did start dancing at in public i had no reputation, a set of dependable people I could dance with, and a basic understanding of the dance and the music.

That being said....I was a complete mess with the other dances (cha cha, merengue, bachata, Cumbia, NYon2) that make up a salsa/latin night since all I was learning LA Style Salsa
 
Practice, practice after the classes, when you're confident you can dance a little (it's better to dance a few moves well than lots of moves badly), then you'll be ready for the socials. I think it's much better to go with people you know, than on your own. It can be tough not knowing anyone.

When you get there, don't sit down for too long. Try and dance as soon as possible, don't get too settled. As you may find that the longer you're sitting down, the harder it is to get up and dance.
 
The year I started taking salsa lessons, I started in the month of March. I had attended some of the practice socials at the studio where I had taken lessons, but I hadn't gone to a real club to dance to the music of a live band until January of the following calendar year. Prior to salsa, I had zero partner dancing experience.

The comfort you are looking for will come when you realize that most of the other leads in the room are only marginally better you, so I think it depends on how fast you become confident with your leading and timing to reach "comfort".

Then it begs the question, how long does it take to have good timing and good leading? Nevermind asking the "how long does it take" questions, because everyone is different. Instead ask, what steps can I take to improve as fast as my abilities allow? I would say listen to the music so much that you hate it (it's the most passive thing you can do), practice your shines ad nauseum (at home and at work), and since you're a beginner, join a casino rueda class. In my opinion, casino rueda has timing, leading and pattern skills all baked in, plus it's fun.
 
Almost a year since taking classes I danced couple dances a month. Two weeks after moving to Europe, I started danced a lot. Also joined salsa forums. Should have done it sooner, but American ladies only wanted to do slow dances with me and I was too lame for salsa.
 
I think I remember Edie The Salsa Freak talking about some guy who took private lessons (from her, I believe) for two years before he felt confident enough to visit a club. He had some kind of bad experience that really slammed him, though I think it was actually kind of petty - like a lady rejecting his request for a dance.

If I was going to do it again, I'd probably wait longer to check out the clubs. However, I think it's a good idea for all beginning Latin dance students to visit local clubs ASAP, even if you don't dance.

After all, your ultimate goal is to dance at salsa clubs, right? So a little advance homework might come in a little handy. Certain clubs might also make you think twice about salsa - or at least teach you why socials are so important.
 
I also took two classes a week when I started. No previous dancing experience either.

2 months : started going to clubs with people I knew from classes
3 months : started inviting unknown people
4 months : started occasionally going alone to places if nobody I knew would be there and I'd still want to go

It took me a month and a half to get basic step + DQN + enchufela without having to hesitate too much (I started with cuban style).
 
The best way to eliminate that fear of clubs is just to go out to a social as soon as you can.
Dancing only in class can actually harm you as a dancer, as it limits you a lot, and you also miss very much that you gain as a social dancer.

I didn't have such a problem, because the class I attended for the first 6 months or so had a 1.5 hour lesson followed by a 2 hour "party", so since day 1 I got the habit of seeing class as a part of the social, and not seeing the 2 as separate beings.

The 1st time I went to a club was the same week I discovered one not too far away from where I live...
 
I do find it important to be able to do 3-4 basic moves, such as basic step, single turn, alternative turn, dqn/cbl and and maybe an extra one such as enchufela (cuban) or a back spot turn (linear). It took me three week to be able to do two basic steps in a row without messing up ...
Two months was the bare minimum for me ... And damn it was scary ... Having my peer group around for the first few times was a big plus. After that, it's just about pushing yourself to get out of your comfort zone.
I don't believe I went through "beginner's hell", rather through beginner's challenge. Maybe it's just positive thinking that made me see it positively because the music and the dance were fantastic.

Now it's been years and I know a lot of the regulars, but I still force myself to invite at least two unknown followers each time I go out. It's not difficult anymore obviously, but it's still a conscious effort, there is always that lazy part telling me to stick with people I know and I'm sure the dance I'll enjoy the dance with ... But hey it's just 3-5 minutes and it usually goes well anyway.
 
First, welcome to Salsaforums.com, Morningstar!

Morningstar said:
Hi, I am just beginning Salsa, I am still very awkward to say at least, and I was wondering how long it took you to feel comfortable going dancing at a club?
Click to expand...

I think it's difficult to say how long it will take you to feel comfortable as it depends on how quickly you learn the steps, if you have the opportunity to practice after class or meet up with classmates to go out, how friendly your scene is, etc.

But from my experience as beginner, I will encourage everybody to either go social dancing as soon as possible or even better get some people from the class together and go out and practice together. Any class that you take can only explain to you the technique and help you understand how to lead the move and what's the mechanic behind it. You only learn to really dance and get comfortable with your moves by going out and dancing with your classmates as well as asking all the other ladies.

In this regard, I think you might be interested to read the experiences of fellow beginners in the thread A beginner's learning journal - Trying to overcome the Beginner's Hell, which you can also use as journal to add your experiences. Also I've linked in that thread in post No. 4 some other previous threads that might be interesting for you as beginner.
 
I started straight away, but in a dark corner of the club, about 6 months to fully hit the floor.

Just for for is as soon as you can, it is just a dance after all, and as soon as you do, you will wonder what you were afraid of in the first place.
 
It depends what you were afraid of.
If it's afraid of people judging you, as it seems to be your case since you talk about a dark corner, sure, no need for that, nobody cares anyway as long as you don't bump into them, you just have to get over yourself.
If it's afraid to bore to death your follower or maybe even hurt her arm/hand/whatever because you can't lead three moves properly (my case), bang into people because you're so concentrated on doing your basic and stuff like that, I still know why I was afraid of it : it was totally true. After I got my three moves in and basic floor craft, I knew it could be fun do dance with another beginner like me, and bit by bit for higher level dancers...
 
I remember, when I was beginner (I guess 2-3 months old) once I've been to a party in istanbul, everybody was sitting around, nobody was dancing at all. (Later on I realized that people don't start dancing until floor gets crowded.) I asked a girl, she said yes (I guessed she thought I must be really good since I asked her while noone was dancing on the dance floor). Then she said surprisingly "ohh you are a beginner!"
Me: Yesss :)
She: Ohh everbody is watching us now.
Me: So what?
She: They will make fun of me
Me: :?

Anyway, we finished the dance in spite of her bored face :)
 
I was dancing in the clubs before I took salsa lessons. I danced all the merengues, all of them, every single one, didn't miss a single one for the first couple of months. You only need to be able to stand up and walk to dance merengue.
Once I did take salsa lessons several months later all of the beg/int/adv dancers who had danced merengue with me already knew me, so they were more patient with my salsa.

This was back in 1997 when club DJs played more merengue. There was no bachata back then. Today's DJs don't play much merengue anymore. Its mostly salsa and bachata, so good luck.
 
I was the opposite too...in clubs months before I started taking classes. I would go anywhere that had a beginner lesson early. Making sure I had a nice spot in the front religiously. I'd just watch the other dancers at first after that.

But between becoming a regular everywhere and meeting salsa students I had some paitient follows, thank goodness. And that lasted maybe five months until I felt like I wouldn't advance without formal instruction.
 
I started dancing in New Orleans with two couples, Derrick and Mariangel and Troy and Jorjet. Both couples encouraged us to go to clubs and social dance as much as we could from day one. They would even come to the clubs with us for support.
I had no previous dance experience before i started. i was actually teased for not having rhythm. Lol It took me about one year before i felt "comfortable" dancing salsa.

Also, we were encouraged to listen to salsa music and to go to salsa congresses to expand our knowledge and experience dancing with different partners.

Dancing in clubs early on introduced me to Bachata, rueda and merengue. i also met friends that i still keep in contact to till this day! (i've moved to three different states since)

I look back now and feel that being fully immersed since day one has helped me to become a well rounded dancer.

Hope this helps. :)
 
All the places I attended as a beginner had social dancing after the lessons. I was lucky in a way that the first club I attended only had three levels all running in the first hour with dancing straight after (although the teaching quality I now realise was pretty poor). If there had been another level I probably wouldn't have waited for the dancing. I didn't stay all night and was happy if I had just 3 or 4 dances.
I then added an extra night to my learning at a club that did run two hours of classes. By this time I felt confident enough to do two levels (beginners plus and improvers) so I was able to stay on for the dancing.
I went to my first weekender after about 5 months, and started going to party nights. Clubs in the UK usually offer lessons prior to the social dancing and I ALWAYS did the lessons beforehand to get to know people and who to ask (plus have fun - I loved doing the lessons)

On an aside - I have often thought that clubs that have two hours of classes should have the beginners in the second hour to encourage them to stay on and dance, but most
always put them on in the first hour
 
el_Che said:
The best way to eliminate that fear of clubs is just to go out to a social as soon as you can.
Dancing only in class can actually harm you as a dancer, as it limits you a lot, and you also miss very much that you gain as a social dancer.
Click to expand...

To the op: the above is what you need to know.

Also be aware that a lot of dancers who have been dancing for years aren't even much good (in most scenes). You might not have their experience, variety of moves, etc, but if you can stay in time, aren't rough with the followers and actually listen to and enjoy the music - it's time to get some experience.
 
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