Is Salsa a competitive sport?

D

DanceAffaire

Hi ya all,

reading your posts for a while I am under the impression that Salsa is a competitive sport, where become technically better only restricts the number of people you want to dance with/enjoy dancing with. The destinction beginner, intermediate, advanced is also clueing in this direction.

In all other forms of movement I've ever done becoming better made the sport more enjoyable, but with Salsa I am wondering. It just doesn't sound like the fun is bigger the better you are.

So this is my provocative thesis. Am looking forward to your answers!
 
DanceAffaire said:
Hi ya all,

reading your posts for a while I am under the impression that Salsa is a competitive sport, where become technically better only restricts the number of people you want to dance with/enjoy dancing with. The destinction beginner, intermediate, advanced is also clueing in this direction.

In all other forms of movement I've ever done becoming better made the sport more enjoyable, but with Salsa I am wondering. It just doesn't sound like the fun is bigger the better you are.

So this is my provocative thesis. Am looking forward to your answers!
Click to expand...

really? i certainly want to improve my salsa and become better but i remember being a beginner. when i see some1 wanting to dance i ask them to dance not what level they are! if they're a beginner/improver/whatever i try my best to dance to their level so they enjoy the dance. the majority on here IMHO seem happy to dance with any1 also. i know in the recent past in posts people have been very ironic maybe you've missed that? although i can think of possibly 2 people in your category (perhaps) thats not a high statistic compared to majority (again IMO -in my opinion)). people on here seem to ask advice/opinions etc the 'elite' dont need to do that ;) because they know it all already :lol:
 
DanceAffaire said:
Hi ya all,

reading your posts for a while I am under the impression that Salsa is a competitive sport, where become technically better only restricts the number of people you want to dance with/enjoy dancing with.
Click to expand...



Well yes, it is a "competitive " sport-- world champs and other comps are held anually-- however-- the majority of people who come into the genre, do so for many other reasons-- like any other activity, YOU choose the path you wish to take .
The betterment of yourself, in any endeavour, should be commended--- NOT ridiculed .
 
Outside of competing, I was competetive within myself. I would strive to outdo the other girls in my class or in the scene or in the club...whatever. And although I had goals, I didn't absorb that greedy spirit of competition. I just wanted to get really good and be acknowledged for it. I surely admire other talent and totally recognize that there are so many better dancers than me out there. Adn I'm ok with it. I just liked the challendge of improving. So it can be competetive without being in a formal competition.
 
DanceAffaire said:
reading your posts for a while I am under the impression that Salsa is a competitive sport,
Click to expand...
Competitive sport is about being better than others, and at least for me that's not the motivation to get better. I wanted to be better because when I was a beginner I sucked dancing with most people. I didn't enjoy the fact that I sucked. I wanted to dance well with everyone, not just mates from my beginners class. The drive for improvement for me comes mainly to maximise the number of dances that feel good to me and to the partner. So I can't say I'm competing with anyone.
 
I think salsa *does* get more fun as you get better, assuming there are still lots of other dancers at or above your level.

What's *not* fun is outgrowing your scene and having nobody left who can give you a fix.

DanceAffaire said:
Salsa is a competitive sport, where become technically better only restricts the number of people you want to dance with/enjoy dancing with
Click to expand...
These don't go together, and actually I don't think either is necessarily true. I definitely do not approach salsa as a competition of any sort (although some people do).

Also, it's not that you start out having fun with everyone and narrow yourself down. It's more like a sliding window, where you tend to have the most fun with someone just slightly above your own level, wherever that happens to be. (Although 'level' is far less important than chemistry in determining whether the dance will be fun or not.)
 
A part of salsa is competitive - there are competitions. The stakes can be important because if you are making your living as a salsa instructor and you can claim that you are a champion of such and such competition it gives you credibility and improves your likelihood of succeeding as an instructor.

As far as competition goes between dancers in local scenes. I see it happening all of the time. Certain people want to be better than the other one (I see this more in men than women). But these are the exceptions - most people just come to dance and will push themselves to get better. Simply for the sake of getting better - they are in a competition with themselves (so to speak)

As far as the number of people you can dance with. HHHmmm, well, I will dance with pretty much anyone. However, in order for me to have an excellent night I really need to dance with advanced dancers. When i was a beginner I could dance with anyone and have a great night. For me, its about flow and feeling and getting into the music. For me to have an excellent dance I need certain things from the follow 1) connection 2) framework 3) her ability to follow most of my patterns (if you she cannot follow most of my patterns then I cannot just flow with the music. I have to stop and think about what I can and can't lead. WHen I'm really in the zone, I'm not thinking, I'm feeling and going with what feels good at the moment - these are the sweet moments for me!!) So yes, as I have gotten more advanced the number of people I can dance with and really get that sweet feeling have lessoned.
 
There's a part of salsa that optionally is competitive. Not an option I choose, but some do. I'm in it for fun and pleasure, and the interest of improving in something that is challenging in many ways (not necessarily the aerobic or athletic ways).

But salsa is definitely a contact sport!
 
DanceAffaire said:
Hi ya all,

reading your posts for a while I am under the impression that Salsa is a competitive sport, where become technically better only restricts the number of people you want to dance with/enjoy dancing with. The destinction beginner, intermediate, advanced is also clueing in this direction.

In all other forms of movement I've ever done becoming better made the sport more enjoyable, but with Salsa I am wondering. It just doesn't sound like the fun is bigger the better you are.

So this is my provocative thesis. Am looking forward to your answers!
Click to expand...

Salsa is different things to different people. Some people just love the music, some dance, some take dance classes, some dancers perform, some dancers compete, some dancers drink on Friday nights and dance drunk on the corner, etc. It takes all types. I won't let others define what it means to me. :lol:
 
DanceAffaire said:
reading your posts for a while I am under the impression that Salsa is a competitive sport, where become technically better only restricts the number of people you want to dance with/enjoy dancing with. !
Click to expand...

I'm not into salsa to compete with anybody except for myself. I'm want to be become better because I feel that it'll help me keep the dance flowing to the music and to have a great time with my dance partner. But I don't think that it restricts the number of people that I dance with. I still dance with everybody regardless of their level and try to have a good time and enjoy the dance for itself. It's just that the best dances will be with a follower who is at least at the same level. So for me getting better means to enjoy salsa and every dance a lot more and have a great time.
 
It certainly can be a competitive sport, as others have pointed out. But just like lots of other activities - jogging, skiing, snowboarding, swimming - one can enjoy it and strive for improvement without being competitive.

I do push myself to improve, but my main incentive is to please my partners. I want to be smooth so women will enjoy the dance; and I want to learn new moves from time to time so they won't get bored.
 
Terremoto said:
As far as the number of people you can dance with. HHHmmm, well, I will dance with pretty much anyone. However, in order for me to have an excellent night I really need to dance with advanced dancers. When i was a beginner I could dance with anyone and have a great night.
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Interesting. I definitely did not feel that I could 'dance with anyone and have a great night' as a beginner. My experience was more like MacMoto's, where most of the dances sucked and I wanted to get better and start having fun. Dancing with beginners was bad because they couldn't hear the beat or listen to the music, and dancing with experienced dancers was bad because they would drag me through lots of complex moves, which stressed me out, and because the thought of how much of a disappointment I was to the leader made me even more anxious.

Actually my 'beginner hell' lasted EIGHT MONTHS, which in retrospect is a *long* time to stick with something that stresses you out as much as beginner hell stressed me out. I must have been really convinced I would like it. Good thing I turned out to be right. :D

I can remember the exact day that beginner hell ended. An extremely sweet guy who had danced with me the previous week picked me up again, there was a great song on, and all of a sudden I was just relaxed and enjoying the moment and I found myself dancing. My leader was like, "what happened to you? Is this the same person?!" :D
 
In sports the better you get the more you enjoy it because there are always people/groups/leagues at your level or better that you can play with.

Salsa is different because for most people it is only a social activity. Most people are happy to take lessons for a few months so that they can shake their booty on the dance floor. To the trained dancer, they will always remain beginners. Absoultely nothing wrong with that. They just want to have fun.

For those that want to get better, it is very easy to outgrow your local scene especially if you were "competitive" in another sport. By "competitive" I mean doing what it takes and striving to always improve. It gets less fun when you outgrow your scene.

Sometimes you prefer to stay at home and participate in threads like this or catalog your Salsa music. It's been two weeks since I got back from New York and I have not gone dancing back at home. Maybe this Friday :roll: Collecting and cataloging Salsa music is fun, but the problem with that is when your music is better than the DJ's, music at the clubs become less enjoyable :)
 
I'm purely a social dancer. But I try to become the best I can be. I guess partly because it's in my nature, I try to be my best at my job, at school or at anything else I do.
I'd dance with anyone who asks me, but often (not always) I get more of a fix with someone who is a little bit better than me. BUT, I noticed that part of the fun of a good dance comes out of the fun my partner is having - so if I suck and I can tell that my partner is not having a good time, I'm not having a good time with that dance either and I want to improve so that the next time we dance we both enjoy the dance more.
Hope that makes sense.
 
I'm finding that I'm enjoying salsa now on a level I never thought possible after dancing for 2 years. It honestly (well in my opinion anyway) gets better the better you get, as you become more confident and you get to the stage where you're feeling the music more as you no longer have to think about the moves.

The level of competitiveness in salsa depends entirely on the dancer. Some will dance purely for fun and enjoyment, some will dance to perform and compete, and others will do both.
 
When I registered for my first competition last week I asked my teacher how many other of his students were also participating. Imagine my surprise when he told me that out of the hundreds of people who take classes at his school, only about 3% are actually involved in competitive dancing.

He noticed the look of surprise on my face and explained that most real competitors are not even the ones showing off on the dancefloor at socials or clubs or congresses. The real competitiors -he said- are usually good dancers who want to feel improvement and give themselves a specific goal to achieve some progress. The average show-off dancer -he continued- is usually too chicken to go in front of an audience and even more scared of having a judge score his dancing in public.

In fact, he concluded, the people who actually do compete are in it just for themselves, while the people with the inferiority complexes are happy showing off in the comfort of social dancing and criticizing others when they take the stage.
 
Interesting. I don't think you need "competition" to strive to continually improve ... the motivation may be cooperative - lead wants to let follower really shine, follower wants to faithfully interpret the lead.

I've never felt that competitive in salsa - the only times I've entered competitions is when the whole night was at a standstill waiting for volunteers.

My reason for this is I don't like the side of me that competition brings out, it's an ugly, anxious, aspect that destroys the flow and harmony I like to feel and which is the source of my desire to dance.

Or maybe Nikka's right, and actually the previous paragraph is my rationalization of the fact I'm scared to discover that I'm "not all that"!
 
DanceAffaire said:
reading your posts for a while I am under the impression that Salsa is a competitive sport, where become technically better only restricts the number of people you want to dance with/enjoy dancing with.
Click to expand...

I don't really think the number of partners changes. Once you get past the basics you *can* dance all night with as many partners as you wish if you are prepared to do the asking.

The reason that most people strive to be a better dancer is firstly to connect better with the partners they have and then improve the quality of the partners that are available to them.

In essence to be in demand and be able to be selective. Nothing wrong with that. Just as some women improve their looks for similar reasons.

If you are getting all the partners you wish to dance with then there is no reason to make any effort to change.

The amount of fun you have is probably related to the quality of partner but there are many ways to guage quality ; not just technical, but personality as well!

Guys do tend to be more competitive than women in my opinion in the technical area as they see it as the easiest way to make themselves more in demand, just as women often dress up to get more dances from the right leaders.
 
Jones said:
He noticed the look of surprise on my face and explained that most real competitors are not even the ones showing off on the dancefloor at socials or clubs or congresses. The real competitiors -he said- are usually good dancers who want to feel improvement and give themselves a specific goal to achieve some progress. The average show-off dancer -he continued- is usually too chicken to go in front of an audience and even more scared of having a judge score his dancing in public.
Click to expand...

That definitely does not square with my experience. It's admittedly limited as I've only been in a 'competition-oriented' scene for four months now; but I specifically noticed that the best social dancers here are never seen in the competitions. There are some excellent social dancers around but it's always the sort of early intermediates who end up competing.

But I'd like to know what you mean by a 'show-off' social dancer. If a couple is dancing and having fun, and they also happen to be the best dancers on the floor, are they going to be called 'show-offs'?

azzey said:
Guys do tend to be more competitive than women in my opinion in the technical area as they see it as the easiest way to make themselves more in demand, just as women often dress up to get more dances from the right leaders.
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Dress up? I agree that guys are more competitive than women generally, but both leaders and followers have pressure to improve their technical ability in order to get dances with better partners. Showing cleavage doesn't get you 1/100th as far towards getting asked by a good leader as being a good dancer does.
 
compete or die!

No, I hardly believe that, yet is this not Nature's way? Pitting your skills and talents can have a positive aspect to them, indeed simply responding to the original question has spawned quite 'competitive' responses. I must say here that I am especially amused and impressed by each comment. It is refreshing to see that 'thinking' is still IN.
I only with to say that each response added much value to the whole truth of the matter. Like a puzzle to which we all have a piece. Salsa at it's root is improvised. We all know this and so we must therefore question how we may then 'compete' at it. It is self expression and fun is a major factor.
So imagine with me that we are watching a stage full of dancers, each trying to have more fun than the others. What a scene!
As a dancer, I do compete with myself in that I my next dance must be better than my last one, both for the fun and for the skills involved. More than that I strive to make sure my partners have better and better dance experiences, each surpassing the last. Surely that is the whole point.
 
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