Plus they are moving on every beat. They don't linger for too many beats dancing in place or not moving too much. It is perfectly valid to express the music by slowing down or stretching the movements over several beats. So there is nothing wrong in my books whether someone is dancing soft or hard as long as they are good at expressing the music they are dancing too. But soft dancing in the same gear is what many have got used to. They struggle if you want to change gears and say be explosive for the next phrase.
IMO, there are a couple reasons for this:
Have you heard the music they play now? It's a lot of soft, melodic instrumental stuff a la DJ Ricky Campanelli or Jan Rejinders. When I talk to many followers, many point to these two as their favorite artists (or songs they've produced) or some soft, cheesy Romantica (Not the good kind). This is the type of music dancers are learning with and when you play something different, they find it hard to adjust. Or they just plain dislike dancing to anything else.
I remember when Via by Al Delory was played in almost every club. Even though I think it's very soft, many dancers would try to outdo each other with spins. There is a famous social video of Milton Cobo and Isabel Freiberger dancing to this song and the dance is crazy powerful. Nowadays, people want to do nothing but sway together in the wind.
There is no need for such hard dancing in today's climate. Even the pros today who were dancing like they were in your videos no longer dance like that or have toned it down. However, if they wanted to they still could.
Footwork in general is being neglected across the board so the newer dancers can't change gears because they lack the technique to do so. For leaders, changing gears means more pattern monkeying and moving the arms more. Meanwhile the legs haven't changed gears at all or worse, they revert to an even more stationary state.
I recently danced with a follower who I hadn't seen in about a year. She used to be one of my favorite followers. She is one of those congress girls who dances very nicely, is musical but when we dance, there is only one gear. If I try to shift into a higher gear, there are connection problems. Of course part of the reason could be me. However, when I dance with a follower who has a stronger frame, better technique, more speed and power, I can change gears more frequently without the dance deteriorating into a hot mess.
But my dance preferences have changed because I've changed and I can do more now. I would be completely content with soft dancing if that's all I could do.
(2011-12 is my official salsa start year, FM-trained for the most part)
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