Salsa on the rise or not?
- Thread starter NPEADS
- Start date
Excluding spam bots?
Yes, the number of daily active members, and number of posts are at least 30% more than a year ago.
Mr Setenta
Son
I have been struggling to get people to appreciate this website. How can I recruit more people to join us?
I have the same question. I guess it's always good to drop links to threads that people might like.
I'm also trying to think of some new cool features. when did I could implement soon would be the ability for people to take videos on their phone that appear only on this site. I don't know if that would be cool or not.
esteban307
Changui
Washington D.C. -- This is the general pattern I see for salsa and bachata.
Most beginner dancers start with bachata in their early 20's because the sensual side of bachata is a huge draw with a short learning curve.
After a while, the dancers get better at their craft and look for new challenges. They learn some Dominican bachata and then eventually learn salsa in their late 20's or 30's. This carries them into their mid to late 30's. They usually start with salsa on1, then move on to salsa on2 when they hit the intermediate level.
The bachata, zouk, and kizomba rooms are getting more and more attended at the traditionally salsa events. Salsa is not dead in this area, but IMO it's just not growing as fast as the other dances. However, the traditional salsa powerhouses that host regular social dancing events are still pushing salsa. I've observed other larger Latin dancing events around here (congress level or a step under it) that offered more room for bachata, zouk, and kiz. In those cases the salsa was less attended.
The salsa studios and socials I go to still have a lot of students though in the classes.
This is all cyclical of course. if you check out the keyword searches on google, you can see that the searches for the keyword "dance" goes up and down each year. It's erratic. Yeah, I know that some cities have continuously upward growth, but others don't and that is the keyword pattern on google.
Most beginner dancers start with bachata in their early 20's because the sensual side of bachata is a huge draw with a short learning curve.
After a while, the dancers get better at their craft and look for new challenges. They learn some Dominican bachata and then eventually learn salsa in their late 20's or 30's. This carries them into their mid to late 30's. They usually start with salsa on1, then move on to salsa on2 when they hit the intermediate level.
The bachata, zouk, and kizomba rooms are getting more and more attended at the traditionally salsa events. Salsa is not dead in this area, but IMO it's just not growing as fast as the other dances. However, the traditional salsa powerhouses that host regular social dancing events are still pushing salsa. I've observed other larger Latin dancing events around here (congress level or a step under it) that offered more room for bachata, zouk, and kiz. In those cases the salsa was less attended.
The salsa studios and socials I go to still have a lot of students though in the classes.
This is all cyclical of course. if you check out the keyword searches on google, you can see that the searches for the keyword "dance" goes up and down each year. It's erratic. Yeah, I know that some cities have continuously upward growth, but others don't and that is the keyword pattern on google.
dancingintherain
Changui
Feeling jealous
In my city in india only 1 or 2 salsa class . You mean beginner classes ? 200 . For socials i have to travel too
1 Improbable Salsero
Changui
In Sacramento the scene keeps expanding venues, performance groups and classes:
I would say 60 - 75% growth from 5 years ago. That being said, bachata is growing faster, appealing to younger crowds, and there is expanding interest in kizomba and zouk. Some venues will play a couple kizombas per night, but to my knowledge no regular kizomba events, which are available in the bay area or
congresses. We have a pretty solid latino presence, maybe 30 to 40 % of people who go out to dance.
M:F ratio is about equal, thanks to the prevalence of latin leads. Most venues offer free class prior to dance,
which attracts a steady stream of beginners, many of whom will go to studios for more instructions. Instructors often donate their free classes as a marketing tool. Some of these beginners survive and become intermediates, but a lot of people drop out and try other things.
There is a sizeable portion of regulars who show up weekly, sometimes to several different nights. Mostly these are intermediates, or above. Many people travel to the many workshops and events in the bay area,
Reno, and some internationally.
Most dance on1, as are all beginner lessons, and most classes, but there is a growing movement to on2. On
a typical night you may see a couple people dancing on2. Some people go to the bay area for on2 events
as the level of the dance there, in specific venues, is pretty high.
There is a notable increase in bachata songs in the average venue ; used to be 10 to 20% bachata, merengue, cha cha, reggaeton and 80% salsa. Now more like 50 - 50. So bachata and some of the other
genres are displacing salsa music.
There are many other dance popular dance genres that will often siphon off salsa dancers: tango, WCS, zouk, country line dancing, BR, swing, are all available, and many people will diverge.
If anything there are more venues than there are dancers to fill them - lots of competition for dancers, who
will be eager to try new places and new classes and bounce around to the latest greatest place, only to leave for another. There are a lot of venues with plenty of space to dance, just a couple that are jam packed, maybe due to special event like a live band. The live bands here, in my view, are usually a deterrent not
an attraction.
You can dance pretty much every night of the week, and it is pretty good if you are an intermediate.
Overall the scene is welcoming to newcomers, but there are some cliquey studios and teams, but not a big
force. If you are an advanced hardcore salsero, it is usually worth a trip to the bay area.
One person's viewpoint, I am sure there are others. Overall it is a good place to dance and people are
probably on average friendlier than bigger places. Probably fewer big egos too.
All Events
salsa, bachata, rueda, latin, dancing, clave, music, concerts, midtown barfly, davis, sacramento, nevada city, west sacramento, clubs, sac
sacsalsanews.com
I would say 60 - 75% growth from 5 years ago. That being said, bachata is growing faster, appealing to younger crowds, and there is expanding interest in kizomba and zouk. Some venues will play a couple kizombas per night, but to my knowledge no regular kizomba events, which are available in the bay area or
congresses. We have a pretty solid latino presence, maybe 30 to 40 % of people who go out to dance.
M:F ratio is about equal, thanks to the prevalence of latin leads. Most venues offer free class prior to dance,
which attracts a steady stream of beginners, many of whom will go to studios for more instructions. Instructors often donate their free classes as a marketing tool. Some of these beginners survive and become intermediates, but a lot of people drop out and try other things.
There is a sizeable portion of regulars who show up weekly, sometimes to several different nights. Mostly these are intermediates, or above. Many people travel to the many workshops and events in the bay area,
Reno, and some internationally.
Most dance on1, as are all beginner lessons, and most classes, but there is a growing movement to on2. On
a typical night you may see a couple people dancing on2. Some people go to the bay area for on2 events
as the level of the dance there, in specific venues, is pretty high.
There is a notable increase in bachata songs in the average venue ; used to be 10 to 20% bachata, merengue, cha cha, reggaeton and 80% salsa. Now more like 50 - 50. So bachata and some of the other
genres are displacing salsa music.
There are many other dance popular dance genres that will often siphon off salsa dancers: tango, WCS, zouk, country line dancing, BR, swing, are all available, and many people will diverge.
If anything there are more venues than there are dancers to fill them - lots of competition for dancers, who
will be eager to try new places and new classes and bounce around to the latest greatest place, only to leave for another. There are a lot of venues with plenty of space to dance, just a couple that are jam packed, maybe due to special event like a live band. The live bands here, in my view, are usually a deterrent not
an attraction.
You can dance pretty much every night of the week, and it is pretty good if you are an intermediate.
Overall the scene is welcoming to newcomers, but there are some cliquey studios and teams, but not a big
force. If you are an advanced hardcore salsero, it is usually worth a trip to the bay area.
One person's viewpoint, I am sure there are others. Overall it is a good place to dance and people are
probably on average friendlier than bigger places. Probably fewer big egos too.
As a leader, I am not sure which casino moves will make my salsa better. Casino is easier to learn compared to salsa.
Salsa (dance wise) is pretty rich. If the foundational elements are mastered correctly, it can enrich your dancing life long. But that goes for pretty much any dance. Within a structure of any dance there are a lot of ways to improvisation without straying off the edges.
Learning or dancing different styles only adds to each dance. I don't see casino being unique in that respect.
I have heard excellent salsa, son, bolero, cha cha, guajira, music played by a trio or quartret in tapas restuarant dive bar, sushi place, etc.
Salsa music can be produced cheaply similarly to other music. I don't think cost of music production has anything to do with lack of popularity of salsa among mainstream.
It is combination of lack of marketing, younger generation not liking music choices of older generation, more variety of music available, etc. But the key is marketing. Demand can be created if there is right investment in marketing.
Marketing, marketing, marketing. Think of salsaforum like an event.
1. Partner with stars or pros, so they give it visibility.
2. Wear "salsaforums" t-shirts.
3. Announce contest for best social dancers. Contest goes on for a year. The contest consists of videos being submitted and voted. If video gets less than 10% of vote, it is relegated to also ran.
Trust me, thanks to David, the amount of spam and spam members I am cleaning up every day (even with two fabulous new mods helping out now!) has decreased dramatically compared to a few years ago.
LOL!!!
Hey if you wear it in hostels, we will have many new members joining to figure out what your are wearing
some may even think it is about salsa recipes 
Mr Setenta
Son
Just for fun, why dont we start acting like a secret society when we see each other? We can have secret handshakes and wear certain colours to be able to identify each other.
1derpalm
Son Montuno
Learning casino has definitely helped me as a leader because often enough i come across a follow that dances casino and tries and struggles with linear in a predominantly linear environment. Why limit mine and her opportunities to dance?
And TBH I feel a trained dancer from Cuba is a better leader and or follow than a trained N.A dancer. More adaptable. There. I said it and I mean it. You can tell me I'm wrong but it won't matter.
And TBH I feel a trained dancer from Cuba is a better leader and or follow than a trained N.A dancer. More adaptable. There. I said it and I mean it. You can tell me I'm wrong but it won't matter.
granrey
Son Montuno
It would be way better if the forum had better information for people to use.
However, we have too many "basic" things that we disagree on that make that goal almost imposible.
I have seen VIP on this forum that have been pushed away due to it. Including teachers and film producers. Not saying those who left are correct but if people use more "scientific" methods or real proof to explain things rather than their opinions and experiences. We would achieve that goal.
When I came here I did not salsa dancing (even though I was very knowledgeable of salsa music) and among all the different info. I was lucky someone pointed me in the right direction. But again I was lucky. if it wasnt for that person I would have left confused.
granrey
Son Montuno
I have no doubt about it.