Bostontraitor
Son
Just tap twice and set her in auto pilot. hands on the shoulder and so the system won't cancel the auto pilot.
Salsa open diary
- Thread starter MacMoto
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Just tap twice and set her in auto pilot. hands on the shoulder and so the system won't cancel the auto pilot.
Bostontraitor
Son
I notice some girls will say "go easy on me" to me while we walk to the dance floor. So I guess I am more of a "difficulty of 8-10, execution of 3-4". that's bad. :{
Bostontraitor
Son
- Joel Adames, 31, and David Fernandez, 40, both died in the Manhattan crash
- The men were on the sidewalk waiting to cross the street when a Subaru Forester SUV collided with a BMW on Sherman Avenue in Inwood around 4am Wednesday
- The impact of the crash caused the SUV to come barreling at the two men
- Adames, a friend of Cardi B, and Fernandez, a local hairdresser and salsa dancer, were rushed to the hospital where they were pronounced dead
Had one of those nights. A great night! Local party was off the hook.
Though I have to say watching how beginners navigate through the scene is really interesting. I know one guy who is an experienced Tango dancer but a beginner at Salsa and comes to parties to improve. I was told he was an elitist Tanguero but he still comes to Salsa and gets the full beginner experience - good and bad. Color me impressed. I could not start Tango since the thought of being a beginner sickens me. Doing it once in Salsa was enough.
Though I have to say watching how beginners navigate through the scene is really interesting. I know one guy who is an experienced Tango dancer but a beginner at Salsa and comes to parties to improve. I was told he was an elitist Tanguero but he still comes to Salsa and gets the full beginner experience - good and bad. Color me impressed. I could not start Tango since the thought of being a beginner sickens me. Doing it once in Salsa was enough.
Switching to/from tango specifically vs any other partner dance is the hardest I think. The biomechanics are very different and the move vocabulary doesn't translate. Significantly worse for leaders than followers I think.
Having a broader partner dance vocabulary is really fun though. You have more latitude to find the best events on a given night if you are open to multiple dances.
My OH has been partner dancing for close to 20 years I think (he learned ballroom, ECS and salsa before we met) and he is still struggling in tango. But we learned WCS together and that was cake with the salsa background. We were able to do a passable dance and have fun almost immediately. I think if you were interested in amy swing dance it would be easy to pick up with minimal beginner's hell.
There is WCS festival going on this weekend. I decided to double dip. After milonga on the way back stopped by for WCS social dancing. This is just local festival since 2019. Generally the social dancing are WCS festivals starts at midnight (which is when to get the night pass for social dancing. I think they started dancing early at 10.30pm. By time I got there the ticket tables were empty. A few people hanging around had no idea. I ask one of the local organizers and she didn’t had any idea either. She said no one is checking for the wrist band, just go and dance.
Dancing WCS reminded me of a few things. The crowd is young from late teens to thirties making up bulk of dancers on the dance floor. WCS is a smaller community than salsa. Yet they are able to attract youngsters. Rejections are rare and followers will do a lot of asking. I danced for about an hour. And sat for an hour because the music turn to that lousy stuff they dance to a lot. Left though there was a couple of hours of dancing still left. At WCS socials there are a lot of older people and some skew older. But at the festivals it skews younger.
Saw a lot of new faces. WCS has been slowest open up. Yet they don’t seem to have any problem attracting younger dancers even after Covid. Except for those with something like a salsa background, West Coast swing is much harder partnee dance to learn. That doesn’t stop newer people from entering. I don’t know know if salsa is losing younger crowd to bachata because it is harder or because there isn’t enough salsa socials.
Dancing WCS reminded me of a few things. The crowd is young from late teens to thirties making up bulk of dancers on the dance floor. WCS is a smaller community than salsa. Yet they are able to attract youngsters. Rejections are rare and followers will do a lot of asking. I danced for about an hour. And sat for an hour because the music turn to that lousy stuff they dance to a lot. Left though there was a couple of hours of dancing still left. At WCS socials there are a lot of older people and some skew older. But at the festivals it skews younger.
Saw a lot of new faces. WCS has been slowest open up. Yet they don’t seem to have any problem attracting younger dancers even after Covid. Except for those with something like a salsa background, West Coast swing is much harder partnee dance to learn. That doesn’t stop newer people from entering. I don’t know know if salsa is losing younger crowd to bachata because it is harder or because there isn’t enough salsa socials.
Of people that started dancing salsa at the same time as me, most of them took on bachata (including me), originally to improve our salsa, but some of them even made bachata their main dance. I think it's not only because it's easier or because there is not enough salsa socials. Speaking for my area: bachata always has more modern songs and quite young teachers. On the contrary, most of my salsa teachers were people around 50, some actually much older. Some of my friends stopped coming to salsa socials as they said they don't like the old-fashioned music (I'm no expert but some of the songs really sound like they are 20 years old). Bachata won't look out of place in a normal club scene, sensual body rolls etc. Now you can say you can do this in salsa too but another observation: many salsa teachers in my area just teach how to march your steps (I had only one class in my life where a salsa teacher would show a hip roll, she was a visiting celebrity at one-time class, and specified it's only for those advanced enough). Bachata teachers teach body rolls, elegant hand movements etc even on beginner's level.... Overall my impression is that bachata is way more modern and thus attracting a younger crowd. Speaking only for my area though, might be different elsewhere. Now I must sound like a huge salsa hater
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Of people that started dancing salsa at the same time as me, most of them took on bachata (including me), originally to improve our salsa, but some of them even made bachata their main dance. I think it's not only because it's easier or because there is not enough salsa socials. Speaking for my area: bachata always has more modern songs and quite young teachers. On the contrary, most of my salsa teachers were people around 50, some actually much older. Some of my friends stopped coming to salsa socials as they said they don't like the old-fashioned music (I'm no expert but some of the songs really sound like they are 20 years old). Bachata won't look out of place in a normal club scene, sensual body rolls etc. Now you can say you can do this in salsa too but another observation: many salsa teachers in my area just teach how to march your steps (I had only one class in my life where a salsa teacher would show a hip roll, she was a visiting celebrity at one-time class, and specified it's only for those advanced enough). Bachata teachers teach body rolls, elegant hand movements etc even on beginner's level.... Overall my impression is that bachata is way more modern and thus attracting a younger crowd. Speaking only for my area though, might be different elsewhere. Now I must sound like a huge salsa hater
Yep you salsa hater, we are sending salsa police after you
Teachers themselves being younger can help. In WCS most of the teachers are older.
From what you described the salsa instructors in your area seem to be out of touch. Hip rolls, body rolls, arm styling etc was taught to beginners in salsa. There is more styling for a follower in salsa than any other partner dance I know. That includes bachata and zouk (because most of the time followers hands are held by the leader).
If you read old threads there are frequent complaints of beginner salsa followers busy doing arm styling and ignoring the lead. In fact the caricature of salsa dancer is the free arm stretched high or extended during cross body lead! More than half the beginner followers used to do that when I was a beginner
Depending on styling you could tell which school/instructor they were taking classes from.it's very interesting how different salsa scene is in different places. I actually met salsa teachers who strongly opposed any styling as in their opinion it looked artificial. Next year I will try some of the bigger salsa festival I'm so curiousYep you salsa hater, we are sending salsa police after you
Teachers themselves being younger can help. In WCS most of the teachers are older.
From what you described the salsa instructors in your area seem to be out of touch. Hip rolls, body rolls, arm styling etc was taught to beginners in salsa. There is more styling for a follower in salsa than any other partner dance I know. That includes bachata and zouk (because most of the time followers hands are held by the leader).
If you read old threads there are frequent complaints of beginner salsa followers busy doing arm styling and ignoring the lead. In fact the caricature of salsa dancer is the free arm stretched high or extended during cross body lead! More than half the beginner followers used to do that when I was a beginner
I think it has to do with whether the movements complement and match any degree of musicality. If it looks spastic, then the canned movements look at synthetic and fake.
Other than the core steps and movements, the rest of the combos are learning how to do the basic movement in variations and combinations that are clearly lead/follows. Accents and personal flavor/sabor is best when the body connects to the music and with the follower.
But I do know what you mean. Some followers and leads usena rigidity to the styling or a performance level exaggeration.
Try 50 years old
A lot of the most classic danceable salsa tracks are from the 1970s.But hey, everything old is new again. My kids and their friends love '80s music. Go figure! But it seems to be a global problem. Apparently new artists are having trouble getting traction because there is too much competition from the oldies.
Is Old Music Killing New Music?
Old songs now represent 70 percent of the U.S. music market. Even worse: The new-music market is actually shrinking.
Bachata won't look out of place in a normal club scene, sensual body rolls etc. Now you can say you can do this in salsa too but another observation: many salsa teachers in my area just teach how to march your steps (I had only one class in my life where a salsa teacher would show a hip roll, she was a visiting celebrity at one-time class, and specified it's only for those advanced enough). Bachata teachers teach body rolls, elegant hand movements etc even on beginner's level.... Overall my impression is that bachata is way more modern and thus attracting a younger crowd. Speaking only for my area though, might be different elsewhere. Now I must sound like a huge salsa hater
Oh well, body rolls weren't invented by Gen Z either!
But salsa has never been a mainstream activity in the US at least. The music can be hard to appreciate for those who didn't grow up with it, and people who enjoy club-style grinding have no incentive to put hours of training into learning a complex, technique-laden dance that few of their peers will ever be familiar with.
Of people that started dancing salsa at the same time as me, most of them took on bachata (including me), originally to improve our salsa, but some of them even made bachata their main dance. I think it's not only because it's easier or because there is not enough salsa socials. Speaking for my area: bachata always has more modern songs and quite young teachers. On the contrary, most of my salsa teachers were people around 50, some actually much older. Some of my friends stopped coming to salsa socials as they said they don't like the old-fashioned music (I'm no expert but some of the songs really sound like they are 20 years old). Bachata won't look out of place in a normal club scene, sensual body rolls etc. Now you can say you can do this in salsa too but another observation: many salsa teachers in my area just teach how to march your steps (I had only one class in my life where a salsa teacher would show a hip roll, she was a visiting celebrity at one-time class, and specified it's only for those advanced enough). Bachata teachers teach body rolls, elegant hand movements etc even on beginner's level.... Overall my impression is that bachata is way more modern and thus attracting a younger crowd. Speaking only for my area though, might be different elsewhere. Now I must sound like a huge salsa hater
Salsa, Bachata and Merengue is normal club music for many Latin Americans. European Bachata Sensual is not really suited for clubs however.
They take the popular club music and remix it with bachata beats added to it.
1derpalm
Son Montuno
I thought I was on "HarlequinRomanceForums" for a second.
I start to appreciate the gift that some people are willing to dance with me, that some of those are willing to engage, and some of those explicitly enjoy the experience. I miss @borikenSalsero and his insights. Over time and experience they start to fill up with meaning.
Bostontraitor
Son
I have this girl from my previous dance studio, who I thought is on the mutual understanding with me that we don't enjoy dancing with each other, therefore don't ask for a dance. I have not asked her for a dance for nearly a year now. But she still make the dramatic moves to avoid me. I was at Boston salsa festival yesterday. In the room that lead vs followers ratio was like 1:2, when she still make those moves (turn around, walk quickly away from me or grab someone quick before I ask...)
Girl, read the room. We had twice as many girls as guys here. You would have to put a gun on my head to have me ask you for a dance. And you'd better don't miss it if you pull the trigger. WTH!
Girl, read the room. We had twice as many girls as guys here. You would have to put a gun on my head to have me ask you for a dance. And you'd better don't miss it if you pull the trigger. WTH!