Should beginners attend congresses?

Brownskin818

Brownskin818

Changui
Are congresses too advanced for the typical newbie? Should they be geared towards improving level dancers and up? I ask because I know that as a newbie to my first two congresses, I left extremely dejected and void of any dance confidence. It's also true that sometime after the congress depression left me, I was motivated to get better. But I couldn't really enjoy a congress in a true dancing capacity until my second year or so of dancing.

I know on the board, newbies occasionally come on and apprehensively ask what to expect and whether they should go. The general response is an encouraging one. I've given a few myself. But honestly, if someone I knew and considered a friend came to me asking about attending congress as a newbie, I'd suggest them not to. Unless they were okay with paying those prices to watch other people dance and enjoy themselves... which they very well might be.

But what say you? Would you honestly advise a newbie to go to a congress?
 
newbie at Congress

WOW! Not until your second year??? Well, I haven't even been dancing for an entire year and I plan on going to the Miami and Houston Congress in the fall. I really hope I don't run into that situation.

Perhaps it depends on your progress by the time you make it to a Congress...how much you've been practicing. I know my instructors are telling me that it would be great for me to go to one. Although, I eat, drink, and breathe salsa. It's become my life. There is no such thing as practicing salsa because I am dancing it all of the time.

Not sure how much my comments helped, but I thought I'd add a little sumtin sumtin in there.
 
Re: newbie at Congress

SalsaSamantha said:
WOW! Not until your second year???
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Yea, well part of the problem was that in attempts prior, I thought I was better than I actually was, and the congresses were ugly wake up calls. :oops: :lol: I say two years only because it was at that point that I attended a congress and could "hang". Had I gone to one 6 months prior, maybe I could have hung at that point as well? Dunno. But thanks for weighing in!
 
based on what you said, maybe it was just that you went to workshops above your own level? I've done that before here in town. Twice, actually. I felt so stupid and completely a newbie who didn't even belong in the world of salsa. Before I go to my first Congress, I plan on harrassing all of the instructors and advanced people I know so they can give me an honest evaluation on where I am so I can go to the right workshops. Maybe that is good advice to those beginners going to a congress...
 
Been to 4 congresses now. I can honestly say that the onely one I haven't felt like an ungraceful fraud at was the most recent one in April time...and that was 2 years 4 months into dancing salsa.

Just like you brownskin I had an unrealistic idea of my skill level. I was fine in the classes but overwhelmed in the social dancing and ended up watching a lot.

Another friend of mine feels very much the same way. It didn't help that I mainly had been taught cuban salsa and the congress was predominantly cross body!
 
I think that if it the deal is given straight up to a newbie, they can then make the decision. I've tend to tell them to go, even friends of mine who want to learn have gone and leave with a vigor to truly learn. Yes, many newbies leave discouraged from the less than stellar attention, but the have seemed to use it as a token to cross the toll to dance hood.
 
I think newbs absolutely should go to congresses. Take a group of friends at the same sort of level and you'll have a ball. The parties might be terrifying but they are also inspiring, and you needn't be in misery if you brought your own leaders. They'll wanna try out what they learned that day and will be glad of a familiar face to practice on... uh I mean with.
 
as a newbie

as a newbie and will have only been dancing for 8 months when I get to my first congress, I will take the liberty of reporting my experiences and feelings towards those experiences in this thread. (if i find it.)
 
Brownskin,

Yes, there is a caveat. I think you have to have the right expectations. If you are going to find out what salsa is about, and to give yourself inspiration, then sure. But I think it is most unlikely that after a short time dancing, you would be able to hack it with some of these people who have been dancing forever, and very often as part of dance groups. The logic really, is very simple.

As sweavo says, go with your own friends. And then whatever 'effect' can be tempered, and you can have fun with your friends.

sweavo said:
I think newbs absolutely should go to congresses. Take a group of friends at the same sort of level and you'll have a ball. The parties might be terrifying but they are also inspiring, and you needn't be in misery if you brought your own leaders. They'll wanna try out what they learned that day and will be glad of a familiar face to practice on... uh I mean with.
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Ok, this all depends on your level of enthusiasm, and lots lots of confidence. I consider myself a newbie and I've been dancing for 3 years.

I had taken lessons only 2 years before my first congress (so it's actually 5 years), so yes I was a total newbie. I've been to 2 congresses in Puerto Rico only and going for my third.

My first congress was not a disappointment at all, and yes most of the time I didn't dance so much because i felt overwhelmed, after a couple of dances I started to feel comfortable I lost that overwhelming feeling. Afterwards, I took more lessons and went out dancing and of course got to know people the locals.

My second congress I had a blast, still you have to be prepared for all kind of people that attend. There are the spiners (like I say), the show offs (who only dance with the professional girls! - no offense), the ones who only want your telephone number, the teachers, the leaders and many more.

My opinion newbies should attend, I mean you get to dance with people who know how to dance and all you have to say is "I'm a newbie" and it'll be fine!!! Plus you get watch new moves which you can later incorporate into your own moves.

You get to meet people from different places and make friends and the year after you have a new excuse to attend.
You also get experience, like a job you need experience!!!
 
I am going to my first official congress next weekend and I am a little scared but I am going with an idea of what to expect. My first big event was traumatizing and I did leave discouraged and feeling like I spent a lot of money to watch other people dance, but that was my fault. I will post my experience when I get home.
 
The first big weekend event I attended was not really billed as a congress, but in terms of size and format it was still like a small congress. I had been taking classes for about a year at that point, and I went there on my own. Didn't know a single soul there. Yes it was a good reality check -- it was the first time I saw dancers from outside Scotland, not only "names" like Al & Edie, Susana Montero and Super Mario, but also advanced London dancers. Yes it was intimidating to be sharing the dancefloor with those people. I felt very small. But I still asked guys to dance, and although I had some pretty terrible dances, I also had some great ones. That helped my confidence. It was good to know that I could dance with a complete stranger and have good connection.

That was 3 years ago, I've been to over a dozen congresses and weekenders now, and the experience seems to be pretty much the same every time. I still feel intimidated watching amazing dancers, but I still go around asking for dances. I still get terrible dances, but I always manage to get dances where I go "yes, that felt good" afterwards.

So what I'm really trying to say is, yes, the first congress as a beginner is a scary experience, but the intimidation factor will still be there if you wait till you are an intermediate dancer (unless the level of your local scene happens to be very very high). And you can come back inspired rather than traumatised even as a beginner if you go there with the right attitude -- ask guys to dance! Get lots of dances! Keep asking!


And yes, Sweavo's advice about going as a group is probably a good one (although personally I tend not to ask guys from my local scene for dance at congresses -- I can dance with them anytime I want).
 
There's lots of good advice here for follows, but how about leads? I'd hate to go to a congress after a year of dancing and find myself back in "beginner's hell".
 
i been to a couple...in the social scene im pretty new as well
but i go there and soak it all up ...watch the couples and how they interact and you can learn alot ...of course not as much as being out there but true bring friends and learn together
 
I'm a lead. I've been dancing for 8 months. I'm a quick learner and know alot of moves for just 8 months of dancing. I just came back from the Mambo Project in Miami. What an experience!!

I've been plagued by the inability to pull off everything I know in a social setting...(beginner's hell). However "something happened" at this event. The 2nd night of dancing had my studio buddies on the sidelines cheering while I danced. I pulled off alot of forgotten and new moves with about 5 to 6 follows I've never met before. Not to mention all the new moves and variations to old moves that are now in my brain and am slowly practicing at the studio.

I attribute some of this to the extremely warm welcome I received from everyone there. This made me much more comfortable. People like Magna, Joel & Ana Massicot, Burju & Victor (Hacha Y Machete), Chris Soto, Tony Duarte, etc. I say run don't walk to the nearest congress.

If you sit on the back sidelines like a few people I saw, then you won't ask or be asked to dance. You'll wind up waiting all night and regret it later. My 2 cents.
 
i attended my first congress within a year of dancing.......untill then i had danced only with a few regular people and friends i knew from socials......but in that congress when i danced with so many ladies,it really opened up my dancing and style so much so that when i got back home i was a different dancer! :)
I defi suggest a beginer to go and attend a congress! Go and have fun,dont worry about leads or follows,just dance! :)
The best part about a congress is that u will make friends for life! :)
 
In UK, Club Cubana are running a weekend particularly aimed at beginners and improvers at Pakefield in October this year (Salsa Headway). It's the same weekend as the big UK Congress in Bournemouth but probably likely to be far less intimidating. Also far fewer dancers, lower standard, and fewer "big" names, but maybe it's partly because of this that it should be easier for the newbie to feel comfortable?
I don't know if there are others like this anywhere else.
 
I have been dancing for 7 months when I went to my first salsa congress and I liked it really much. It was a great help that in this event I was with a group of friends from my salsa studio, It's is really much easier to ask for a dance follower you know ;). I think that beginner / improver going to congress has to take appropriate attitude. If you understand that you are just beginning your salsa journey and it depends only on your efforts how far you will get, it is not so scary seeing lots of great dancers around you. It is inspiring.
And the positive side – you get lots of experience. It is great to see lots of instructors with different techniques, to meet other dancers, to try dancing socially with people you do not know.
And one month later I attended the second congress. ;) It was fantastic.
 
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