What was On1 like before LA Style?

Chris_Yannick

Chris_Yannick

Super Moderator
Staff member
Been curious about this for a while now. Mostly talking about the slot form. What was On1 like before LA Style?

I really dislike LA Style as it seems to be the pinnacle of flash and no substance. However, I like dancing On1. I also like guys like Fernando Sosa who can dance On1 with style, but it's obviously not LA Style. Was there some kind of slot dancing happening On1 that wasn't LA Style?

Mostly wondering what was the precursor to LA Style before the Vasquez Brothers came along to commercialize that style.
 
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I like Luis Vasquez style. The footwork and positioning is not so different than to how I dance, and I only ever took casino classes.

From what heard and seen in some videos, it seems like people in Europe were dancing "On1" just whatever immigrants taught them, probably lots of Colombian influence (not necessarily Cali).
 
TikiTaka said:
I like Luis Vasquez style. The footwork and positioning is not so different than to how I dance, and I only ever took casino classes.
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Yes, out of all the Vasquez Bros., Luis is the most un-LA Style like, which is why I like watching him dance. I've seen Johnny dance less flashy, but his over-the-top videos vastly outnumber his more chilled out videos. I do think Johnny is an underrated slow dancer.
 
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TikiTaka said:
From what heard and seen in some videos, it seems like people in Europe were dancing "On1" just whatever immigrants taught them, probably lots of Colombian influence (not necessarily Cali).
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If we're talking slot form, I was under the impression that LA Style was the main style adopted in Europe. Though I have mostly seen Cuban influence and a lot of reggaeton. What would be Colombian influence if not Cali style?
 
Chris_Yannick said:
If we're talking slot form, I was under the impression that LA Style was the main style adopted in Europe. Though I have mostly seen Cuban influence and a lot of reggaeton. What would be Colombian influence if not Cali style?
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Oh I only meant On1 as in timing. Colombian influence meaning similar to cali style but many might not have been from Cali
 
I had heard scfew times that wrst coast salsa had a significant cumbia influence. Seeingvsone old la style vids, I feel like slot wasnt fully evolved, other techniques like cause and effect seemed to not be there as much.
Mind you this was from pattern vids, and I showed up to the party pretty late.
 
1derpalm said:
I had heard scfew times that wrst coast salsa had a significant cumbia influence. Seeingvsone old la style vids, I feel like slot wasnt fully evolved, other techniques like cause and effect seemed to not be there as much.
Mind you this was from pattern vids, and I showed up to the party pretty late.
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That makes me wonder how On1 evolved and whether it really did start with LA Style. Don't know anyone talking about the roots of On1 slot form.
 
As I understand it: on 1 has always been there. Even in Cuba some son dancers dance on 1. But in the mambo era (USA in the 1950s) on 1 was really looked down on so few people danced it.

In the 1960s the mambo scene contracted then in the 1970s the salsa scene exploded. A new generation, albeit also containing plenty of dancers from the mambo era, for whom dancing on 2 was not necessarily essential or even important. So right from the start of the salsa scene on 1 and on 3 were acceptable (although plenty of on 2 dancers remained).

By the time the salsa dance scene exploded in LA in the 1980s or 1990s I think on 2 had completely disappeared - or at least was unknown to the new scene. According to the book Mambo Diablo, when they shot the film Mambo Kings in LA (the film came out in 1992 so probably filmed in 1991 or 1992) TP was exasperated with the dancers (presumably from the nascent dance class scene) because none of them had any idea about how to dance on 2.
 
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