What would it take for salsa to have a revival?

MamboJazz said:
Very fast salsa songs are hard for linear. The last years quite often was played Marc Anthony's "P'alla voy" at home socials with an average crowd. It was always unpleasant with intermediate followers. The song demands fast pace without stopping, but that is demanding for followers and most got into the red zone. Slowing down and do some swaying is not really appropiate with this song. At home socials I won't ask unknowns again for this. Actually a DJ shouldn't play it for an average crowd.
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This song is a 'very fast ' salsa?!?!! What is the average speed of songs on your scene?!?

This doesn't top 200 BPM, it's around 193 I think. This is popular on linear floors in the UK, as is Vivir mi Vida (faster) & Vailó la Pena (faster). Africando's version of Yaye Boy is also popular. All popular with average crowds, and trust me the overall level here is pretty mid to low.

The issue isn't the music it's probably because people are either taking far too big steps, speeding up & loosing beat & going faster than the music, or they're pretty out of shape.

I dance to songs much faster than this at linear socials all the time, and trust me the level of my local scene is not unusually high!
 
Offbeat said:
No. No. No.

:)


Perhaps where you danced, you did grow up dancing to fast songs. Live music will play crazy fast solos for several minutes.

Please don’t generalize.
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We should ask the followers about fast salsa songs, because they have to run up and down the slot.

Actually I think many intermediate followers have already voted in the past decade by escaping to Bachata...
 
eclo said:
This song is a 'very fast ' salsa?!?!! What is the average speed of songs on your scene?!?
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Well, you know EU salsa has a reputation of being slower. That said most DJs are latinos in my area, so it shouldn't be that different to other scenes.
eclo said:
All popular with average crowds, and trust me the overall level here is pretty mid to low.
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I admit I don't enjoy watching average crowds dancing to "P'alla voy".
eclo said:
The issue isn't the music it's probably because people are either taking far too big steps, speeding up & loosing beat & going faster than the music, or they're pretty out of shape.
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Sure, one should keep the steps smaller. In WCS you practice this, lead should keep his elbows near his ribs thus not giving space for her to run far, and she should do the same. But as linear salsa instructors don't teach such useful things the followers don't know and you see them running with big steps. After three minutes, when the staccato-like mambo section comes up in "P'alla voy", most followers are already dead, but this section would demand even accelerating. As I said I would ask only really good followers for this song. But at festivals where the really good are, this hardly ever gets played.
 
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MamboJazz said:
We should ask the followers about fast salsa songs, because they have to run up and down the slot.
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There aren’t too many followers on SF anymore. Two have already chimed in.

You seem to suggest, for leaders it isn’t an issue but only for intermediate followers? From my personal experience that hasn’t been an issue.
 
Couldn't the DJ just slow the speed down a touch? From what I understand most DJ equipment can easily handle that, even without pitching the notes down.
 
MamboJazz said:
Very fast salsa songs are hard for linear. The last years quite often was played Marc Anthony's "P'alla voy" at home socials with an average crowd. It was always unpleasant with intermediate followers. The song demands fast pace without stopping, but that is demanding for followers and most got into the red zone. Slowing down and do some swaying is not really appropiate with this song. At home socials I won't ask unknowns again for this. Actually a DJ shouldn't play it for an average crowd.
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This is such a wild take. This song is not fast at all and it's a beloved song of Puerto Rican's at bare minimum. I don't play it all that much (because it's been overused), but it's absolutely playable in a linear room.
 
Gaviota said:
Rauw Alejandro's new album has this banger as the closing track. Probably firmly in the camp of too hard for the linear crowd, but wow

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It's not too hard. I just wouldn't play it in the normal flow of a set. It would be right before a break or the last song of the night. It spends 40% of the song in a slow build before there's any drive to the song, and then ends how it began which neutralizes its energy. Once it's done: End Scene.
 
rheemixed said:
Couldn't the DJ just slow the speed down a touch? From what I understand most DJ equipment can easily handle that, even without pitching the notes down.
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Yes! It's a tactic I use to either give slower songs additional life or take the bite off a good song that might push the crowd to take a break after it's done because of it's speed. I want to toe that line as best I can.
 
Offbeat said:
What qualification is that? There are either DJs who play good salsa music (to dance) or not. Being Latino is neither a qualifier nor stamp of approval/authority :D

Other scenes like where? Scenes tend to vary.
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I am thinking of the Colombian dj in my area who plays a remix of "Colombia" by Polo Montañez. It has the opening extended and repeated "Bogotá, Santa Marta, Barranquilla y Cartagena, juega" several times with a lonnnng loud siren going over top.
So Latinos being djs means absolutely nothing ro me.
 
eclo said:
The energy and joy of the kids dancing in their little performance at the end is exactly what it's all about and something us grown ups could learn a lot from.
Those kids got more sabor than a million overly choreographed performance teams.
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Kids are purest expression of joy. As we grow into adults we lose that.
 
It would be nice if teachers showed some linear moves that would work with faster songs. Simple pivots, stripped down combos and turns. Obviously, Cuban dancers dance to super fast songs all the time.
 
sunsoul said:
It would be nice if teachers showed some linear moves that would work with faster songs. Simple pivots, stripped down combos and turns. Obviously, Cuban dancers dance to super fast songs all the time.
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I am not familar with Cuban and Casino scenes. Whenever I have seen them dance, I can’t remember dancing to super fast songs. But my sample size is small since I might have seen it or danced it no more than two dozen times.

Do you have a few examples showing it danced to super fast songs.

Why is there this notion that fast songs don’t get played at salsa socials or events. It mostly seem to be coming from those who primary dance Cuban or dance in Europe.
 
Offbeat said:
I am not familar with Cuban and Casino scenes. Whenever I have seen them dance, I can’t remember dancing to super fast songs. But my sample size is small since I might have seen it or danced it no more than two dozen times.

Do you have a few examples showing it danced to super fast songs.

Why is there this notion that fast songs don’t get played at salsa socials or events. It mostly seem to be coming from those who primary dance Cuban or dance in Europe.
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Not crazy fast but a nightmare if they have no agency, or dance homestyle.
 
Could be considered super fast.

I have mire on my cpu.
And when I was st los van van last January the last song was bananas. No one looked not frantic dancing to it (in havana).
 
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