Becoming a Salsero

It is Saturday night and I walk into the party.

It's still early, just 9.40PM. So far only about 10 -20 people have arrived. They seem to be mainly followers. As was to be expected, the dance floor is empty.

I make my way around the room saying hello to the people I know. Given the fact that so few people are there this normally shouldn't take much time. However this party is organized by our dance school as they always do at the end of a course. Because of that there are a lot of familiar faces and it takes me about 15 minutes to make my round.

At the end of those 15 minutes the dance floor is still empty.

All the way in the back there are 3 other leads that I know well. They are just sitting there, looking at the empty dance floor.

1 Of the other leads is slightly more experienced than I am. 1, slightly less experienced the last one has been dancing a fair longer than I have. As they seem to have been there for a while I can´t figure out why they are not dancing yet. In the end I decide that the easiest way to find out is to go ahead and ask.

They all tell me that nobody is dancing yet and they are waiting for it to become a bit busier on the floor.

This is where I get lost. These are the most experienced leads here at the moment and they are waiting for other people to start dancing first. But, if the more experienced leads don't open the floor because they are too intimidated then how can we possibly expect anybody that is less experienced to be the first to dance?

I get confused and decide that a salsa party without people dancing just isn´t right so I walk over to one of the girls and ask her to dance.

She has been dancing for a while now now so I hope she won't be too self concious but as I come closer I can tell that she doesn´t feel completely comfortable. She´s a great sport though and she accepts even though it is clear that she doesn't like the idea of being the first one on the floor.

That is definately something I can relate to. All eyes are on us now and we are not great dancers. Slightly bigger fish in a small pond at best.

We begin to dance and start real slowly. Single turn, cbl, basic. Rinse and repeat.

After a while we start to relax and begin to enjoy the music and the dance. Slowly we incorporate more moves and after a while I have completely forgotten that everybody is watching us.

I laugh of my mistakes and just have a good time. So does she. Laugh my mistakes off that is. She's doing brilliantly. Now that the initial fear has worn off we are just enjoying the dance and forget about everything else. At least, that's what I do.

After a while the song ends and I suddenly realze we are no longer alone on the floor. Some other couples have started dancing as well.

Mission accomplished, this party is open for business!

I thank my partner and I'm off to say hello to some friends that have just arrived.

We talk a bit about the situation (experienced leads being to intimidated by an empty floor) and they start laughing. When I ask why they point to the floor and saying 'looks like you have to do it again'.

As I turn around I notice that the dance floor is empty again.

By now my initial fear is gone and I ask one of the newly arrived girls to dance with me. This time the others are quicker to respond. It only takes about 30 seconds for the next couple to get up and start dancing as well. Before we're halfway through the song there are about 10 couples on the floor. Things are looking up. It seems like the party will finaly get going after all.

When the dance ends I walk over to welcome some other friends that just came in. As I leave the dance floor I see the other couples leaving as well but I don't think anything off it. After all, enough people have been dancing now so someone else is bound to start dancing now, right?

Wrong! Nobody goes near the dance floor. They all sit on the site, looking at each other and the empty floor.

I decide to wait for the song to end. Perhaps some people just need to catch their breath for a second before they continu dancing. They might just start again in the middle of the song. And surely the more experienced leaders will start dancing now that some of their favourite follows have arrived . . .

Unfortunately once again, nothing happens.

The next song comes on while I still stand off to the side, wondering what is going to happen. And indeed you´re right, nothing happens. The floor stays empty

By now I´m completely lost. I have danced and my fear has gone away. The other more experienced leads have danced so surely they realize there´s nothing to be afraid off. Why do they stay on the side=

Halfway through the song I decide to try once more.
I ask one of my favourite follows and as soon as we move towards the floor another couple gets up and comes to the floor as well.

Shortly after that more people join in and, at last, the party has started.

This was the last time that the floor had been empty that night. It would not be empty again until the end of the party.

Still, to get back to the original question, if more experienced dancers won't open the floor, how can we expect beginners to start dancing?

Of course I realize that a lot of them are self concious. So am I. When they tell me it is intimidating to be the first one out there I can relate. I too was scared when I started that first dance.

But after that things got better and I started to think. What am I really afraid off? That somebody will laugh at me? I don't think that has ever happened.

That I am not a good enough dancer perhaps? But not good enough compared to who? After all, if I am the only one on the dance floor then by default I will be the best dancer on the floor :-)

There really is not a a reason to be scared.

Obviously I did not realize that yet when I started that first dance. It took some effort to get over that knot in my stomach and to go out there. The only reason I started to dance was a sense of guilt.

Because most classes are short on men I get asked to help out at a lot. When somebody asks me how I learned to dance so well (it's relatively easy to impress beginners ;-) ) I always stress the importance of social dancing.

And because I always say how important social dancing is I felt obliged to go out and dance. I felt that I owed it to them to get on the floor and dance. To show them that they have nothing to be afraid off, even if I was scared myself at that time.

Looking back though it was the best thing that happened in a while. As soon as I started to have fun it made me realize that dancing is not scary, it´s fun!

So what if I was the first to get up and dance? Sure, I made mistakes. But at least I was out there and I was dancing and having fun. That was after all the main reason that I came to the party.

So why didn't any the other leads do the same? Especially after people had already been dancing. I honestly don´t know and haven´t had a chance to talk to them about it yet.

All I can think of is that the fear was too great for them to overcome. But if that is true than how can we honestly tell beginners that they really should go social dancing? That it a wonderful way to improve their dancing and that they'll improve much faster. How can we say any of that if we with more experience don´t set the example?

Personally I know this won´t happen again. I won't be intimidated by an empty floor scare me anymore. After all, I now know that it's my chance to be the best dancer on the floor so I'm going to get out there and enjoy that ;-)

If you happen to know of a way for me to help others get over their fear please feel free to share it.

Enjoy your dancing!

A couple of months ago I started dancing again in the Netherlands. It took me a while to organize everything and to find a new place to take lessons.

It has been a lot of fun to start dancing again but there is one thing I learned from this experience;

Even in just 2 months I can forget a lot of the things that I have learned!

Aside from that it also taught me something though. I need to keep better notes.

For a while now I've been writing down the new moves/combinations that I learned. At first I just wrote down their names but I soon found that didn't do. I would read the name and... absolutely nothing. My brain just blanked out. Nothing would come to mind.

So then I started writing the actual move/combination down entirely. This worked great for months. My notes served as great reminders on days when I forgot what I had learned in class earlier that week. Taking notes is definitely something I recommend to everybody who starts learning salsa.

Unfortunately 2 months down the road things weren't clear so anymore. When I went over my notes I ran into a couple of problems.

1) I had used the name of another move/combination to describe part of the new move/combination.

2) my note taking had been inconsistent.

Especially the first part became very frustrating when I went through my notes. I would be in the middle of the description of a combination when all of a sudden I ran across the name of another move... that I couldn't remember either. Imagine my frustration when I realized I had never written that move down because it was so 'easy'.

And I have to admit, after I finally figured it out what move went with the name, that it was indeed an easy move. I had not trouble doing it. Unfortunately I had lost a lot of time trying to figure it out again.

The second part was less frustrating but still annoyed me my notes weren't consistent.

Sometimes I would write down an entire 8 second count, second by second. At other times I would only write down which part of the move started on 1 and which part on 5. Although this wasn't a big problem it did have me running into timing problems when trying to remember moves that were a bit more complicated.

So to prevent this from happening I have now started taking complete notes (all counts described) and I've started checking all my notes to see whether moves or combinations I refer to are actually written down as well. I'm sure this will help a lot.

Aside from that I'm considering to use my video camera more often. So far it has been a great tool to give me feedback on how I look but I think that it can do just as well as a visual aid. Together with the written notes I should be able to easily remember moves/combinations that I have forgotten.

But how about you? How do you remember all the moves/combinations that you have learned?

As a kid I danced a lot.

My mom was an A level competition dancer in the Netherlands when she was younger and she thought that dancing was something everybody should learn. Maybe it is only because I have heard it so often but I agree.

Dancing is a great way to have fun, make friends and stay fit. It also teaches people how to interact with the opposite sex, something that a lot of people seem to have trouble with these days. It seems like that ability went out the window around the same time partner dancing did.

But I digress. Not only that, you are here reading this which means I am preaching to the choir again.

I can not remember when exactly my mom first taught me the basics of a Quickstep but it is one of my earlier memories. I can not have been much older than 5 or 6. Slowly I learned the basic steps of other dances like cha-cha-cha, rumba, waltz, etc before I was sent of to take classes. Again I can't quite remember when but it was probably around the time I turned 8 years old.

Even though I don't remember exactly when it was I do still remember the first timethat I got dropped off.

I was a shy kid and the thought of going into a class with other people, especially people I did not know, terrified me.

I tried to get out of it but it soon became clear that was not an option. I was going to have to go. Looking back now it was probably one of the best things that happened to me. I still stayed shy but at least I was not scared of meeting new people anymore.

For several years I would go dancing once a week, slowly making my way up through the levels. Bronze*, Silver, Silver*, Silver*, Silver*. No, that is not a mistakes. I actually have 3 Silver* certificates for both ballroom and Latin dancing and I have no idea why. I am sure there must have been a good reason, especially as I should have 4 or 5 of them. The others seem to have gotten lost though while moving.

At 12 I stopped dancing and started doing martial arts instead. For the next couple of years I did not dance at all. Then, when I was 17, Lambada became popular and I took 2 courses but somehow the dance virus was still gone. After the 2 courses I stopped dancing again.

Then again, martial arts have a lot in common with dancing. I just did not see that at the time. Perhaps I never really stopped dancing after all. At least not until I was about 26.

Fast forward about 14 years from when I was 17.

I was out to dinner with some friends. As it turned out that there would be salsa dancing there that night. I had no idea what Salsa was exactly. My only exposure to Latin dancing up until that point had been ballroom Latin.

As dinner was served 2 people walked onto the dance floor and the music started to play.

From the moment I saw them dance I could not take my eyes off of them anymore. I completely forgot about my dinner that had just been served. I was in awe and wished I had the amazing power that they had. To be able to walk into a room, get onto the dance floor, completely change the atmosphere and leave people speechless.

But more than that even, I wished that I was out there on that dance floor having as much fun as they were obviously having.

The next couple of days I spent trying to figure out what I could do to learn to dance salsa as well and I found that there are several ways. Taking lessons was the most obvious option and the one I instantly went for.

Unfortunately I had some startup problems and it took me a couple of years to finish my beginner's course.

The first time I started work got in the way. I was sent abroad for trainings and projects and was not at home enough to participate in the classes.

1 Year later I tried again. And again, work got in the way. This time not by making me travel abroad a lot but by actually moving me abroad. Trying to get settled in a new country where I did not speak the language was enough to distract me from dancing.

Another couple of years went by and I had finally settled down so I figured it was time for another try. It did not take me very long to realize that, aside from the basic step, I had forgotten everything I learned.

Unfortunately this time life interfered and once again I had to drop out of my class after a couple of weeks. Again.

Finally this year I started again and I had the same problem, I had forgotten everything I had learned aside from the basic step and a CBL.

I am not sure whether or not having started the beginner's course several times has helped me. At the moment I seem to be progressing faster than some people that started as the same time as me this year but then, I think I put more time into dancing than they do.

So that is how I got started. And now that I have made it past "beginner's hell" (it really felt like that for a while) I am thoroughly enjoying dancing again. Even the fact that I just hit a plateau does not phase me at all.

I know I'm internalizing things (see "Salsa is life") and I am having a lot of fun doing so.

What is your story?

One of the posts that I read on SalsaForums.com today got me thinking.

The poster states that he feels something is being lost in Salsa now that it is mainly taught in the dance studios. To quote him:

"But there is something that is being lost, and I have mentioned it before. True Salsa de pareja, not just hand guided turn patterns and close body proximity for a dip or some other trick."

He then challenges the instructors to teach their students to dance more than just flashy combinations. He challenges them to teach their students to dance in close proximity as well.

When I read that statement part of me immediately agreed with him. The first time I saw a couple dance salsa they did a lot of flashy routines but they also danced closed for another part of the song. That made me feel that he has got a point.

It seems like we have indeed lost a lot of our closeness while dancing. But it is not just with dancing. It seems that, as societies, we have also become more distant. At least physically. We had much more physical contact 50 years ago, or even 30 years ago, then we have today. And much like we grew physically apart as individuals, the same seems to have happened to our dancing.

As most of the posters on SalsaForums.com seem to dance in the US and Europe we are more often exposed to LA an NYC salsa than other styles of salsa. So we see a lot more salsa being danced apart than in a close position.

This is probably the main reason that we feel salsa is being danced further apart nowadays.

So how did this happen? Of course I can only speculate but here is my opinion.

To me salsa is like a family. The different styles are different children born to the same parents. Like children they are all individuals but there is one very big difference between these kids. They all grew up in different places.

Some spent their childhood in Latin cultures while others grew up in the US. While they were growing up they were obviously influenced by their experiences and that is how they got to be where they are today. Different individuals even though they share the same basic principles that were handed down to them by their parents.

In my experience Cuban salsa is danced closer than LA. It is more relaxed and it is danced in closer proximity. Perhaps because the Cuban dancers seem to put more value on the connection with their partner.

LA on the other hand is high energy. It is more about excitement and it is danced further apart. The dancers often seem to be more like team members than like partners trying to create a connection. And if we look at the differences in culture that would make sense.

Cuba is more laid back than LA. LA's flashiness and the American goal oriented mindset obviously influenced the style. At the same time the Cuban style was influenced by the more laid back Cuban attitude. That definitely explains how they look so different.

But what does that have to do with dancing close or far apart?

Right before I read this thread on SalsaForums.com I was reading an entry in Jan's blog. As you probably have no idea who Jan is, she is an American who is currently in Europe for a couple of months.

In blog entry that I read she talks about 'that damn kissing business' in Europe and explains how it's completely foreign to her as she is from a "standoffish country".

I think she hits the heart of this discussion with that statement.

A dance is nothing more than the combination of it's the dancers. If you are used to a bit more physical distance then that will show in your dance. There will be more space between you and your partner. If fyou are used to a lot of physical contact then you will dance more close.

As Americans are more protective of their personal space than people from (some) other cultures it only makes sense that they grew to dance a bit further apart.

Does that mean that their version of salsa is not as good as a closer style? I do not think so. There are just different ways you can dance Salsa. And even though they share the same origin, they are not the same.

Maybe, rather than trying to change what the different styles have become we should treat them as different dances.

If you have danced both then you will probably agree with me when I say, they don't just look different. They feel completely different as well.

It could be that I have not been dancing long enough yet but unfortunately I can not explain how the difference in feeling. Then again, I have spoken to people that have danced both styles much longer and they too seem unable to explain. I'm not even sure whether that is relevant in regards to the original question.

So should we start enjoying the dances for what they are? Dance LA for instance for it's high energy and the buzz we get from that while dancing Cuban for it's intimacy and the connection with our partner?

Or should we try, like the original poster suggested, to bring closeness back.

I can see how both make sense and I do not have the answer. But I am very curious to know what you think so please feel free to comment or send me an email.

Yesterday I randomly came Jan's blog.

She dances Salsa and is in Paris at the moment. As I know some people that live there as well I offered to ask for some club recommendations.

One of my friends quickly came back to me with a couple of clubs and I passed the list on.
All went well so far.

Today she wrote an entry about her night out yesterday. It tells the tale of a NY style dancer who ends up in an intermediate rueda class.

It sounds like it was even worse than the time I got thrown into an advanced On2 class.

Sorry Jan. I hope the other clubs will be more fun for you.

As we all know, life is like a roller coaster.

There are highs and there are lows with moments of tranquility and amazing thrills in between.

Learning to dance salsa is just like that. There are highs and there are lows with moments of tranquility and amazing thrills in between.

Sometimes we think the stars are within our reach. At other times we feel like we will never learn to dance properly. What we often forget though is that all this time, during both the highs and the lows, we are making progress.

I'll be the first to admit that it often does not feel that way. The main reason for that is that change is often a very gradual process. It take place so slowly that we do not even notice it.

Let's look at it from another point of view first.
If you were to walk 100 meters on day 1 and the next day you would add 3 more meters you would not even notice the difference. Oh, for all of you not using the metric system, a meter is about 3 yards.

Now if you keep this up for a month you will have almost doubled the distance that you have walked on the first day. To you it will not feel like it has taken any more effort but you still walked twice as far. And unless you were walking along the same stretch of road all the time you probably will not even notice that you now walk further.

Dancing is no different. Sometimes we feel like we are not making any progress at all. We might have gone without learning anything new for a month. Or maybe we did learn things but we just can not seem to get them down at all.

But how we perceive things can be completely different from how they really are. Even though we feel that we have not learned anything we will have improved. Unconsciously, we will have been working on perfecting moves that we already know.

When we learn to dance we will soon enough learn to do a cross body lead, inside turn. After having danced for a while we can do this without thinking. However, that does not stop us from improving that simple move.

Consciously we stop paying attention to it. But several months down the line we will all of a sudden realize that we have 'found time' in the move and we start adding styling. Obviously there is no more time than there was the first time we danced it. We have just been perfecting the move over the last couple of months because we have done it so often.

This happens all the time. Even during our most frustrating moments we will be working on things that we already know. The moves we dance without having to give them any thought at all.

So enjoy the highs, enjoy the tranquility and enjoy the thrills as you would anyway. But also start enjoying the lows knowing that even though it may not feel that way, you are improving.

Really you are!

I know that may sound hard to believe but you know what?
I am one of the world's best dancers as well !

Yes, I will be the first to admit it. That is even harder to believe.
After all, when you read this you will most likely have been dancing longer than I have. You know you are a much better dancer than I am and you don't think that you are that great.

So what makes me so arrogant?
How can I claim to be one of the world's best dancers?

Well, not to long ago I had an awful time on the dance floor.
Not only did I have a hard time finding the beat but when I did it slipped away again so quickly that I could not help but wonder if I had ever found it at all.

Aside from that I could barely remember how to do anything else than a cross body lead. I did managed to pull off a couple of turns but that was about it.

The lady I was dancing with was kind enough to say that she was having the same problem but I am sure that was because my lead was horrible that night as well.

To make things worse, we were the only couple dancing. There were no other couples for people to focus on. We could not hide between the other couples, trying to stay out of sight.

When the song ended we walked back to our table, pretty embarrassed, and we prepared ourself for criticism. We half expected people to be laughing at us. We had prepared our defenses though.

My excuses were going to range from 'I guess I am having an off day' and 'The sounds system is terrible, I could not make out half the music' to the even more ridiculous 'I must have eaten something wrong. I feel horrible'.

All in all it was one of those times that I would try to forget as quickly as possible.

And, as we expected, as soon as we had sat down people started to turn to us.
Except that, instead of criticizing us, they started complimenting us!

They told us how they had enjoyed watching the show and how great it was.
Some even asked us if we could recommend instructors.

For a second I was completely confused.

Were they being sarcastic? We were in the Netherlands after all and as dutch people tend to enjoy sarcasm it would not be unlikely at all.

But then it hit me. 99.9% Of the people you meet in your life will never have danced salsa. Actually, a large percentage of people you meet in your daily life will not even have seen a couple dancing salsa.

When you are on the floor and they see you do a cross body lead followed by a couple of spins they think you are a star. Like a popular dutch saying goes 'In the land of the blind the man with one eye is king'.

And this was the situation that night. We were the only couple in that bar that knew how to dance salsa. We looked amazing to the uninitiated.

So next time that have a bad day and you are wondering whether you are ever going to learn to dance at all, just keep this in mind.

You are already part of the 0.01% of people that know how to dance salsa. That alone makes you one of the world's best dancers!

Why cameras are better than mirrors.


Whenever I am at a festival, congress or workshop I am always impressed with the amount of attention the stars there get.

Sometimes it seems like they have more cameras pointed at them than the average movie star. And for good reason. Their performance, whether it is a show or a demonstration of combinations that they taught earlier, is often amazing. Not capturing it means losing out on a chance to not only admire it but to learn from it as well.

But only using our cameras to tape the stars is such a waste of that wonderful technical invention. Why not use your camera all the time to tape yourself dancing instead? Or if not all the time than at least start using the camera when you practice at home.

Even more so than by looking in the mirror you will see things that you may never have been aware of. Don't get me wrong, I think mirrors are great. Especially the full size mirrors they have in studios. Unfortunately they have a downside. They don't come with a rewind button.

If your focusing on your arms when you look in the mirror you will not be able to see what happens with the rest of your body. If you look at your legs, same thing. You will never be able to see all of your body movements at the same time. Our vision just does not work that way.

What happens is that our eyes take lots of pictures. At the same time our mind processes all those pictures and turns them into a streaming movie. As it is though, our mind is also an editor.

While it is combining the images it gives most attention to what we were focusing on and starts cutting out irrelevant pictures. This means that a lot of pictures do not make the final cut and we miss out on the information that was in them.

Another downside is that looking in the mirror is distracting. When you are looking in the mirror, trying to spot what you may be doing wrong, you focus less on dancing. After all, you are already focused on looking in the mirror.

When you use a camera though, things are different. You can place the camera in a corner of the room, feel self conscious for a minute or 2 (ok, maybe that is just me) and then forget all about it. By the time you are done it will have recorded for as long as you had tape/disc space/memory and you have footage of yourself dancing. In my case 3o minutes of it.

30 Minutes that I can look at over and over again. If I think I missed something I can even rewind. 30 Minutes of myself dancing that I can use to correct myself. 30 Minutes of footage that I could even use to ask others for feedback if I was so inclined. Currently I do not see myself facing the YouTube critics just yet though so that will have to wait for now.

And last but not least, 30 minutes of video that I can store and watch again whenever I feel like it. In my opinion there is no better way to notice if. and how much, you have improved than by comparing 2 videos of yourself that were taken some time apart.

So let's quickly glance back and see what the advantages are of using a camera rather than mirrors:

• You can see all parts of your body at any given time
• You can pause or rewind to have another/closer look
• You can focus on dancing instead of focusing on yourself
• You can keep the recording and look back on it at a later date
  

Even if you do this only once a week you'll soon be able to correct any bad habits you might have.

So get your camera out now and start dancing. Before you know it you will be the star that is admired. Who knows, maybe at the next congress I will be there pointing my camera at you wishing I could dance like that.

Don Baarns at The Unlikely Salsero, wrote a post about bachata earlier this week in which he says:

"I'll go on record as saying bachata will share equal time with cha-cha-cha, and probably take the number two spot in many scenes over the next year."

That line took me by surprise. In Europe, or at least here in Germany, bachata is played a lot more than cha-cha-cha. There are definitely more people that can dance bachata than there are people that can dance cha-cha-cha.

Bachata is so popular that it has actually become a pet peeve of mine that workshops always seems to be in the smallest room at congresses. So far it has been one of the most popular classes, if not the most popular one, at the congresses that I have attended. The room was always too small for the number of dancers but everybody tried to squeeze in anyway.

I would expect that congress organizers would pick up on that and use a bigger room instead but that has not happened yet. Then again, they are organizing salsa congresses and not bachata congresses so maybe I should be more forgiving.

Don also mentions that "Many salsa dancers look down on bachata" in the US. This was something else that surprised me. I have yet to meet anybody here that does not like bachata. I am sure there must be some people that feel that way but our paths have not crossed yet. If there is a dance that is looked down upon than it would be merengue, not bachata.

Another thing that I found interesting is that Don mentions "and the hip/leg-kick stuff can look downright feminine if a lead is not careful. Not a look most guys want."
Maybe that is true, it is not something I have ever paid attention to.
However, when I read it the first thing that popped into my mind was 'who cares?!'.

Ok, looking feminine on the dance floor is definitely not one of my goals. And perhaps I will not be able to get the hip stuff down properly. And maybe that will even make me look feminine while dancing but, why would I worry about that?*

I am secure enough in my own masculinity not to worry about what other men think. If they have a problem with the way I look on the dance floor then I would feel bad for them but, it would be their problem. Not mine. And I specifically said 'other men' because whenever I am in the US I get the impression that only the men spend time worrying about things like this.

It is not just with dancing but in other areas of life as well. Let's take fashion for instance.

The last time I was in the US I apparently broke all the 'rules'. I went to a club wearing white jeans and a fitted shirt. While I received a lot of compliments about my outfit from girls that night all the guys had a go at me. Comments ranged from 'did you turn gay?' to 'a real men would never wear anything like that'. The last comment especially made me laugh as to me a 'real man' is a man that is confident enough not to have to worry about the opinion of other men.

But back to dancing.
When I am dancing with somebody there is only one thing that I worry about. I want to make sure that my partner is enjoying herself. Aside from that I won't worry about anything on the dance floor. Sure, if I were to dance a show then I would pay more attention to the way I look but social dancing is not a show, and it is not a competition. The only price to be won is the smile on your partner's face and she'll be too close to notice the hip movement.

In spite of the tricky hip movement though it seems that bachata is rapidly gaining in popularity in the US. Going by what Don wrote it has taken the dance floor by storm over the last 6 months and it looks like it will continue to do so. I hope he is right. I would much rather dance or watch bachata than merengue. Don for one is definitely not letting himself be held back and he is diving head first into learning bachata with some DVD's** made by Edie and Jorge**

And as always Don offers good advice.
Bachata is a sensual dance and can be danced very close. However, comfort levels differ and not all women will like to dance close. Paying attention to your parter is important. If she is uncomfortable then it is time to put some more distance between the 2 of you. Switching to an open position might the best idea.

In case you don't know any bachata yet but and want to start learning, here is a video explaining the basics ***





Today's disclaimers:
* I don't think Don is one of the people that is worried about this either.
** This is a sponsored link. However, I have seen the DVDs from 'the world's best leads' series and thought the quality was very good compared to other DVDs that I have seen.
*** There may be better videos on YouTube but this was the first one I found.

I just realized that I've been writing for about half a year now but that I have never said what I think is the best way to learn.

Over the past couple of months I've met a lot of people that learned to dance salsa in different ways. The people I've met can be put into a couple of groups:

1. People that learn to dance salsa by taking lessons
2. People that learn to dance salsa by going to clubs
3. People that learn to dance salsa by watching videos
4. People that learn to dance salsa by doing all of the above

That is a very basic breakdown and there are a lot of subcategories but let's keep it simple for now.

Over the next couple of posts I will look at the these different groups. Today I'll start out with group 1 and then I will work my way down the list. In the last post I'll also give you my point of view and let you know what I think is the best way to learn.

So let's have a closer look at the first group.

People that learn to dance salsa by taking lessons.

What are the advantages of taking lessons?

• You learn to dance the basic steps and once you know those you will keep learning new moves and patterns.
• Because of the way courses are set up you will be pushed to improve with every class.
• You have an instructor who can correct you when you make mistakes.
• You can ask questions when something is not clear.
• You learn about frame, tension, timing, how moves are lead, etc.
• Everybody in the class is at the same level as you are so there is no need to feel self conscious.
• It's easy to meet new people. Everybody is there for the same reason as you are, to learn to dance salsa

Sounds great doesn't it?
Unfortunately there are also some disadvantages.

• Classes are usually only once per week so progress can be slow.
• You need to have some discipline and practice at home or you will probably forget what you have learned.
  
• Practicing at home is hard if you don't have a partner so you may have to find one.
• Taking lessons can be expensive.
• Courses are often aimed at the 'average' student. If you're learn quicker than the average student you might get bored. If you learn a bit more slowly than the average student you may feel lost from time to time.

As you can see you will have to take some bad with the good.
Next time I will look at learning to dance salsa by going to clubs and see what the advantages and disadvantages are there.

Ok, so I'm a bit of a geek and spend a fair bit of time online.

Luckily there are a lot of salsa sites out on the net so being online does not mean having to go without salsa. Today I'll share my top 7 favourite salsa websites.* Or rather, my top 7 of information websites. I'm leaving out paid online classes, music sites, radio station etc. but will cover those another time.

Ok, enough rambling. My top 7 salsa websites for you:

1) Addicted2Salsa.com I love this website. They have great podcasts. It's amazing they don't charge for them. I also love their forum even though I don't really participate.

2) Salsaforums.com The name says it all. A great community although, just like before, I don't really participate. I love lurking there though.

3) Salsafreak.com Edie's website. I'm just mentioning this one but check all her other sites as well. The links are on this site.

4) The Unlikely Salsero Don is by far my favourite blogger. I don't think there's a single post of his that I don't like.

5) YouTube The ultimate collection of video clips. The only downside is that the quality is often poor.

6) Chrissie's Salsa Directory It's chaotic but has lots of links relating to salsa in Germany and Austria. As I live in Germany at the moment this one hit my top 7.

7) Ritmo Bello A site that I've only just discovered but has great content.`


* Disclaimer: This is my personal top 7 salsa websites. Your mileage my vary.
Also, I've found that there are a lot of great websites that don't show up on obvious google searches so if you know of any websites that you think should have been mentioned here feel free to leave a comment.

In my last post I mentioned that I'm starting to get over my fear of social dancing. That's actually not quite true.
I realized last night that I have already gotten over my fear of social dancing.

It took me a while but the dance floor is no longer an intimidating place that makes me want to sit in a corner and hide.

Looking back it was ridiculous that I ever felt that way but then, most things we are scared of turn out to be silly after we have faced our fears.

So how did I get over my dance floor anxiety?
Well, it was actually pretty easy.

At one point I got really frustrated just sitting/standing while watching other people dance. As I was still afraid people would be bored dancing with me I decided to ask beginners to dance.
And when I say beginners I mean beginners. Girls that had just learned a basic step. These girls were delighted that anybody asked them to dance at all and had no idea if I did something wrong.

After getting comfortable dancing with absolute beginners I started asking people to dance that were slightly better and for the next couple of weeks I only danced with girls that were still below my level.

Then I stepped up a bit again.
I started asking people at my own level to dance and I realized something 'odd'.
It turned out that dancing with them was fun and not intimidating at all. And even though they were all used to dance with better dancers by now, none of them were bored.

Then a strange thing started to happen.
Girls were starting to ask me to dance.
And not just girls that I had danced with before but also some girls that I wouldn't ask yet as they were well above my level.

The first time it happened I experienced a pang of fear again. Here I was being asked to dance but one of the dancers I really admire. At first I wanted to make up an excuse and back out of it.
However when I was just a young boy (I think I was 10 at the time) I was taught that it is very rude to say 'no' when a lady asks you to dance (it's probably the only thing I remember from ballroom dancing). This early programming overcame my fear and we danced. Afterwards I thanked her telling her what a joy it was to dance with somebody that was so gracious and so easy to lead and her face lit up. That night I learned you can even make more experienced dancers feel good when, or in this case after, you dance with them.

Now I can dance comfortably (more or less comfortably anyway) with anybody.
If I feel a girl is a better dancer than me I will always tell her up front that I've only been dancing for about half a year but that's all. The paralyzing feeling that I used to have is completely gone.

Looking back it's all a bit frustrating.
I can now see myself improving and I realize that I could have improved so much more if only I had started sooner. I'm sure I would also have remembered a lot more of what I've been taught over the past couple of months as I would have repeated it more often while dancing.
On the other hand, it could be worse. I could still be sitting on the sidelines watching the other people have a great time.

Just the other day I was at a workshop and the strangest thing happened.

We were talking a bit and one of the guys there said 'I really like how you dance'.
I was blown away and didn't know what to say.

Here I am just trying to get through a choreography and apparently I managed to impress somebody. I don't remember the last time I was so proud.

I know I'm far from a great dancer. I'm only just now starting to get over my fears of social dancing. But I guess I'm starting to do something right :-)

Then yesterday one of the girls I regularly dance with asked me to dance to her favourite song which made me feel even better.

It's things like this that happen just at the right time. I felt like I wasn't improving at all lately (although I can now see clear differences between myself and the new beginners) but these 2 things have rekindled my determination to learn to dance!

I kept meaning to post but somehow didn't get around to it.

Last month was the Croatian Summer Salsa Festival in Rovinj.
If you haven't been there yet... GO !

Stop whatever your doing and run to your boss/parents/travel agent and say that next year, 25 - 28 June, you'll be going to Croatia. You won't regret it.

First I'd like to thank all the organizers.
These guys and girls worked so hard it's incredible (I won't mention your coffee break Danijel ;) and did a great job. As a team they seem to function really well which shows in the way everything is taken care off.
Sure, there were some problems but most of them were transparent to the people there.

As I was one of the volunteers we met a day before the congress started. I was already in Rovinj and was actually planning to meet up with the organizers even sooner but somehow (thanks tourist info) I wasn't able to find them.
We were originally meant to meet up at 2 but as some of the volunteers wouldn't arrive until 4 that got postponed. It was horrible. It meant I had to spent 2 hours at the hotel pool enjoying the wonderful weather. Ah, the sacrifices we have to make in life.

Wednesday evening there was a small pre-party at a square in town where in the end about 15-20 couples were dancing.
Somehow social dancing anxiety hit again with a vengeance so I just sat there and watched them all. That said, I had a great time so I have no reason to complain.

Thursday registration started and the atmosphere was great. I had the day off (more time at the pool for me) so I enjoyed myself until I started 'working' at the party at night.
The party itself was great but unfortunately the airco broke down.
People would go in to dance only to come outside again, drenched in sweat, 15 minutes later.
The hotel where the party was held was aware of this and was trying to get a mechanic out but apparently that's not as easy as it sounds in summertime in Croatia. We were all keeping our fingers crossed for them to get it solved before Saturday's party.

Friday workshops started and the atmosphere was great.
Both the instructors and the attendees were having a great time and my favourite workshop of the day was by Danijel & Željka, 2 of the organisers. Unfortunately I didn't tape it though and I have to admit I can't remember what they did. Guess I should have practised it more.

Friday night the party was held in the town square. I was looking forward to it but in the end we waited forever (ok, only 1.5 hours but it felt like forever) for our food so we missed a big part of it including the shows. As I hadn't seen any shows on Thursday that kept my grand total of shows seen at 0.

Saturday is a bit of blur (yeah, I should have written this sooner) but I remember a lot of running around and generally having a good time doing that.
The airco seemed to work better for the party Saturday evening although it was still warm.
The shows were held outside of the hotel and it was packed! There were people everywhere.
Unfortunately the performers had to come from inside to get to the stage which meant we needed to keep a path clear for them. Fair enough but it meant that I didn't get to see any shows on Saturday either. I guess I set a new record. Total of shows seen at a congress ... 0 :-)
Ah well, I'll wait for the DVD to come out I guess.

Then came Sunday. Sunday is famous at the Croatian Salsa Festival for 1 simple reason.... POOL PARTY ! ! !
The party was held at another hotel on an island. We spend 4 hours on a dock in the burning sun checking wristbands. After 5 minutes the heat was already getting to me and as I had forgotten to bring a cap I decided to buy one. Somebody (not sure who anymore, Danijel?) told me not to pay the price they asked and that was good advice. I actually got it for half price.
As I didn't really like any of the caps I decided to go for the most silly one I could find. A white cap with some text written on it in lovely shiny little stones.
Yes, it made me look incredibly gay but it was a great thing for people to comment on so I had lots of fun conversations that helped the time go by quicker.
And, as most people came in waves (there were still workshops going on) we also had time to swim a bit so it all turned out to be great fun.

The hardest part was sending people away. The party had sold out completely and we had to disappoint people that showed up without a ticket (hint, if you're going next year get your tickets for the party in advance).
At 4 the last boat to the island arrived and we got on to finally get to the party ourselves.

Once we got there everybody was enjoying themselves and the atmosphere was great. After we went for a swim to cool down a bit we joined in the dancing and had a blast. Just this party would have been worth coming down for.

As I'd be working at the party at night as well I started making my way back to the mainland around 7. Much sooner then I would have liked to but I guess volunteering has it downsides as well :)

The party at night was pretty relaxed. The highlight for me was that I finally got to dance with Daniela (and don't think you're off the hook just yet... we still have to do drinks next year Daniela ;-). Or rather, half a dance.
I was exhausted and used the end of the song as an excuse to run away and go sit by the pool again.

Then came Monday and it was time to pack up and leave again. Time to go back to reality.
All that was left was a farewell lunch. Sorry I didn't get to say goodbye to most of you. Things got a bit confused when you all went back to the hotel to pick up the floor while I had to leave.
It was great meeting all of you though and I'm looking forward to seeing you all again next year !

Some more random memories:

Oh, so you're walter (what can I say, I felt special :-)
Tender chicken (don't ask, you really don't want to know)
me and 5 girls in a Peugeot 206 (yes, life can be pretty good)
Dancing with the sexiest woman at the festival (See, I really wasn't looking to get anything when I said that ;-)
Ice cream in the middle of the night on Sunday (next time we'll have to do that when I'm not exhausted and actually good company. Maybe you'll even get your song then ;-)
Being gay can help you attract women (alledgedly)
We won (hey, Mike said so !)
Nutella (you still owe me 4 private lessons)
Da, volim te (thanks so much for the card. It made my weekend)
Rot op kreng (I figured I'd leave the other one out ;-)

The new location, Variete in Trier, is working out well and I think they did great with the schedule.

Now the intermediate class starts at 7, followed by the beginner's class at 8.
This is completely opposite to anything I've seen so far but there is definitely an advantage to it.

At 9 the party starts and all the beginners stay to do some social dancing. Some will only stay for 1 or 2 dances but at least they dance and I'm sure they'll improve a lot faster than I did.

I've also found that, unless I'm really tired, I'm starting to have an easier time dancing.
Like the beginners I stay (and yes, I'm taking this beginner's class as well :-) and dance afterwards. It started out just practicing what we learned in class but lately it's getting better and I'm starting to throw in things from previous classes. Sometimes it actually feels like dancing an entire song without repeating the same thing over and over and over and over again.

It's funny that this now seems like such a great accomplishment. Especially as I by now have learned enough combinations to dance several songs without having to repeat the same thing. Unfortunately I still have some mental block when I'm on the dance floor and nothing comes out.
That said, it seems like the walls are starting to come down.

I'm also really looking forward to July when I'll go to the Salsa Congress in Croatia. It'll be interesting to see how dancing goes with 'new' people.
It looks like two of my friends, Alenka and Marija, who were at the Slovenian Salsa Congress are going to be there as well. I'm looking forward to seeing them again and dancing with them. Salsa is a great way to make new friends.
The funniest thing to me is that not too long ago ago I was terrified by the prospect of dancing and now, although still a bit reluctantly, I am actually looking forward to it.

A couple of weeks ago I did an intermediate weekend workshop (2*3 hours) with Salsa-Brava, also in Trier.

I loved it!
It was just a small group (6 people) so we received a lot of personal attention. Mistakes, even small ones, got noticed sooner which makes it a lot easer to fix them before they become ingrained.

The moves we learned seemed to be easier to integrate into social dancing than the figures we learned at Salsa Life so I'm now considering taking classes at both to help me get more comfortable with social dancing.
I'm sure that everything that I learn at Salsa Life is perfectly danceable in social dancing as well. It's just that I am not completely confident with it. Although I am improving relatively rapidly (at least compared to the last zillion years ;)) and am getting over my dance floor fear. I'm not quite there yet and anything that helps me get there sooner seems worth it.
Not only that but it'll be nice to meet some more people as well :-)

Paolo's new classes start Wednesday so unless work interferes I'll be there.
It should be good fun.

Adios amigos!

I know, I haven't updated in ages.

Somehow it just didn't happen. I started writing a post on the Luxembourg Salsa congress... about 6 times !
Not sure why but it still doesn't come out right so for now I'll probably just leave it. I considered having a go again this weekend after watching the videos that I made there but then, I'm doing the Magic 7 workshop again today (yeah, I need an extra round to get it down) so I might just take a hot bath and go to bed early instead :)

Yesterday's beginner's class was done by Robbert (sp?). It the first time he taught a class and I was simply amazed! He went a bit slower than I'm used to for a first class. All we did was the mambo and rumba step but, I loved it. He explained everything right and was really clear about how to lead it.
This is something that always annoys me. You'll learn new moves but nobody explains you how you're supposed to lead them. Sure, most of the time I can figure it out but in all fairness, if I didn't have a background (however ancient) in ballroom dancing it would have been a lot harder.
I thought it was great that he spent more time on this than I have ever seen in a class before.

Unfortunately though, it was not the first time I took the first class of a beginner's course so obviously I'm biased. I have no idea what the others thought and I hope they enjoyed it as much as I did.

Hasta luego!

Ps. Yes, I'm taking the beginner's class again. I don't think it's possible to spend too much time on the basics. However, I'm also taken the higher level classes.
Let's see if it helps

Last weekend I went to the Summer Salsa Congress in Brussels.

It was a beautiful weekend.
The sun was shining, there was not a cloud in the sky and, there was no air conditioning in the rooms ! To say it was hot was an understatement (one of the instructors welcomed us to the 'Bachata Sauna').

Aside from that there was a bit of confusion as to where the rooms were (they were spread out in a huge sport center) but that only lasted a short while.

The classes themselves, at least the ones I took, were great.

Edie's timing/musicality workship was just as I remembered it but it was a lot of fun to see it again. And, as I still have trouble with my timing (although I now know it has improved a lot), it was very helpful.

Johnny Vasquez's workshop was high energy and slightly above my level. That said, I was able to come along. What I particularly liked was that he taught elements he also used in his show at night so we got to see what it looks like when he danced it.

Gerald Fraay (http://salsipuedes.nl/) is a very patient instructor as is Cissy Janssens who was helping him. His workshop was relaxed (it was the first one of the day) but still challenging enough for everybody in there. It was great to see how easily he adjusted to the level of the group.

Manuel Mascarel's Bachata Sexy & Hot Moves was hot alright.
As I mentioned before, he welcomed us to the 'Bachata Sauna'. Even sitting down we were sweating. I'm sure that everybody who attended this workshop lost weight last weekend.

Aside from the heat this class was a lot of fun. He's an entertaining instructor with an incredibly clear voice (apparently he's also an opera singer) and I like his philosophy of changing partners as often as possible. I find it helps me improve a lot quicker to have to adjust to different followers all the time.

Another downside of this workshop was that it was packed!

What is it with congress organizers?
Whenever I've been somewhere Bachata is always one of the most popular workshops. However, for some reason it is always scheduled in one of the smaller rooms. Hopefully this is something that will change going forward.

As I was helping Edie at her booth I also spent a lot of time talking to her.
We spoke about everything (and I mean everything. Diet, cars, politics, dancing, instructors, etc) and I think this was the most valuable part of the weekend for me.
It was great to hear her point of view, especially on dancing.

For instance, I'm still very much intimidated by social dancing. The level of the other dancers is often so high that I feel my partner will be disappointed after dancing with me.
Be that as it may, as Edie pointed out, she will be a lot more disappointed if she sits around all night and never even gets a chance to dance.

Something I'll have to keep in mind.

It's been a couple of weeks again since I've last updated.
Unfortunately this also means I haven't gone dancing for a couple of weeks.

The last time was almost 3 weeks ago when Salsa Life introduced their new location (Variete at the Kornmarkt in Trier).
I had planned to be there at 18:00 but arrived later as I got stuck on work (around 18:30) as we were supposed to rehearse the choreography we learned a couple of weeks ago.
As I hadn't practiced it since that week I definitely needed that rehearsal.
Eventually I got it all down again but didn't feel to confident so I decided not to dance.
Or at least, that's what I decided until I realized that in that case there would only be one couple dancing.
So I bit the bullet and walked on to the floor and we danced.

As expected it didn't go great. We made some mistakes but overall were able to keep up pretty well.
The good thing was that as I was too focused on just going through the moves I forgot that there was an audience. I think that helped me a bit and it all turned out ok (some people even thought it looked great).

The one thing that this showed me is that , for me at least, it's easier to dance a show than to go social dancing. When doing a choreography you have something to fall back on. You know what's going to come next. Obviously that's not the same with social dancing where you have to make it up as you go.
That said, I did dance that night and I learned a lot. I found that when dancing with more experienced people I tend to freeze up and default to basics while I don't seem to have that same problem when dancing with beginners. Then I start feeling so comfortable that I have to hold myself back and not try everything I've learned and scare them away. I think I'm going to have to find some improvers to go social dancing with and everything will be ok :-)

Unfortunately I haven't gone dancing since.
Last night I wanted to go but I've just started working out again and muscle aches were killing me.
Walking was hard enough so instead of going dancing I took a hot bath and went to bed early.
Today I regret it a bit but unfortunately it's too late to change things now. Besides, I know that working out will pay off for dancing as well. It's just that the transition period is probably going to be a bit hard.
Ah well, there's always next time.

Sunday morning I was up at 8am and ready to go again at 8:30.

Don't ask me why, I don't know either. I didn't have to start until 10:30 so there really was no reason. At least it gave me some time to wake up properly and have some coffee (Anja, I still think any time before 11am is a bit too early for Red Bull).

By the time I got downstairs (around 9:30) the reception desk was already in place and we were good to go. All we needed were attendees.

As it was Sunday and most had partied the night before most of them didn't arrive until the last moment. Even at 11:00 it was still fairly quiet.

2 Of us (Nejc and I) had been scheduled at the entrance but as it was quiet I stayed there alone for the first two hours while Nejc went in to take some classes.

By 13:30 I was ready for my first class (cuban salsa, Ariel Roberts) which I enjoyed a lot. Right now when people ask me which I like better, cuban or LA, I can only say that I like both in different ways. I can't even explain properly why, they just feel different to me but are both a lot of fun. It was a great way to end the morning and I'm happy I went and learned the basics.

One class I was really looking forward to was Music Interpretation (Musicality) by Edie.

As both Nejc and I wanted to attend we encountered a slight problem. There would be nobody at the door. However, Marija saved me. Or rather, she saved me again.

Saturday I was walking around with my clothes completely messed up and she was kind enough to straighten me out before I ran into a workshop looking like an idiot. Thanks again for that Marija.

I have to admit, I misjudged the workshop a bit. It was marked as 'all levels' as well so I figured it would be relatively easy. Hah!. I had to work hard to keep up (I think I was the only beginner in the class so that makes sense) but it was an amazing workshop.

Edie accidentally ended up with 2 partners which was great for us as we got to see 2 completely different styles. We practiced what they demonstrated. Or rather, I tried to, got lost in what they had done and improvised. That worked! Great! I love musicality!

That said, I think it might be a while yet before I properly implement it in my dancing.
This was probably the most fun workshop for me all weekend and I hope that I'll have the chance to go to one of Edie's musicality bootcamps someday soon.

After that I took a break while Nejc took another workshop.

Then, at the end of the day, I took my final workshop "Rueda de Casino (part 2)" with Ariel Roberts. Somehow it appears I missed the "part 2" in there. We picked up right where Ariel had left off the day before. Had I not watched that class I would have been completely lost but as it turned out I could keep up and had a great time. Or at least, I could keep up for most of it. A couple of times I broke with left when I should have gone with right or the other way around but in the end I figured it out. This was once again a great workship by Ariel and it ended much too soon.

At that point the day ended for me and I was supposed to drive home.

I decided to take a shower before I would leave. The shower left me full of energy again and I decided to stay a bit longer. Before I knew it 'a bit longer' had turned into 'an entire night'. I even danced that night.

My first dance went ok. It was a fast song and I was so busy trying to keep up with the music that I didn't have time to worry about what I was going to do.

My second dance didn't go quite as well (sorry Marija). I fell back into my old behaviour again. I got nervous lost the beat and ended up having to stop entirely. I tried to find the beat again just like Silvia had explained. I just closed my eyes and stayed in place till I found the 1 again. Or, I think I did anyway but then, I was nervous so it could have been any beat I guess (which was it Marija?).

Unfortunately nerves soon got the better of me again and things went downhill from there.
Next time I think I'll just try basics and CBLs for a while before even considering turns.

All in all it was a great weekend though and I'm glad I went. Sleep was a bit lacking but I had a great time and met some great people.

Elder, next time try to relax a bit more. I know it's hard, I've been there. But, as you have seen this time it went ok ;-)
Anja, thanks again for letting me stay in the room.
Ariel, you're one of a kind. Hope to see you in Rovinj!
Edie, you're the best but then, that's no news to you ;-).
Nejc, it was great meeting you. Look me up if you're ever in Lux.
Janja, let me know when you'll be here this summer and I'll make sure I'm around.
Anna, you're still my favorite dance partner out of all the workshops. If you ever feel like diving for somebody's leg again just give me a call :-)
Alenka, I hope you enjoyed your birthday. We'll have to dance another time.
Marija, thanks for everything. Thanks for making sure I didn't look like a complete idiot (one day I'll learn to dress myself ;-), thanks for keeping me awake, thanks for helping me through the hardest part of the dance and thanks for everything else. I realize I set a bad example this weekend but as you told me a thousand times, go easy on the Red Bull !

Everybody else, I'm sorry I didn't have the chance to spend more time with you. Maybe next time. Thank you all though for making my weekend as much fun as it was.

If you are ever in or near Luxembourg please give me a call and I'll give you tips or show you around.

Hasta luego amigos!