Becoming a Salsero

A thread on Salsa Forums got me thinking about this situation. You're out dancing salsa and your partner makes a mistake. What do you do?

It seems that some people correct their partner's 'mistakes' or will try to explain moves while dancing. Others just give positive feedback and don't mention the mistakes at all. There is also a third group that will not say anything. At least not while they are dancing. They will thank their partner after the dance but will not point out anything positive or negative.

I belong to the second group. Personally I find that positive feedback often works much better than negative feedback. Not saying anything is just beyond me. If a girl surprises me in some way I can't hide the surprise and 'wow' will be said before I realize it. If I try to hide my surprise she'll still see a really big grin on my face so I might as well express it.

Another reason I believe in positive feedback rather than correction is that less experienced dancers (and by that I mean anybody with less experience than you have) are often nervous when they get out on the floor. To me it seems that most of their mistakes come from their nervousness rather than from anything else.

Obviously at that point in time you can choose to correct somebody but that most likely thta will only result in making the person more nervous and self concious. That will lead to more mistakes again and before you know it you're caught in an endless downward spiral.

Using positive feedback instead will make them relax a bit more which in turn improves the quality of the dance a lot and will make it a lot more fun for both partners. And that to me is what social dancing is about. Having a good time.

Don't get me wrong, I definitely use social dancing to improve. I practise what I have learned or try what I have seen (depending on my partner) but not to the point that it goes at the expense of having a good time.

Besides, and I'll admit that I'm relatively inexperienced and my point of view might therefor be different from a lot of experienced dancers but if my partner isn't nervous it is usually because of 1 or 2 things that she makes a mistake.

1) I didn't lead the move properly
2) I lead a move that was above my partners level.

Either way, it will not be her fault that she can't follow the move. It's mine. And if it's my fault then what gives me the right to correct her?

Sure, if I lead a move that is above her level I could explain it to her but I'm not her dance instructor so unless she explicitly asks me to, it's not my task and I should just let her enjoy the rest of the dance.

How do you handle situations like this on the dance floor?

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?

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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!

A couple of weeks ago I read about the 3rd Slovenian Salsa Festival, held in Ljubljana.

For a while I debated on whether I should go and as I once again checked out their program I saw a little banner saying that they were looking for volunteers.

As there were only a couple of workshops that I really wanted to take it seemed like volunteering would be a good idea. I would be able to help out the organizers and would at the same time, save some money which seemed like a win win situation to me. As I had just done the bootcamp and the Magic 7 workshop and bought the tickets for the Luxembourg Salsa Congress I had spent too much money already.

As I arrived early Saturday morning it became clear that they desperately needed all the volunteers they could get. My schedule for Saturday was pretty intense and had me working the afternoon and the evening/night.

Sunday I was scheduled for the entire day, that is, during the day. As I was supposed to leave around 5pm on Sunday I didn't have to work Sunday night :-)

At first I was somewhat disappointed that nobody asked me if there were any workshops that I was interested in attending. I realized that I arrived a day after the start of the festival but it could have easily been communicated via email. However, the schedule worked out for me. Aside from that allowed to stay in the room that they had kept for volunteers to freshen up. That more than made up for it.

As I was free for the workshops on Saturday morning I could take Edie's "10 deadly sins of leads and follows' as well as Anuar's 'Pachanga & Boogalo' workshop. Both of which I had been looking forward to.

Edie's workshop was a little bit disappointing to me. Not because of the quality of the workshop. That was great, just like the bootcamp was. However, everything she covered had also been covered in the bootcamp already. Not quite what I wanted as I was hoping for something new.

Anuar's workshop blew me away. I had such a great time that even after I twisted my ankle I stayed and kept dancing for the remainder of the workshop. He is a great guy with amazing energy and I would recommend you to take one of his workshops if you have the chance.

After that workshop I desperately needed a break though. I decided not to take a 3rd class that morning but to sit down instead.

I was pretty tired from the drive down. Any energy that I had left after the drive was used during the workshop. Sitting down and letting my ankle recover a bit seemed like the best idea.

Although I was scheduled to work all afternoon it wasn't as bad as it sounded. I was supposed to in the rooms where the workshops were held so I got to see what was going on and, time and space permitting, to join in.

The first workshop was Rueda de Casino by Ariel Rios Robert. I've always liked watching Rueda de Casino and was glad I had the opportunity to watch. As I worked at the door of the room I couldn't really participate but it was nice to get an idea as to what was danced an how it was danced.

Ariel is a really laid back guy with a great sense of humor and he did a great job explaining the basics and keeping things fun and interesting. Although I'm not sure how experienced dancers felt as I didn't have a chance to talk to them about it.

The only downside to this workshop was that it was for all levels.
This is something that always bothers me a little bit. Unless a class is theory only it's almost impossible to make it interesting for everybody there. After all, beginners will still need to learn the basics while everybody else wants to learn new things.

Because of this beginners feel rushed (if they can keep up at all) as the instructor has to get through the basics as soon as possible so the more advanced people don't get bored. At the same time the more advanced dancers are bored, waiting for the beginners to finally get it. A lose-lose situation.

After Rueda it was time for HipHop Salsa. You have no idea what that is and how it works? Neither did I!

Aytunc & Duygu did a great job of showing us. Because there were more girls than guys for this class I ended up dancing up with 3 different girls. I ran from one to the next, to the next and back again. It was an interesting experience though as I had to lead all of them differently and I learned a lot. Not only that but i had a great time. I can only hope they had fun as well.
It was a great, high energy workshop and I don't think that anybody there (or at the party at night) will forget 'Crank That' (Yoooouuuu!) for quite a while yet.

To wrap the afternoon up I was working in a room where Nelson Flores was teaching "Partner Work". An advanced level class, on 2.

By that time I was exhausted so I was happy that it was a class I would definitely not be participating in (on 2? Yes, I've heard about that. Advanced? Right, way beyond my level).
That is, until Elder Sanchez said:"Walter, that lovely lady doesn't have a partner. Go on, dance with her!".

Before I had a chance to explain that a) I have no idea how to even start on 2 and b) advanced is slightly to advanced for me (I'd say a couple of years too advanced) she had come over and was ready to dance. Suffice to say, it was a disaster and half an hour into it I had to apologize and give up.

That just left the night. I got to play doorman, just like in the good old days.

I assume none of the organizers has ever worked an entire night at the door but I think it's too much to ask from volunteers. In all fairness, I didn't mind doing it. I was exhausted and, even though I hadn't done it in a while, am used to it.

However, other people would probably have felt a lot worse knowing there was a great party 20 meters down the hall and they wouldn't be able to attend. I recommend splitting that shift into 2 different ones for the years to come.

It was also a shame that I didn't get to see any of the shows. I hope they'll show up on YouTube at one point or another. I'm sure I'll survive without them but it would have been nice nonetheless.

All in all Saturday was maybe not a perfect day but definitely a good day. I met some great people and, had a wonderful time and got to do some fun workshops. Life could be a lot worse than that.

Day 2 of the bootcamp started relaxed.

We woke up early enough to enjoy a calm breakfast.
The workshop wouldn't start until 9 and by 8:30 we had eaten, were all packed and ready to go.

Then it hit me. Daylight savings time !
Saturday night the clocks had gone forward an hour so instead of having enough time we were suddenly very late.

We rushed through check out, got the car, drove as fast as we could (the whole 3 blocks) and ran inside.
By the time we got through registration and had made it to the room it was clear that we'd missed a lot already and we needed to catch up desperately.

Luckily we spent quite a bit of time spinning during the SalsaLife workshop so catching up was relatively easy for me.
Spin left, spin right, spin left, spin right... so far so good.
Double spin left... ok. Double right... still ok
Triple sp... oops, balance gone! At least I managed not to trip over my own feet and fall down so I still consider it a small success.

It seemed I wasn't the only one that was having problems and it seemed like there were more beginners than the day before. Or maybe there were just more men and women that weren't too experienced at spinning yet.
As we kept on practicing everybody seemed to improve a bit more and after a while everybody could pull off at least semi decent double spins. Most people were even doing triples without too many problems.
That was when it was time for the ladies to practice spinning with a partner.
As there were 3 times as many women as there were men at this point the ladies made a big circle.
They alternated practicing their spins with a partner and alone.
Given the amount of spins they ended up doing I was happy not to be in their shoes.
I'm not sure I would have still been standing at the end of the morning.

During lunch some of the men complained that the women weren't making an effort and had to be pulled through the spin but at the same time I heard that some of the men didn't prep the spin or even waited for the girls to be ready before starting the spin.
I think this might have been partially because of a language problem.
Some of the men on Sunday spoke little or no English and they didn't ask for a translation.

After lunch the Ladies Styling session started.
First Edie tweaked the women's posture a bit. It's amazing how much difference that makes.
After they were done they looked like completely different.

As the afternoon progressed a some more men arrived but there were still a lot more women. The ratio was about 2:1
Luckily Edie had a solution for that.
While I was thinking that we would probably make a circle again she explained that the men would be dancing with 2 women at the same time. That would solve the problem.

WHAT?!?!? The night before I had enough trouble trying to lead just 1 girl and now she expects me to lead 2 at the same time ? ? ?

For a second I thought she was kidding but no such luck. She was serious.
I tried to figure out how to sneak out quietly sneaking so I could hide in the hallway for the rest of the day but it was too late, 2 women were already standing next to me.
There was nothing left for me to do but dance.

The first 30 seconds were awful.
It wasn't that I was doing that poorly.
Edie was counting slowly and the girls knew what to do so as long as I moved along in the right direction I didn't really have to lead. It's hard to do things poorly in a situation like that.
However, I was so nervous I could barely move.
As I realized I was doing ok I started to relax and things got better.
Even though I messed up plenty of times and our dancing was more circular than linear for a large part of the afternoon I did learn a lot about leading and as my leading improved it got easier.
Both for me and the girls.

I think I probably learned more about leading in a couple of hours on Sunday than I have in last 3 months together. It was a lot easier than it normally is.
I didn't have to worry about music (at least not in the beginning) or about learning new moves.
All I had to do , once we started dancing to music, to make sure that my lead was clear so the girls would know what to do without running into each other.
As that was all I had to focus on it was much easier to see what I was doing right and wrong.
Especially because leading slightly different with one hand than the other showed completely different results instantaneously.

So what did think of the bootcamp?
Edie is one of the best instructors I've seen so far.
She's clear when explaining and always willing to explain something 1-1 during the breaks.
Her energy throughout the bootcamp was amazing.

It was definitely a great experience and I wouldn't hesitate recommending it to beginners.
Maybe it's not for absolute beginners (people that have never danced before) if they are not willing to put in the extra work (that is definitely required if you haven't danced before) but if they are willing to put in that extra little bit I think it will be a great experience for them as well.
That said, they will be part of a large group so they'll definitely have to be willing to ask if they don't understand something or they will fall behind.

Do I feel it was it worth the money? Absolutely!
Even if Sunday hadn't been free (men didn't have to pay as they were needed to help the women) just learning as much as I did about my leading would have been well worth it.

If you're not sure whether you would like to take a bootcamp try to make it to a Ladies Styling Sunday to get a taste for it. Keep one thing in mind though, you may not have to pay an entrance fee but in return you will be expected to work hard.
After all, you get to go for free is because you're there to help the ladies!

Saturday night Silvia and Ibo Salsa Exclusiva party in the Präsidentenschlößchen, a beautiful location in Dusseldorf.

Once again it was very well organized. The only thing that I found missing was still water but I survived without that :)

As I said, the location was gorgeous.
That by itself wouldn't have meant anything but the floor was great, the DJ, Henry Knowles, was amazing and the band, Rodrigo Tobar Band, was great as well.
All the ingredients for a perfect night were present.

I was pretty excited, started dancing and... I shut down completely.
Here I was having trouble doing even a basic step and I couldn't remember anything else.
Even a simple CBL was proving hard for some reason.

It couldn't have been my partner. Even though she was new to LA-style salsa she has been dancing Cuban for years and picked up the changes easily enough.

It was also not the first time it happened to me.
Usually, as in this case, it seems to happen when I'm dancing with somebody who is a lot more experienced than I am. I start thinking that they won't have a good time dancing with me and shut down completely.
Then a cycle starts, I get more worried which makes me more nervous, that makes me more nervous, etc.
In the end it basically guarantees that my worries become justified and they won't have a good time.

By the time I started my 3rd dance Saturday it had actually gotten to the point where I couldn't find any beat anymore. Not the 1, not the 5, nothing. Luckily I had some help there but that didn't turn things around.
For me that was the end of it as I felt completely useless after that dance.

I can't even begin to describe how frustrating it is to me that a night full of promise ends this badly because of something inside of me holding me back.
This is definitely stopping my progress. I'm now starting to get scared of dancing with anybody at all.
It is definitely something I'll have to work on and suggestions on how to get past this are more than welcome.

We arrived just before 9am on Saturday.
I got us lost on the way there (this street is probably a good idea... not ) and, as the bootcamp was supposed to start at 9, we ended up cutting it very close.

Registration went really smooth thanks to Silvia from Salsa-Emocion.
In a previous life I have been involved with event organisation and I have to say, Silvia and Ibo did an amazing job organizing this weekend.
Rarely have I seen an event go this well. I'm sure there were some things that came up and had them running around but as participants we never noticed it.

The bootcamp started with Edie introducing herself.
She told us how she started dancing Salsa (by accident, who would have thought) and then explained how the music is build up, using stories to make it more clear.
Aside from the fact that I though her stories were hilarious I did indeed learn more about the music which I'm sure will help me in the future.

Edie also spend some time explaining something that I think is very important for a lot of beginners, finding the 1 (no, not the beautiful girl with long legs, the beat).
In my experience not enough attention is paid to this. Just take a look at social dancing videos on YouTube and you'll see how many people are dancing off beat.
As I still have some trouble myself from time to time (ok, regularly) I found this very helpful.

Finding the 1 didn't seem to present any problems for most of other the people there which would have completely blown me away normally.
60 Beginners instantly getting it. Wow!

As it turned out though, most of the people there weren't beginners.
Out of 60 people there were 4 absolute beginners (they had never danced salsa before) and another 4-6 people that had been dancing less than a year.
All the other attendees had been dancing longer which made me wonder what they were doing at a beginner bootcamp.
I guess they wanted/needed to improve their basics or maybe they just wanted to take Edie's bootcamp to see what it is like.

After the introduction we did the basic step for a while.
I liked the way Edie taught it a lot. The people that hadn't done any salsa dancing before were doing a basic step before they even realized they were doing. I'm sure this helped bringing their anxiety level down.
When everybody had the basic down it was time for an inside turn followed by 'he goes she goes'.

Everything that we learned was first practiced without a partner.
And when I say practiced I really mean practiced!
It seemed like we would go on forever doing the same things.
In the 5 to 10 minutes that we spent on it I've practiced the lead for an inside turn more than I have in all my time dancing so far,

This was probably also the most valuable lesson that I learned that weekend.
Dancing, like martial arts, is about repetition.
If you keep practicing a move after you've become fed up with it,
if you keep practicing after your arms and shoulders have become tired,
If you keep practicing after your arms and shoulders started hurting,
if you keep practicing after you've started wondering why you wanted to learn at all,
if after all of that you still practice some more then you will probably never have trouble doing the move again.

Ok, so we didn't go that far but my shoulder did start to get tired by the time we were done and it worked. If I think of an inside turn now my arm will automatically start leading the move.

While I was doing martial arts I'd never expected anything else but I guess I thought things would be different when it came to dancing.
Lesson learned, repetition pays off.

We then practiced Cross Body Leads (thousands of them?) .
This was just more prove that repetition pays off as nobody, including the new people, had any trouble dancing them to music.

With these basic elements under out belt we started combining things.
Everything went fine for a while but eventually 2 of the beginners started falling behind.
I'm not sure whether that was because of the amount of information they had gotten in such a short period of time or because they didn't pay enough attention in the beginning.
I do hope they had a good time regardless.

Edie, Silvia and Ibo definitely made it a fun filled day that helped correct a couple of mistakes I was making consistently.
Would I recommend the bootcamp to beginners? Definitely!
Although maybe not to people that have never danced at all unless I know they are willing to put in the effort.

Taking private lessons turned out to be the best idea I've had so far.

After only 2 lessons I can say that for me it's been absolutely amazing.
Not because I learned more moves than I would in an hour of group class (I didn't) but because I got to go much deeper into details.

Foot placement, hip movements, shoulder movements... heck, any kind of movement.

As you have the instructor just working with you (s)he can correct you the instant that you're doing something wrong.
This way you don't get to build bad habits. Not only that, because you've paid so much attention to small details you feel much more confident (and because of that a lot less self conscious) when you are dancing.
You're not wondering whether you are doing things right or wrong anymore.
After all, if you did something wrong it was instantly corrected.

Aside from that you have the chance to be a lot more specific.
Are you having trouble with a particular move?
Ask the instructor to run through it with you and before you know it you'll have it down.
Having some problem finding the 1?
Ask your instructor to explain the music to you.
To some of you (I'm thinking musicians and people that have been dancing forever) it might seem silly but half my second private was spent discussing the structure and flow of the music, the instruments and how they interact.

Does that mean I can now always instantly find the 1?
Not at all but, I already realized that when I listen to music it is becoming easier.
I don't always find the one and sometimes I get distracted by the music and I forget to count which causes me to lose it.
That said, it's not as hard for me anymore now to find the 1 which helps me get back into the music a lot quicker.

Does that mean that private lessons are the end all solution for everybody?
No, I don't think so.

For one, private lessons are a lot more expensive than group classes.
Let's face it. We all have bills to pay and that should come first.
As much fun as dancing is, it's not worth getting your electricity cut off.
After all, it's a lot harder to practice at home without music ;-)
Luckily I have a bit of extra money at the moment that allows me to take private lessons so I'm taking full advantage of that at the moment.

Second, I think it helps if you've taken (some) group lessons.
It helps a lot if you know what you want so your instructor can tailor the lessons to fit your needs rather than just doing the same curriculum as in the group classes.
Not that there's anything wrong with that but I think you'll get more out of private lessons if you know exactly what you want.

So what's my verdict?
If you can afford private lessons and have had some group classes (or classes at a club) then by all means, go for them. It'll help you a lot.
If not... wait a bit longer.
You'll still be able to take private lessons next week, month, year.

Hasta luego!