Becoming a Salsero

As the dates for the 5th Croatian Salsa Festival have been set (25 - 28 June, with 2 pre-festival days) this is as good a time as any to reminisce and share some of my experiences from last year.

The festival is held in Rovinj, a lovely, tranquil village in Croatia. You can stroll around the quiet streets or along the seaside and feel like you've been transported to another place and another time. A more peaceful time. A time without all the stress that we so often feel these days.

If you have never been to Rovinj then this slide show should give you an impression of what the town looks like. If you have been there before then the pictures will most likely bring back some wonderful memories of this lovely town.




As you can see, it's a lovely, quiet town.

A place where time seems to have stopped and life is more simple, more relaxed... calm. The kind of place you would try to find you wanted to get away from the hectic life that most of us live these days. A place of such tranquility that you will forget about everything that may trouble you. A place where you can just relax until time seems to have stopped for you as well.

Rovinj is just that kind of place... most of the time.

But once a year, when it is time for the annual Croatian salsa festival, this sleepy town wakes up and roars.

It shakes of it's sleepiness and instead of the calm, peaceful town something else arises. For a couple of days the town transforms into a place so incredibly vibrant you will find it hard to believe that you are still in the same town .

It transforms from a cozy village, where lazy tourists calmly stroll around the streets and relax on beaches, into a vibrant town where you dance in the streets.

It becomes a place where swimming pools turn into dance floors and sleepy tourists are replaced by energetic, colourful salseros and salseras from all continents.

A town where the market square takes on a new role as it changes into a huge open air dance hall with some of the most amazing shows and musical performances ever witnessed.

A town so full of life that you feel it's newfound heartbeat pulsate, so full of energy that it keeps you going day and night.

A place where you can hear the sound of the clave and can feel the beat of the conga everywhere you go.

A place were both novice and expert salsa dancers fit right in and have an amazing time side by side.

A place that forges friendships that will last a lifetime and creates memories that last forever.

A place that words just can't describe.

But as a picture is worth a thousand words . . . here are some of them:




Unfortunately I can't seem to find any footage from 2008 but here are the highlights from 07:

Highlights Croatian Salsa Festival 2007



Last year I attended the salsa festival in Croatia for the first time but I can already say that it was the first time of many. This year I'll be there from the 22nd (I'm sure I'll need the extra night to get some rest before it all starts) right through the end of the festival. If you are there as well, come over and say hi!

As you may have noticed, I have changed the layout of this blog.

The old layout served me for a while but it turned out that it wasn't quite what I was looking for as it didn't meet all my needs/wants.

I'm still experimenting with this one (photos at the bottom will be replaced soon) but so far I like the look and feel as well of the options of the new template better.

Don't be afraid to give your opinion regardless of whether you agree or disagree.

I'm still getting used to my life back in the Netherlands which is one of the reasons my updates are still very infrequent at the moment.

The other reason is that I just don't have a lot of time at the moment.I've started in telecom, am helping out a friend with a flower shop a couple of days a week and aside from that there is a severe shortage of men dancing salsa so I help balance the number of men vs women in class most nights of the week. However, sometimes I manage to find some free time like this morning which allows me to browse the net and write updates.

While I was browsing youtube earlier today I came across a video in which William Carpenter gives some tips on leading and following.



As you can see William states how important it is for the leader to understand what their partner is supposed to do, to know exactly how much time it takes to do it, what's necessary for it to happen and to execute it.


While I watched the clip I realized that a lot of this has applied to me at one point or another. Or rather, just the opposite. Not knowing all of that.

When I began dancing I had no idea what my partner was really supposed to do. I was happy if I knew what I was supposed to do. Ok,I did know that my partner was supposed to turn but when or how... some time during count 5 and 7 was probably the best answer I could give.

Once I had finally figured out when things were supposed to happen my leading improved a bit. I still had no idea though how long it took to do some moves. In fact I would have probably never 'really' found out if I had not gotten bored in class one day.

As most classes are short on men I often get asked to come to a class so there are (closer to) enough men. This means I do a lot of beginner classes as well. One day when the ladies were struggling with the steps they had to do I was watching them and I decided to join them.

I found myself stepping along with them, doing a move I had seen a hundreds of times before. Being confident and familiar with the steps it is obvious that I failed.

Or rather, I struggled. We were doing a move that I had seen a lot of times already and one that I had heard being explained a fair number of times as well. It wasn't even a complicated move (cross body lead turn if I remember correctly) but I still struggled to make it through. I had no idea how much time each of the steps would take. As I did have the advantage that I had seen the move a lot of times already the second try went a lot smoother already. Soon after that I picked it up.

This experience also changed the way I lead the move. I had gotten a much better idea of how the lead should be and as it turned out, I had always started turning the lady just a little bit too soon which affected her balance. Just a tiny correction made for a great improvement. It had given me an idea of what was needed for it to happen.

Taking the advice in this video to heart (even before I had seen it) has improved my lead according to the feedback I have gotten. Perhaps it can do the same for you.

And I realize that there is more to being a good leader than just knowing how to lead a move properly but more about that in another post.