Becoming a Salsero

Win a Full Event Pass for the 2009 San Diego Salsa Festival

becomingasalsero@gmail.com (Walter de Rooij) — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 19:32:00 +0000

That's right, you can now win a free full pass for both the Egypt Salsa Congress and the San Diego Salsa Festival !

Click this link for more info.

Complete Addicted2Salsa podcast /videocast collection

becomingasalsero@gmail.com (Walter de Rooij) — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 18:41:00 +0000

Complete Addicted2Salsa podcast /videocast collection

Just click the link to go to the post.

Alex da Silva’s new show, satire or publicity stunt?

becomingasalsero@gmail.com (Walter de Rooij) — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 19:48:00 +0000

Alex da Silva’s new show, satire or publicity stunt? Just click the link to go to the post.

Free Egypt Salsa Congress Pass!

becomingasalsero@gmail.com (Walter de Rooij) — Mon, 18 May 2009 14:52:00 +0000

I know, I know, I said I moved my blog and I did. It's now at http://becomingasalsero.com

That said, I still see a lot of traffic here and I thought it would only be fair to give everybody a chance to win a free pass for the Egypt Salsa Congress.

So click on this link to see how easy it is to win a free full pass for the Egyptian Salsa Congress!

Becoming a Salsero finds a new home

becomingasalsero@gmail.com (Walter de Rooij) — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 10:51:00 +0000

It's been more than a year since I've started this blog and as I'm still posting I thought it was time to move this blog to it's own domain.

This means that, going forward, I will stop posting here and instead will start posting at http://becomingasalsero.com

What does this mean for you?
A couple of things will change.

First of all I have moved to wordpress and unfortunately the current template didn't really work so I had to replace it. So once more a different look

Second, new posts will no longer appear here but will instead be made at the new domain.

And third, if you are subscribed to the RSS feed you will have to subscribe again.
You can do this by either clicking on the tiny rss icon in your browser's address bar or by clicking on the huge icon on the new site:

My apologies for the inconvenience. I hope you'll join me at my new home!

Alex da Silva Arrested

becomingasalsero@gmail.com (Walter de Rooij) — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 08:13:00 +0000

The first thing I saw this morning was a news item stating Alex da Silva has been arrested on charges of sexual assault.

Although I have never met him I was shocked. I have come across a fair number of people that have met Alex but I can't recall anybody ever saying a bad word about him. Aside from that, it seems to me there is no shortage of available women in his life so this came as a bit of a surprise.

It makes me wonder though, how will this affect the reputation of salsa dancing?

Assuming that the charges are true, will one bad apple enough to spoil the bunch? Salsa has a reputation for being a sexy dance. Will people say 'the girls were asking for it' or that 'it was to be expected'? Or will people be able to differentiated between the dance and the dancers?

Either way my heart goes out to all families involved. Let's hope this gets resolved quickly and justice will prevail

Learn to dance salsa - part 3

becomingasalsero@gmail.com (Walter de Rooij) — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 09:57:00 +0000

This is the third article in a series of 4.

In Learn to dance salsa - part 1 I looked at learning salsa by taking lessons and in "part 2" I discussed some of the advantages and disadvantages of learning to dance salsa by going to clubs.

This time we'll take a quick look at the pros and cons of learning to dance salsa by watching videos

So what exactly are some of the advantages of getting DVDs, watching youtube or subscribing to one of the websites that offers salsa instruction online?

First of all there is a lot of choice.

Almost all internationally known instructors have their own DVD on the market and there are several websites that offer videos as well. F.i. Salsa Bootcamp, Salsa Dance DVD or, one of my favourite sites, The Secret of Salsa. There are even more sites out there if these don't fit your needs/wants.
Another advantage is that you can learn at your own pace. Whenever you feel like it you log in to your website of choice, start a DVD or watch youtube clips. As you can start and stop whenever you feel like it you don't have to worry about conflicting appointments, missing classes when you go on holiday, etc.
A third advantage is that there is a low entry threshold. Some people are intimidated by the thought of having to go to a class or a club. Some people may worry (although unnecessarily so) about what other people may think or they may think that everybody else is an amazing dancer.

Unfortunately there are also some disadvantages so now I'll look at the flip side of the coin

It is just you and the video. You will have to find a partner that is willing to come over and practise with you.
There is no feedback mechanism. If you are doing something incorrect there you will not have somebody around to help you correct your mistake. At best this can lead to unpleasant dancing for your partner once you try new things on the floor but it could even lead to injuries. Both for you and your dance partner.

As with the other 2 methods I looked at so far learning to dance salsa by watching videos is not the perfect solution. Once again there are upsides and downsides and once again you'll have to see what is the best solution for you.

Soon I'll publish Learn to dance salsa - part 4. The article that I consider to bring forth the best solutions so check back for that or subscribe to the RSS feed to be sure you won't miss it.

Salsa twittering

becomingasalsero@gmail.com (Walter de Rooij) — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 09:32:00 +0000

As a former IT person I guess I had to give in some time so as of now I'm twittering.

Not sure exactly how I will use twitter but I felt it was worth giving it a try so as of now you can keep track of the things I'm up just by following me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/becomingasalser.

An empty dance floor

becomingasalsero@gmail.com (Walter de Rooij) — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 17:57:00 +0000

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 Gozar (To Enjoy) : An Introduction to Salsa Dancing

becomingasalsero@gmail.com (Walter de Rooij) — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 09:28:00 +0000

A Gozar is a video about salsa dancing.
It was made by Kate Thomas to explain why she likes to dance salsa so much and what exactly she likes about it.

Even though the video has been published on several sites since it was released I think that it has not yet gotten the exposure it deserves.

As you can probably tell, I think that it is a great video. And even though I have seen it several times now I still love it.

As a nice bonus (for me anyway) the video also shows pieces from an interview with one of my favourite salsa bloggers, Don Baarns (The Unlikely Salsero). Just as he does in his blog, he clearly shows his passion for the dance in the interview as well.

And, in case you think 9 minutes is too long (personally, I think it could have been much longer) there is also a condensed version that clocks in at under 5 minutes.

If you ever tried to explain why you like to dance so much but have failed, try showing this video to those people instead. Who knows, they may even join you next time you go to the club.

correcting your partners mistakes

becomingasalsero@gmail.com (Walter de Rooij) — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 10:25:00 +0000

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?

Are you too old to be dancing salsa?

becomingasalsero@gmail.com (Walter de Rooij) — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 08:34:00 +0000

I still regularly hear people say 'I would love to have learned to dance salsa but I'm too old'.

At that time I usually try to explain that age is irrelevant. After all, I didn't really start dancing until about a year ago and most people that bring up the 'too old' argument are about the same age I am.

Often though they are so stuck in their believes that it doesn't matter what I say. They'll reply with things like 'but you used to do martial arts' (never mind that I stopped doing that more than 10 years ago) and 'but you already learned to dance as a kid (never mind that I stopped ballroom dancing when I was just in my teens).

Going forward though I won't say a thing anymore. Instead I'll just send them this clip:

After watching that, who could possibly say 'but I'm too old'?

5th Croatian Salsa Festival

becomingasalsero@gmail.com (Walter de Rooij) — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 08:20:00 +0000

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!

New layout

becomingasalsero@gmail.com (Walter de Rooij) — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 15:11:00 +0000

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.

How to become a good lead

becomingasalsero@gmail.com (Walter de Rooij) — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 14:10:00 +0000

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.

What about social dancing?

becomingasalsero@gmail.com (Walter de Rooij) — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 19:02:00 +0000

There is one thing I remember very clearly about the first time I went social dancing.

I stepped into the club, checked my coat, went to the dance area and I panicked!

People were moving in ways I didn't even think were possible and none of them were doing any of the things that I had been taught. I don't even remember seeing anybody doing a basic.

To say that I was intimidated would be an understatement. So I just sat around for a while watching the dancers before going home. On the way back I dreamed about 'the day that I could do that too'.

Now that I have been dancing for a while the experience has changed a bit.

Don't get me wrong, it starts out the same way. I go to a club, sit around and watch the great dancers while my mouth drops. After a while though I consciously focus on other dancers and I see that not all the dancers are amazing superstars. There are also people who dance at my level and there are usually even some that have only just started out.

Then I always reminds myself that I'm there for 2 reasons. To have a good time and to improve my dancing.

Even though I can have a good time just sitting around watching great dancers it really doesn't do much to improve my dancing. I'm not sure about you but I just can't make a perfect copy of something that I have only seen once. To be honest, I usually can't make any kind of copy of it be it perfect, good or bad. If you can, please drop me a line and tell me your secret.

The only way I can improve my dancing (to keep this article from getting too complicated I won't go into musicality, counting, etc) is to actually get up, find a partner and dance.

This lead to a catch-22 situation for me. I wanted to get better at dancing but I didn't dare to go out and dance. Because of that it took a long time before anything happened.

I also remember the first time I actually went social dancing. I had been dancing for a while now and had the basics down so I wasn't too scared anymore. At least, not until we got to the party.

Once we were there all I could see were superstar level dancers and I became so self conscious that I couldn't remember anything beyond a mambo basic. This embarrassed me to no ends and lead to me becoming more and more nervous.

Half way through the song I called it quits. Even though my partner was very patient the night didn't improve. I would calm down when I was sitting down but as soon as I got up I felt like all eyes were on me and I started to freeze again.

Looking back though I don't know why I felt that way.

Nobody laughed at me, my parter didn't stop talking to me and if I have to be honest, I doubt anybody was even watching me. They were all looking at the great dancers, just like I do when I go out.

So what's the moral of this post? Go out and dance!

If you're like me then it can be very intimidating but the improvement you'll see and feel in your dancing will make it all worth it after a while.

If you're a man... definitely go social dancing!
Ladies tend to improve quicker than guys when they are both starting to dance salsa at the same time. You need all the practice you can get to just keep up with them.

And as Edie once told me, if girls would have wanted to sit around all night they would have stayed at home. Given the choice most girls would rather dance with you, even though you're not a great dancer yet, than sit around all night and not dance.

On taking notes

becomingasalsero@gmail.com (Walter de Rooij) — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 17:38:00 +0000

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?

Unexpected opportunities

becomingasalsero@gmail.com (Walter de Rooij) — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 12:41:00 +0000

A while ago I wrote a post comparing salsa to life.

As it is, life has caught up with salsa and I'm going through a low.

In itself that's not so bad. Granted, it's not the ideal time to be looking for a job but there still seem to be enough vacancies so who knows what will happen.

One of the downsides of my current situation though is that I'm stuck in a small town in the middle of nowhere. There is not a single place to go dancing anywhere near me.

At first this brought me down. Or I should say, I used it as a justification for feeling down. I wasn't feeling to great and it looks like I was looking for a reason to justify that. Dancing, or rather not being able to dance, became that reason.

For a while I allowed myself to sit just around being grumpy. But then I started asking myself, am I really feeling this bad because I can't dance. And is it even true that I can't dance?

Obviously the answer was 'No'.
I wasn't feeling bad because I couldn't dance. After all, I could. All I had to do was put on some music. I might not be able to dance with a partner but that didn't mean that I couldn't dance at all. As soon as I admitted that to myself I put on some music and started practicing again. Instantly I started feeling better again as well.

No, this doesn't mean that my problems disappeared instantly. I doubt that there is anything that can make all problems disappear overnight. But it did make me realize something.

I might have some problems at the moment that need to be solved but if I'm willing to compromise a bit, just like dancing without a partner for a while, than it will be easier to move forward again rather than being stuck in the moment.

So that's what I'm doing at the moment. I'm dancing without a partner. Both to the music and in life. Let's see how fast I can change that again.

Enjoy your week and have fun dancing!

No updates for a while

becomingasalsero@gmail.com (Walter de Rooij) — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 13:37:00 +0000

As you might have noticed, I have not posted anything in a while.

Unfortunately there are some personal things that are keeping me from posting right now. In fact, I have not even been able to go dancing lately.

Last weekend I was supposed to be at the Berlin salsa congress but instead I was running aro und from one place to another, trying to get things done.

Hopefully everything will be back to normal by the end of this week so I can start publishing updates here again. Until then, have fun dancing !

Internet dependency

becomingasalsero@gmail.com (Walter de Rooij) — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 23:42:00 +0000

The internet is part of our life these days.
Or at least, it's part of my life.

I had no idea how much I relied on it until an outage took place.

At the moment I have no connection at all and it is very strange.

Want to see what's on in the cinema? Drive into town.
Want to know what time the train or bus leaves? Walk up to the train/bus station.
Want to check your bank account? Go to your bank.
Want to check your email? Too bad.
Want to post to your blog? Too bad.

Unfortunately my provider has no idea what is wrong. They say everything should work but as I had to drive about 37km (+/- 23 miles) to post this apparently something is wrong.

Hopefully this will get sorted soon. . .

Arabian nights !

becomingasalsero@gmail.com (Walter de Rooij) — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:47:00 +0000

I am going to Marrakech ! ! !

So now you are probably sitting there thinking 'Good for you. But... who cares?' and you are entirely right to think so.

However, I have not been this excited in ages!

Not only am I going to a country I have never been to, I am going there for their first international salsa congress and they have a great line up of instructors. Or at least, they have lots of instructors that I like anyway.

Ok, that is it. I will not try to distract you anymore. However, if you happen to be there as well stop by to say "hi"

So how did I start dancing salsa?

becomingasalsero@gmail.com (Walter de Rooij) — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 22:58:00 +0000

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?

Are you dancing salsa the right way?

becomingasalsero@gmail.com (Walter de Rooij) — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 14:04:00 +0000

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.

NY + Rueda = . . . disaster ?

becomingasalsero@gmail.com (Walter de Rooij) — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 14:51:00 +0000

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.

Salsa is life

becomingasalsero@gmail.com (Walter de Rooij) — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 10:34:00 +0000

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.