Salsa Congestion…
Part of my dance fever has been to attempt to learn Salsa! Couples moving to the grooves of Salsa look so sexy and hot! And I always dreamed of being able to move like that…
I started taking lessons last week and yesterday I took my second class! The first class was simply amazing and a good laugh. It’s very important to me that I enjoy what I attempt to learn, if I don’t, I will get bored and give it up… Last nights class though it was a disaster. Let me explain… I take the classes at the Pineapple Dance studios in London, it an open class and quite popular. Well it was last night, as there was no space to move let alone dance. People were stepping on people and tripping over handbags and other debris left on the edge of the room. Since I had graduated from the beginners’ class to the elementary/intermediate the teacher was different. The young man attempting to teach us a bit of styling was anything but a teacher though. I have no doubt that he is an excellent dancer… but he couldn’t pass that knowledge on to other people.
As a result, there was a constant confusion of what he was trying to show us, what the right steps were and where we were supposed to be… In few words it was a joke!
One hour into the class our so called teacher decided that he will just show us the moves by dancing them… and kept changing the arrangement…
Needless to say I got really frustrated by that time and I decided that it was a waste of my time… I wasn’t learning anything and I was getting mad. The idea is to have fun not get frustrated… so I left early.
What is next? Well I have not given up on the idea of learning Salsa, I quite like it actually and I just need to find a more structured class, where the number of people is limited. So back to the drawing board, looking a searching for something better. They do say you get what you pay for. The open classes are inexpensive but they are also a mess… Over all I can use this as a learning experience, I have had a excellent open class and a really bad one… so I guess in the end it balances.
History of Salsa according to Wikipedia:
“Salsa music is a fusion of traditional African and Cuban and other Latin-American rhythms that traveled from the islands (Cuba and Puerto Rico) to New York during the migration, somewhere between the 1940s and the 1970s, depending on where one puts the boundary between "real" salsa and its predecessors. Celia Cruz, who by many has been hailed as the queen of salsa before she died said that salsa doesn't exist as a rhythm, she said it was only an exclamation for music such as guaracha, bolero, cha cha cha, danzon, son, rumba etc. The famous latin composer and musician Tito Puente also argued that there is no such thing as salsa but only mambo, rumba, danzon and cha cha cha...etc. There is debate as to whether Salsa originated in Cuba or Puerto Rico. Salsa is one of the main dances in both Cuba and Puerto Rico and is known world-wide. The dance steps currently being danced to salsa music come from the Cuban son, but were influenced by many other Cuban dances such as Mambo, Chá Chá Chá, Guaracha, Changuí, Palo Monte, Rumba, Abakuá, Comparsa and some times even Mozambique. It also integrates swing dances. There are no strict rules of how salsa should be danced, although one can distinguish a number of styles, which are discussed below. The reason there are no strict rules as to how you dance salsa is because it is a made up dance, an improvised dance to music which is often misunderstood. Salsa can be whatever the interpreter wishes it to be. The choreographer may listen to some music which is defined as salsa and will improvise the steps that come to mind. Salsa has elements of Jazz, funk, reggae, and even samba. If it didn't exist someone would have to invent it.”
I started taking lessons last week and yesterday I took my second class! The first class was simply amazing and a good laugh. It’s very important to me that I enjoy what I attempt to learn, if I don’t, I will get bored and give it up… Last nights class though it was a disaster. Let me explain… I take the classes at the Pineapple Dance studios in London, it an open class and quite popular. Well it was last night, as there was no space to move let alone dance. People were stepping on people and tripping over handbags and other debris left on the edge of the room. Since I had graduated from the beginners’ class to the elementary/intermediate the teacher was different. The young man attempting to teach us a bit of styling was anything but a teacher though. I have no doubt that he is an excellent dancer… but he couldn’t pass that knowledge on to other people.
As a result, there was a constant confusion of what he was trying to show us, what the right steps were and where we were supposed to be… In few words it was a joke!
One hour into the class our so called teacher decided that he will just show us the moves by dancing them… and kept changing the arrangement…
Needless to say I got really frustrated by that time and I decided that it was a waste of my time… I wasn’t learning anything and I was getting mad. The idea is to have fun not get frustrated… so I left early.
What is next? Well I have not given up on the idea of learning Salsa, I quite like it actually and I just need to find a more structured class, where the number of people is limited. So back to the drawing board, looking a searching for something better. They do say you get what you pay for. The open classes are inexpensive but they are also a mess… Over all I can use this as a learning experience, I have had a excellent open class and a really bad one… so I guess in the end it balances.
History of Salsa according to Wikipedia:
“Salsa music is a fusion of traditional African and Cuban and other Latin-American rhythms that traveled from the islands (Cuba and Puerto Rico) to New York during the migration, somewhere between the 1940s and the 1970s, depending on where one puts the boundary between "real" salsa and its predecessors. Celia Cruz, who by many has been hailed as the queen of salsa before she died said that salsa doesn't exist as a rhythm, she said it was only an exclamation for music such as guaracha, bolero, cha cha cha, danzon, son, rumba etc. The famous latin composer and musician Tito Puente also argued that there is no such thing as salsa but only mambo, rumba, danzon and cha cha cha...etc. There is debate as to whether Salsa originated in Cuba or Puerto Rico. Salsa is one of the main dances in both Cuba and Puerto Rico and is known world-wide. The dance steps currently being danced to salsa music come from the Cuban son, but were influenced by many other Cuban dances such as Mambo, Chá Chá Chá, Guaracha, Changuí, Palo Monte, Rumba, Abakuá, Comparsa and some times even Mozambique. It also integrates swing dances. There are no strict rules of how salsa should be danced, although one can distinguish a number of styles, which are discussed below. The reason there are no strict rules as to how you dance salsa is because it is a made up dance, an improvised dance to music which is often misunderstood. Salsa can be whatever the interpreter wishes it to be. The choreographer may listen to some music which is defined as salsa and will improvise the steps that come to mind. Salsa has elements of Jazz, funk, reggae, and even samba. If it didn't exist someone would have to invent it.”
For more information about the history, the steps and the styles of Salsa you can check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salsa_(dance).
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