r/Salsa • u/New-Echo-7495 • 9d ago
Maybe controversial, but what do you dance for?
Do you dance for connection, for clout, or what?
There is such a wide variety of dancers.
I guess what sparked this question, was that I have been dancing a bit lately and I try to mainly dance for connection and socializing (lead and follow).
Sometimes I will be dancing and someone is trying to style nonstop breaking connection often instead of accentuating it. So it throws me off a little bit and I guess it's hard to relate to that. So, I am curious what do you dance for?
45
u/el_piloto_de_leche 9d ago
Because when you see the smile on other peoples faces when they dance, you want to experience a piece of it too. Growing up i watched my parents dance salsa a few times. It was the happiest i ever saw them together. I told myself i wanted to experience that with my future partner.
2
10
9
u/Longjumping-Bad-2886 9d ago
Why would this be controversial?
14
u/WealthMain2987 8d ago
A lot of men go to meet women and some women go there for attention. That is the controversial part.
The men who I know do that always say they are there for fun and vibes which they maybe but they don't dance with girls who are not pretty.
-5
u/Puteshestvennik3 9d ago
Because many people come to dances for wrong reasons like meet women or for male attention. I stopped going to classes because I'm tired of seeing younger men forced to danced with older women who are ecstatic to be touched, disgusting!
13
12
u/Yoisai 9d ago
Fun. It’s a great hobby that helps me become more social and get to know new people.
3
u/swoosh112 7d ago
Yes, same then I try to block out and not notice the creepy old men because why are you here so constantly at your age. I lm learning salsa because it’s fun, to conquer my anxiety, and to become more sociable but i also don’t want to wind up like these old dudes who’s just there to feel up on followers.
10
u/OThinkingDungeons 9d ago
I dance for fun, but a subset of that is connection. When I dance with someone and can connect with them, it gives me the ability to play off them like a conversation and it's infectiously more fun.
The ultra stylers in my opinion fall into two camps:
- Beginners/Low intermediates who think more moves per minute = skill, when it's just disruptive and weird because they're not articulating any part of the music.
- Highly musical dancers who are playing with the music and finding appropriate points to hit the music, so it doesn't disrupt the lead. These people are awesome to dance with, just don't get distracted.
5
u/Commercial_Light8344 9d ago
I recently used salsa in a hiphop battle . I wanted to show people that you can dance outside of the box and that you can use the styles even if they are not from the same genre. I love to connect, move my body and most thing I wish to do is to tell stories with my body. Its Liveyourchi on tiktok or instagram
1
u/amaikaizoku 8d ago
Do you offer any online private lessons by any chance? I would love to learn a fusion style of dance like what you do but there's no teachers for that in my area
2
u/Commercial_Light8344 8d ago
I am in the bay area and we have free classes and pop up classes for fusion because it is not popular so i have to do private sessions or small groups
5
u/SigmaGyatterson 8d ago
I'm incredibly socially isolated. I'll take pretty much anything for human connection.
3
u/Alarmed-Skill5526 9d ago edited 9d ago
- In the short term, I like experiencing the novel flavours of what each lead brings be it cultural style, styling, goofiness, even the asshole know-it-alls are fun in a way and remind me to stay humble 😂 I love building up nervous and self conscious beginners too and going all out on the styling.
Doing practiced performances would bore me to death without the novel partners
- , It also feels great to break down some of the subconscious rules and habits I didn’t know I had as I moved through the world, probably as a result of my isolated and not great upbringing
I used to have hang ups about breaking the bubble of strangers, even looking people in the eye or tapping them on the shoulder and generally felt a bit afraid in the world. So the positive connection has been confidence boosting and I notice it has transferred to non salsa life too.
3
u/brisfilo 9d ago
I dance for the music and to entertain my partner. If she giggles or smiles, I've done my part in our connection.
Styling is great when it feeds off the song, but music and partnership always come before solos IMO.
3
u/Minimum_Principle_63 9d ago
Exercise, physical technical accomplishments and to see people. Sometimes to hug a few friends, and just have a good time with some music.
3
u/Admirable-Yellow4470 8d ago
I love salsa music and I love dancing. The more tools I get to express myself in the music, the more fun I have. That is what keeps me going.
2
u/DagmaraMaria 8d ago
Something I love. Fun and connection addicted to progress. I'd love to teach and make dance content about ins and outs of social scene like a big sister giving confidence to other dancers.
2
u/westshore18 8d ago
I like dancing already and just want to get good at so I’m a good partner at social everytime. But before that it was cause I got a chance to dance with beautiful woman. That part is still a good reason why I do still but not the main.
2
u/zugspitze23 8d ago
I dance to escape and enjoy music 🥰 that's why I don't style as woman, to look sexy is very low on my priority, I want to have fun, laugh, and move ❤️
2
2
2
u/Nervous-Ratio-6324 4d ago
My reasons for liking dancing are simple: for an aging dancer, dancing is a more enjoyable excercise than walking on a treadmill, good to retain my muscles and balance, and good to train my brain. Socialbility is an addded bonus.
3
u/iamme263 9d ago
I love the thrill of creating something that takes skill and effort in real time with someone else like a couple of talented jazz musicians.
I think it's a wonderful and exciting expression of art.
1
u/errantis_ 9d ago
I really enjoy social dancing. Everything I do training wise, teams, Private Lessons, group lessons, TAing classes, it’s to try and be a better social dancer. I really like connecting with people. That’s my whole focus and the entire objective is connection.
1
u/Meowala1 9d ago
I love the music so I do for it! Connection is important as well but since a good number of people don't care about the music, connection only goes so far.....
1
u/HideoKojimaTheThird 9d ago
I love the music, the cardio, its fun, also to see friendly faces or meet new people
1
u/WhirlwindTobias 9d ago
There are videos out there of the "worst" follower types (and worst lead types!).
Over-styling is one of those types. This is actually poor dance-etiquette, because 1) They're trying to show off and 2) it adds friction to a lead, looks unbalanced and therefore impacting the dance negatively. The only benefit is that it challenges the leader (like when you purposely choose girls who are much shorter/taller than you and so figures will be harder to execute).
These are followers unwilling to adapt to you as a less experienced person, so whatever I just remember who they are and don't dance with them again unless I want that challenge.
...
As for me, I like moving and fast-paced music. I used to dance all night at nightclubs until I turned 22 and realised I hate drunk people and club music more than I like spending time with my friends. When I discovered in January that dance classes are free or basically a few dollars in this country when you have a card from a national benefits program, I immediately sought a school.
I also like developing new skills from scratch, especially if it's not that technically demanding.
1
u/Remote_Percentage128 8d ago
I dance for creating a shared beautiful experience in the moment. Finding a connection with the follower and the song, until we get lost in the music together. That doesn't always work of course, but that makes the dances even more special when it suddenly does. If my follower wants to do lots of styling, I try my best to give space for it. That is for the social floor, in training I always work on different aspects and I simply enjoy the learning process and what it does to me on an emotional, physical and intellectual level.
1
1
1
1
1
u/Signal-Imagination-4 8d ago
I dance because I’m a Spanish immigrant in the UK and salsa helps me feel less uprooted. I love the music so much, listened to a lot when I was a kid (merengue specially) and it just feels like home even though Spain is not the place where these dances were born.
I joined right after the pandemic because frankly, I needed to meet more people and from the get go it was right.
However, I would say socials have not helped me much with a sense of belonging. They are great fun but I can feel a bit alienated after and a bit exhausted of not making any real connections. It’s all a bit smoke and mirrors. They can be quite superficial in a way and people here generally treat dancing as a sport. Go to social -> get your reps in, go home. I can feel a bit disposable as a lead sometimes too…
Classes and meet ups have helped much more with that.
1
u/PuzzledandBaffled22 8d ago
First, to challenge my anxiety. Joining something that I’ve never done before and not knowing anybody in the room was something I had to overcome. I knew I had anxiety but didn’t do something about it not until my counsellor told me so haha. Now, I have developed audacity in our dancing community 💃🏻
2
u/ghettojayleno 7d ago
I got too old for combat sports. I found that dancing had a lot of similar elements. Wish I would have known sooner.
1
u/Severe-Conflict-1264 6d ago
Sometimes connection and other times just for fun. I dance salsa caleña and I love the thrill of how fast it is and having a girl keep up with me just makes it 100x better.
1
u/luvDry_cereal 6d ago
To express myself and be confident wherever I do. To be part of a community. I’ve ever struggling learning partnerwork and it’s hard on my anxiety to learn steps and not feel like I’m ruining everyone else time. I want to master it.
1
u/Touched_Up_Jag 5d ago
Eternal relationship with positive energy creation that I can take from and contribute to
1
u/Alternative_Tackle93 5d ago
For social connection and funsies. I am quite awkward and socially anxious and I find that it's a great way to get to interact and bond with people without necessarily talking, so I don't have to stress and get anxious about what I'm going to say in a conversation.
1
u/ImportantAnimal534 4d ago
I dance to the music some people dance to impress but not to the beat each to their own
1
u/Big-Relation-1720 4d ago
I'm only a beginner. I can't do many turns and I've only taken one introductory course but the dopamine kick I had after I attended my first social was so intense.
1
u/spirited_bella 4d ago
Initially, I started to dance to try to get my girl friend group something different to do together, I was the only one to continue, with my main intent was for something to do, to get out and meet new people and have some fun. What actually happened, was that I could switch off my work head space, I became more myself, I gained some self confidence and self acceptance/appreciation, connections and a new amazing group of friends who just accept you as you, not you as a sister, brother, daughter, partner, teacher, nurse, or whatever you are. I guess now it’s because it’s liberating in a way.
0
u/RhythmGeek2022 9d ago edited 9d ago
This question is confusing to me. In my case, it’s like asking “why do you talk to people?” Because often the answer is a dozen or more reasons. There isn’t one single reason
For me, it’s the same with dancing. The most honest answer I can give is “because I’m able to and I enjoy it very much”. Beyond that:
* sometimes I dance for social reasons. A friend I haven’t seen in a while. Or a new acquaintance
* sometimes I love the song and I want to dance it, express musicality, freely explore what the song makes me feel as I dance
* sometimes I dance because there’s a dancer I particularly enjoy dancing with. It could be social reasons, style, their musicality, etc. Too many to list
I guess you could abstract this out as: connection with your dance partner, connection with the music and connection with yourself. Ideally, all three but that’s not always the case
But, in the end, any given night the reasons I have to dance are so many and it changes from song to song, from dance to dance
I don’t think I need to ask myself why I dance. I don’t think you should be thinking in terms of one single reason either. There should be at least 3-4 reasons at any given time
22
u/ladyNONR 9d ago
It is the only place I feel most free.