San Diego Salsa Congress: Sept 19-21, 2008

San Diego California has a world-wide reputation for great weather, and it's a great tourist city. They've been growing a strong crop of salsa dancers for many years as well, and I hear good things about their progress.

In the third week of Sept they are having their second annual San Diego Salsa Congress. I have zero connection with the event, other than knowing there is nothing like taking classes during the days and dancing all night for a few days in a row.

Some excellent instructors and performers are scheduled to attend, and San Diego is always a great place to visit, even if you simply took in the ocean views and enjoyed the amazing weather.

Being totally focused on dancing is a real treat and a great way to improve quickly, so check it out if you can get away for the weekend starting September 19th, 2008.

Click here for additional details.

When you go to events, you might want to check out these articles I wrote at while ago. They provide tips and tricks for getting the most from any salsa event, especially if you are new.

Most of the tips also apply to attending new clubs, because the social aspects apply to all situations. The third article applies directly to the ladies, and is club focused, but the principles overlap so I'm including it in the list.

Previous articles:

Breaking In at an Event or Congress: Part 1

Breaking In at an Event or Congress: Part 2

Why Don't the Guys Ask Me? (focused on ladies and clubs, but applies to events also)

PS: Again, I'm not associated with or teaching at this event.

Proud Dad! Sarah Palin Interview

This is totally off subject and I'm simply bragging big time.

My oldest son Donny interviewed Sarah Palin (the new VP pick for McCain) about a year ago while broadcasting a minor league baseball game in Alaska.

He had almost no time to prepare for the interview, because he didn't know she would be at the game. He decided to ask her if she would stop by the broadcast booth. She surprised him and said "yes". He Googled her during the game and then took it from there when she arrived in the booth.

It's short and sweet. (His interview went from 500 views to 7500 views in the last couple hours...)

Update, Tuesday Sep 15, 2008: Time.com just linked to his interview and a blog on the Yahoo MLB site added a link. It recently went over 140,000 views and it keeps growing. It will be interesting to see where it goes from here.



Side note: I do NOT want get into a political debate in my dance blog. I'm proud my son did this interview on the fly, and I'll delete comments that become political in nature.

We'll return to your normally scheduled dance topics in the next post!

Cross-Training other Dances

I'm curious!

Usually I write articles, provide my perspective and get a couple comments. This time I'll provide a little of my perspective, but I really want your input on cross-training (or not).

When I started dancing at age 44, I had never danced once in a club. Today I cross-training in other dances and I find it extremely helpful. My balance, body control, spins and other foundational moves continue to grow over time. I feel I'm just getting started, and see the biggest pay-offs ahead of me.

I originally started taking salsa aerobics classes around 5 years ago to lose some weight and improve my fitness. I never dreamed of taking dance classes. I didn't even think about partnering until a few months into it the instructor invited me to a partnering class outside the gym. That was the start of my unlikely journey into the dance world.

Today, taking other styles give me a set of intended benefits, and I've discovered a world of unintended positive benefits. I regularly find insights that make my salsa dancing better. For example, I see the stronger salsa spinners employing techniques that are standard fare for jazz and ballet dancers (with minor modifications).

I'm learning footwork and body control that others learned dancing at high school parties, club dancing or in what I call “foundational dances” (jazz, ballet, ballroom). By the time I hit high school, I was already playing the music and watching dancers, but never dancing myself.

In my case, these cross-training dance classes provide a structured method for building up my weaknesses and providing sound foundations for growth.

I'm wondering how many others regularly take dance classes outside of partner salsa or dancing at the clubs?

For the record (since I'm asking you to answer some of the questions), here are my responses to get the ball rolling:

I'm currently taking three jazz and two hip-hop classes each week. The jazz classes are all with the same instructor, and the hip-hop is with another instructor. Two days a week the classes are back-to-back, first the jazz, then the hip-hop class (an intense workout but most of the time it's a blast!) I have dramatically improved my strength, flexibility, balance and basic body control, and I’ve lost some weight.

Many of my improvements do NOT show up today in my salsa, but I see it as a longer term foundation. I started these other dances because when I analysis the leads favored by the world class follows in know, the vast majority of their favorite leads have a jazz, hip-hop and/or traditional Cuban street salsa experience in addition to strong New York or LA style components.

On a parallel track, my favorite musicians tend to be highly cross-trained, although in any one setting they sound like they specialize in one style. Their cross-training gives them insights that are rare among single style players. I originally took it on faith that the same would apply from a dancing perspective, and I see that playing out over time.

I call this concept "back-filling," where I'm filling holes in my dance education that others filled when they were younger. Many world class follows have experience with other dances, including jazz, ballet, hip-hop, gymnastics and/or cheer leading in addition to dancing salsa. Most cross-train other dances as they grow, stealing great techniques from other dances and applying them to salsa.

Now I’m my curiosity about your other dance training. Click on the "comments" link below and add your thoughts on cross-training, including your pros and cons.

Some other questions I have (please answer one or more, as you see fit):

• What types of classes are you taking?
• What benefits do you see or hope to see?
• How often do you attend classes?
• Why did you start the other style/dance?
• How long did it take before it made a difference for you?
• Are you planning on other dances in the future and what are they?

In other words, what do you do to grow and why? Feel free to go outside my questions above, those are to prime the pump but are not intended to restrict you to a specific type of answer.

Short or longer answers welcomed!

I look forward to your comments.

You are what you eat. Which makes me cheap, quick and easy.
--Dave Thomas (Wendy's founder)

Clave Primer: Blasts From the Past

I'm writing an article on the magic of clave and musicality, and it's not trivial. I think it will end up in two or three parts, because there's so much to cover. Usually I write something, and then I try to cut it in half during the editing process. It's possible this will happen again and it will be one short article. I'm not holding my breath.

I realized I wrote a couple of articles on clave over a year ago, but since I only had seven readers back then, it makes sense to remind you of these articles. I'm expanding these concepts and debunking some of the current clave myths I hear regularly.

If you happen to be among the seven that were following this blog last year, you might want to check them out again, as the information is timeless. (I can say that, because one of the articles was written by someone else, with additional commentary from me.)

If you are newer, then you'll want to read them as they will provide some solid information for your reading and dancing pleasure.

Check them out and let me know your thoughts.

Clave Articles from 2007:
Clave and the Ever-Changing Salsa Dance (June 07)
Clave: More Than Most People Want to Know (Sept 07)

Victory goes to the player who makes the next-to-last mistake.
--Jackie Mason

Bachata Part 2: Lovin It Close?

This is part 2 of a series. Check out last weeks "Gatta Learn Bachata" before or after this article.

Bachata is often danced as a contact sport, but that's certainly a choice.

In one of the comments on my previous bachata article, Joe mentioned "partners who don't want to dance close are missing out."

My first thought was: "Maybe... If she’s comfortable with you then she’ll enjoy your amazing journey, otherwise she’ll be mentally fighting you the whole time. As a lead we should earn their trust before getting too close.”

Too many guys abuse the close concept, getting very close too early because they want to be close and bachata is the perfect excuse. This same concepts apply to salsa, but since it’s not usually danced so close, it’s less of an issue.

We need to be competent enough to lead open bachata moves very well, respecting that some partners are not going to enjoy the dance if we are too close too soon. Some may never want to dance close and I'm fine with that.

Be sure it’s a mutual thing, and she wants you as close as you want to be. I’ve seen some amazing dances that stayed primarily in open position, and both partners had a fun, sexy dance. You can mix open and close depending on the situation.

Of course, anytime we can hold a woman close, we are likely to do so. That’s just part of our natural leader instincts. However, if it’s done without a mutual connection, it can quickly backfire. Most guys don’t pay attention to their follows response, but you can see it in their face and body language if you’re attentive.

This is also interesting to watch when you are taking a break and watching others. Figure out which follows are enjoying the close dance and which are hating it or simply pretending they are fine with it. If you watch enough it will become pretty obvious to you, and then you'll recognize the signs with your partners.

Don’t assume that if she is close to another guy, she will love being close to you. That couple may have had twenty dances over the last six months, and that is a different class of dancing than partners with just a few dances.

Close is fine and appropriate for repeat partners, but I still see lots of guys who don't get a second dance because they think doing their great close moves will seal the deal. That will occasionally work, but anything works some of the time. If you play the odds, a measured approach is a stronger strategy.

Just to be clear; If you and your partner want to be as close as lovers on the floor, go for it. It’s also appropriate to start more open with new partners and get closer as the dance progresses or during one of the follow-up dances.

Your job as a lead is to have her want you to be close, because it feels great for her and she’s enjoying your lead.

Ladies: Your thoughts? (Guys are welcomed too.)

Reality is the leading cause of stress amongst those in touch with it.
--Lily Thomlin

Gatta Learn Bachata

Bachata has been the perfect break song for me at the clubs. The song starts, I get some water and rest a few minutes before the salsa fires up again.

They don't play many bachatas, and by the time they do, I need a break anyway. I hadn't bothered learning much about it but I see a tipping point happening. Bachata is replacing cha-cha-cha as the number two Latin dance in many clubs.

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.

Many salsa dancers look down on bachata. Just like some jazz dancers look down on salsa dancers, believing it's easy and a street dance. The music is simpler, the bachata basic is not as complicated, and the hip/leg-kick stuff can look downright feminine if a lead is not careful. Not a look most guys want.

I have a salsero friend who hates bachata, mocks the little leg kick thing, and starts swearing about the DJ if they play more than one bachata ever hour or so. When they play two in row, he'll go swear directly to the DJ, asking them when the salsa is restarting.

He just hates it. But I think he's missing the point and swimming against the tide.

The ladies really like it overall (unless an unknown guy gets too close), and they can be lead through an interesting dance by any decent bachata lead. Most guys can be "decent" in far less time than salsa, and like it or not, it's becoming more popular each day.


Edie the Salsa Freak and Jorge Dancing Bachata

Rather than fight the trend, I'm going to work it and I recommend you do the same. At the summer Salsa Mambo Festival, the bachata classes were very popular, and when they played bachata tunes during social dancing, the floor was 70-80% as full as the salsa songs, and right up there with the cha-cha-cha tunes.

That's a big difference from just six months ago, where there was lots of open space during the bachata tunes.

By the time the New Years Salsa Mambo Festival is here, I'll have my bachata chops in order. I've started watching Edie's two bachata DVDs, and realized it's not a big deal if you already do some regular salsa social dancing.

You can dance it real close, real respectful or anyplace in between if your partner is on the same page. Guys, be sure you pay attention to your partners response, as I've seen many guys really turn ladies off by being too close for comfort.

On the other hand, if you're a very good bachata lead, (not that tough in my mind), some are happy to dance closer than I'd expect. It's a matter of making good choices and paying attention to your partners responses.

It makes sense to get your act together, take a class or two, and/or follow my lead and purchase a couple DVDs to get you started. Experienced salsa dancers will be competent in minimal time (compared to salsa), and like any dance, you want to become "above average" because partners love dancing with those people.

If you become excellent, you'll find a wide set of partner choices, because while many are doing it, only the minority are doing it really well. That will change over time, but today is your chance to get ahead of the curve.

It may not have been my favorite in the past, but it's time to move beyond the "it's break time" mentality. I see it as a fun dance, and the challenge is to make a great connection rather than a complex dance.

Taken to a higher level, you'll find a great connection, musicality and body motion is the essence of the dance, with a wide pattern vocabulary a distant third. In other words, it provides an excellent vehicle for improving your connection, musicality, Cuban motion, leading techniques, and timing. All those elements will carry over to improve your salsa.

Time to make it a part of my dance vocabulary and I recommend you check it out too.

Let me know your thoughts on bachata becoming more popular. Are you seeing similar trends in your scene?

A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable,
but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.
--George Bernard Shaw

Mirrors: An Excellent Tool

Right after finishing a dance at the Salsa Mambo Festival, someone said to me, "Wow, your last partner dances great and looks really sexy! But she would look so much better if she didn't do that 'funny turn-out thing' with her feet. That would be so easy for her to fix, I wonder if she's ever seen herself dancing?"

My first thought was, "I doubt it, most social dancers don't learn salsa in a location with mirrors." I also noted that I didn't notice the “feet thing” that was mentioned, probably because I don't normally watch my partners’ feet during a dance.

All I remembered was a great dance. But it did make me think about mirrors and practicing.

Most women take a limited set of lessons before they simply dance, refining their following skills by dancing with a wide set of leads. Many take some classes at the clubs before the social dancing, and mirrors aren’t a normal part of the club scene on the dance floor.

Guys are even less likely to learn in a room with mirrors. The vast majority learns by watching other guys at the club, taking a few club lessons and/or viewing clips on the web.

Foundational dances like jazz and ballet are almost always learned in rooms with mirrors. Those dancers see themselves in the mirror every class, often weekly for a few years, seeing their moves and the lines they create with their bodies.

Salsa dancers should consider doing the same at points. Classes held at dance studios are almost always in mirrored rooms, so taking some classes at a studio is a win for most people. Or get a mirror at home you can use for practice.

(Last year I discussed mirrors at home in this article: “Practice Space and Spousal Upgrades”)

Most of us quickly realize that moves that feel good to us don’t always look the same from the outside. With minor tweaks they can be much, much nicer. Often just being aware of the issue allows you to enhance the move on the floor next time, especially if you've been dancing more than a few months.

If you want to refine your look and feel quickly; it's mirrors, video or both.
Without the visual feedback, it's easy to overlook simple things that everybody else sees from their outside perspective. Getting your smiling face in front of a mirror every so often can make a huge positive difference in your dancing.

That way people can say “Wow, you looks great” and leave off the comments about the minor issues you already fixed. Just seeing yourself allows you to make the adjustments before someone else points them out.

Let me know about your personal experiences with mirrors (and/or video).

Related Articles:
Video Yourself Often but Be Kind
Practice Space and Spousal Upgrades

My friends tell me I have an intimacy problem,
but they don't really know me.
--Garry Shandling

Ugly Guy, Beautiful Women: Salsa Parallels

Did you read the report that says the better marriages are often the ugly guy with the beautiful woman? Click here for FoxNews article.

The marriage concept has a parallel in the salsa world: The more mature leads don’t overshadow their partners, even if they could. She should always look better than you on average. By the time the dance ends, she should feel like a winner.

You may be a great, gee-wiz dancer, but news flash to the guys: It ain’t about you directly! Think of yourself as a director or executive producer. You get indirect glory by allowing your partner to shine.

When you do show off, don't do it for too long. By the end of the dance she should feel like she was the focus of your joint production, even if you're seriously more advanced than her. You may be the director, but she is the star on the team. When she shines brightly, you look even better.

I saw a perfect negative example of this last week at the Salsa Mambo Festival (SMF). Shani Talmor was dancing with a very experienced Salsero (NOT shown in the clip below!)


Shani Talmor social dancing with Cristian Oviedo

Watching the above clip, it's obvious Shani she can hold her own in the dance/shine department. She’s an amazing dancer and one of the best follows around. Cristian does a great job showcasing and complimenting her. In the clip they are social dancing; unrehearsed and just having fun in the moment with the music.

At the SMF, a different experienced lead (who will remain nameless, again: NOT Cristian) was social dancing with Shani. He had wide range of mature, complex partnering moves. He also had a ton of fast, impressive footwork he had clearly worked on over the years.

At one point the lead spun her out and they started solo dancing. Unfortunately, the lead seemed to treat the shine section as a contest with her rather than a dance. He started. She increased her intensity to match him, he raised the bar, she matched him again, but then he moved into energizer rabbit mode, increasing the intensity again and again.

The shine lasted much longer than normal. The more she worked to compliment him, the more he turned up the intensity, until at one point; she simply stopped and watched for about 4 bars, as if to say "OK, you win".

The lead was so into his show, he didn’t see her stop at first.

From where I was I could see her face, and it wasn't "wow, he's good", but rather "What the heck" (maybe more on the "WTF" side, but I doubt she would say that out loud). She shook her head for just a second, before reverting to her professional side and pretending she was cool with it. But she didn’t restart until he got the hint, shined over and picked her up for more partnering.

In other words, rather than extend the competition, she waited for him to finish the near madness, pick her up and completed the dance as partners. I'm guessing he got carried away and wanted to impress her, but actually stepped over that line from impressing her, to exasperating her. (Not exactly where you want to be.)

The music didn't say "maximum intensity" mode, and at one point she clearly had enough of it. It was obvious to experienced observers that she wasn't having fun, although she was a true pro about it. She had no problem keeping up; it was more, “why bother?”

There's nothing wrong with showing your cool stuff, but if it's way out of character with the tune, or inappropriate with your partner, do it for a few bars and then tone it down a bit. Less can be more, especially after you quickly demonstrate that you could increase the complexity, but choose to go a different route.

In contrast, I also saw Shani dance with some beginning/intermediate leads and she totally toned it down. She did amazing, complimentary stuff and keep it sensual, but avoided her sexy, "burn the house down" moves. She made her leads look much better, and the guys loved it. She appropriately complimented her partners, scaling up and down based on their lead.

Make no mistake, when the lady shows off more, the leads tend to eat it up. In reverse, that concept doesn't work so well.

If you have a set of very well rehearsed shines or complex moves, be sure you have the right partner to showcase them and the music makes sense for your intensity level. Contrast all the flash with some finesse moves, keeping her squarely in the spotlight.

To paraphrase Edie the Salsa Freak: The mark of a superior lead is making his partner feel great, and allowing her to make you look great. You can do that as a near beginner or very mature lead.

The last thing you want to do is look better than her the whole song. You may be the ugly guy, but that won’t prevent you from dancing with the better follows if you handle it correctly.

First-rate brains hang around with first-rate brains;
second-rate brains hang around with third-rate brains.
--Leo Rosten

Recovering from the Salsa Mambo Festival

I returned home early Monday morning from the Salsa Mambo Festival in Palm Springs. Today (Thursday) is the first day I feel "normal" again. Too much fun, too little sleep.

It was a sleep deprived long weekend, which started with me leaving home early last Thursday afternoon, teaching Thursday night (Intro to Salsa) then teaching and dancing for three more days straight. I taught two 3-hour bootcamps with Edie the Salsa Freak, my musicality class (listening/understanding the music), grabbed some naps and food, then danced until around 2 or 3 each morning, repeating until time to leave early Monday AM, after about 4 hours of sleep.

A great time was had by hundreds of people. I danced with total beginners and some of the world-class performers. It's interesting leading someone dancing their first weekend, then fifteen minutes later partnering with follows that were the featured performers, with years of experience across hundreds of leads. I also had a set of great dances with people who have attended in years past, and it was fun to see how much everybody has improved over time.

My partners ranged from around age eighteen to seventy, with an extremely wide range of experiences. As I'm writing this, I realize I was never turned down once over the whole weekend.

I have four articles in draft form based on ideas I had at the event. They need some polishing but I expect all to go live within the next week. I have some photos to upload and some video was shot at the event as well (I haven't recieved my copy yet, so I'll post stuff when I get it.)

If you are looking for a great time this next New Years Eve, this bi-annual event is worth your time. I expect them to sell out the hotel again, so book early (use "Baarns" in the referral code, then I get enough for a couple cups of coffee...)

If you attended last weeks event, please leave a comment and let us know your experiences.

Consciously or unconsciously, you always get what you expect.
--Robert Anthony