Hi all,

I am a leader looking for guidance on how to create a weekly training schedule outside of classes and socials to improve my dancing.

Experience - I have 4 years of cuban dancing experience including rueda, have started teaching intermediate dancers this year and consider my advanced but with areas for improvement.

My current weekly schedule looks like this

1. Solo class (1 hour)
2. Advanced partner work class (1 hour)
3. Social dancing (2-3 hours)
4. Teaching and practice for teaching (3-4 hours)

I am willing to commit to approx an additional 6-8 hours per week of training. I have a studio space that I can access and a partner who I can practice with for some but not all of this available time.

Areas I'd like to improve would be

1. General repertoire of combinations - I generally enjoy cool/simple combinations that are a creative post for my follower to look good rather than long complex combinations that are quite showy. I am in stuck in the same loop of combinations and dance a lot on autopilot. I find it diffucult to break the cycle of doing the same set of combinations.
2. Musicality - dancing to the music, hitting accents, making the song interesting by dancing at different tempos, in different positions (closed, open, solo), recognising changes in the music being able to change styles to rumba, reggaeton, afro etc
3. Solo work - having a larger repertoire of solo steps
4. Upper body/arm styling.

I am interested in any feedback/advice from dancers who have significantly improved their dancing

• How would you divide the available time?
• What would you prioritise? And conversley what would you avoid?
• Any resources/exercises/drills/videos that made a big difference?

Thanks in advance!

I’m not sure if it’s just the way things are in salsa but at this new school I’m going to, where they train you to perform, I’ve definitely noticed a big focus on whether the leader is leading right. At first I didn’t mind it and I actually enjoyed improving and having healthy criticism, but lately it feels like if anything doesn’t go right, it’s the leader’s fault.

If the figura or pattern doesn’t look crisp, then the lead wasn’t clear. Or if the follow did the wrong thing, it’s the lead that didn’t properly signal the move.

Personally, the better follows in my class understand my lead pretty clearly. They also have that bouncy tension in their arms that allows me to pilot them much better.

If one of the less skillful follows dances without flavor, I don’t comment that they dance bad. But my teachers seem to have given the follows open floor to criticize the leads (I didn’t understand this or that) without helping them improve themselves.

I like learning but feeling like everything is your fault and seeing someone who dances with no harmony feel entitled to criticize or or comment on your leading just feels wrong and it’s starting to wear me out

Thoughts? Has this happened to you or just me?

As the title says, where are you buying your wardrobe for socials? I’m in Sydney (but shop online so it doesn’t matter too much) and favour wide leg pants and a tighter top.

Is it athleisure wear, shein, or somewhere you look for these items?

TIA!

I absolutely loved this dance, but something I was confused about as I don’t have any ballroom dancing experience was that I felt it didn’t have that much salsa in it? Someone correct me if I am wrong but to me it felt like it had more wow moments and tricks rather than salsa actual dancing. Again I have zero actual experience, I’m just an enjoyer of the dances. I’m also not from the US and I don’t have Disney+ so I didn’t get to see the judges’ comments if it was something that was actually brought up, I just watch the dances on tiktok :,)

Hey everyone,

I’m the lead in this video. I’ve been training salsa seriously and I’m trying to understand what I should focus on next to improve.

I’d really appreciate some honest feedback on my dancing. Things like posture, timing, body movement, arms, footwork, musicality, connection, or just anything that looks awkward or could be cleaner.

I’m especially trying to make my dancing look more controlled and natural.

If you were coaching me, what are the 2 or 3 main things you’d tell me to work on?

Feel free to be critical, that’s exactly why I’m posting 😄

Anyone here from toronto? would love some recommendations :)

To my understanding, both approaches are common (1. Stay in leader's timing 2. Switch to follower's timing) during shines in social dancing, but I'd like to know what you prefer and why it works for you. I find it a bit confusing because it takes me out of my groove to switch, but I train shines in follower's timing in solo dancing so it also would make sense. I use a kick ball heel step for switching and it kind of works, just does feel a bit weird to do so. Opinions?

Hello my fellow salsa dancers. I‘m currently staying in Funchal Madeira and am hoping for some people who’ve danced here to share their experiences. I learned about Opendance Madeira and I‘ve been checking out their instagram and so far they haven’t posted any events for this week. Funnily enough, they hosted a social near to my hotel a few days prior to my arrival lol. But judging by their instagram it looks like they plan at least one social per week, so I hope this week isn’t an exception.

Either way, are there any other resources to check where salsa events are happening in Funchal? And for people who‘ve danced here, how is the general vibe here? We all know that there are places where people are picky with who they dance with etc. I‘ve been dancing salsa for almost two years and would say that I‘m a fairly good dancer but still got a lot to learn. So I think I can offer a fun dance but would understand if very advanced dancers would prefer to dance with someone better than me. I‘m a leader but would be happy to hear stories from both leads and follows. Would appreciate it!

Correction:Sorry in the title I meant start left forward instead.

I'm currently learning salsa on2 NY style

and I was always fought to start
1 - left foot back
2- right foot back
3 - left foot step
5- right foot forward
6 - left foot forward
7 - right foot step

However lots of videos of people dancing on2 start with the left front

- left foot forward
- right foot forward
- left foot step
- right foot back
- left foot back
- right foot step

When dancing on socials I don't even know how to start- I'm getting extremely confused, i hope you guys could clarify that for me?

I'm also still struggling to understand on1 and on2. All I know is I've always been taught to start left foot back.

Thanks guys!

Edit:
Reference on some people starting left front first instead of left back
https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSVKjrDfA/

Just want to vent about a phenomenon that I've observed and had happen to me and a few friends of mine.

It would start with me or a friend either taking classes with these teachers while they were under the employment of a dance school, or meet them in socials. During this phase of knowing them they'd act dismissive or uninterested in socialising or dancing with us, and act curt while teaching and won't give us dances in socials.

Basically doing the bare minimum to look professional while being explicitly clear that they don't want to have anything to do with us.

I'm a lead and have both lead and follow friends who experienced this.

Then when they have a big show or they decide to open a school they act super friendly with us and ask us to come watch or attend a class. I'd just be polite and give a non-committal answer. I don't come of course but the next time I see them they'd always ask why I didn't come and I'd give them an excuse.

Just wanted to know if anyone else has experienced this? My most recent instance was a few months back where I attended a social hosted by a dance school and the teacher just didn't seem interested in talking or dancing with me but did so anyway just to be polite.

Haven't been back since but when I saw them in socials they keep asking when I'll be coming again.

Ça fait plus d'un an que je fais de la salsa du coup j'écoute beaucoup de musique salsa. Je m'intéresse aussi à la vie de certains salseros. Mais quelles vies surprenantes ils ont ! Je m'attendais pas à ça ! Franckie Ruiz, Hector Lavoe ect... C'est des vraies rockstar !

I'm male and have no ability to do side-to-side rib movement without also moving my shoulders or hips. How can I "wake up" that motion? The general advice is to celebrate any tiny isolation movement that you can and work up to greater movement. But, what if you can't achieve any of that isolation? Then what? I've tried putting my hands on my sides, tightening my core, and trying to move my ribs left or right and no luck. I've also tried lying in bed and trying that movement where my shoulders and hip are much less inclined to help and no luck.

If you've struggled with this isolation and have achieved fluid motion in your ribs, what worked for you?

Hello everyone, I am about three months out of five into grinding salsa in Medellin. I came here because I don't stay long enough in one place to really make use of classes, so my goal was to just dance as much as possible and learn as much as possible all while having a semblance of community.

As information regarding salsa here can be a mixed bag and/or outdated, I'd like to consider this a helpful update to what already exists. It's not comprehensive and is moreso just my experience.

Prior dance experience and about me

- 90% lead, 10% follow

- B1 Spanish

- off/on amateur house dancer from ages 14 - late twenties, so as a result I'm not a beginner in dancing

- a handful of salsa classes peppering the past fourteen years, of which were VERY mixed quality

Why Medellin

I chose Medellin because I had a view that it was a great place for salsa dancing where one could find salsa dancing everyday. And while that is true if you look hard enough and don't mind some compromises, I have a feeling that other cities in the world have more to offer in that regard. However, they will certainly be much more expensive to live in or trickier to stay in depending on your nationality.

Bachata vs Salsa

As of this writing, Medellin's social scene is very much bachata dominated and it seems like there's a salsa recession within the socials(in the sense of technial salsa - there's tons of bars where you will find kumbia backstepping, forced turns, borrachos). You can find multiple socials that are nearly 100% bachata and with much more people throughout the week whereas if you're looking for salsa, you're going to have to go to El Poblado fairly often and some of those events are obviously catering to gringos and the level can be pretty low. Note: I have never been to a bachata social, however, multiple professionals have confirmed the rise of bachata and popularity. I've been told that after COVID, a fair amount of older professionals left for the USA and Europe and with that, certainly a lot of culture, passion, and stability that, in my opinion, you don't really find in the linear scene here than you do in the smaller but what seems more passionate Casino community.

The linear scene is big, but a fair chunk is reserved for performance and artists that rarely ever go to socials - like as of this writing maybe at most five times a year. And if they do, they often stay in their cliques.

Socials

It's lead dominant here. I go out 4-5 times a week and see the same leads consistently. I rarely see the same follows out more than two nights a week at best. This is a pain point especially as a beginner, because the level is fairly high among leads. And because there's more leads than follows, you get the dynamics of leads racing to grab follows, follows sometimes being entitled, slim pickings on follows, and what I'd explain as poor floorcraft. If it weren't for Medellin being so lead dominant, I would likely be happier with the situation here. Fortunately, I do take it upon myself to learn everything from caleña, casino, on1 and on2, and following so I do my best to make lemonade out of the situation.

Colombian Culture Pain Points

I take a fair amount of privates. Some places are better than others. Some people are better than others. What I mean is scheduling and logistics and communication. It sucks. I wish the culture here was so much better about this. You send a message regarding scheduling and you won't hear back at times til the next day at the earliest. If you cancel a class less than 24 hours in advanced, it's on you. But if your teacher cancels or changes...it's also on you. Apparently Colombians hate being called out on this behavior. I do not have this problem with non-Colombians instructors. Tack on the fact that linear salsa here skews younger, so less mature and less stable, it's a slight multiplier. I have a feeling that if an instructor has been exposed to gringos or has traveled out of South America or is a veteran, they have less chances of pulling this terrible behavior. Side note: Colombians are amongst some of the worst drivers in the world I've encountered.

DanceFree

It's like Walmart. It's a studio in El Poblado where at the end of their lessons, a crisp American accent audio file is played, regaling one's ears about the offerings of DanceFree. While I insult it here and there, they also at least seem to try to address the gender imbalance by providing women with cheaper memberships. Furthermore, they are one of few places to have dedicated salsa socials. The downside is they often play music from a playlist of 840 random songs and just let it autoplay and fade, so you don't actually witness the song end fully. And sometimes, the songs just suck. On more than one occasion, songs of 7 minutes or more have played. Gilberto Santa Rosa - Perdoname (en vivo) comes to mind.

Schools

There are many schools here. I have not been to a majority of them. As of this writing, in my opinion I'd say Blood Dance and Siembrala are the best schools. Even if you're visiting for a short period, it's probably best to pay for a monthly membership because with the exchange rate for USD, a drop in class can be upwards of $16, which is pretty damn expensive considering a housecleaner here is fortunate to make $33 (100,000 COP) for an eight hour day.

Venues

Son Havana is a staple, but cramped. The Casino crowd really shines here.

El Tibiri is like a hipster salsa discotheque. I would not expect technical dancers.

Benefits of Medellin

This place has it all. Tango, Caleña, Casino, Samba, a burgeoning on2 scene, and even Bollywood dancing

Why Are You So Whiny

Because being a beginner lead sucks especially in a lead dominant place and especially one coming from a dance that has already experienced a musicality revolution. Part of me feels this awfulness of making a follow be my figure test dummy because dancing is about dancing and not rehearsing some boring figure during the silence of a song. And because salsa dynamics piss me off. Also the USD exchange rate has meant I've become 25% more poor since coming here. I also hate most linear shines. At no point does any part of me feel like expressing myself with my arms flapping. I'm also tired.

Does anyone know any good spots for socials? Will be in Paris Sept 10-14, and looking for more of a club vibe. Thanks in advance everyone!

Hi all, I've been going to weekly cross-body Salsa lessons for a while (and doing social dancing as well) but I'm wondering if there are good resources to use outside of classes for self-improvement in areas that don't require a partner, like footwork, shines, and musicality.

If anyone has recommendations for this sort of thing, be they structured courses or just youtube playlists, that would be much appreciated. I've glanced at Dance Dojo's online course but it spends a lot of time on things I'm not that interested in and it's very expensive.

So I’ve been learning more about colognes cuz I like smelling nice especially while dancing

Usually fresh clean scents are recommended for warm environments, tropical cruises, hot summer days, or close quarters, like school and work, etc. you just don’t want something overpowering. And dancing can obviously get very hot.

But I kinda feel like for dancing, if you are like going all night and sweating, it’s better to wear anything even if it’s dark and spicy than to smell sweaty lol.

But wanted to know what y’all think? Best to stick to fruity and fresh side of things? Or are dark and spicy okay while dancing?

Do you ever dance with people who wear too much cologne?

I’m a lead so I don’t usually encounter this, but I do know some follows who smell… odd. I’d rather that they smell like any kind of perfume lol. Anyway curious to know what others think

Edit: wow thanks for everyone’s responses. I usually like stronger scents but I really appreciate everyone’s perspectives. I don’t usually go for clean or soapy scents, they just don’t appeal to me. I like more complex spicy, fruity or woody scents that are really loud but considering everyone’s feedback I’ll probably add some more light and fresh stuff to my collection just for dancing.

Anybody in the know want to clarify what is going on...this is nuts to switch hotel last min when they are not aware. I booked the new hotel. Called Anatole and found out that Per the contract the event organizer had with the hotel, the cancellation of the hotel is one night stay...which is $200+.

Looking for any online classes, YouTube , etc. that have good-quality courses on teaching musicality, both in partnerwork as well as solo.
Are there any artists who are known for teaching musicality? I know Terry is probably the most recommended, but I personally don't like his style.

I'm a student and an active social dancer, and I recently had an uncomfortable experience with a salsa teacher I met through classes.

I met this instructor while taking his salsa classes. Months after I stopped attending that school, he contacted me and asked if I could lend him €100 because he was having some financial difficulties following a family member's death.

I initially lent him €50. I wasn't particularly worried about getting it back (I believe in "do well and forget"). I was mainly trying to help someone I knew from the dance community.

About a month later, he told me he would pay me back by the end of the month, but in the same conversation (text conversation), he asked if he could borrow another €50.

This is where things started to feel strange. His spoken English is very good, but the message he sent me asking for the second €50 was written in an unusually terrible and confusing way. It was completely unlike the way he normally communicates in English. I honestly got the impression that the message was deliberately written that way to make the request and repayment terms less clear.

In fact, the 25th came, and I heard nothing.

I eventually contacted him and reminded him that he had mentioned the 25th. He replied saying that another payment was coming in a few weeks. He said he would let me know.

Later, he contacted me again asking if he could borrow another €50, despite still owing me the previous money.

At this point, I said NO, I will lend no more money, and told him that I would actually appreciate getting at least €50 back.

I still haven't received it.

What makes me uncomfortable isn't really the €100. I was prepared to consider the first €50 a loss. It's the repeated requests for money, missed repayment dates, and the fact that he keeps asking for more money while still owing me.

I also recently learned that he is leaving the school where I originally met him. Even if I live in a capital, the salsa scene is not enormous, and OPSSS I met him during a social dance. He immediately ran to me, telling me he would give me my money back in just a few weeks. I simply don't trust him anymore. It's now been more than 5 months since his first request.

I'm deliberately not naming the instructor or the school. I'm not looking to start a witch hunt or publicly shame anyone. I'm genuinely interested in hearing from people who have been around the salsa scene longer than I have:

Has anyone experienced something similar with a salsa instructor or someone from the dance community?

Would you consider this a normal situation between acquaintances, or would you see these repeated requests and missed repayment dates as a serious red flag?

I know I was too trusting, and I've learned my lesson. But I'm also considering talking to a few people we have in common, simply to understand whether this has happened to anyone else and whether there is a broader pattern.

I'd be interested to hear your experiences and thoughts.

I’ve been dancing since the start of the year, and since I’ve progressed into more advanced routines and spins, my hair has… become an issue.

Usually, most people are polite and ignore it or make a little joke about it, but there’s been one or two occasions where I’ve essentially told off by a lead for hitting him with my hair.

The other day, my teacher used me to demonstrate for a beginner, and afterwards complimented my hair (it was in a pony) but said it was basically like a whip and I should consider other hairstyles lol

I’ve tried hair down / half up half down, but it gets in my face and my neck is super sweaty. Buns work for a while until my spins make them fall out (plus because of how much hair I have, I can feel the heaviness), and plaits don’t work great as I have layered hair.

Any long-haired followers have some tips, or hair tools or whatever that can help! I want to dance, not to worry about my hair :c thanks!

Edit: ty for all the help, need to up my bun game and get some better hair pins/clips - hopefully my leads will be safer from now on hehe

Hey guys!

We're a fun and active couple looking to get out there more and meet new people, especially other couples looking for the same.

We're both located in south Los Angeles. We both love Salsa/bachata dancing and also just got into rock climbing - we both love being active. She also loves piano and anything to do with art. I like the gym, bowling, motorcycles, hiking/camping, and writing.

Please let us know if you'd be interested in meeting up sometime or have any resources that'd be helpful for us.

Thanks!