Social dance etiquette is always an important topic of discussion for the latin dance community – or any dance community. Check out these 7 tips for appropriate behavior while at a dance social or event!
RULE NO. 1 – DON’T BE MEAN OR DISMISSIVE WHEN TURNING DOWN A DANCE
It’s just a couple of minutes out of your life and an opportunity to make someone’s night, encourage a beginner or make a new friend. That being said, it’s also good etiquette to ask someone near your own level. Slightly better is fine, we all want to learn: but if you’re a beginner, probably not a good idea to ask the best dancers yet. Hone your skills and work your way through the levels: beginner, intermediate, advanced. Stay within your level.
Responders; it’s courteous and magnanimous to say yes to a person once. Feel free to say no if they ask again the same night.
2) NO JEWELRY
Sharp rings and bracelets can cut and scar. Latin dances are often fast with quick arm movements. You can tell advanced dancers because they’re the ones with no jewelry (they’re rigged to fly, ha!)
3) NO HANDBAGS
Beginners: don’t try to dance with something in your hands! Focus, grasshopper! If you’re worried about people stealing stuff, don’t bring anything with you that you can’t afford to lose. If you have a bag, put it down and try to keep an eye on it or have your friends do the same.
4) NO FOOD OR DRINKS ON THE DANCEFLOOR
We offer the best dancefloor in the city, that being said, for a dancer, any dance floor deserves respect. There’s nothing worse than someone spilling their beer on the floor and you wiping it off with your new dance shoes. Respect the floor and keep it safe for other dancers please.
5) KEEP IT SAFE
Advanced dancers respect their partner AND OTHER DANCERS and keep them safe from getting hurt. You need to learn how to dance without putting your partner or other dancers at risk. This means keeping it small if the floor is crowded. It means not taking big back steps or swinging your partner out into the path of other dancers. If you or your partner do step on someone, show some courtesy and take a moment to acknowledge it and apologies…usually eye contact, a nod and rueful smile will show you’re sorry.
6) DIPPING AND TRICKS
Ladies, if you are dipped, know that you’re not supposed to drop your body weight on your partner – you’re supposed to support your full body weight so you keep yourself safe at all times. Gents: don’t dip or do a trick with someone you don’t know without asking them first. Some of us have neck or back or shoulder problems and don’t want to get hurt.
7) DON’T BE RUDE!
If you just turned someone down, it’s rude to get up and dance immediately with someone else.
Don’t keep stepping on someone. If you do, it’s your fault. Go find somewhere with more space or take smaller steps. One good rule of thumb is: the faster the dance, the smaller the steps!
A WORD TO BEGINNERS AND IMPROVERS
When I started, 5 years ago, I got turned down to dance a lot. I wasn’t a good dancer, so people were leery. Now I’m a bit more experienced as a social dancer (and a dance champion), based on my experience, here is my advice to you.
It’s going to take you a couple of hundred hours of practice and dancing to become a competent dancer. Let me suggest to you that in a thousand or so dances you will have a much better idea what you’re doing. So relax into the process.
It’s going to be frustrating as heck at first. You’ll be awkward and people won’t want to dance with you because you lack skill and competence. But we all start here…don’t worry about it. It’s a part of the process.
The trick is to dance every opportunity you get. You have one thousand dances to get through in order to be competent, so get to it. You can do it in three months or 5 years…your choice. Dance every opportunity you make and before you know it you’ll be through the learning curve and finding dancing more enjoyable.
If you want to get better, it’s no secret how to do it: spend time and money. Money for lessons and time for practice. Find a dance partner to practice with and you’ll cut down your expenses and reduce your learning curve. Learn 4 or 5 basic moves and practice the heck out of them until you can do them seamlessly and effortlessly. Then add a few more. And a few more. One mistake beginners make is trying to learn lots of move quickly, so I’ll give you freely one of the most important lessons I’ve ever learned:
You can dance championship steps like a beginner, or you can dance beginner steps like a champion.
Learn to do the basics well and everything you do later is going to look better. One of the things I appreciate about latin dancers who have never had lessons, the cumbia crew and others who grew up dancing as part of their culture, is that they don’t do a lots of fancy stuff, but what they do they can do beautifully.
FINAL PIECE OF ADVICE
Another important lesson I’ve learned. At the end of the day, dancing is about a connection between two people. It’s about giving a little of yourself and ensuring your partner is having fun. Advanced dancers, don’t do advanced steps with a beginner, make a connection and try to dance at that person’s level. Make it fun for them.
Ladies, don’t be too hard on the guys. If the guy is simply doing steps, then he’s still learning and trying to figure out what’s coming next. He’s not ignoring you, he just hasn’t reached that level of competency where he can reach out and connect with you yet.
Make eye contact, smile and realize that at the end of the day, the best dancers on the floor are those having the most fun. So have some fun!
This is an article about social salsa dancing as compared to performance salsa. This includes competitive dancing, since the vast majority of competitive dancing is assessed in performance form. I’ve wanted to write this article for a while now, but I’ve avoided it for various reasons. This post has the potential to be a controversial one. So before I begin, I will state that my personal preference when it comes to dancing salsa is as a social dancer. I am not a performer. I’m not hating on performers, and I’m not trying to be divisive. The latin dancing scene needs performers to inspire us and promote the art form that we love. However, performing is really on the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the beautiful dance of salsa. The fact is that salsa, as we know it, emerged as a social dance from the clubs of New York City. Salsa was not originally intended to be danced on stage, which makes it quite different from other dance forms, such as ballet, which have schools and formal curriculum, which go back hundreds of years. Salsa always was, and still is, a social dance, and this article is written purely from a social dancer’s point of view.
During my years as a social dancer, I’ve noticed a tendency some people have to glorify performing at the expense of social dancing. I’m not alone in this. I’ve discussed my observations with other dancers, and they have noticed the same phenomenon. Specifically, there seems to be a widely held belief that the natural progression in the evolution of a dancer is to “graduate” from social dancing to performing. The implication seems to be that performers are “better” dancers than social dancers. At congresses, I’m am quite often asked questions like, “are you a performer?” I don’t say this to boast. I see myself as a solid intermediate level (whatever that means) social dancer. However, people are often surprised when I tell them that I am purely a social dancer, and I have no desire to compete or perform, unless it might facilitate my growth as a social dancer.
I have often wondered to myself why some people award more gravitas to performing rather than social dancing. Maybe it’s because there is typically a paying audience for performances, which is seldom the case for social dancing. Maybe it’s because of the glitz and glamour of being on a stage, and wearing flashy costumes and make up that take hours to refine and apply.
Maybe it’s because of the crazy lifts and tricks that performers so often cram into their routines, which is something you’ll very rarely see on the social dance floor (for good reasons, one of them being safety). Maybe there are more basic economic reasons behind this phenomenon. For dance schools, performance routines are where the money is. Schools can charge for the initial choreography classes, private classes for dancers who want additional help getting the choreography down, as well as costumes. In addition to this, some teams are paid to perform, or are paid prize money if they win a competition. My guess is that it’s some combination of all of the above reasons.
There is a myth about social dancing that I would like to dispel, and that is the myth that social dancers are not serious about their craft. I readily acknowledge that there are plenty of social dancers who just want to become proficient enough to dance socially, have a good time, make some new friends, and/or maybe meet a new partner. However, there is another group of social dancers who take their craft very seriously.
These are the dancers who spend hundreds (sometimes thousands) of dollars a year on group and private classes in order to hone their technique. These are the dancers who travel across the world to congresses to dance to the best DJs in the world with the best social dancers in the world, and take workshops with their mentors. These are the dancers who spend every spare minute of their time listening to music, and working on their body movement and technique. There are no trophies or monetary rewards for these social dancers. Their only reward is that ever-elusive perfect dance.
There is another myth about social dancing that I would like to dispel, and that is the myth that performers can social dance. The truth is that some can, and some can’t. Performing and social dancing are two different skills. There is some overlap between the two, but proficiency in one by no means guarantees proficiency in the other. We can see this taken to the extreme in TV shows such as “So You Think You Can Dance” and “Dancing With The Stars”. If you’ve never watched these types of shows, essentially they involve unknown (or even complete novice) dancers being taken under the wing of professional dancers and trained to perform in styles they are not necessarily used to dancing in. The result is that these dancers typically produce performances that look quite polished, despite the fact their might have had absolutely no dance experience in that particular style. Given the proper instruction, time and training, just about anyone can learn a choreography to a reasonability competent level. However, if you put most of these people on a social dance floor, they’d probably be totally lost. The creators of “So You Think You Can Dance” show probably saw the title as a challenge to wannabe dancers. Serious social dancers are more likely to see the title as humourous in an ironic way, and feel that many of the contenders probably “think” they can dance, but whether they actually can or not is entirely debatable.
I recently attended a congress in another city where one of the top performers in the world held some workshops, during which he was breaking down some of the fundamentals of salsa for beginner to intermediate level dancers. I won’t mention this person by name, but, over the years, this dancer has consistently placed in the top three at the salsa world championships in Miami. He went on to chastise the class for not performing basic fundamentals such as a cross body lead, open break, and copa (in-and-out) “correctly”, and went on to demonstrate the “correct” way to perform these techniques. I disagreed with quite a few points that he made in that workshop. During the course of the congress, I got the chance to see this performer social dance with Sharon Pakir, who is, in my opinion, one of the best dancers in Australia, and can hold her own with the best dancers in the world. Honestly, the dance looked very sloppy and rough for the follow. A couple of songs later, I saw Sharon dance with Super Mario, who is known for having one of the best leads in the salsa world. It was a completely different dance, smooth, compact, tight and musical. From my observation, it was easy to see that Super Mario is by far the superior social dancer. In fact, there were probably ten other leads around the room who I thought were better social dancers than this performer.
I wish this was an isolated incident, but, unfortunately, it’s not. My experience dancing with many performers over the years is that it’s a real mixed bag. Some of them are every bit as good as they look on stage (a few are even better), but some of them are pretty lousy on the social dance floor. Of the ones that aren’t so good, it’s usually for the same reasons.
1. Lack of frame
2. Lack of frame (sorry, but it bears repeating)
3. Steps are too big
4. Over-styling
5. They dance “at you”, not “with you”.
Social dancing is a completely different animal to performing. In social dancing the dancers must rely purely on leading and following, and this is all about frame. The most common mistake I see performers make on the social dance floor is constantly breaking frame, and it’s particularly noticeable on open breaks. If you break frame, the dance breaks down. It’s as simple as that. Frame is the bread and butter of social dancing. Without it, there is no social dance. The second most common mistake I see is that these performers take steps that are too big. Social dancing typically happens on a relatively a small section of dance floor compared to the stage, and this dance space is dynamic, because there are various hazards to contend with throughout the dance, such as other dancers encroaching on your space. It is a real struggle for leads to contain follows who are used to taking larger steps, as is often the case during performances. Leads who are used to taking larger steps can be downright dangerous on crowded dance floors, because they force the follow to also take large steps, and this can create big problems on the social dance floor. Social dancers always have to be aware of their immediate surroundings on the dance floor, and this is not something performers learn dancing on a stage. One only learns this on the social dance floor. Lastly, arguably the most important aspect of social dancing is connecting with your partner, and this is a completely different dynamic to dancing in front of an audience. Social dancing is far more intimate. It’s like dancing for an audience of one, except there’s a two way relationship. You are both dancing with and for each other. Once again, this is not a skill one learns on the stage, it can only be learned on the social dance floor.
There is another aspect of social dancing that is not focused on as part of performing, and that is how the dance feels to your partner. Performing is primarily focused on how the dance is presented to the audience. However, when you are dancing socially, making your partner feel good, in a physical, as well as an emotional sense, is every bit as important as the visual aspect of the dance. These means being a light lead or follow, as well as eliminating habits that can feel “funny” to your partner, such as fidgety fingers. These types of things are not visible to an audience, but can make all the difference to your partner during a social dance.
Ultimately, it takes countless hours of dedicated training and listening to music to become a great social dancer, and, I’ve found that I have to keep dancing regularly, otherwise I lose my edge. In the same way that professional athletes need to keep match fit, social dancers have to keep “dance-fit”. Personally, I notice a difference in my dancing after only a couple of weeks of time away from the social dance floor.
The minimum number of socials a week I need to attend to maintain and/or improve my level is probably 2-3 nights a week. In closing, I want to say that, on the social dance floor, it doesn’t matter how many competitions you’ve won, or how times you’ve performed in front of hundreds, or even thousands, of people. On the social floor, all that matters is, can you “bring it” on any given night.
I’ve landed on my face, been punched in the ribs, kicked in the throat, and I’ve even taken a shot to the “meat and two veg” (thank God for sports cups). I’ve had my pale Irish arse handed to me on a plate numerous times and, truth be told, I’m grateful for every single experience.
In case you’re wondering, I’m not referring to some sick “Fight Club” version of salsa where you not only have to keep on time with the music but you have to watch out for body blows from your partner and everyone else on the dance floor. While the thought of becoming a salsa dancing version of Tyler Durden does fill me with intrigue, I can’t see the whole movement really taking off (nobody wants bloodstains on their favorite dancing shirt).
No, I’m talking about when I used to spar competitively in karate tournaments. I appreciated sparring practice a lot; it’s a beautiful balance of speed, timing, accuracy of movement and adaptation to your partner. It’s no wonder, then, that a lot of salseros I know also have a background in martial arts. The two disciplines complement each other beautifully. On fact, there are very few differences between a well performed kata and a perfectly executed salsa combination.
Better Partners
I learned very early on in my karate career that if you really want to improve your sparring ability, you need to spar with partners who are better than you. If I spent the majority of my time sparring with beginners, I made very little improvement. However, if I went a few rounds with the bigger, more experienced guys in the club, I made noticeable improvements in very little time.
I loved getting to spar with my coach and the older guys who knew what they were doing. As I said, I had my arse handed to me plenty of times but I knew that every time I stepped on the floor with them, being pushed to my limits, I was getting better and better.
That all came to fruition (sort of) about three years ago, when I got my black belt and entered a regional karate tournament n southern Japan. In one of my fights, I was put up against a guy who my coach “casually” mentioned, just before I stepped on the floor, had won the world championship the year before.
I learned two very important things from that fight:
Protective head-gear really does very little to soften a punch and…
There is no better learning experience than going toe to toe with with your clear superior
“Your Salsa is Strong, Grasshopper”
This is something that salseros should take into account when they’re dancing.
When I was a salsa beginner, I used to spend most of my time dancing with other beginners for two simple reasons:
I knew the other beginners from the salsa classes and we were friends
The mere thought of dancing with the really advanced dancers made me break out in a cold sweat
This obviously meant that I wasn’t making much progress in the beginning.
My first salsa “break” came when I went on a ten day salsa vacation. I improved hugely in those ten days because I was both dancing much more regularly and dancing with seriously good dancers. It was a winning combination.
Dancing with dancers much better than yourself is one of the best ways to to up your salsa game… fast. You learn timing and rhythm, proper hand position and signaling, better body movement etc. Like I’ve always said before, the dance floor is where you really learn to dance!
Obviously, a beginner girl dancing with an advanced guy is going to improve quicker than a beginner guy with an advanced girl. This is simply because the guy has more points to master and this is the main reason that women advance in salsa much faster than men.
The Challenge Of Seeking Better Dancers
Going out and dancing with all the the great dancers that you see on the dance floor is much easier said than done, I know, but you don’t have to spend all your dances with the best in the club.
Obviously, the more great dancers you dance with, the better. However, even trying to have three or four such dances a night will go a long way to improving your game.
To do this originally, I set myself a challenge. My challenge was to find the woman that I considered to be the the best dancer in a club and ask her for a dance. I remember the first night of that challenge too.
I was in Fukuoka and my target was a salsa instructor from Colombia. I set my sights on her early in the night and it literally took me a whole night of heart palpitations, sweaty palms, and aborted attempts (imagine me walking up to ask her and then suddenly doing a 180 as soon as I got close, numerous times) before I finally asked her to dance.
When we eventually did dance, it was awesome. She responded to everything I threw at her (which, in all honesty, wasn’t really that much) and I finished the encounter feeling like a million bucks and wondering why it had taken me so long to ask her to dance in the first place.
Get Out Of Your Comfort Zone
We stop ourselves from leaving our nice, safe comfort zones because we focus on all the things that could possibly go wrong. We scare ourselves into believing all these terrifying disasters can happen if we take little risks. That’s no way to live.
Stepping out of your comfort zone and dancing with people who are better than you is simply one of the best things you can do to get better.
You need to remember that we get better due to necessity, due to a stimulus that tells our bodies that we need to improve. Just as someone who lifts weights heavier than he’s used to gets bigger and stronger or just like a child that is sent to school in a foreign country learns the language quickly, so too will your salsa improve when you dance with great dancers – because it needs to!
You need the stimulus of a challenge, of something more difficult than what you’re used to, in order to improve.
So, on your next night out dancing, step out of your comfort zone. Ask out a few of the best dancers you see and prepare to get a whole lot better.
You’re passionate about your favorite kind of social dancing. You’ve taken classes, you’ve been going out regularly, and you want more. You’re definitely going to the next big congress (or festival, or exchange, or whatever they’re calling the event). Here are some tips to help you get the most out of your amazing dance weekend.
Go with a group.
Of course you want to meet new people and make new friends. However, traveling with a group of people you know provides several advantages. You can share the responsibility of planning travel and accommodations. You’ll have a safe base from which to venture out and go crazy. You’ll have people you can rely on if a problem comes up. Best of all, you’ll have a group with whom to share the memories, take pictures, and tell stories with back home. If you hear about a congress you want to attend, try encouraging your friends in your local scene to come with you!
Consider your accommodations carefully.
Generally you have a few options:
1. Stay in the festival hotel
2. Stay in a cheaper hotel or hostel nearby
3. Stay in someone’s home
Here are some questions to consider:
A. Where is the festival located? What’s nearby?
B. What is the schedule like? What will you want to participate in?
C. Who do you know in the area? Who do you know that’s going?
How that all adds up can vary widely. Do yourself a favor by not defaulting to a single choice, but considering what makes the most sense this time. Feel free to check out my longer exploration of this topic – Where to Lay Your Head.
Don’t do everything.
This third one’s the charm. If you take no other piece of advice from me, hear this.DON’T try to take advantage of ALL the hours of class, socializing, and dance parties. I completely understand the reasoning: “But it’s such a special event! But I never get to dance with so many people! But these are the best teachers! But I paid so much for this! But I’m having so much fun!”
All of those are great reasons NOT to get burned out. Everyone has limits, and you will reach at least one of them during a dance congress. It might be your mental ability to learn new material, or your social ability to reach out and connect with new people, your physical ability to keep going, or something else. Tell yourself from the start that you won’t do everything, and that it’s okay to have down time or alone time or whatever you may need. Give yourself permission to have fun at your own pace. Let go of the fear of missing out!
Prioritize
It follows logically that if you don’t do everything, you’re going to have to make some choices about what you will do. Consider, what is it you really want?
– to hear a particular musical act?
– to dance to your favorite DJ’s mixing?
– to learn from certain teachers?
– to improve specific skills?
– to dance with people of different backgrounds?
– to dance with as many people as possible?
– to make new friends?
– to bond with your home scene’s hardcore members?
– to network with key people?
– to have a vacation?
– to experience the city the congress takes place in?
You probably have a few different priorities that you’ll want to balance. Looking at the official schedule for the weekend, create your own schedule. Mark down the things that you absolutely must do (a class with that one couple, a poolside party, a trip downtown…) Circle or highlight other things that are of secondary interest to you. You can play a lot of it by ear, depending on your mood or what your friends are doing, feeling confident that you won’t miss what’s most important to you.
Take care of your body
Dancing is a physical activity. No matter how low-impact your preferred form may be, the hours you put in at a congress will take their toll. So take care of yourself!
Start the week before by prioritizing sleep and eating right. That’s far easier to do at home, and reaching the weekend fresh and healthy will make a huge difference. Respect whatever your usual health regimen is, and make a point of eating fruits and vegetables.
During the congress, listen to your body. Take a break when you need it. Drink plenty of water. Wear comfortable shoes when you can. If you buy new dance shoes from one of the tempting displays, don’t wear them for too long at a time – try to rush breaking them in, and you may find yourself limping the next day. Stretch sore muscles. If you have the means, treat yourself to a massage. And of course, try to block of a few hours each day to sleep!
You’re all set to have an exhilarating and memorable time. Enjoy!
A while back I wrote a post on my personal blog which provided useful tips on how to ensure that you’re dancing all night long and not left standing on the sidelines. A few people told me they found it helpful so I decided to go ahead and share it here.
1) Get off to a good start
This one needs explaining. Yes,it really is ok to ask men to dance! I also promised that if you really don’t like doing that I would give you advice on how to get men to ask you to dance. I lied just a little bit… think of it more as…a compromise. If you’ve arrived, you’re itching to dance and no-one’s asked you yet then try just asking someone once.
If you’re in a new setting and you don’t really know anyone, men in certain clubs might stick to their comfort zone of asking women they’ve already danced with in the past, because they know what to expect. (Yawn). If you go ahead and ask a guy to start off with, your chances of being asked to dance after this are much higher because….
a) You have demonstrated that you can actually follow a lead
b) Men are much more likely to grab someone coming off the dance floor than head over to people hanging out on the side, especially if they don’t know you.
Which leads me to my next point…
2) Don’t stand on the side looking miserable
It’s easy after two, three (four?) songs have gone by to start feeling full of self- doubt or downright rejected. But if you were a guy, would you pick the girl that’s smiling or the one that looks miserable?
3) Standing in a group of girls or having intense conversation makes you less approachable
If you came with a group of girlfriends, believe it or not, some men just do not know which one to pick, so instead, he’ll grab a girl who just finished dancing. Either that, or he’s shy, and so approaching a group of females is intimidating. Equally, if you are having an interesting and absorbing conversation, don’t be surprised that guys will probably leave you to it. Not to say you shouldn’t be talking and getting to know people, but once a song’s finished and you’re ready to dance, make that evident in your body language.
4) As weird as it may sound, some men go by how you’re dressed as a guess for whether you dance or not
Again, this mainly applies to going out to dance in a new club or city. If you’re wearing inappropriate shoes (spindle high stilettos or trainers), then some men read this as a sign that you stumbled into the club somehow, but that you don’t actually dance. This is a minor point, and when it comes down to it you can wear what you want, but if you really don’t want to ask men to dance it’s something to keep in mind!
“If your job in your life is to dance – just dance.”
Quote from Elizabeth Gilbert
One night at a Salsa social I was dancing with a partner and he looked up at me and said, “You okay, you look like you’re in pain?” I was – I was suffering from major brain pain… I was counting, and feeling and watching and placing and thinking, cause I was practicing “self-awareness”.
All this chaos was happening in my head while I was dancing. I could hear the music less and less and I was disconnected from my partner. Through the haze I was not dancing anymore. And.. and… and… and… AND IT WAS EXHAUSTING. As the wheel spun it brought about so much unhappiness that for my love of dance, I made a conscious decision to quit Salsa and find my passion for dance again.
This was by far the best decision I made for my dancing.
The sabbatical took me to other dance forms and experiences. I took up Contemporary and African Dance, and I joined Zumba classes to just move and be silly with girlfriends. I started experimenting and doing things my way. I would practice styling to Pearl Jam and Skunk Anansie, and I started understanding individual style. Then one day that feeling came back. I started to feel that ecstasy blazing through my body again and I got lost in the joy of it.
I returned to Salsa. I wanted to master getting that euphoric feeling in a partner dance. This time around I even got a private teacher for lessons once a week. And then finally after 2 months of private lessons, and 6 years of Salsa – it happened. I danced without the “crazy” filling my head. My love had rekindled.
Shortly into my new-found confidence I stumbled onto a controversial article that stated that due to a lack of self-awareness social dancers were killing the Salsa social scene.
This article made me angry, protective, hurt, and it took me back to a place of confusion. Its tone was exactly why I fell out of love with Salsa in the first place. The daunting question surfaced once more, was I ever going to be good enough?!?
As an empath I pride myself in the ability to self-actualize. The process usually goes like this “A feeling just happened, let’s thrash this out and get to the bottom of this – why, where and who is connected to this feeling and why did it happen?”
Self-actualization by my very nature is something I do effortlessly… then why did it take me years to get to any sort of “good comfort level” in Salsa? And in other dance forms I always feel good about the dance and myself. My inner voice again questioned, “I love you Salsa, why can’t you love me back?”
Months after the “self-awareness” article I couldn’t stop thinking about it because of my own strife and determination. I couldn’t accept that “succeeding” or “improving” in partner dance was because of a lack of self-awareness. Aren’t we all a recreation of our influences and inspiration? What if our main influence didn’t emphasize the important of self-awareness? This statement of self-sabotaging seemed too easy. Cause if you know better, surely you do better?
Then I stumbled upon TED Talks by writer Elizabeth Gilbert entitled, “Your elusive creative genius” and “Success, failure and drive to keep creating”. An insight and a different perspective washed over me and I made peace with Salsa. For good this time.
Below are the concluding remarks to Elizabeth Gilbert’s, “Your elusive creative genius” TED Talk if you don’t wish to watch the full presentation above.
“And what I have to sort of keep telling myself when I get really psyched out about that, is don’t be afraid. Don’t be daunted. Just do your job. Continue to show up for your piece of it, whatever that might be. If your job is to dance, do your dance. If the divine, cockeyed genius assigned to your case decides to let some sort of wonderment be glimpsed, for just one moment through your efforts, then “Olé!” And if not, do your dance anyhow. And “Olé!” to you, nonetheless. I believe this and I feel that we must teach it. “Olé!” to you, nonetheless, just for having the sheer human love and stubbornness to keep showing up.”
Whereas before I would see Salsa as something that needs to be “conquered” or “perfected”. I now see dancing as one’s personal portfolio. The process is about collecting and growing sometimes without even realizing. It’s an exploration and one that becomes so much more as you venture into it.
My conclusion to becoming more self-aware is sometimes you have no idea when the seeds were planted but carry on because one day you will feel the buds bloom as you walk passed them on your journey. That is way more important than “conquering a dance” or “getting it right”. What is more important is that you loved it enough to always show up.
And once again Salsa has taught me more about myself through the dance, and this is how it loves me back.
Ok, I concede it’s a provocative title, but it’s a sentiment that I have heard a few dancers express to me when I’ve been talking to them about the local salsa scene here in Brisbane. Recently, I was talking to a good friend of mine, who is more of a zouk and kizomba dancer. I asked him why he thinks that people in the local scene tend to gravitate towards styles other than salsa. His response was that he doesn’t really like the music, and it just sounds like a bunch of noise to him. Another girl I was talking to went as far as to say that, to her, salsa music sounds like “someone banging on a tin can”. I found this interesting, because that’s not what I hear at all when I listen to salsa music. To me, salsa music is very complex, multi-layered, diverse, and stimulating. However, not everyone hears it that way. When I probe a little deeper into what sort of salsa these people are listening to, and which socials they attend, some patterns start to emerge. So why is that some people think that salsa music sucks? The following is my attempt to explain this perception.
Personal taste
Firstly, I should make the point that, from my point of view, it’s not really possible for music to “suck”. Music is art, and, as with any art form, ultimately people’s opinion is subjective and comes down to personal taste. It’s a little bit like asking someone their favourite colour. My favourite colour is blue. Yours might be red. Does red suck? Does blue suck? No, we simply have different preferences. The same goes for music. I love salsa music. You might love death metal. This doesn’t make either style better or worse than the other. We simply have different musical tastes. However, beyond personal taste, there are some reasons that some people might not appreciate salsa music as fully as they otherwise might.
The DJs suck
There is a lot of salsa music out there, and, like with any other musical style, there is a lot of crap salsa music out there. Most of the people I have spoken to, who complain that salsa music sucks, attend events where the DJs play a certain type of salsa. If this is the only salsa music that these people are getting exposed to, then I’m not surprised that they think salsa music sucks. Also, beyond song selection, there is so much that a good DJ can do to make music more danceable and enjoyable, such as slowing down songs, editing songs to be shorter, mixing levels to make songs more listenable, using lossless digital formats, organising set lists to have themes, and so on.
Some DJs might as well just hook up a laptop and hit shuffle on their iTunes playlist (in fact, I’m pretty sure that’s what some of these guys are doing). I call these people selectors. We’ve all seen these guys at work. They seem to spend more time chatting up girls next to the DJ booth, than actually mixing any music. Real DJs are worth their weight in gold, and can totally make or break an event. DJs are our conduit to the music. You should be demanding quality DJs at your events.
The facilities suck
Whether it’s a venue with poor acoustics, a cheap PA system, poor quality cabling, crappy DJ software, or all of the above, there are many factors that can ruin a perfectly good set list. Salsa music is not like the music you are likely to hear on the average radio station. Salsa music is mainly about the rhythm section, which is typically complex and has many different instruments complementing each other, such as bass, piano, congas, bongos, timbales, campana, clave, to comprise the groove of the song.
This is quite different to many of today’s R’n’b tracks, which typically have more basic and sparse, bass drum, snare and hi-hat based grooves. If the mixing is poor, and/or the facilities can’t cope with a very wide range of sonic frequencies (especially at the low end), then the result is a cacophony of inaudible mush. This can turn a perfect good salsa night into a total disaster. It’s easy to spot a cheap PA system. You just have to put on a track with a wide range of bass frequencies (which is pretty much any salsa song) and crank up the volume. Cheap speakers will not be able to cope and will soon start “farting”, even at moderate volumes.
Pop culture
A lot of what is rated as “good” or “bad” music is simply to do with what is popular with the particular niche of people at any particular venue. You could hire The Three Tenors for the evening, but, if your audience doesn’t like opera, they are going to complain that “the music sucks”, even if they are treated to a world class show by virtuoso performers. Popular culture trains people’s ears to be biased towards particular styles and sub-genres of music. Music is a lot like wine. You could pour someone a glass of vintage Shiraz from the Barossa Valley, but, if all they are used to drinking is cask wine, then they are probably not likely to appreciate the difference. Good music, like good wine, is an acquired (and educated) taste. Pop music is like cask wine for the ears. Typically, little time and effort goes into producing it, which makes it cheap, easy to produce and more palatable for the masses, but it’s usually lacking in depth and quality.
Accessibility
Admittedly, salsa music is not the most accessible style of music for people from western cultures. Much of this has to do with the language barrier, since the vast majority of salsa songs have lyrics in Spanish. Many people connect with music by singing along to the lyrics, which is a little difficult to do, if you don’t understand the language the vocalist is singing in. Also, the subject matter in salsa songs covers a much wider variety of topics and themes than the average pop-music track.
A lot of pop songs on the radio are centred around the theme of romantic love. Some salsa music is romantic, but salsa music also explores a range of grittier topics, such as politics, religion, oppression, depression, suicide, and so on. Also, a lot of western music, including classical music, is very melody oriented, where as salsa music, with it’s Afro-Cuban roots, is more rhythm-centric, and this requires listening to the music in a different way. Of course, these are generalisations, but, generally, salsa music is not as accessible as other form of popular music. However, if you’re willing to invest a little bit of time training your musical ear, and/or invest some time learning some of the Spanish language, then your enjoyment of the music will dramatically increase. Remember when you were forced to read Shakespeare in high school? A lot of people didn’t like it or “get it” because Shakespeare used an older form of English, which is not very accessible to English speakers of today. However, for anyone who was prepared to invest a little bit of time learning about the language and culture of the day, even by just buying a Cliff’s Notes, then they were rewarded with some incredibly witty, satirical, hilarious wordplay, which far surpasses anything you’re likely to here in most of today’s rap music. So I encourage dancers to invest a little bit of time in learning more about the latino culture and language that is not so familiar to them. The rewards are worth it, and you’ll expand your horizons a little.
So there is my analysis on the perception by some people that “salsa music sucks”, but this could easily be applied to a number of other styles of music as well. The major take-away point, is that, if you’re prepared to invest a little bit of time in exploring a different musical style and/or culture, then you’ll probably be very pleasantly rewarded, and, who knows, you might even discover a life passion. If you’re new to salsa music, here are a few songs you can check out to whet your appetite:
Larry Barrileau and The Latin Jazz Collective – Los Unicos
Los Hnos. Armas – Morenita Verde Luna
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64k1gWO1qLk
Sierra Maestra – Al Vaivén De Mi Carreta
NOTE: I’m using “salsa” in the broader sense of the term, which was coined in the 70s by the people at Fania records. Really, this covers a number of sub-genres, including, but not limited to, mambo, cha-cha-cha, guajira, son-montuno, guaracha and so on. Some of this music was conceived decades before the term “salsa” gained mainstream acceptance as a commercial, umbrella term to describe many of the Afro-Cuban rhythms coming out of New York City in the 60s and 70s.
Kizomba is a social dance that has really only begun to gain notice in the United States since 2009; most people had never heard of it before the New York Salsa Congress and DC Bachata Congress of August 2012. So it’s no wonder there’s some confusion surrounding this wonderful dance. I’d like to set the record straight today – here are five lies you’ve been told about kizomba, and the truth!
1. Kizomba Is A Latin Dance
I can understand the confusion. Most people encounter kizomba for the first time at a large salsa or bachata festival. Even for me, when I found it for the first time in North Africa, it was my friends in the salsa scene that told me there would be a workshop happening in Casablanca that I definitely wouldn’t want to miss.
The Latin dance community is truly global and successful. So, it makes sense that when kizomba began to spread from Africa to and through Europe (and from there around the world), people would use an existing platform with a huge following to win more interest.
In fact, kizomba is a dance from Angola. It is absolutely an African dance. The music we dance to, also called kizomba, comes from a long tradition of semba music that encountered influences from Caribbean zouk and new electronic sounds in the late ’70s and early ’80s. The motion and steps of kizomba are a clear descendent of semba dancing, but evolved to suit the music of kizomba.
We’ve already established kizomba’s origins, so let me explain where this myth is coming from. First, when introducing a new dance form, it can be helpful to compare it to something to give people a frame of reference. People often say, “Kizomba is like African tango.”
Indeed, kizomba has a very close connection through the torso and couples wrap their arms quite far around each other. Also, as in tango, the upper body is in some ways dissociated from the movement of the legs.
Furthermore, kizomba doesn’t have one or two basic steps that are repeated throughout the dance. We teach “three basic steps” but these are more of a jumping-off point than a basic pattern. Instead, like Argentine tango, kizomba has a large vocabulary of steps that can have any number of counts (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9…) and which can be fitted together without having to look for a “1” or “2” to start on.
Beyond that, a newer generation of dancers, primarily based in Paris but with students all over the world, have taken inspiration from tango to add new vocabulary to their kizomba. It is possible to see a whole range of steps that are very similar to those in Argentine tango. Furthermore, many of these dancers have altered their technique to better suit this vocabulary, often dancing with a straighter spine or even sliding through their steps.
3. Kizomba Is Way Too Sexy To Dance Socially
Maybe you walked into the kizomba room at a large dance festival, it was really dark, and you saw people making out on the dance floor. Maybe you’ve been on YouTube and seen people grinding their pelvises against each other. Maybe you’ve heard some lyrics in English that were rather overt – “I want to make sex with you,” for example. Maybe you just can’t get over how much people are moving their backsides. I’ll give you this – kizomba absolutely can be sexy. However, that is not inherent to the dance.
Let’s think about another activity that takes place in the dark: watching movies. Imagine someone tells you, “Oh, no, I can’t come over to watch a movie with you guys. Thanks for inviting me, but I have a significant other.”
“What?” you say. “What’s that got to do with anything?”
“Well, my significant other doesn’t like the thought of me in a dark room, sitting pressed up against or on top of members of the opposite sex, watching provocative material. And let’s be honest, plenty of people basically use watching movies as foreplay. I just don’t feel comfortable in that sort of environment.”
I’m sure that sounds ridiculous, but I think the comparison is fair. We all know that some movies have make-out or sex scenes, and that some people get physically intimate as a movie plays. In the same way, some kizomba music is suggestive, and some people cross the line into sexy movement or even, unfortunately, unwanted advances on a partner. It would be a shame to place all of kizomba into this one category, however.
Kizomba is danced in very close embrace. However, the shape of the human body is such that when you stand normally, or even better when you stand with your weight forward as in kizomba, you will connect with your partner through your ribcage and/or belly (depending on your individual shape). It is impossible to touch someone’s groin or grind pelvises unless you stop using kizomba hold.
Think about bachata, for a moment. There are people who dance bachata in a way that practically ensures genital contact, but it is in no way the norm.
Note: There is a cousin dance of kizomba called tarraxinha that has a different hold and connection, and that dance is indeed usually meant for someone you are sexually interested in. It also requires consent! Stay with your kizomba position if you are worried about encouraging a sexual interest from your partner – or if someone makes you feel uncomfortable, just end the dance.
Kizomba is characterized by an undulating movement that does indeed include your rear. It isn’t about shaking or bumping or otherwise creating a sexy display, though. I always tell my students that the movement is functional and serves to create an aesthetic of continuous, controlled motion that remains relaxed. While it may be embellished or rendered sexual, we can obviously say the same about movement in salsa or bachata as well.
Well, in the sense that you can learn three or four steps and be set for a whole night of dancing, yes. With the right teacher, in an hour or two you can get enough understanding of movement and basic steps to dance through an entire social with a touch of musicality. Kizomba is totally accessible for beginners – so if you haven’t tried it yet, get started!
The problem is when people dismiss kizomba as easily mastered. Many people take a month’s worth of classes and then figure themselves for advanced dancers – after all, once you know the saidas and a couple tricks or dips, you’re set, right?
These people are missing out on the best part of kizomba: how you move while staying so closely connected to your partner. Or maybe they get stuck memorizing combinations, instead of learning to use their vocabulary to put together their own poetic movement. Kizomba has so much subtlety and so many intricate possibilities.
Ground your movement and find the right alignment with your partner, and then you begin to feel their every tiny isolation. Figure out pivot technique and every move you know can suddenly be opened to variations in position. Work on slow-motion, stop motion, and syncopation, and again the standards become almost unrecognizably new and your feet can dance out the exact rhythms of a particular instrument. Dissociate your upper and lower body, your feet from your partners’, their hips from yours – this list could go on and on and on
As with any dance, the more you learn, the better you are able to appreciate the subtle differences that indicate mastery. In kizomba, each technique mastered is like an additional color palette for you to paint with, another supply kit for you to build from, another door to a realm of expressing the music with our bodies.
5. You Can’t Dance Kizomba In The US Outside Major Cities
Not so long ago, that was absolutely true. But not now. If you couldn’t find kizomba in your area after going to a big congress, maybe it’s time to take another look!
In 2014, I started a project called Kizomba Community with the intent of making it easier for people to find kizomba all over the United States. I was frustrated with joining various Facebook groups, searching on Meetup, and sifting through irrelevant Google results. I had been complaining for some time about the lack of any resource that would make this easier, until finally I realized it would be better just to shut up and create a solution. Kizomba Community was the result.
It has been my privilege to add more and more cities with ever more classes, socials, and events to the menus on Kizomba Community. I’m always on the lookout for what is happening related to kizomba, and I do my best to keep the site as comprehensive as possible.
While it’s certainly true that major metropolitan areas have the greatest concentration of kizomba, there are more remote locations with growing scenes all the time. Even for those places without a regular scene, there are several traveling teachers (myself among them) that come to do special events so that kizomba can get some momentum there. Go see where you can dance kizomba today!
Dancing, teaching and the power of words hold a lot of importance to me. So when a person comes along who not only teaches dance with so much passion, but also whose words really resonate with me while he teaches, you know he’s got my attention. I can’t help but to want to listen more and learn more and ask more questions. Charles Ogar has been one of those exceptional teachers of dance for me. And so of course, I was thrilled to be given the opportunity to delve a little deeper into the the mind and heart of this kizomba instructor through this interview. Thanks for your thoughtful and inspiring responses, Charles, and for sharing your love of dance with us!
(For more information about Charles Ogar, please visit his YouTube channel)
Tasleem: Kizomba is so abstract. Yet what really impressed me about your workshops is that your analogies helped to make some of the concepts so much more concrete and understandable. Where do your analogies come from?
Charles: Anybody who’s taken my workshops or my classes definitely knows that my brain is kind of quirky in the way that I imagine things. I don’t really know where I get it from. But I guess I’m the most eccentric one of my family. I’m the only one that dances and I’m the only one that speaks a second language. I’m the oldest of 8.
Eight? Wow!
Yeah. Haha!
I did read a lot when I was growing up and maybe that’s where I get my quirkiness from. I read a lot of science fiction and fantasy, and I even read all the Harry Potter books! (laughs) So maybe that’s where my crazy imagination comes from.
Also, teaching privates helps a lot. I’ve taught a lot of privates for kizomba. And they’re like a puzzle, because everybody’s brain is kind of mapped in a different way. And as an instructor, I get to figure out what is the best way for me to tap into their mind and body to help them learn.
Are your analogies preplanned or do you just come up with them on the spot? They seem so natural, as if you already think in analogies regularly.
I don’t preplan them necessarily. But when some of my analogies click with some people, I put those in my repertoire to use again. This is because I can see that they are effective in getting my idea across. And with others, I see what people are struggling with and I just come up with an analogy to help them with what I see might be lacking. So if someone is too stiff, I might tell them to try to be more like water, to imagine they are as fluid as water or to flow like honey. I just try to find different ways for people to imagine and to find things they can relate to. It also helps to know how that person’s mind works, if they are more technical minded or artsy.
It’s great that you not only inspire people with your dancing, but you are also very perceptive in your teaching, recognizing that people learn in different ways.
Yeah. It’s definitely important for instructors to cater to different people. Because if you have a workshop of 40 or 50 people, you’re going to have all kinds of personality types, all kinds of learning types to work with. Sometimes, people need to DO the movement to learn it better. Some people need to hear the count, some people need to hear the music. Some people need you to break it down step by step. Some people need you to just kind of make a noise- like ooh. Ooohh oooh, ahh ahh ahh (he makes these sounds in a slow, slow, quick quick quick rhythm).
And I make a lot of noises in my workshops (laughs).
Haha! That’s funny.
But yeah, in my lesson plans I am focusing on WHAT I’m going to teach. But I guess I just keep the HOW in the back of my head, as I take in the different kinds of learners in the room, and I adjust accordingly. But the more you teach, the better you get at it.
I also ask for feedback from my students. I know some instructors don’t do that, but that’s one thing I like to do. I like to get testimonials, not just of the positive things, but also suggestions for how I can improve. Even in my privates, I ask for feedback so I can see what is clicking for people and what isn’t. I want to make sure people are getting their money’s worth because they are investing in me and my talent, and I do want to help bring them to the next level of their kizomba dancing.
A few leads in the salsa scene have told me that they would love to learn more kizomba but they struggle with what appears to be ‘less structure’ and more improvisation in the basic step of kizomba, compared to salsa. Do you think that aspect of playing with the music in kizomba can be learned even if you don’t already have it?
I have a musical background so that helps, but you don’t have to play music to learn musicality. You just need to understand that there is a structure to music. There’s always a structure. Sure, in kizomba, the basic steps usually do not repeat on an 8 count, but there is a musical structure to it. So if I’m going to put together a song and I’m going to get a guitarist and a pianist and a drummer, we’re not going to all get together and just play random notes anytime. There has to be a flow, there has to be a structure, there has to be a rhythm for everyone to be guided by. So for anybody that dances any dance, they should be aware that there’s always a structure to the way music is composed.
So how does this differ with kizomba?
The difference with kizomba from Latin dances like salsa and bachata is that the count in kizomba does not dictate my direction. But I’m still dancing to the counts. I mean, for me to dance musically, I have to flow with the music. I have to flow with the beat. So I’m still dancing to the beat of the music and the flow of the melody, the rhythm of the song. But the count doesn’t dictate my direction. As a lead, I have the freedom to move with my partner in the direction I choose and I ask myself, what am I inspired to do? What am I listening to in the song right now? Am I listening to the voice in the song which is really soft? Am I listening to a syncopated beat which is faster? Or am I just listening to the bass beat? Also, what kind of energy am I getting from my partner?
So it’s definitely something that can be learned. I mean, if I can learn it and start teaching it, I’m pretty sure anybody can. They just have to trust themselves and their musical intuition, which is like a muscle. The more you use it the stronger it gets!
How do you approach this timing issue when you are teaching?
In my Neo Kizomba method, I introduce different timings to give people a stepping stone into the musical freedom that they have with kizomba. I give the timings names. For example, the ‘Groovy Timing’ helps with the structure to the 8 count. It is the slow, quick, quick, timing; whereas, the ‘Hold Timing’, as I call it, is quick, quick slow. And by ‘slow’ I mean hold that step for two counts, and ‘quick’ refers to holding it for one count. I should try to make a video of this on youtube.
Yes! That would be great because people would then have a visual of how that all works. And I would be able to send it to all those people who ask me about this! (smiles)
I would also suggest that people struggling with the timing in kizomba listen to a song and not worry about the base beat. Just leave the base beat as it is- it’s what’s doing the counting. They can then start to hear the other elements in the song. Listen to the voice, listen to the synthesizer, listen to the guitar and follow it, for example. Because musicians, when they’re composing, they’re flowing with the eight count. But if they do a solo, or a jam session, they’re just kind of feeling the music and expressing what they feel at the moment, you know? And that’s not structured to the counts, even though they’re flowing on top of the structure of the eight count. So it’s a process, but once you train your ear to hear it, you can start to play with it.
Even in other dances, if you look at some of the most well known salsa dancers- Magna Gopal, or Alien Ramirez for example- their musicality is insane, you know? They’re not listening to just the counts anymore. They’re listening to the music and saying okay, how can I express THAT with my body? And there’s where the creativity comes in. That’s when you are really listening for other elements. Maybe I need to post some tips for some kizomba creativity soon. That would be a good idea for a blog or youtube video.
Sounds good. I think that would be really helpful.
Speaking of videos, there are a lot of different styles of kizomba posted on videos on the internet. And this can be confusing especially to people who are new to kizomba and want to know what it is. I like that you have your own Neo Kizomba style named, because it makes it clear that it’s one style under the bigger umbrella of kizomba, if you will.
Sometimes, though, a dance can get really far away from the actual roots of the dance when people experiment with adding other styles into it. How important is it to you to keep to the traditions of kizomba dance and how do you do this while still maintaining your own style?
That’s a very good question.
So before we even focus on kizomba, let’s take a look at other dances that are also popular like Salsa. There are so many styles of salsa- you have Cuban, Son, On2, Puerto Rican Style, Columbian, Pachanga, Mambo, Latin Jazz, etc. All are styles of the same dance but they all kind of have their own unique sounds and components. But they’re all under the salsa umbrella. Same thing with bachata. You have different styles of bachata. And I just think over time, because of the evolution of it, the original music compared to what it is today is very different.
And it’s the same thing with kizomba. You can listen to the older, ‘Retro Kizomba’, as some people call it, and it’s very different from what you hear now in places like Paris, or with the kizomba remixes we have of John Legend and Beyonce.
Do you have a preference of what type of kizomba music you like?
I click more with the newer versions of kizomba, more so than the old school ‘kizombas’. I can dance semba, I can dance retro kizomba, and it’s not that I don’t like them. But if you gave me a choice between them, I’m going to want to dance the more modern styles, because I can play more with the instrumentation in them and I can relate to the songs. Some of the songs are what I listened to when I was growing up and I was familiar with the artists even before dancing kizomba. I would still like to listen to the same artists I grew up with because of the day and age that we’re in right now you know?
But my philosophy is that the music is king. For the girls that have danced with me with Neo Kizomba versus Retro Kizomba, they will notice a big difference in the way I dance each of those. For the retro kizombas I dance more traditionally, but if you dance with me with a song by Elji for example, you are going to get a whole different dance with lots more musical creativity. I don’t box myself into one style per se, I adapt to the music first and then my partner.
And I give respect to the roots of the music and dance because without it, we wouldn’t have the awesome modern ‘Neo Kizomba’ songs that we have today. The tag line for Neo Kizomba is “Respect for the past, passion towards the future.”
I like that because it gives recognition to where it comes from, but also gives space for new elements and growth.
Yes, I believe it’s very important to have a general understanding of the history of the dance and music when dancing kizomba, but at the end of the day people want to have fun and dance, and you don’t need a masters degree in the history of kizomba to enjoy the music or get on the dance floor.
You mentioned the roots and those people who wish to stay true to the roots. But often those people are the same people who grew up with the dance. So they also grew up with the older style of music, singing and dancing to it at parties when THEY were growing up. So of course, it’s going to have some sort of sentimental value to them. Just as I enjoy dancing to the music that I grew up with. But that doesn’t mean I’m taking away anything from the music that came before.
I understand and often say in my classes, that if you go to Cuba, and you find a couple that has been married for forty years, and they’ve been dancing salsa all those forty years, they’re not going to be doing what we do here. They’re not going to be doing hammerlocks, they’re not going to be doing triple spins, they’re not going to be doing Suzie Q’s, or anything like that. But they’re going to be singing and dancing with all of their heart because they grew up with that music. They’ve been dancing to that music for the past forty years. And it’s something they love to do which is going to be very different from going to a salsa class nowadays. It’s the same thing I see with kizomba.
What do you think contributes to the differences between then and now?
Well, for one, back in those days, the barriers between nations and cultures were very strong. If you were in Cuba, and maybe saw a little bit of what was going on in the news through TV, it wasn’t like you got on facebook and you messaged your friends in all different countries in the world about it.
The vast access of information that we have worldwide nowadays is insane. And I think that also makes it hard NOT to share and have music and dance evolve the way it has. Look at Jay Bee, the DJ who makes those new Kizomba remixes. He’s in Germany, and people are jamming out to his songs all over the world -in Paris, and France and Spain. Even here in the U.S and Canada- wherever I go, they usually play a lot of his songs. He can put out a new song, and in a snap, just like that, people can listen to it all over the world.
So when you take a look at the times that we have now, versus the times that we had back then, it’s very hard to not blend dances and music. Though I’m not a kizomba historian, it’s my understanding that kizomba itself comes from a mix and blend of various rhythms as well. You have zouk, and then you have the kompa, and then you have semba, and then you have the kizomba from Cape Verde versus the Angolan style. They all kind of put their own flavor into it as well.
What are your thoughts about fusion dancing?
I think it’s awesome (smiles), even though I haven’t experienced it first hand. It really intrigues me! I mean, we hear people that are doing tango fusion, and blues fusion, and all this. Everywhere I travel, I keep hearing more and more about fusion.
And at the end of the day, it all comes down to terms of lead and follow. Are you understanding what I’m trying to convey to you at this moment, non verbally, through my body, based on the music that we’re both listening to? Even if we take off the labels of the dance, and the rules, you still have a nonverbal communication between people. Dance is still that communication no matter what style you choose.
I do respect the roots of the dance. I know without that, we wouldn’t have what we have today. And I think it’s very important to know where it comes from. But if you understand that, and you have a particular preference for one style or another, then I say go ahead and do the style that fits you. But the important part is that you don’t have to bash the other side as if one way is superior to the other. It’s just a personal preference. We should still be able to have a nice social and enjoy whatever style we want to- old and new- together. There doesn’t need to be a big dispute about it. I mean, we’re just ALL trying to be happy and just dance. I just think Dance, at the end of the day, is Dance. And it’s meant to be enjoyed and celebrated.
Good point. It is sad when all the politics of dancing takes away the fun of it.
Especially for people who have just started dancing kizomba. It’s hard enough learning the dance aside from learning everything there is to know about the history. I believe people will eventually get exposed to the history of the music and dance by taking different classes with different instructors. It’s one thing to create a curiosity or thirst for the knowledge, it’s another to force feed it and take away the enjoyment of learning.
If you are teaching kizomba or desire to, I don’t feel you need to be a kizomba master and have all the knowledge of kizomba at your fingertips. I didn’t when I first started and I’m still learning, I would have never gotten where I am today if I was worried about having to know everything about it first. It’s a journey. If you decide to start teaching in your city because you want kizomba to grow, by all means start. My advice would be to make sure you stay ahead of your students and to proactively seek opportunities to learn as much as you can while you teach what you know. Stay committed. Your students will recognize and appreciate your efforts to help them, as well as yourself, develop further.
If you listen to a lot of salsa music, especially Cuban salsa, then you may notice certain African words repeated throughout different songs such as “Chango”, “Obatala”, and “Babalu Aye”. These are the names of the Orishas, gods and spirits of the Yoruba religion. In this article I will give you a brief overview of the Orishas and hopefully give you a deeper appreciation for salsa music and dance.
The Yoruba Religion
The Yoruba spiritual system developed in the central Nigerian region known as Yorùbáland and was brought to the Americas via the slave trade. The religion spread to much of South American and the Caribbean, including Cuba. In Cuba, the womb of salsa music, the Yoruba religion was fused together with Catholicism to create a syncretized religion known as Santeria.
Santeria: Yoruba Meets Catholicism
In Santeria, many of the Orishas from the Yoruba religion were combined together with Catholic saints. For example, Chango was syncretized with Saint Barbara, Eleggua with Saint Anthony, Oggun with Saint Peter, and Obatala with Our Lady of Mercy. In this way the religious beliefs of the African slaves was mixed together with the beliefs of Spanish conquerors, a fusion of cultures which is so typical of Cuba and South America.
The Saneria religion is characterized by many rituals, including animal sacrifice, sacred drumming, and dance. The followers of Santeria believe that they can communicate with the Orishas through music and dance, and there are rhythms and specific dance movements that correspond to different Orishas. Dancers often enter a trances in which their body is “taken over” by an Orisha, and the spirit communicates through their dance.
The Santeria religion is still alive to this day, with tens of thousands of practitioners throughout West Africa, South America, and the United States. The religion has also made it’s way into popular culture through salsa music and dance. Many practitioners of Afro Cuban dancing incorporate dance movements that are inspried by traditional moves from the Yoruba and Santeria religions. Many salsa songs also use the Orishas as their subject matter or call out the names of Orishas during drum sequences, alluding to the Santeria tradition of summoning the spirits via drums.
List Of Orishas
The following are the names of some of the most commonly referenced Orishas:
Chango/Shango – God of thunder, warrior deity
Yemaya – Divine mother, goddess of water
Obatala – God of peace
Eshu – Divine messenger
Oshun/Ochun – Goddess of rivers & waterfalls, love, femininity
Babalu Aye – God of disease
Salsa Songs That Feature Orishas
Many salsa songs reference the Orishas, especially salsa music with a strong Cuban influence. Here are a few well-known salsa songs featuring the Orishas:
The next time you are listening to salsa music, see if you can identify when the Orishas are mentioned or if you are up for a challenge, looks up some of the dance movements that are associated with the various Orishas and incorporate them into your dancing. Doing so will help you to increase your appreciation for salsa music and dance.
Let me know in the comments if you have any favorite songs that mention Orishas that I missed!
This one needs explaining. Yes, it really is ok to ask men to dance! I also promised that if you really don’t like doing that I would give you advice on how to get men to ask you to dance. I lied just a little bit… think of it more as…a compromise. If you’ve arrived, you’re itching to dance and no-one’s asked you yet then try just asking someone once.
If you came with a group of girlfriends, believe it or not, some men just do not know which one to pick, so instead, he’ll grab a girl who just finished dancing. Either that, or he’s shy, and so approaching a group of females is intimidating. Equally, if you are having an interesting and absorbing conversation, don’t be surprised that guys will probably leave you to it. Not to say you shouldn’t be talking and getting to know people, but once a song’s finished and you’re ready to dance, make that evident in your body language.
