Blog - GO Latin Dance

Shoes, shoes, and more dance shoes!

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October 3, 2016

Over the years, many people have asked for my advice regarding Latin dance shoes. “Where did you get your shoes?” “Where can I buy shoes in Saskatchewan/Canada/North America?” “Which brand is best?” “Should I buy shoes online?” “Where can I find good-quality shoes at a low price?” These are all questions I asked when I first started salsa dancing and I understand these concerns. Dance shoes can be a huge investment, so it is important to know exactly what you are looking for before you make a purchase.

I would like to preface this article by saying the reviews that follow are my personal opinion and the opinions of a few friends in my dance community. I do not work for any particular shoe company nor do I endorse any product for personal gain. These are my honest experiences, but I don’t wish to discourage anyone from purchasing any particular brand. Many brands are missing from this review (as are men’s dance shoes) simply because I have not tried them, nor have the ladies I consulted to write this article.

Capezio

(Price- $82-$144 USD): This was the very first brand I purchased, so I feel it’s only appropriate to list it first. When I began salsa dancing, I purchased a pair of gold Capezios with a Cuban heel from the dancewear store connected with my studio. I trusted this brand because I had Capezio jazz and tap shoes when I was younger and they were always great quality. As I expected, these simple, gold shoes lasted forever. I even wore them to an outdoor performance event (a big “no no” for suede soles) and they continued to serve me well for years afterward. I was so sad when I had to retire them. At the Calgary Salsa Congress in 2013, I purchased two more pairs and guess what? I still wear them all the time. One pair has a gorgeous blue lace detail with criss-cross straps and the other has a hot pink and sparkly black colour. I’m so impressed with these shoes and although they were more expensive than some of the other brands I’ve purchased, they were worth every penny. A few friends in my community have also purchased this brand and love them although some claimed they were a bit too pricey. Unfortunately, the website does not seem to have many styles to choose from (the ones I purchased are not on the site).

**This brand is my personal favourite for comfort, style, and quality.**

Burju

(Price: $65-$145 USD): Many of my friends in the salsa community have drool-worthy shoes in beautiful colours and blingy patterns. Of course, I had to ask where they came from! Burju is a brand that everyone seems to know and most of the performers in my community have at least one pair. So, I was able to ask quite a few people what they think of these shoes. The consensus, unfortunately, is that although these shoes are very pretty, they are not the best quality. One of the questions I posed in a community survey was “What brand has disappointed you the most?” and Burju came up several times. These are some of the testimonies I received: “Although they have a huge selection of styles, they fall apart almost instantly.” “One pair that I got broke on the very first day of wearing them.” “Although their styles are quite creative and fashionable, their quality, especially for the price paid, has never been very good.” Unfortunately, this sentiment seems to echo in my dance community and beyond. I have been part of two separate performing teams who ordered matching Burju shoes. Both times, several ladies had their shoes break after wearing them once or twice and some girls noticed problems the moment they tried them on! I love my Burju shoes because they are really pretty and they go with everything but compared to my other shoes, they are frayed, I can’t brush them anymore due to holes in the soles, and they were pricey. I have not decided whether or not I will purchase another pair of Burjus, but I would definitely wait for them to go on sale.

Light in the Box

(Price: $12.50-$185 CAD): The website lightinthebox.com was one of the first places I heard about for inexpensive dance shoes. I went on the site, and wow! Some shoes are only $15-20! What a steal! That being said, you get what you pay for. A friend and I placed an order for several pairs at once and shared the cost of shipping. My friend warned me against purchasing any of the shoes that had “leatherette” in the description because they never stretch and tend to hurt the feet. So, I followed her advice and bought some different shoes. What I liked was that just like some of the other brands (Burju, G. Franco, etc.), you can select your heel size/type on this site. You can even customize the colour for some styles. Other than that, the shoes themselves are a bit of a gamble. Of the two pairs I purchased, one never fit quite right and fell apart after wearing them a couple of times. One pair was absolutely beautiful and I don’t wear them very often, but they are still in good condition. Some of my friends have had similar experiences. Overall, my advice is to purchase the more expensive shoes on this site (they are still quite cheap, trust me!) but don’t be tempted to buy any of the pairs that are under $40. Warning: prices can be listed in any currency you choose, but you will pay a hefty price in shipping/duty if you live outside of the US (or even if you live in the US as some styles are not available in North America). So if you are going to place an order, do so with a few friends to share this cost.

G. Franco

(Price: $75-$110 USD): When some of my friends return from Salsa Congresses in locations such as LA or Miami, they often come home with gorgeous G. Franco shoes. I must say, I was really excited when I purchased my first pair for a duet routine. Ours were a pretty basic design compared to some of the styles available. We bought a simple, tan pair with a flared 3.5” heel. These shoes were very comfortable at first but unfortunately, both of us found that the more we practiced and performed, the more the straps stretched out. When we wear them now (on the tightest notch) we feel like our ankles are not secure. That being said, I will give this brand another chance because of the reviews from my survey: “G. Franco fits like a glove, and you can feel that the shoes are of good quality! I love the cushiony feeling when I wear them and I never get blisters with those ones!” “They are comfortable and can get different heel heights if you choose.” “G. Franco is my fav brand for both durability and comfort. I have two pairs I bought four years ago and they are holding up better than other shoes I bought last year.” I’ve gotta say that I think these are some of the most beautiful, stylish shoes on the market right now and while mine stretched out, it seems like negative experiences with these shoes are rare. Plus, the price is reasonable.

**This brand was the most popular choice amongst those surveyed (for comfort, style, and quality).**

Natural Spin

(Price: $85-$180 USD): This is a Canadian brand based out of Toronto. I bought a pair online several years ago and when I received them, one of the clasps was broken. I had a great customer service experience as they responded to my e-mail right away and sent me a new pair. I was impressed by these shoes at first, but they stretched out after wearing them twice. I just went on the site again and unfortunately, these shoes have gone up in price quite considerably. At first I thought this is because the prices are listed in Canadian dollars, so $160 isn’t so bad…but then I noticed the prices are in US dollars (even though the brand is Canadian…). So now, I’m not too sure what to think. I could buy a pair of G. Franco or Capezio shoes for $75-130 USD, or I could spend $160 USD on a brand I’m not 100% sure about. The styles are beautiful and I would love for readers to share their experiences as I’m just not sure if they are worth the investment. One dance company in the prairies swears by this brand for their practice shoes, and they put in several hours of practice every week. Some of the more basic shoes are less expensive ($85 USD) and the bonus is that we Canadians save on shipping/duty (when clicking on the “In-Stock Canada” tab). Due to these factors, I may give them another chance.

Other brands that were mentioned by friends of mine were Shine, Ray Rose, and PortDance. All of these brands were described as stylish and comfortable. One participant, a world champion dancer, described Ray Rose as the absolute best shoes for competition and performances. Based on my survey, I found that comfort/fit, style/appearance, and quality/durability are the most important factors when selecting a pair of shoes. Of course, price is a factor as well. Most of the individuals I asked said that they were willing to spend $90-$120 on shoes with a few saying they would spend up to $150 for good-quality shoes that will last.

A few other tips to consider:

When purchasing your first pair of Latin dance shoes, go for something simple with a heel size you are comfortable dancing on. If possible, try them on first and walk around the store (I always dance around a bit too to really test them out!). Make sure they fit properly and that your ankles don’t wobble. You will regret it if you spend a lot of money on an expensive brand if you get them and you can’t even wear them because the heels are too high or they don’t fit properly. They will haunt your closet with their beauty. 😉

When selecting performance shoes, again, go with comfort first and style second. You can always glue on your own rhinestones to bling them out. If you’re on a team and you have to purchase the same shoes as everyone else, ask your instructor or director if you can customize the heel size/style to your comfort. If you can’t social dance in 4” stilettos, you won’t be able to perform well in them either!

If you’ve been dancing for a while and you’re looking for a new pair of social dance shoes, have some fun! Chances are, you know by now what style, heel type, and size works best for you. Pick some fun colours and styles that will go with several different outfits. My favourite pairs of shoes are bright blue and hot pink. Don’t feel like you always have to go with a neutral colour.

If you would like to share your experience with Latin dance shoes, please comment below!

Stuff Salseros Do

Blog
Salsa

Richie Kirwan

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September 26, 2016

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Salsa will change your life!

I think it’s fair enough to say that anyone who starts dancing salsa (or any social dance for that matter) sees some fairly noticeable changes in their life after a short amount of time.

We change, we become different from the “muggles” (a term used to refer to people without magic powers in the Harry Potter series) (NOTE: I’ve never read the books but someone told me the term in reference to non-dancers and I liked it). So yeah, once we’re accepted into the Secret Society of Salsa (S.S.S.) we become different from the muggles… those without the magical powers of salsa.

Here’s a little list of some of those things that we often do now as salseros, which we never did before.

When stepping onto a relatively large floor, like in a restaurant, bar or even someone’s home, twisting the ball of your foot from side to side on the surface to gauge the friction and therefore dance potential.
Subtly nodding to yourself and giving a look of appreciation when the above floor meets your standards.
Your adrenaline rises and your heartbeat accelerates when you hear a salsa song played in a completely non-salsa setting.
The above reaction is intensified when you’re together with another salsero and give each other that look of knowing something that no one else there knows.

Yup, that’s a salsa dancer right there!

You dress better and suddenly become far more adventurous with your wardrobe. This could be the skin-tight sparklies common in performances, a revealing little dress with some added flare for the ladies or for the men… you know what I’m gonna say… waistcoats 😉
Doing some serious shoulder and hip movement when you’re dancing to “normal” music. Even listening to music at the bus stop is enough to make you bust a little move if you think you can get away with it
Drinking much less alcohol. Gotta maintain some level of balance!
Packing for weekend salsa congress becomes a serious logistical dilemma when trying to pack enough clothes for 3 nights of social and two days of workshops into a little carryon bag.
Having a weeks worth of laundry to do after said weekend becomes totally normal.
Sweating profusely becomes second nature!
For the ladies, trying to find make-up that will survive all the sweating so you don’t end up looking like the girl from “The Ring” by the end of the night.
For the guys, bringing a few extra t-shirts when going out is a fact of life.
Listening and tapping your foot along to normal music and trying to figure out if you could dance to it.
Close physical contact with complete strangers is no longer a problem for you.
Reacting to breaks in music in public with a subtle body movement followed by looks of concern from the people around you.
Feeling slightly awkward at other social functions where no one is dancing.
When trying on new shoes the first thing you do is a spin test to see if you could dance in them.
Dance classes/nights out/congress’ etc become monthly fixed expenses, just as important as rent and electricity.
Personal hygiene becomes even more of a priority.
Planning a vacation now involves the essential step of looking up possible latin clubs at your destination.
You become incredibly critical of “salsa dancing” you see in popular movies or on TV… “I could do better than that”!
You always have chewing gum.
Your social circle explodes and Facebook friend requests blow up after a congress.
You constantly say that you’re going to learn Spanish so you can understand the lyrics of your favorite songs… but it never quite happens.
Standing in front of a full-length mirror is a perfect opportunity for some shines or body isolations.
You feel like a living legend if any of your “muggle” friends ever see you dancing with another salsero.
You ask complete strangers to dance and accept dances from complete strangers… I’m pretty sure no one did that before starting salsa.
Hearing a particular song brings back really powerful memories of that amazing dance you had with that cute girl/guy a while back… ufff!
Ladies, some of you have probably decided you didn’t need to buy groceries for a week just so you could get that new pair of dance shoes that caught your eye (to be honest, this one probably isn’t that different from the muggles).

Men, you have become unfazed by ridiculing comments made by your non-dancing, male friends and family.
You pass other salseros, who you don’t know but have seen out dancing, on the street and you give each other “the nod” and subtle smile of salsa acknowledgement! You both walk away feeling special.
Random body rolls 😀

The list could go on.

So, what do you think? Do you recognize any of these new habits in yourself since joining the world of salsa?

Or what have I left out? Let me know in the comments and I’ll add them to the list.

Keep dancing folks.

Social Dancing Has An Image Problem

Imaan Taghavi

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September 25, 2016

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When you ask the average person what comes to their mind when you say “partner dance”, they’ll usually describe Dancing With the Stars or some other choreographed show where partner dance is intended for the pleasure of an audience. They will likely NOT describe partner dance that is intended for connection between two individuals. Social dancing is connection. It is fitness. It is creative exploration. It is something that generates so much passion, fans change their Facebook names to the styles of social dance that they thrive on (e.g. John Zoukchata). But it is these things ONLY to those already in social dancing communities. And that is a big problem to us.

How did this become a problem? How have we not fixed it already? When performance hip hop got big (America’s Best Dance Crew), so did social hip hop (cyphers, dance battles, jams, etc.). But when performance partner dance got big (Dancing With The Stars), social partner dance remained largely unknown to the mainstream as it does now.

Whatever the reasons are, we’ve been underground too long.

From salsa to swing, bachata to blues, we speak with different languages and cultures but we still speak with the movement of connected bodies. We should be open to embracing the similarities and differences between different styles of social dance. So that we can effectively paint a picture of what social dancing is for non-dancers. We should believe in a world where anyone can dance with anyone, anywhere, and to anything.

I mean just imagine a world…

Where working adults can open their conference rooms for social dancing during lunch breaks…

Where senior citizens isolated in a retirement home can social dance with each other…

Where victims of trauma can use social dancing to reconnect and heal…

Where members of different ethnic and political groups can look past their differences to their shared humanity through social dancing.

Where young boys and girls learn consent and gender roles can be broken at an early age through social dancing.

We want to help create that world. We started #TheOmniMovement to increase the accessibility of social dancing across the world. But we need your help.

We are creating videos like this one that try to paint the picture of social dancing is.

Show them to your friends and family.

Show them why you social dance.

Show them why they should try it.

And let’s show the world what they’ve been missing.

The possibilities are endless and absolutely beautiful.

#ThisIsOmni

Imaan Taghavi

P.S. In an attempt to bring social dancing to the mainstream, we have challenged the acapella sensations Pentatonix to an #ImprovJam in this epic video. Please share it so they can see it and give social dancing this victory.

Where Did The Clave Go?

Blog
Salsa

Christian Espinola

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September 21, 2016

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This is the infamous question that comes from a dancer who realizes that they don’t always hear the clave in EVERY salsa song. You may be wondering what I’m talking about and that’s exactly why I wanted to write this article.

Did you know that when you listen to the amazing music that we call Salsa, you cannot tangibly HEAR the clave being played in every song? Well, it’s true, and I’d love to help you understand WHY it’s not physically played in many Salsa songs. But, most importantly, I’d like to show you WHY it may be the most important distinction you can make, in reference to impacting your dance.

First, allow me to share that, as an instructor, I’ve had this conversation with many dancers and it typically goes a little something like this:

Me: “So, as a dancer, what do you connect to the most in a Salsa song?”

Dance: “The clave! Because it is the heartbeat of Salsa”

Me: “Yes, I agree!”

At this point the dancer will reference a song and ask….

Dancer: “You hear that? pa—pa—pa—, pa pa”

However! Without realizing it, they are clapping the clave to a song that isn’t physically playing it, and more times than not, they are clapping it backwards! I usually don’t say much in those moments, unless you’re a student or a friend of mine that I have rapport with and I know you’d receive constructive criticism well. So, I often find myself baffled about this, because much of the time it comes from people that are actually good at executing the dance and it makes me think “MAN! This dancer is already awesome, I can only imagine what would happen if this person actually understood and connected with the music at a deeper level! It would be sick!”. In my opinion, I look at this subject as the difference between snorkeling and scuba diving. Both experience the water, but the scuba diver will often have a “deeper” experience than the snorkeler would. In the same way, I believe that a Salsa dancer who becomes a student of rhythm will experience Salsa in a deeper level, and understanding clave is the starting point of this experience.

So, what is the “tangible” clave? This just means that you physically hear the clave playing in a Salsa song. Here is an example:

Can you hear the Pa—Pa—Pa—, Pa Pa? That is what we call 3/2 clave.

Now take a listen to this song:

Do you hear the same sound? Nope! Not at all, but did you know that this song is in the same “clave” as the previous example? Yes, this song is in 3/2 clave, but the “tangible” clave is not there.

What does this mean? To keep the explanation geared towards a dancer and easy to understand, generally, within one basic step, each rhythm played in a Salsa song should have one side (example- “123”of the basic) “busier” than the other (example- “567” of the basic), therefore, it creates an alternating drive between “conflict” and “resolution” that gives Salsa its driving pulse that we all love. In saying this, a good general way to accurately determine the clave direction (2/3 or 3/2) in a song, is to learn to find “the straight side” of the rhythm. The straight side is the “2” (the side that has 2 notes) side of the clave. As an example, let me show you what that looks like in the mambo bell:

So, why is it important for us as dancers? Because without clave, Salsa is not Salsa. At its highest level, the very interpretation we give this amazing music stems from how we feel the essence of Salsa, which is clave, so clave should be a dancers priority, in order to get the most out of their dance. Dance moves are great! But nothing looks as good as personal connection feels in Salsa. To give you a real example of how this can change the landscape of your dance (if you choose to do so), I’ll take the concept of “conflict” and “resolution” and apply it to dance. If the clave has this alternating drive, wouldn’t it translate into our dance? I’m not saying you must interpret it literally each time you dance, but if you do choose to do so, one side of your basic will FEEL different than the other. Your basic won’t FEEL robotic like “123, 567″, because you are now interpreting the driving force of Salsa, which is clave. You may be thinking “How could you do that on the dance floor if the person you are dancing with has no clue about clave?”. Well, I can say this: In the 15 years I have been dancing, when I choose to truly interpret & connect with a song, my partner enjoys the dance more, because what I connect to generally translates into my partner. Since you’re dealing with tangible rhythm and genuinely connecting, not fabricating, your partner will more than likely connect with your dancing on a subconscious level. Have you ever heard the saying “You have to FEEL it”? This is what I mean! When you FEEL it, your partner will too! So, what would happen to your dance if you chose to be an informed student of the Salsa music? How much better would you be? How many “glass ceilings” will you break? How much better would you feel when you dance?

Coming from someone who has never liked dancing and was dragged to his first Salsa class by his then girlfriend (and now I have the honor of calling her my wife), I can tell you that this distinction has changed everything about how I see Salsa. I have been teaching this specific concept for over 8 years with a 100% success rate. Everyone who decided to step up and take on the challenge of understanding Salsa at a different level (and accomplished it), transformed their dance forever. I pray the same for you.

God Bless!

Keep in mind that this is just scratching the surface of clave and it should be viewed through those lenses. There are many other rhythms and concepts that complete the understanding of clave, and if you’re interested in this level of training, give me a shout and I’d be honored to serve you in any way I can.

Leading Ladies: Four Reasons Why Women Should Reverse Roles On The Dance Floor

Georgia Grace

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September 17, 2016

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Leading Ladies: Four Reasons Why Women Should Reverse Roles On The Dance Floor

A few years ago, before I started teaching dance, I remember a friend telling me I could “figure out the lead.”

“Just reverse it,” he said, as if it were the simplest thing in the world.

Once I actually started learning how to lead, I realized that “just reversing it” is definitely NOT the way to go about it. Leading is intricate. Complex. It requires thinking a few steps ahead, learning how to create trust with your partner, and how to be clear and efficient in your movements.

Women should learn how to lead for a variety of reasons.

It teaches compassion.

I’m ashamed to admit that when I first started social dancing, I was “that girl.” I didn’t like dancing with beginner leads. I would get bored, impatient, and frustrated by guys who led a million basics in a row, fumbled moves, were unclear about what they wanted to do, ran me into people, etc.

Once I started learning how to lead, I never felt that way again because suddenly, the roles were reversed and I was that beginner lead—unable to remember half the moves I knew on the dance floor, missing the timing, being unclear about what I wanted my follow to do. When women learn how to lead, they are able to appreciate and enjoy every single dance because they understand how much effort and courage it takes a beginner lead to get on the floor and dance with someone, especially someone who has more experience. Follows treating leads with compassion leads to greater mutual respect and a better dance for both parties.

It makes you a better follow.

When you learn how to lead, you gain more insight into how to follow. You understand the mechanics of a step. You learn the cues that you should be looking out for to effectively follow a move. You get a more holistic view of the dance. You increase the vocabulary of a language you already know.

Once I started learning how to lead, my level of dancing shot up. I started paying even more attention when I followed, trying to pick up new ways to lead a step I already knew so I could lead it better. The dance started to make even more sense and I felt like I was refining and polishing steps I had been doing for years, taking them from good to great.

It is empowering.

And fun. Leading a move and having someone follow it is satisfying. You feel confident and accomplished. Without saying a word, you are able to get someone to respond to what you are asking her. That’s a pretty cool feeling.

Besides personal empowerment, for female instructors or would-be instructors, learning how to lead is empowering because you aren’t relying on a partner to help you make money. Having a partner or assistant usually makes teaching a partner work class easier and more fun, but when you know the lead, you don’t need one. You can call the shots on your career. You can teach on your own time, on your own schedule, doing your own thing. You can increase your income potential and you make yourself a better and more credible instructor because you’re able to teach and correct the lead AND the follow.

It’s a way to dance all night.

We’ve all been there—a social that is almost all ladies and about 3 leads. On nights like that, you’re not relegated to sitting on the sidelines, waiting for your turn in the rotation. You can hop up and dance every song as a lead or follow, and all of the ladies who came itching to dance will be grateful to have one more lead in the mix. This goes with the empowerment piece—you don’t have to wait for a lead to get a dance. It’s another way to call the shots on your night out, another way to make social dancing even more enjoyable and rewarding.

So ladies, if you don’t know how to lead already, consider taking a few classes as a lead. See how it changes your perspective on dance. See what the response is… on some dance floors, there’s a stigma about dancing with same-sex leads, while on others, it’s welcomed. Find a guy (or girl!) who knows how to follow and switch lead and follow throughout the dance—talk about fun AND a brain teaser.

What do you think? Are you a lady who leads? What has your experience been? Do you agree with these reasons to learn how to lead? Do you have others? Comment below!

Will Virtual Reality Partner Dancing be a Thing?

Rob Castellucci

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August 31, 2016

3

Will Virtual Reality Partner Dancing be a Thing?

Just got paid. Friday night. Time to dance.

You sit at home in your pajamas, surrounded by a laptop, stale potato chips and your omni-directional treadmill. You pop on your haptic suit, visors and earpiece then power ‘On’.

You’re instantly transported to the outside entrance of Mundo Latino. This is the best Latin dance club the Multiverse has to offer. You’ll be dancing with the world’s best dancers tonight and you’re ready. Why wouldn’t you be ready? You do this every day.

The bouncer scans you in and deducts 5 credits from your account. You feel the boom of the base in your chest. The temperature in your suit rises 10 degrees and you hit a wall of sweat. Sure, you could activate cooling override but you know Latin dancing is all about the heat 😉

Out of the corner of your eye, you spot Magna. The two of you had a great dance last night so you go and say hi. She tells you about a new woman, Sherry, who is incredible. You’re sent off to Sherry’s corner where you ask her to dance.

You take Sherry’s hand. You feel her soft palm and gently guide her onto the dance floor. Sherry has great connection as you give her a cross body lead. You lead her through turn patterns and not once does it cross your mind that none of this is real.

By 2am, you call it a night. Saying goodbye to your friends, you walk past the bouncer and out the door, taking off your visors. You snap back to reality, standing in your living room, drenched in sweat.

You hop in the shower, grab a snack, and head off to bed, satisfied with a fantastic night of dancing.

What is Reality

We take it for granted that [insert your dance style here] is a physical activity done in the real world. We don’t look at our phone while we dance. We don’t check Facebook. Besides the music playing over the loud speakers, technology has zero to do with the act of dancing. But will this always be true?

The above scene seems futuristic. How the heck could you simulate a dance partner and make it feel like a real dance?

Let’s discuss the building blocks that already exist in some form today and how they will operate in the future.

Step 1: Visual Perception

To create a sense of immersion, your 5 senses must perceive the digital world as real. This begins with your sense of sight. Strap on an Oculus Rift and your eyes absorb a 3d environment. This environment looks real. You turn around and there is stuff behind you!

Avatars have realistic skin texture and facial expressions. These facial expressions come from you, the user. This has already been done with a hacked Oculus Rift.

Haptic suits also track your body movements in the virtual world down to the centimeter. Haptic suits are like body motion suits but with ping pong balls covering your whole body. The virtual world knows exactly where you are and what each part of your body is doing.

Step 2: Tactile Perception

Let’s talk more about haptic suits. Haptic is defined as:

“Relating to the sense of touch, in particular relating to the perception and manipulation of objects using the senses of touch and proprioception.”

A haptic suit provides haptic feedback to your body. As dancers, we are always getting physical leads or feedback from our partner. Haptic technology is the key to making partner dancing plausible in the virtual world. When I lead you, you feel the push on your back. When I prepare to spin you, I can feel the tension increase in your arm.

In VR, this requires a granular level of haptic feedback. This is especially true with the hands. It’s the hands after all where most physical contact happens. Haptic technology is in development that “physically pulls back your fingers to fit the shape of the virtual objects and it dynamically changes the force applied to simulate their stiffness.”

Haptic feedback is more complicated when you introduce a real person on the other end. It is much easier to simulate the touch of a rock than another human being moving at full speed. But technologists are working on human to human physical communication in the virtual world now and the tech will only improve with time.

Step 3: Auditory Perception

This one is obvious. We gotta dance to something. Surround sound acoustics incorporate all the sounds of a Latin club, not just the music. The goal is immersion and you don’t get immersion through a flawless soundtrack.

The music is the easy part. To achieve immersion, the world incorporates conversations and ambient sounds into your audio. The world knows where you are standing and how loud each noise should be. It knows if you are by the virtual speakers or near the bar in the back.

Step 4: And the Rest

There are 2 more senses: smell and taste. Are these critical for dancing? No. Are they critical for immersion? Perhaps.

Many studies have cited our sense of smell as being most closely linked to emotion and memory recall. If we don’t smell a night of dancing, will we remember a night of dancing? Maybe dancing with that partner at congress who refused to wear deodorant of any kind was a blessing!

In all seriousness, I would feel something were missing if I didn’t smell everything at a social. There will be advances in olfactory VR, but all I found in my research was this fart-smelling device :/

Questions for the Community

Let’s say VR dancing were available…right now! Should we be excited as dancers or anxious? Here are some questions to consider:

How does this affect our global community if we no longer share the same physical space for social dancing and classes?
Does virtual dancing compromise any of our values as social dancers?
Do local dance scenes disappear? Will everyone start dancing the same if we all dance at a handful of Multiverse clubs?
Latin dancing involves zero technology. Is it wrong to make the experience completely incorporated with technology?

We as a community won’t have to answer these questions for a decade or more. My money is on 15 years from now that virtual partner dancing is an option for the masses. But its fun and exciting to consider the possibilities.

Wouldn’t it be Cool if…

I’m most excited for the opportunity to dance with people from around the world. My scene has 1-2 good nights of dancing a week. What if every night was an amazing night? What if I could dance with Magna, Jorjet, Tanja and Karel all on the same Wednesday night?

Even cooler is the potential for dancing with computer programs. It can be tough to find a partner to practice with. But in the virtual world, you can dance with a computer generated partner on-demand. This partner will have full knowledge of the dance and can provide feedback on your lead and follow.

When virtual dancing becomes a thing, we will see an explosion in skill level. For everyone with an interest, the friction and cost to pick up Latin dancing will decrease. For me as a salsero, it’ll be like I’m living in New York City no matter where I am.

I began this post by asking if virtual reality partner dancing will be a thing. Yes, it will. When is anyone’s guess.

One question remains: how will Latin dancers manage this physical to virtual shift. How will we embrace technology while maintaining our core community values. Hopefully I’ll still be alive when we have an answer to that one 🙂

What Women Want… from a dance! (Tips to make you a better lead)

Richie Kirwan

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August 29, 2016

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What Women Want… from a dance! (Tips to make you a better lead)

What do women want?

This question has stumped MAN-kind since the dawn of time and continues to frustrate the less-attractive sex on a daily basis.

Obviously, I’m not talking about knowing what women want from a potential mate in the dating-game… clearly I’ve already mastered that (hahahaha… excuse me, I couldn’t keep a straight face with that one!). No, today I want to talk about something far more pertinent to those men that spend their free time on the dance floor. I’m going to talk about what women want from a dance… not from a potential mate but from a lead!

“As if a MAN could answer that!!!”
… I can hear all you ladies screaming at your screens right now! You are right to doubt my opinion on this matter, I doubt it myself! So, with my gender-imposed shortcomings in mind I decided to take it upon myself and do something most men never do… “ask”.

R & D
I decided to write this article quite a while back so I began my research by asking a multitude of salsera friends of mine to tell me what, exactly, they most enjoyed from a dance/lead. For the sake of completeness I asked women from various different countries in Europe, Asia and North & South America who dance different styles of salsa socially and/or professionally. Basically, what that means is that I’ve ended up with information from a culturally diverse group or L.A., New York & Cuban social dancers, teachers and performers (the scientist in me wouldn’t have it any other way).

My eyes have been opened
I ended up getting a lot of different opinions but there were clearly quite a few common points that all of my sources brought up; some things I instinctively knew (after so long dancing, one would hope so); some things I needed a little reminder of and some things I had never even considered before. I imagine a lot of the gentlemen reading this will be in the same boat. In other words, I’m giving ya pure gold!

I’ve listed this cornucopia of knowledge with which I have been bestowed, below. Any points that were mentioned by multiple ladies appear near the start of the list with less commonly mentioned points following. Any commentary after the points is my own (influenced by what my sources wrote themselves).

So, without further ado, I present you with, quite possibly…

The most important tips that a salsa lead will ever need…

(you know, besides actually learning how to dance… which is kind of important too).

Show your partner you’re enjoying yourself
There is nothing worse than dancing with someone who looks like they’re either bored out of their mind or terrified of making a mistake. Dancing is meant to be fun so feel it and show it. Smile and you’ll make your partner smile too.

Show your partner that you’re dancing with her
In a dance there is only the couple and the music and once you’ve asked someone for a dance you’ve basically committed to them for the entire song. Show your mutual connection with eye contact. You should only be focused on your partner when having a dance and not on whatever else is going on on the dance floor. Equally the dance is “not all about you” so don’t use your partner as prop to show off your moves.

Have a clear but NOT forceful lead
You do not need to tear off a woman’s arms to get her to follow you. A good lead should be able to indicate clearly and painlessly which way you would like your partner to go. Timid leads (due to being afraid to touch your partner) and (sometimes) leading by the hips or the stomach are no good either. Also, don’t forget that if you use your thumbs to clamp down on your partners hands, she has the right to dig her nails into you in return. If you want an idea of what a good lead feels like, check out my article on the Cloudy Dancer.

Musicality
This is by far the hardest concept to explain to those that don’t yet understand it. Be familiar with the music, appreciate the changes in tempo, start slow, get to know your partners style and build up into the dance, allow breaks for some shines and know when you need to up the ante or chill things out a little. I hate using this phrase but you need to learn to “Feel the Music” and translate it into your dancing.

KISS: Keep It Simple, Stupid
“A simple dance, danced well and on time is much better than a dance packed with moves that don’t work and end up off time”. Don’t dive straight into a dance by stringing together a unending combination of turn patterns and tricks without even listening to the song itself and exhausting your partner after just 3 minutes. Yes, use your tricks, but learn to enjoy the simpler aspects of dance.

Adjust to your partners level
Just because you can do a certain move with certain people doesn’t mean that everyone will be able to follow you. It’s really disheartening and frustrating to a girl if she has a lot of trouble following you just because you’re trying to show off and don’t care if she can keep up. Start slow, adjust to her level and you can still have a great dance.

Don’t teach during a dance
Following on from the last point, just because a girl can’t follow one of your moves doesn’t mean that you should stop right there in the middle of the song to show her what she’s doing wrong. It can be pretty humiliating. Finish the dance, have fun and maybe if she want’s to learn how to do it you can show her, off the dance floor.

Take care of your partner
“Using me as a battering ram to clear yourself a space is NOT a good thing”. You are the lead and from the moment you lead a girl onto the floor to the moment you escort her off, you are in charge of her safety. Keep an eye out for potential collisions on the dance floor, don’t preform any dangerous moves, don’t tug roughly to lead. A good partner will of course keep an eye out for you too 😉

And that’s it. There were a few more points mentioned but these were the most common ones amongst the women I asked. When I was reading all the tips that my female friends gave to me I couldn’t help but be reminded of all the mistakes I regularly make on the dance floor. I’m still learning and trying to improve and make up for my shortcomings when dancing. I hope this article gives other leads some good motivation to do the same.

If you need anymore tips, check out my guide to salsa dance etiquette part 1 and part 2 to get the ball rolling.

Men: Read them, learn them and most importantly, apply them and watch your salsa cred grow.

Ladies: What do you think? Is this what you want on the dance floor? Have I left anything out? I’d love to hear your opinions so let me know in the comments.

Keep dancing folks.

3 Charts Explain How Our Latin Dance Community is Changing

Rob Castellucci

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August 18, 2016

18

3 Charts Explain How Our Latin Dance Community is Changing

As a salsa dancer, this chart from Google Trends scares the shit out of me:

Let me explain. Google Trends analyzes Google search volume (duh) for every word. The above chart analyzes the search term “salsa” (the dance, not the delicious condiment or musical genre).

The total search volume is unknown but we do know that since 2004, peak search volume was in July 2005. And we know that today, search volume is 62% lower than at it’s peak. This is a troubling trend.

The trend is not consistent across all Latin dances. Check out the Bachata chart over the same period:

Today’s Bachata popularity is only 1% down from it’s peak in April 2014. Search volume has risen since 2004 by a wopping 86%! Kizomba also shows growth over the past 12 years:

Salsa dancing still has way more total search volume than either Bachata or Kizomba:

But why the huge drop in salsa dancing interest? Beyond data, this trending down of salsa proves out anecdotally in real life. I just moved to San Francisco last month. Guess which long running congress just got canceled? Yep, the San Francisco Salsa Congress.

Now put on your big boy/girl face and cover the baby’s ears. You’re not going to like what I’m about to say:

Salsa dancing will not be around forever.

I know, it’s unthinkable. But salsa as I know it (NY/LA style) has only been around since the 1980’s when Eddie Torres codified it. Plenty of extinct dance styles were around for way longer before going the way of the dodo.

There is no call to action in this post. But I will call you to awareness. We should all be aware of how our Latin dance community is growing and changing. I hope you found this post informative. As always, I appreciate your feedback!

A Mental Model For Learning Salsa

Blog
Salsa

Rob Castellucci

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August 9, 2016

12

Have you ever heard the term “mental model”? A mental model is any concept used to understand the world around you.

One example is the Navy SEALs “40 Percent Rule”. When your mind is saying you’re done (in a race, project, etc) you’re actually only 40% done. Ever run a marathon? You hit a wall at mile 6 but somehow keep going. How is that possible? 40 percent rule.

Mental models exist for every discipline. They help you to do more, faster. One of my favorite mental models for salsa dancing is Salsa Hell. Salsa Hell explains why leaders are more likely than followers to quit dancing. It also explains why new followers prefer more experienced leaders.

I’ve created a mental model of my own based upon Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. My model which I’m coining the “Salsa Growth Pyramid” explains the progression of macro skills one must learn to become a great salsa dancer.

When I learned to dance, I was drowning in information. Timing, music, steps, tension, patterns, body language, shines, etc. I didn’t understand where the dependencies existed and which elements to tackle first.

With 7 years of dancing and instruction under my belt, I’ve got some perspective on how students learn. Learning is a progression up the pyramid. You may go back and forth between levels, however it is impossible to reach a high level of performance on any given level without reaching a high level of performance on all preceding levels.

Beat identification

Salseros dance to, wait for it…salsa music! Everything starts with understanding where the counts and beats hide within a salsa track. This is where most of my students struggle. It’s called ‘salsa’ for a reason. There are lots of instruments and vocals playing at once. It is a challenge to pick out the ‘1’ count. But without this skill, you can’t do anything else.

Basic shines

After consistently identifying the beat, work to connect mind and body. As a leader, when the mind identifies the ‘1’, the body needs to step forward with the left foot (assuming you are dancing LA style). The basic step, right turn, left turn and suzie q are examples of basic shines that reinforce mind body connection.

Turn Patterns

Those who dance alone are not salseros. Turn patterns introduce the 3rd level of progression. The beat, the steps, the partner. Turn patterns do not just map new footwork to music on the correct counts. Leaders and followers must interact and communicate physically through their bodies and non-verbal cues. Communication is critical for providing the correct lead strength and tension.

Social Dancing

This is the critical step. Because honestly, what is the point of all this practice if you don’t social dance? We all know those students who look great in class and lost in social dancing. To be an effective social dancer, a follower must learn not to backlead and a leader must learn to gauge the follower’s skill and comfort level.

The leader should progressively increase the difficulty of his patterns, paying attention to the follower’s execution and facial cues. If she’s obviously uncomfortable while doing a single outside turn, don’t do a double spin! As a follower, you have to react, not act. This is to say, don’t backlead by assuming you know what your leader will do. Respond to their lead.

Bad social dancers (men and women) also lack ‘court awareness’. They take big steps, flail their arms and dance in lines from every angle. The result is plenty of mid-dance collisions and unhappy toes.

Musicality

The holy grail of salsa dancing is musicality. This is when a dancer expresses themselves and the music through dance, and enables their partner to do the same. It’s tough to get here consistently. I can’t do it yet but there are skills to get there.

Body isolation puts dancers in fine tune control of their body movements. It gives them a larger toolbox of movements to express themselves. Improvisation based on active listening leaves dancers open to suggestions made by the music.

By listening to the music, I mean the vocals, too. If you don’t speak Spanish, you are missing out on a huge part of the meaning behind the music. Now is a great time to hop on DuoLingo 🙂

At every level of the pyramid, feedback loops are critical. You should be asking dance partners and instructors for honest feedback. Each round of feedback pushes you closer towards leveling up.

Speaking of leveling up, when do you know that you are ready for the next level? As a teacher, I see students all the time who want to stay in lower level classes longer than they should. They don’t want to step into the more advanced techniques for fear of looking stupid. But that is the only way to grow as a dancer.

The same goes for the Salsa Growth Pyramid. You will never feel completely comfortable with any level until you move onto the next. By trying to pick up the beat (level 1) while dancing the basic step (level 2), the mind uses your beat knowledge in a new context. It moves a dancer from conceptually understanding “I have to step on this beat” to “I stepped on this beat” and that is a big step (pun intended).

As a rule of thumb, when you feel 75% comfortable with the current level, begin moving up to the next level. If you goof up then revisit the material in a lower level context. In our previous example, if you have trouble stepping to the beat then go back and listen to more music and identify more beats. Then get right back to practicing your basic step!

I hope you find this mental model helpful. I would love to hear your feedback and ideas for improvement on this, so don’t be shy 🙂

Dance Bag Essentials

Sarah Liz Vuong

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July 10, 2016

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Over the years, I’ve experienced many salsa nights during which I really could have used a band-aid, a snack, or a different shirt to change into. As a result, I’ve equipped my shoe bag with some emergency essentials. Hopefully, these tips will help you to continue to dance the night away without feeling gross!

1. Dance Shoe supplies

Obviously, your dance shoes are essential but it’s also important to make sure your bag is large enough or has a few pockets available for some other supplies. My husband and I had some drawstring bags made for our dance community as a fundraiser for the Saskatchewan International Salsa and Bachata Congress. They’re larger than the bags that typically come with salsa shoes and we were able to choose the colours we wanted, which was a nice bonus. One trick I’ve learned is to throw a dryer sheet in with my shoes to keep them smelling fresh. Changing the dryer sheet every few days is ideal to keep the bag smelling nice. Alternatively, you could buy some shoe deodorizer balls or satchels which usually have baking soda in them to soak up the smell of dance. 🙂 In addition, a shoe brush is a worthwhile investment if your shoes have suede soles. This scratchy little brush helps to prevent you from slipping all over the dance floor.

2. Hygiene stash

Next are some items that will help you to maintain your personal hygiene all night long (because as many of us know, cologne and perfume aren’t always sufficient). I always make sure my shoe bag has deodorant, gum or mints, and disposable makeup wipes. I also fill a large zip-lock bag with the following: a comb or a small hair brush, an extra tee shirt or tank (or two!), and a small towel. I keep these items in a zip-lock bag so they don’t pick up the smell of my shoes (classy, right?). When folded tightly into a zip-lock, these items don’t take up much space and I’m often so grateful for them. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve taken a bathroom break just go run a comb through my hair, wipe my face (and arms…and legs) with a towel, and change my shirt. With the deodorant and makeup wipes, you can feel like you’ve had a quick shower! It’s really nice and you and your dance partners will certainly appreciate it. Check out this article by Tasleem Ria for more tips on dance etiquette.

3. Comfort and safety stuff

The last few items are included for comfort and safety. One item that never leaves my dance bag is a foldable handheld fan that I purchased at another fundraiser for our local congress. This is a brilliant idea for a fundraiser, by the way (thanks, Keith!). It’s great to take a short break in between dances to just cool off with my awesome fan.

Some of the safety items I now include are band-aids, extra hair elastics, bobby pins, and safety pins. I keep all of these together in a small bag. Even if I don’t need these items, someone else certainly will. Last year on Canada day, I went a little overboard with the red and white theme when someone stepped on my foot so hard, they cracked my big toenail and it bled everywhere. Ouch, and gross. I was so sad and thought I might actually have to leave the party which would have been a disaster since I drove in from another city two hours away to get there. Luckily, my friend Alissa had band-aids with her and gave some to me. Now, I never leave the house without them. The hair elastics and bobby pins are great to put your hair up when it gets hot, but they (in addition to the safety pins) can also help with wardrobe disasters. I’ve used bobby pins to put my shoe back together when the sole lifted. I’ve used safety pins to secure a friend’s bra that broke. These items hardly take up any space at all and they always come in handy. Recently, my mom gave me a travel-sized sewing kit and that’s definitely going in the bag too.

4. Nourishment

Last, but certainly not least, I always bring a bottle of water (or better yet, an electrolyte beverage) and a snack! You may be thinking, “Really? You can’t go a few hours without a snack?” Well, the answer is no, no I cannot. I’ve learned this the hard way a few times when I’ve actually felt ill after dancing and sweating so much that I’ve had to go home instead of going out to eat with dance friends. That, and I really hate being ‘hangry’. I just hate it so much. I’ll never forget the time my friend Gareth reached his hand out to me in what I thought was a “would you like to dance?” gesture but as it turns out, he had a banana in that hand. I was so happy! #bananadance! A banana is the perfect snack as it fills your belly by replenishing your carbs and potassium. Another time at a social, my friend Stewart said, “That was a fun dance. Would you like some Fig Newtons?” What could I say? Of course I wanted Fig Newtons! At that point in the evening, they were glorious. I’m pretty sure I got in at least five extra dances that night because of my snack break. Never underestimate the power of a snack break. Pack a snack. Better yet, pack two snacks. You won’t regret it.

What do you include in your #dancebag? I’m pretty proud of mine and how I’m prepared for just about anything but if you think I’ve left something out, please comment below!