Where are the dancers?

The topic of this post is not directed to dancers in general, but to the students who are taking classes at local studios in town. You would call me one of the regulars, a dancer who goes out at least once a week to get my salsa fix and who has been doing this for the last 3 years.

I was visiting local salsa sites which provide salsa lessons and it appears that they have a lot going on. IntoSalsa and IndySalsa provides at least 8 hours of class instruction a week. There are also a handful of freelance dancers who teach private and small group lessons. Lately when I attend studio parties, the number of students is less than the number of regular salsa addicts. I have never sat down and counted, but there are times that it feels like only a handful of students show up to their own studio party. Is this because of intimidation, lack of desired dancers of similar level, age or attractiveness? I know that turnover rate is high in the world of dance and trying to infect Indy with the salsa bug is a difficult task.

The numbers are just not adding up. The number of hours of salsa instruction provided is high in comparison to other social dances in this city. This would indicate that the class attendance is doing well and that retention is at least at a safe level. Or maybe my calculations are off. I was told from a Chicago dancer that a salsa studio can easily go though 300 students and expect less than 5 to take the dance somewhat seriously. I personally did not know this source, so I took what he said at face value.

As some of you know, I am now providing group salsa lessons and some may take this post as a jab at the studios here in town, but it is not. I would like to mention that this is just an observation that I will like to point out and see if anyone else feels the same. I have danced with dancers from both studios and it has always been a joy to dance with them (I hope they feel the same).

I have talked to a handful of regular dancers and they have expressed frustration when going out and only having a handful of dancers that they enjoy dancing with. Hopefully we can draw some conclusions on these issues and find a solution.

OpenSourceSalsa now offers Rueda lessons!

OpenSourceSalsa is now offering salsa Casino Rueda classes in downtown Indianapolis! They will be holding classes at Riolo Dance Studio. More information has been posting on their blog!

It puts a smile on my face to see this group back in action. As stated in a previous post I thought this group was slowly fading away. Sometimes it is good to be wrong (wink wink). Casino Rueda is a particular type of round dancing of Salsa (Wiki Definition) where a group of dancers follows the calls of the leader.

If you are interested in learning Rueda I would highly recommend this group. They are a fun and talented group of dancers. OSS if you have any video clips that you would like to show off, please contact me and I will post them in SalsaIndy's video gallery.

Spread the word!

OpenSourceSalsa Close for Business?

Today I noticed that OpenSourceSalsa (OSS) took down its homepage. For those who did not know them, OSS was a Rueda performance team based in Indianapolis. They were building a good portfolio of public performances and their site was active with information on their upcoming performances and also promoting the activities of their members (dance instruction, salsa parties).

In the last few months I noticed a change with their site - the frequency that they posted new content was almost non-existant. I was told that the group was in need of men, which could have accounted for the stagnation of the group. I have seen this with women who want to perform, but cannot find a man who is willing to practice. I addressed this issue over a year ago in Looking for a few good Salseros.

Last week, I noticed an updated post on OSS’s site advertising their upcoming performance in Anderson, Indiana. I was happy to see the group ramping back up for the summer. I was confused as to why the post did not give any details (exact location and time). I thought it was just an oversight by the webmaster or a private event.

I hope that this is only temporary and that the group is just re-organizing. I know how hard it can be to run a group. It can be very difficult to maintain the motivation level for both the leaders and the members. For now I will keep OSS’s link on SalsaIndy’s homepage in hopes that the site comes back up.

Update: As you can see with the comment below that OSS is still up and running!