Should Indy have salsa nightclubs?

I have asked myself this question so many times. I honestly don’t think that Indy should have salsa nightclubs, especially not on weekends. There are so few Latin nights in Indy and salsa is not priority. Not to mention that these clubs are too crowded and full of cigarette smoke. Let’s break it down!

Salsa nightclubs need a few key things to keep the typical salsa dancer’s interest. First, salsa dancers need a good hard-wood floor. Salsa dancers are very picky about this. We don’t want to dance on a floor that is too fast or too sticky. No one wants to have to be concerned if they will fall on their head trying to shine or do a right-turn nor struggle to use all of their energy to do a right-turn. Tile and concrete floors are just very hard to dance on as well and can cause damage to your knees.

Also, we need space! In order to get our total groove on, we need some room to dance. I hate bumping into other people on the dance floor. And when those people walk by along the side of the dance floor to get across the room for whatever reason, get an elbow to the head and then have the nerve to get mad like we did it on purpose. They have to know their chances of getting hit walking along the edge of the dance floor. Bumping into other people should rarely happen.

Finally, we need good salsa music. Most Latin nightclubs don’t provide this because they cater to the whole Latin crowd, which means that you might have to wait 6-8 songs until the next salsa song comes on and that song itself could be a terrible salsa song. I have nothing against Bachata, Merenge, Reggaeton, and ChaCha. I love them all but, as a salsa dancer I mainly want to hear salsa music. I think the Red Room is the only nightclub that provides this. Also, into regards to good salsa music, Indy needs to get with the times and get some better salsa. There are great salsa/mambo songs being played in major salsa cities which I would love to hear here in Indy.

My suggestion to resolve all of this is to limit salsa nights to dance studios only! Most dance studios already have the floor and the space; and if salsa dancers are in charge of the music, good music will be played as well as more salsa music. Dancers don’t have to worry about smoking or ridiculously drunk people dancing all over the floor; beginners and all ages would feel welcome; and for those students/dancers that don’t want to be in the nightclub environment or have to go to work the next day, can enjoy the studio’s environment. I guess I’ll just say this also, salsa dancers don’t want to spend a lot of money either, especially when they don’t get want they want out of their experience at the nightclub. Salsa dancers aren’t heavy drinkers so, in this case, the salsa community would not have to worry about the club closing down in 6 months because they weren’t making enough money at the bar.

Well, these are just my thoughts. Let me know what you think.

~Chimere~

Chicago workshops, dancing, and slight amounts of chaos.

The last salsa road trip of 2007 commenced Sunday, December 9th 2007. We (Marques and I, Ketura and Job) left early Sunday morning. It happened to be pretty bad weather and the road conditions were not in our favor. It was raining ice the entire way, and it was to our benefit that Marques had just gotten new tires.

Despite the bad weather, we reached Chicago early, and after locating Latin Street Dance (the studio that was hosting the workshops), we found some close parking and hung out in what has to be the most interesting Mc Donalds that I have ever been to. It was two stories, and mostly windows, with escalator and upstairs "café" (or Mc Donalds version of a cafe, none of us had the desire to test their products at that time).



The workshops started around 1:30 and lasted until about 8pm. They were taught by By Marina & Ibi, from Sweden,
who placed 2nd at The World Salsa Championships 2006 in Las Vegas. There were four workshops: ChaChaCha (All levels), Intermediate Salsa, Advanced Salsa, and Competition Salsa. Ketura, Job, and I took all four workshops, and Marques took all but the Intermediate Salsa. They were really great instructors, and were able to teach a workshop that actively engaged the entire class. They added styling and "sabor" to all of the patterns they taught, and I really felt that the workshops were of great quality. The Competition Salsa was a tricks class... they showed us 3 similar tricks, all of which looked simple and ended up being much more difficult.

By the end, we were all completely exhausted (but in a good way)! We walked to a nearby restaurant, which didn't seem so nearby after the long cold walk. The restaurant is Roy's, which had expensive but very good food. It doesn't seem or feel like a chain restaurant, but there are Roy's in other major cities as well. We would like to thank Marques' friend DeAnna for giving us a gift certificate.

Anyway, our last stop of the day was the Buzz. The boys decided to be nice and try to find closer parking, even though we could have walked, because it was very cold. They let Ketura and I off at the door. I had a great time, and danced with a few really great dancers. Unfortunately, I think a lot of the advanced dancers were at another party, but we still had an amazing time.

There was an unexpected competition, which Marques and I decided to enter on some kind of spur of the moment whim. Turned out there was only one other couple, and it was one of many qualifying rounds for a huge upcoming final. Even though the other couple had matching nice clothes on, and had a routine, and we were just in street clothes and improving, the audience still decided they liked us better, and we received a bottle of champaign for the night. That was nice :-) Both of us qualified for the finals, though.

The slight bit of chaos started after our great night at the Buzz... Marques' car got towed, and we were very tired. We also hit a deer on the way home, luckily it was pretty minor. We ended up reaching home probably about 7 in the morning, and we learned our lesson!!! From now on, we will always book a hotel room and stay over night!

Salsa Dancers vs. Ballroom Salsa/Mambo

From time to time, ballroom dancers show up at salsa clubs ready to dance - we know, because they always stick out in the crowd (and not in a good way). There are many differences between salsa dancers and ballroom dancers who learn salsa, including (but certainly not limited to) styling, footwork, movement patterns, and musicality. Please watch the video below for an idea of technical perfection of Mambo/Salsa from one of the leading authorities of Latin ballroom dance. Corky Ballas may be a god of the ballroom dance world, but he goes completely unknown in the world of salsa... for good reason!!

Salsa dancers tend to love the music they dance to, and are familiar with artists, bands, and song titles and lyrics. Experienced salsa dancers are so familiar with the songs that they are able to use what they know to interpret the music or emphasize a certain point in the song. Ballroom dancers, even highly trained ones, are much less concerned with the music, and emphasis is placed more heavily on technical perfection. They practice syllabus steps and competition routines to songs that many of which are knockoffs of real songs by cheap bands for purposes of "strict tempo". Click here to go to danceshopper.com and listen to some examples.

This type of Mambo or Salsa can be nice for performances, such as the Mambo part of the American Rhythm Ballroom Competitions or shows, but is not practical for everyday dancing. Unfortunately, ballroom instructors market this style of Mambo (and usually they teach Salsa similarly, just on 1) as the real deal - but you won’t learn how to dance at a Salsa club from a Ballroom studio. It is certainly not respected as an authentic form of salsa by any type of salsa dancer (whether it be LA style, New York Style, Cuban Style, Street Style, etc.). I feel like I can fairly evaluate this not only from video clips online such as this one, but from my collected experience watching ballroom dancers in Salsa clubs, teaching ballroom and ballroom “salsa” / Mambo, as well as my teaching with SalsaIndy…

If you dance like this in a club not only will you get a lot of strange looks from salsa dancers in the crowd, but you will probably make a lot of people angry because you will be taking too much space and stepping on everyone. Salsa dancers know that space in the club is very limited, and we all do our best to be respectful of those around us (even though we do inevitably run in to each other from time to time)…

Am I coming down too hard on ballroom dancing? I would say no, because I still love ballroom dancing. I can appreciate the differences in style between ballroom and salsa. I just think ballroom studios need to at least advertise that what they teach is not social dancing for the clubs so that students are aware that there is a difference.