DoingIndy at Riolo Dance Studio

DoingIndy recently posted a Podcast of Riolo Dance Studio (thanks to Tracy for contacting them). I was very impressed on the quality that was put into their podcast, it was very professional. The typical video Podcasts that I run into on the web are done with a hand held video camera and is edited on Windows Movie Maker.

Riolo Dance Studio is a unique studio, part ballroom dance and part social dance. We teach our salsa lessons at Riolo along with a handful of other independent groups that teach and train there. If you decide to take lessons at Riolo you have your choice of Salsa, Casino Rueda, Tango, Ballroom, Swing, Hula and more! Riolo also has a 2000 sq ft dance floor which is one of the best dance floors I have come across in Indy. While I can continue hyping up the studio where I teach, I will stop now and post their Podcast and let you be the judge!

For you salsa addicts there will be a Sunday Salsa Social at Riolo on Sunday, March 30th, 2008. See you there!

Work/Life Balance

As winter draws to a close and we are welcome by the warm spring air, I decided to start my spring cleaning early. This task is not the one where you clean out your closet and give your old clothes to Goodwill, but something deeper.

I have always lived a busy life; I cannot sit around and watch TV, life is too short to have that attitude. In the last 8 months I committed myself to a variety of projects. One is the startup of SalsaIndy, my decision to leave my old dance studio to start a new one. Another project I helped start was Salseros Unidos, a non-profit organization with the mission to build a strong Indianapolis salsa community. If you think that was enough to keep me busy, I work a day job (40+ hours a week), I develop and maintain a video bookmarking service and I am in working partnership with urban entertainment website.

Everything that I was working on has been moving in a positive direction, the websites are getting traffic, class attendances is increasing and I got a raise from my day job, but I was not happy. I never had the time to enjoy what I had, all I did was work. So I gave myself the difficult task of dropping on of my projects. After a couple of weeks of thinking I decided to drop my work with the urban entertainment website. This was a difficult decision because this was a paid project while my other free time projects are either not making money or a small profit.

The decision was based on what was going to make me happy and not what was going to make me the most money. Here is an inspirational video from Steve Jobs. It is a great video for those who want to pursued self employment while maintaining a happy life.

Do what you love and never work a day in your life.

Etiquette on the Dance Floor...?

The following are just my opinions... I feel like simple etiquette is not followed as much as it should be in the salsa clubs. I know it is a mixture of dancers and a bar crowd, but there are certain points of interest that I have noticed a number of times that I feel like need to be mentioned.

First off, I like being escorted on and off the dance floor. It doesn't have to happen every time for every dance, especially with good friends or when you are rushing to get on the floor for a good song. On the extreme side, however, when a guy just asks you to dance and leaves you in the dust while he goes and stands on the floor and has to make a point of waiting for you to get there, well that just sets the mood for the rest of the dance.

Secondly, ladies really should make it a point to dance with guys they do not know at least once, and guys you should try to ask ladies you do not know to dance, at least once or twice. If a girl declines politely more than two times in one night, please don't keep asking her throughout the night. At first she might feel bad for saying no, but by the end of the night she will be going out of her way to avoid you... usually the first "no" really means that the girl is tired (after all, we can't dance every song of the night) but if you get more than two "no" responses in a night, you might want to re-evaluate why. Most of us in the salsa community are NOT snobs, we will dance with almost anyone. So if we really don't want to dance with you, there is probably a good reason... it might be something like you hurt the person you are dancing with in some way when you dance... (This does happen to me, as not everyone realizes how what they do can affect the person they are dancing with...) or it could be for one of the following reasons...

While dancing socially, at least try to pay attention to the person you are dancing with. This goes for both ladies and guys... it's no fun for your partner if you try to critique their dancing (unless you know them well and you know it is okay), or if you ask them to teach you for the entire song (or night)... or if you try to use them as a tool to just show off. Also, you shouldn't be holding your cell phone, or using it in any way (especially texting), or holding a beer (this is not only inconsiderate of the person you are dancing with, but also for all the dancers on the floor, because the beer most likely will spill and then the floor is sticky for the rest of the night and it gets stuck in dancers leather soled shoes)...

Anyway, I don't feel like this happens with the majority of salsa dancers here in Indianapolis, but it DOES happen regularly enough in the clubs for me to take notice...

Salsa Marketing 101 - What not to do

LearnSalsa is at it again! LearnSalsa is a Los Angeles based salsa business that uses 'sex sells' tactics for marketing salsa to the general public. I blogged about this group before and I agree that sex sells but these tactics will not attract serious dancers and would only be a shallow pickup joint (I can go the the local bar for that). While salsa is great for meeting new people and possibility of hooking up with someone happens all the time I would not recommend that you advertise your business like a 900 number date line. Take a look at their video ad.

Is this video a joke? No it is actually a real ad!

To be fair I am not going to judge the women's acting or looks and just focus on the delivery methods used in LearnSalsa. I like how the women mention that you will meet 50 hot guys when you come to their salsa bootcamp. What is define as hot? A six foot man with a body of a geek god or someone who looks like Steve Urkel from Family Matters? Sounds like deceptive marketing at work (same goes for the sexy women pitch). The ladies also mention losing 1500 calories and they show off their bodies as proof (rolling my eyes). While salsa does burn calories and fat, I would never tell my students that you will lose 1500 calories. Losing weight depends on how many classes you take and how hard you work at it. We also notice that calorie burn is at it greatest when you get to an intermediate/advance level where you can dance to faster songs and execute more complicate patterns.

Ok, I am done with my rant. Here is a treat (for the guys) , another LearnSalsa video ad of a woman in a two piece bathing suit. The poster titled this video Huge Breasts Awesome Breasts from sexy girl. I guessed that they wanted to attract educated and intelligent viewers to their ads (insert extreme sarcasm here).

Enjoy (no nudity, but not recommend for viewing in a work setting)

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.

Columbus SalsaFest

On November 10th Marques, Chimere, Josiah, and I traveled to Columbus Ohio, for Columbus SalsaFest. Okay really we just went for the social dance that evening. Due to everyone’s busy schedules, and timing, we were not able to participate in the full event, but we still had fun! Marques and I performed, along with another salsa couple, an argentine tango couple, and a small salsa team. There were more performances on other days of the event as well.

The dance was held at The Vault, which was a converted bank vault (and surrounding area). There was a bar inside the Vault, and a large open space for dancing. The floor wasn’t great, it was concrete I think, and a little uneven, but it wasn’t too bad. There was an upstairs overlook as well, probably would have been nice as a lounge, but there weren’t any places to sit. I guess they wanted all the dancers to stay downstairs were the action was. :-D

There were enough interesting and new male leads to keep me entertained, and everyone I met seemed really nice. One thing I noticed was that they played a lot more ChaChaCha than we do (which is fine with me since I love ChaCha), and the majority of the dancers present were On2 dancers. That made the night interesting as well since most dancers in Indianapolis do not dance On2 yet.

All in all, Columbus seems like a relatively dead city when it comes to nightlife downtown… while driving to and from the social dance, I don’t think we saw any clubs open… there were no cabs, few cars, and only a handful of people scattered around the city. This was around 10pm and 1am, so it was still relatively early for a Saturday night… It made all of us appreciate Indianapolis, that is for sure!

Salsa in Chicago

Recently I traveled to Chicago, on October 20th (2007), to watch a performance by Luna Negra Dance Theatre - a modern dance company. Their show incorporated Salsa, Mambo, and Tango with modern dance, or at least that is how they were advertising it. I was very glad to see a modern company bring awareness of other dance styles to their audience, especially styles I love so much! I am assuming it is due to the fact that it is a company that mostly consisted of Latinos/Latinas…

For an honest review, I felt that the dancers didn’t truly understand the dances they were trying to represent. Too often people see a few movies and think they understand a dance, without having taken lessons or been in the actual atmosphere (for example, actually going to a salsa club)… this is the feeling that I got from this company. Yes, most of the company is consisted of Latino/Latina dancers, but they are still primarily Modern/Ballet trained. I think they just used the music (not the actual dances) as their inspiration, which is fine… the performance was good, and the dancers were pleasing to watch, but I think my expectations were just a little too high going into the theatre.

Anyway, after the show I picked up a friend who lives in the area, and we went to Rumba for their Salsa night (this was a Saturday). There were plenty of good male leads, and the floor was more packed than the Jazz Kitchen (if that seems possible). Surprisingly, most of the great male leads that I danced with that night did not do LA Style or New York style salsa, they were more Cumbia type dancers. They were great at interpreting the music, and had a lot of feeling in their dancing… The music selection was excellent, not a bad song was played all night. Basically we danced until they closed the club.

I definitely plan on returning to Chicago to salsa in the near future…

Reminder 2007 World Salsa Championships

I would like to remind everyone that the 2007 ESPN World Salsa Champions will be Dec.12-16, 2007 in Orlando, Florida. I am not planning on flying out there, but I will be waiting for the videos to appear on the internet.

For those who do not have any knowledge of this event please checkout my collection of videos from last years championships and my blog post talking about last years competition.

It is great to see the mainstream media (ESPN) sponsoring and promoting salsa!

New Blog Introduction!

Hi! I am sure most of you already know me already, as I am now a regular in the salsa scene here in Indianapolis. However, I am still relatively new to the Salsa community, and new to SalsaIndy, so I decided to write an introduction of myself for my first blog. My name is Jennifer, and I just moved to Indianapolis in May (from Bloomington, IN). I was coming up to Indianapolis 2-3 times per week to dance (sometimes more), so the move was very beneficial for me.

I have been a dancer pretty much my whole life. I have tried almost every type of dance that I have had the opportunity to learn, and until now have been so diversified that I was unable to truly focus on one style. The good side of this is that I know a lot about many different dance styles, and this helps me understand, appreciate, and relate to many different types of dancers.

Just before my move, Marques and I decided to try out as dance partners, and though we have had a somewhat rocky start (with me having mono, etc), we decided to continue. Now, just a little over 6 months later, we have begun teaching salsa classes together downtown at Riolo Dance Studio and I am helping run SalsaIndy.

Aside from teaching salsa, and performing with Marques, I still try to keep up with other styles of dance. I also am very interested in the history of the various dances, and interested in academic analysis of dance as well. I think practicing is very important for any teacher, performer, or social dancer (yes even social dancer – because practicing will help make your dancing more comfortable for your partner, and if it doesn't feel good, then what's the point?)… but I find that really understanding the dance through history also helps me in my dance education, and helps me in teaching others as well.

Anyway, I'm happy to be here!! Many more exciting things await in the near future, but I have to leave something to blog about next ;)

Salsa@6 still holding strong

It's high-energy, It's culture, It's food, It's fun, It’s … Salsa@6. That is the slogan used for one of Indy's newly established salsa venue. We all have seen salsa venues come and go and when you hear about a new venue you ask yourself is this one is going to last?

Salsa@6 created by Roz Wells officially kicked off on November 2, 2006 making it a year old! Most new salsa venues are lucky to last a couple of months and closed down because the bar does not make enough cash.

So what's their secret? One is the owner Dave, he has been running a Latin night (which happens to occur later that night) for the last 9 years and he knows that it takes time to build up a Latin/salsa night. This event runs from 6pm to 9pm and does not compete with the prime nightclub hours. Last and most importantly is the people. Every Thursday you will find Roz's crew. This insures that you will always have someone to socialize and dance with.

Note to the Latin and salsa promoters out there. Take Salsa@6's model and apply it to your own. Salsa is about the dancing and community and one cannot survive without the other.

Till next time see you on the dance floor