Have you heard?
The news! There’s now performance classes for Salsa/Mambo/Bachata in Chicago! What is the deal with this new fad and what does this all mean?
Hell if I know, but I certainly have my thoughts. 😉
I have to first start by saying that when I go out, I get the same “what are YOU doing here?” look from everyone because I don’t go out all that much. That being the case, I have started to notice new people around that I am not familiar with. Naturally, there are several studios in Chicago that teach a bunch of people and it would stand to reason that I won’t be familiar with all the new faces coming into the scene. That said, among the people I DO know….almost all of them are in groups now.
I don’t have enough fingers to keep track of the training teams, performance teams, Semi-pro teams, Pro teams, Bachata teams etc!
So this is good right? Well…
Let’s look at some of the good/bad of this. On one hand, people deserve to experience the thrill of being on stage. People LOVE dancing and anyway to help people learn about dance or get more into dancing the better. One look no further than Monday nights when Dancing with the Stars is on to see that celebrities voice those exact sentiments about dreaming about dance and wanting to experience it.
Laura and I have had the pleasure of teaching and training people from all walks of life: CEO’s, Doctors, Lawyers, Designers, business people and more. SO many people love to dance!
This is GOOD.
Now, if you guys have read my other posts, you know that Laura and I used to teach Ballroom dance. The thing about Ballroom that used to (and STILL does) bother me is that the dances which are taught as the standard dances used to be street dances! Outside of a tightly controlled studio situation, please tell me where i can go dress up and dance a Foxtrot and a Rumba. Anyone?
Yes. Exactly. We have a problem.
The problem I see is that the “business” of Ballroom dancing centers around hopefully getting people to compete. This is a big business and quite frankly, a well paying business for the dancers/teachers who train and perform with their students. So much effort has been put into making the dances about the “show” that a social scene is almost non existent. It’s not thought of, it’s not nurtured,so it doesn’t exist.
The Salsa/Mambo scene on the other hand, has a very particular characteristic that exists in a few dances, but not to the degree of our scene. You see, People are dancing at a club right NOW….yes NOW in Korea, Russia, Singapore, London, Puerto Rico, Paris and more. While great partner dances that enjoy tremendous popularity in the states exist, their grasp isn’t as far reaching.
Ours is a scene which almost completely IS ABOUT the social dance floor. Again, it’s not my place to say people shouldn’t have the chance to perform as there is obviously a need, but as leaders in the community, shouldn’t we be mindful of our “dancing footprint?”
The transition from a social to a performance based dance is a delicate balance. Isn’t it really just a monkey-see, monkey-do thing? Are the students really learning how to get better at the dance, or to simply get through the choreography? Outside of the Two and half minute performance that will come of it, are the students BETTER because of it?
By “dancing footprint” I mean the residual effects of the current actions we take. We have wrestled with offering a performance class at MMA for some time. A lot of these considerations were taken into account. While it’s likely that we will offer something to service our patrons, we still keep in mind the bigger picture. The social dance scene has to continue to thrive and we have to do our part to make sure it does.
AT MMA, we have had a lot of growing pains and experiences with making mistakes and learning from them. We have slowly developed a reputation of a studio which is considered the “next step” in your Salsa/Mambo development here in Chicago. This is something we are extremely proud of and will continue to refine and improve as we improve ourselves.
In developing a performance class, we will try and make it different and worth the while of the people attending. This will be in ADDITION to our mission to increase the level of excellence in our scene…
…One dancer at a time…
What do you guys think?
To your dancing,
Del
Very Interesting… And i totally agree with the importance of a healthy & rich social scene. How about a MMA pachanga class too???!! : )
Hahahah, one step at a time Rosetta! Besides, that what Makes Mambo Jam so fun, no? 😉
I’m so into a performance class with you and Laura. Count me in!!!
you know that’s funny what you mention about ballroom dancing being a competition and sport. salsa/latin/ANY kind of dancing is kinda like that in Malaysia. Historically, we don’t have a strong street/social dance tradition.
Dancing is set in the palace of royalty or to be displayed for entertainment or for rituals (entertaining the gods).
I didn’t enjoy dancing in Kuala Lumpur/Singapore as much because the dancers ‘pose’ too much. I was like, dude chill out..
Plus I still don’t fit in with the popular girls, back in HS they were your equivalent of cheerleaders. You only get into dancing if you’re pretty/rich/popular/all of the above. Salsa in KL is still feels too show-off-y.
So I’m a big advocate of social and cultural dancing!
Very interesting post, Del. I have been thinking about this topic as well, and it’s nice to have you articulate some of these ideas.
I have been in the dance scene for a long time. When I first started dancing in the late 80s/early 90s, I was a student at the University of Chicago, and my friends and I used to go to places like “Cairo” on Tuesday nights where people of all ages danced to Latin music. There were no dance studios at that time, but occasionally someone like Miguel Mendez would be there teaching some basic steps. The younger people like me learned from the older people within the actual social dancing evening. The focus was all on social dancing and live music. There was no focus on performances, etc. People “performed” within the social dancing, but not on the stage, so to say.
Fast-forward a few years and dance studios started to form. There was a bigger focus on teaching the proper technique of Latin dancing. The scene started to explode and not only did clubs have dancing nights, but dance studios started to create dance “socials.” Still, the focus was mostly on social dancing and becoming a better dancing while building a community of like-minded, good dancers.
Fast-forward again to today, and it seems like everything has changed once again to what you mention in your blog. There are so many studios now, and although there are more people dancing, it’s hard to figure out where to go each night because the crowds are divided among different locations on every night (unlike in the past, for example, where you knew if it was Wednesday night, the Buzz was the place to be for dancing). In addition, as dancers get more and more trained, the bar has been raised, and the next “step,” so to say for dancers, is to join a dance company or training team to “perform.” The dance scene, maybe not overtly, but it’s happening, is pushing dancers toward this direction. There seems to be less focus on the social dancing as there is on becoming a highly trained, performance-level dancer. So, if you are more a social dancer like me, who happens also to have a pretty high level of training, if you are not in a performance team where all the focus and energy is going now, then you feel “left out.” In the past couple of years, when I have gone out, I have found salsa nights to have few of the “better” dancers out social dancing. Why? They are all practicing within their training teams and have very little time for social dancing. And when one is not part of one of these teams, you don’t have the same feeling of connectedness or belonging. Dancers respect you more when you are part of one of these teams also.
I think the performance and training teams are great for dancers to have the opportunity to take their dancing to the next level. But I agree, if everyone is in a performance team, the social dance scene suffers. It would be nice if the scene focused more on the social and live music element of the salsa scene, as these are both the heart of salsa. Like you said, the best dancing comes from the heart and from the street, so to say. But the question is, if the scene continues to focus on performance over social dancing, how can we still keep the social scene alive and also keep social dancers like me feeling part of the community, not outsiders?
Hope to see you guys soon! You have an excellent studio; keep up the great work you are doing. Love your blogs, too!
Awesome post Jennifer. Thanks for taking us back and looking at the scene from a long time participant who’s done a bit of it all!
Hope to see you soon!
awesome post, jennifer! i feel you! amateur social dancer here.
I’m so excited that you’re blogging Delfab!! I’ll comeback and muse with you soon :P!! hugs!!!
In response to both Del and Jennifer: I am also a lot more comfortable as a social dancer than a performer. I am also more comfortable with salsa than mambo. But the best people in my life encourage me to fight my comfort zones and try new things. If I was not willing to learn mambo, I would not have met Del and Laura and their faithful “following.” If I was not willing to try performing as a team member, I would have missed out on many of the best friendships I have made in the last several years. Each of us had different reasons for being on that team, but the fact that we functioned as a team strengthened each of us as dancers and more importantly, as people. For me, the value of being on a team has had nothing to do with status as a dancer or if other dancers will recognize me or how many pictures I can get on Facebook. Frankly, I am kind of uncomfortable when people say they saw me perform; but I smile when they say they saw my team perform. Whatever you prefer, social dancing or performing, they are not mutually exclusive. Just like there is much to be gained by attending a variety of classes at multiple studios with different instructors, social dancing will help your performance and performance will help your social dancing. I love the “social” in social dancing, but I also love the “team” in dance team. Doesn’t everybody? 🙂
To become a master social dancer takes lots of time. In my case, it took years, but I believe when someone knows how to really connect on the dance floor they never need the experience of performing again or to join a team of some sort. I used to believe (when I was in a dance company), that by performing on stage it will improve my social dancing, but that is not the case. Social dancing skills come by going out all the time and constantly perfecting your lead and follow skills by dancing with as many people as possible. As a lead, I was always the one in my salsa clique that would dance all night with every person; beginner, advanced, heavy, light, back leaders, etc. I learned what worked and what didn’t, which is a tough process considering on the dance floor you don’t know what song is about to be played or the ability of your partner.
However, I did it, and this what I learned, when you perform people are there waiting to see you and they are expected to clap and of course after months of preparation you give a stellar performance–in the end you leave the stage satisfied. Though, just think of how you would feel if you can randomly always turn heads on the dance floor, where no one is expected to watch you or where rehearsals or skill drilling will not help you. To sum it up my point is. I did love the stage, but after years on the dance floor I remember one night I started dancing with a young lady and, with no warning, a circle develop around us, we hit evey accent in the song had a great flow with each other and in the end I dipped her right on beat and people clapped. I was not there to perform, nor was my goal to grab attention, but it happened and it felt great.
From then on, not to brag, I always have people watching me dance on the dance floor and every now and then I get either a clap or a swarm of compliments after, and it feels great, better than I ever felt after a 2 minute performance on stage. I have never been a part of a dance company ever since nor do I ever have a problem getting people to dance with me when I go out. Sadly, people think being a part of a group (either semi, training, or professional) will make you become the head turner on the dance floor and trust me, most of the time, it doesn’t. Just think of the most successful people in the scene who have been around for 5 years plus; Super Mario, Magna Gopal, Cobo Brothers, Oliver Pineda, just to name a few, are all head turners on the dance floor and yes I will admit some on the list are also great performers on stage, I believe they would not have lasted so long if it were not for the attention they grab when they randomly kill it on the dance floor where they don’t know what song is coming or have anything choreographed now—-that’s talent. So join a group for fun and to give you something to do, but go out and dance, dance, dance, because once you start turning heads no feeling on stage can replicate that.
Giovanni Santiago
Aka GioTalkaLot
Awesome post Jennifer! Sometimes I feel inclined to join a performance group because it keeps getting mentioned and it seems everyone else is doing it.
I also appreciate Gio’s post. I clearly remember the people I danced with the first time I went out social dancing when I was taking my first salsa class in around 2007. I saw Gio dancing, something was weird, I couldn’t tell exactly what he was doing, but I could see he and his partner were really good. Now I know that what they were doing was dancing on 2. I asked him to dance and he said “yes’!
Social dancing is so fun when there are leads like Gio that give great dances to everyone, even beginners like me!
Thanks for the other perspective that you don’t need to perform.
Great points Linda! There are a lot of nice guys out in the scene who enjoy dancing with new people. Don’t be afraid to approach them and let them see how far you’ve come with your dancing! 😉