One thing that you learn as a salsa dancer is that you have to adapt to change very quickly. What kind of change do I mean? Try the kind of change that happens once the live band comes on to perform and that great big dance space shrinks into a little, tiny piece of floor.
It is at this point that you can separate the average dancer from the truly exceptional one, not based on routines or moves but on how careful they are to respect other dancers around them. Indeed, the mark of a truly expert salsa dancer in my opinion is one who can still dance with their partner given a tiny dance area but without giving everyone around them a black eye.
Recently I went to a newer salsa venue here in San Diego and saw this play out first hand right in front of me. Although there were dancers of all levels on the dance floor, you could easily see that some of them were crashing into other people without so much as a nod to say they were sorry for the intrusion. These folks were not beginners mind you…
I think it’s important to emphasize that little to no dance space means you have to change your style of dance accordingly. This doesn’t mean you can’t execute moves you want to, it just means those moves may have to be smaller in scope and more focused on the immediate space of your dance area. I call this the “art of small space salsa dancing” because when you see it in action it truly is art in motion to see dancers having a great time within the space they have on the dance floor.
If you have any comments or personal experiences regarding this topic feel free to share them here.
Great article John thanks for addressing the lost art of a true soical dancer. It not how much space or how great your moves are. . . the sign of a good/great dancer is, how is the space used with other dancers around them. This is truly is the “art” of a good/great dancer.
I second and applaud you for posting this, John. I’d add that, if you think about it, many, if not most of the dancers here in San Diego are not native dancers, that is, they learned salsa dancing at a dance instruction studio. I believe a great deal of responsibility falls on us instructors to educate the dancers in the class setting, so that they develop good social dancing etiquette along with whatever moves they are learning. I emphasize this to my students regularly in our classes, which given the nature of Cuban salsa, includes not only dancing one-on-one with a partner, but also the social Rueda. If there isn’t space to do crazy wide-arm turns, spins or patterns, don’t do them. If there isn’t space to do a Rueda, don’t do it. Respect for other dancers around oneself is the only way the dancefloor will be a friendly, happy and safe place. Great article!
Thanks for the kind words. I’ve received some really good feedback here and via twitter…
AMEN to this John! Although I will admit that starting out social dancing I was dancing too big and was not aware of my very small space. But as you mentioned we learn to adapt & quickly. Vidal you make a great point that if we start out in the dance studio setting it is a great benefit for our instructors to make us aware of how quickly your dance space will shrink when you social dance. At least I hope that next time when I go social dancing I will not have to think of how many times will I get elbowed and/or stepped on during a song. Thank you for this article!
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