How old is your salsa life?

[Pacion]

And no smarty pants to tell me anything about it being impolite/rude to ask one's age :lol: this is a different age :wink:

So, it seems we have some people who have been dancing just a few weeks to those who have been dancing several years. Which one are you?

I am just curious :lol: and am fully aware that someone dancing 6 times a week, for a year, might be the same level as someone dancing 1 evening a week for six years :wink:

[dancin_feet]

I have only been specifically learning salsa at my studio for about 5 months. Makes it difficult when there are very few guys that do this style to practice with.

[Haz]

Goin on day 20 and it's just gettin better :lol: . Spent the whole time trying to scramble to my partners level so I could dance with her in an intermediate class. (which is still pretty beginner compared to what I'm reading here...)

HAZ

[cocodrilo]

Ditto, Dancinfeet! Not many guys to dance with! Especially in Japan, where the guys seem reluctant to do so much wiggling & writhing, which isn't a part of their traditional culture. If I do find a guy to dance with(and some of the Japanese are quite good!) I tend to tower over them! Try being 5'8"(sans heels!) and looking for a partner in a country where the average man is like 5'7"!...which has led me to practice by myself a lot, learning some fun spins & a variety of shines!

[peachexploration]

Goin on day 20 and it's just gettin better :lol: . Spent the whole time trying to scramble to my partners level so I could dance with her in an intermediate class. (which is still pretty beginner compared to what I'm reading here...)

HAZ

20 days and counting. :banana: Cool! Welcome to the DF, HAZ.

Going into my 3rd year. Woo hoo!

[MacMoto]

16 months since my first salsa class, about 12 months since I started taking salsa classes regularly, 6 1/2 months since I started dancing salsa.

In the first 4 months after the first class, I think I had 2 salsa lessons (and about 8 merengue lessons). Then after half a year of taking regular salsa classes, I went to a social and realised that I had been learning patterns, not learning how to dance (follow). That was when the journey really started.

[SDsalsaguy]

...and realised that I had been learning patterns, not learning how to dance
That's really the thing, isn't it? Once you realize the difference, dancing becomes something else entirely . . .

[Sagitta]

Started out by trying an intermediate salsa class last summer and got discouraged when I went to the club. Then when I got better at swing I went for salsa again and this time neither the class nor the club was that bad. I've enjoyed myself since then and so consider having started salsa September/October 2003.

[Sabor]

been at it since 1999 (averaging 2 nights a week) that makes around 5 years.. :shock: ... ahem.. so, in a way i'm 5 years younger than my real age :wink: :lol:

[salsachinita]

I discovered salsa around '89-90..........actively involved til '96, disappeared til '99, kinda around for a couple of years (sitting mostly :roll: ), then returned with full force Jan 2002, after Bacardi.

Most of my breakthroughs happened during the last couple of years......

:oops: you know what.....? The more you learn, the less you know :oops: !

[Sabor]

:oops: you know what.....? The more you learn, the less you know :oops: !

the cuter u get? :wink:

yeah i know what u mean.. but its cool huh.. keeps the spark going and continued fascination guaranteed!

[salsero-Romania]

i have almost 3 years with 2-4 hours salsa lessons/day, and 3-4 nights per week just dance salsa . My friends (non-salseros) tell me "You are crazy!"
So salsa is my life .....

[MacMoto]

...and realised that I had been learning patterns, not learning how to dance
That's really the thing, isn't it? Once you realize the difference, dancing becomes something else entirely . . .
You're so right, SD. I was like :shock: then :bouncy: -- what an eye-opener. That was the moment I really discovered salsa. Until then, salsa was a fun hobby through which I met people and kept fit; after that, I was a fully fledged salsaholic. :D

[MapleLeaf Salsero]

I´ve been having lessons for 4 years (but only 1 hour per week) :( . Therefore, my progress was really slow. I have friends which started 2 years after me but have 3 or 4 lessons per week. Needless to say, they progressed much faster than me.

At the beginning I rarely went to salsa clubs. Now I go on average 2 times per week (sometimes 3). :D

[squirrel]

:))) I think I've been into dancing for like 3 years now... but I had this crazy period, which started in April 2002 and ended sometimes in February 2003 when I went to lessons 4-5 times a week (used to be my teacher's assistant) and to clubs about 6 times a week... crazy, huh, considering I am a working girl... :))) got soooooo little sleep those days... sometimes I wonder just how on earth I survivded... adrenaline probably :lol:

[salsero-Romania]

:))) I think I've been into dancing for like 3 years now... but I had this crazy period, which started in April 2002 and ended sometimes in February 2003 when I went to lessons 4-5 times a week (used to be my teacher's assistant) and to clubs about 6 times a week... crazy, huh, considering I am a working girl... :))) got soooooo little sleep those days... sometimes I wonder just how on earth I survivded... adrenaline probably :lol:

:)) Very crazy period:) i remembered .....but was beautiful .....we learn in few months very much......i miss this period:)

[squirrel]

:)) yes a nice period... most of it :oops:
but it's gone now and it's no use crying over spilled milk...
we can have as much fun now if we want to

[pygmalion]

And no smarty pants to tell me anything about it being impolite/rude to ask one's age :lol: this is a different age :wink:



Umm. Are you talking to me, missy? :roll: :wink: :lol:

[youngsta]

Sneaking up on 2 years now, wow they've gone fast!! :lol:

[danceguy]

I first learned "Latin Dance" in Ballroom school last June...but like MacMoto...I was just doing patterns...I was definitely NOT a Salsero. Last December I went to my first Salsa club and had a spiritual awakening to all that Salsa could be...

So, I've been at it for about 5 months now...and I'm still very much a beginner...I take 3+ hours of club style lessons a week and used to go dancing 2-3 times...now only once since one of our clubs went downhill. :(

Hmm...I need to go dancing more....yes....;)

SG

[Pacion]

And no smarty pants to tell me anything about it being impolite/rude to ask one's age :lol: this is a different age :wink:



Umm. Are you talking to me, missy? :roll: :wink: :lol:

Now, why would you think that I would be, hmmm? :twisted: :lol:

[pygmalion]

I wonder ... :tongue:

Did anybody notice that there was no option for "I don't like salsa, and never plan to try it?" Wonder why? Probably because salsa people can't conceive of not wanting to try it. LOL.

[Sagitta]

I wonder ... :tongue:

Did anybody notice that there was no option for "I don't like salsa, and never plan to try it?" Wonder why? Probably because salsa people can't conceive of not wanting to try it. LOL.

It grows on you...in the end...

[squirrel]

:)) why on earth wouldn't one want to try someting new? i tried many things and discovered which fitted me best...

[SDsalsaguy]

I wonder ... :tongue:

Did anybody notice that there was no option for "I don't like salsa, and never plan to try it?" Wonder why?
Umm, maybe because this poll is in the salsa forum? :lol:

[OK, I admit that non-salser@s may be reading this too... :shock:]

[Pacion]

:lol: Pygmalion and SD. I agree with SD on this one :tongue:

Anyway, haven't I been here long enough for you to know that I am an eternal optimist :D

[pygmalion]

Hugs and kisses, you eternal optimist, you. :D I'm already resigned to the inevitability of melding with the oneness of the universal salsa mind.

Just making an observation. :roll: :lol:

[Soñador]

Salsa was the very first dance class I've ever had (well besides merengue and bachata which was part of it...) It's been a year and something that I'm dancing salsa now! Yay! But I'm still taking salsa courses, never have enough!

[Pacion]

Anyone else? :banana:

[salsalawyer]

age is just a number, right?

[borikensalsero]

age is just a number, right?

I hope you aren't in LA salsalawyer, that could get you arrested. :tongue:

[salsalawyer]

age is just a number, right?

I hope you aren't in LA salsalawyer, that could get you arrested. :tongue:

i take the 5th!! :!:

[jenibelle]

I've been dancing salsa my entire life because any life I had before salsa was no life at all!

:banana:

Jeni

[salsalawyer]

I've been dancing salsa my entire life because any life I had before salsa was no life at all!

:banana:

Jeni


nice quote jen!!

[Lita_rulez]

I left town for yet another salsa event this week end.

Not a congress per say, nothing international here, but a small event organized by some local salsa addicts down there, on the atlantic shore, and well, beeing as crazy as I am, I drove those 430 kms for the week end. (OK, salsa was not the only reason. The beach was kinda appealing as well !)

And as we drove there (5 of us in the car) we started reminicing about how we started.

I actually have discovered salsa much earlier than I would tend to believe on a daily basis. I actually have taken my first lesson over four years ago.

But for so long, I have done nothing that can even remotely qualify to be called dancing. On sundays, my gym club scheduled salsa lessons. A friend managed to drag me there, and I really liked it. But hey, teacher changing, then no classes, then on and off with new teachers... I took my clases there once a week, then once every other week, then once a month...

Never really forgetting I had that twich in my upper leg whenever salsa would play on the radio, I'd always go back eventually, but heck, you can only have so much fun when all you are doing is setenta/complicada, copella/complicada, ochenta y quatro/complicado...

Besides, even if it was fun, the class was scheduled on sundays à 2 PM.
OK, at 3PM the class was over, at 4 I was at home. See you next time.
And since all we did do was rueda, allways with the same people, I didn't know how to dance if no one was there to tell me what move to do next. And anyways, I didn't know how to lead a girl that did not know what move I was about to try and lead !!!
Went to a social a few times during that period, had a terrible time, realising how much fun those guys seem to have, and how I could never dance that way...

Then, in decembre 2002, the teacher at the club had some other things going on, and had to leave for 2 or 3 months. Some other teacher came in for him. At the same period, a guy I only barely knew from the salsa lessons at the gym broke up with his girlfriend, and decided he needed to think about something else.

The new teacher was fun, and was giving lessons elsewhere. We followed him to a small bar, and ended up staying after the lesson and watching the few dancers there. They were good, we stayed put.

But we started checking out other bars that had lessons in the evening and then just turned out into a social dance party place.

In february, he discovered that a club we knew by name had a forum, and got online to ask a few questions. The forum had just been created, and there were like 30 members. I got enrolled pretty fast, and we started going to that club in march. The teacher over there is unbelievable ! His classes are fun, fast-paced, and yet, you end up learning so much ! To this day, still one of the best cuban teacher I have ever met. (both on the technique level of his paterns and on the personal aura of happiness and fun that flows during the classes)

And that is basically when I started dancing !
Only a year and three months ago, and after almost 3 years of strugling with "1, 2, 3, pause.. geee what do I do now !" :roll:

Then, you know how it goes. You keep the last partner you had in the class for the first dance of the evening, and then sit the evening out. the following week, you feel a litle better and invite her once again... and in a month or two, you end up trying to dance half of the evening, and you actually discover the difference between learning paterns and dancing !!!!

I'll say one thing though : going through weeks and weeks of clases to only learn basic steps and three (well, 8 or 9 if you ad the "complicada" version) moves may seem like an awfull spoilage of time. But nevertheless, the basic steps and the basic arm paterns for those moves got so natural to me, providing me with a very solid background, that I could learn any new move we were shown a lot faster than any other guy in the room. Not to brag, because I know some guys do learn a lot faster than I do, but they have been "dancing" for years.

After that, every thing moved a lot faster : I actually was out dancing or taking classes 3 to 6 times a week, sleeping something like 2 to 4 hours a night during the week (well, club closes at 2:30, home at 3, take a shower, grab a byte cause got to the club straight out from work, befor you know it it is 4:00 AM, and the alarm goes on at 6:30...)

I have recently slowed things down a bit : 2 or 3 times a week only, and I do not allways stay till the club closes. But either way you look at it, I think you can safely say that :

1. I have been dancing salsa for a litlle over a year now
2. I am definitly addicted to salsa

[salsachinita]

Thankyou for sharing, Lita :D !

My 'formative years' lasted a lot longer then yours :oops: & I believe that my 'salsa age' by no means reflect my level of dancing........it is merely evidence to my love for salsa.....as a lifestyle.

I still have much to learn.

[jenn]

about 2 1/2 years now...for the most part, i was into it heavy, taking only a couple weeks off.
i was definitely addicted from the beginning. :wink:

i totally agree that one is always learning; it doesnt matter how long youve been dancing and how good you think you are, theres always more to learn. 8)

[mellody43]

Well, "salsa" being a loose term for me here, I've been doing salsa for about 4 years. I say "loose" because I only recently have taken a few lessons, so basically learned everything I know from going to a club where most people dance cumbia style. Eep! So I have lots of cumbia habits that I am trying to turn into salsa habits!

I think I've done fairly well, considering.

I LOVE dancing ... bachata, merengue, cumbia, salsa, doesn't really matter. A smattering of all four is even better. Maybe even a cha cha now and again even though I don't know much beyond the basic and standard turns!

Melissa

[SalseraLaura]

ive been dancing salsa close to 3 years now. I did an hour lesson a week followed by 3 hrs of club salsa for about 4 weeks and then doubled that and after another 3 weeks i tripled that. then i joined a salsa team and i did all my usual classes plus 5 hrs training on a saturday and if a show was coming up then it could be a 7 day a week thing practicing from 7pm till 11 or 12. ive never really had a slow period in salsa. if im able to get out of bed ill be at salsa!! :lol:

[Sagitta]

Well, "salsa" being a loose term for me here, I've been doing salsa for about 4 years. I say "loose" because I only recently have taken a few lessons, so basically learned everything I know from going to a club where most people dance cumbia style. Eep! So I have lots of cumbia habits that I am trying to turn into salsa habits!

I think I've done fairly well, considering.

I LOVE dancing ... bachata, merengue, cumbia, salsa, doesn't really matter. A smattering of all four is even better. Maybe even a cha cha now and again even though I don't know much beyond the basic and standard turns!

Melissa

A person who loves all kinds of latin!! Wepa!! :banana:

That's the thing, about followers. They can learn a lot easier on the dance floor then leaders can. :( Though, I encourage a person to come dancing right after their first lesson, whether a leader or follower. :)

[jamaicanspice]

:D well I've been learning salsa for over three years now - classes are 2 ours once a week with a salsa party session that goes on till you say when....so I haven't been saying 'when' in a LOOOOOOG time :D Ocassionally I might drop in on the second night of the week that they have salsa but usually its once a week for me with an average of 4 to 5 hours of dancing :D. I learnt the salsa, merengue, the cha cha but I prefer the salsa and I have touched a little of Bachata and Rumba but not enough to talk about :lol:

What I consider my 'slow period' now is not being able to attend classes anymore because my work hours have changed but I got to the after class salsa party session and pick up where I left off. I was in the advanced class.......I STILL have alot to learn...... :D

[salsera_alemana]

My 'formative years' lasted a lot longer then yours :oops: & I believe that my 'salsa age' by no means reflect my level of dancing........it is merely evidence to my love for salsa.....as a lifestyle.

I still have much to learn.

Salsachinita,

I second this. I have been dancing salsa for 13 years, since 1991. However, I have taken very few classes. I learned the basic step during the “Dirty Dancing” days when they offered classes for what they called “Mambo” in the movie but what actually was the salsa step. A few years later (1991) I finally discovered “the real thing” and a small salsa dance club in my town. At that time it was still difficult to find salsa clubs in Germany when you were not an insider of the very small and unknown scene.

So within 2 months I danced my way up to the best dancers in that club (the Puertoricans). The better you get, the better the dancers who ask you to dance. I have had so much more dance fun and dance satisfaction in the past 13 years than all my dance years before (danced ballroom but merely at a social level and dropped it after finding salsa).

I have developed my style by dancing, not by taking many classes. I have to really like the dancing of the dance instructor for me to take a class. And one of the best salsa dance instructors is my husband (He does not teach, he is my personal instructor. He is a great salsa teacher but he says he does not have the patience to teach classes.). Together we developed new turn patterns over the years and until the end of the 90s I did not see dance instructors at the locations where I lived (Germany, Netherlands, Kansas City) whom I liked or who could have taught me anything that my husband could not. I did not live in NY, Miami or Puerto Rico. Yes, if I could have taken classes at those places, I would have done that. Everytime I am in Puerto Rico and see the women there dance, I am just sooooo inspired and would like soooo much to take a class or two. But the time of our stay is always too short for that.

But since I have been back in Germany, I have taken 2 workshops to learn new ladies’ moves and have taken a big step up in my development because I got much more inspired here. Back in Kansas City where I lived before there was not much salsa and the salsa scene had just started to develop, so there was not much to get inspired from and my salsa development stagnated for a while.

I totally agree with you, Salsachinita, salsa is a lifestyle and I am so grateful that I found it!!! My life has changed so much for the better ever since!!! I cannot imagine my life without salsa anymore!

[salsera_alemana]

Sorry for the double posting. Apparently I hit the Submit button twice.
:oops:

[borikensalsero]

Sorry for the double posting. Apparently I hit the Submit button twice.
:oops:

No problem, that's what I'm here for... to Lend a helping hand :D

[salsachinita]

At that time it was still difficult to find salsa clubs.......when you were not an insider of the very small and unknown scene..........

...........I danced my way up to the best dancers in that club....... The better you get, the better the dancers who ask you to dance.........

.....I have developed my style by dancing, not by taking many classes. I have to really like the dancing of the dance instructor for me to take a class. And one of the best salsa dance instructors is my husband...

Wow, you story/timeline sounds so much like mine (subsititute "husband" to "ex" in my case, that is)!

I do agree that the best learnings are often done when you change locality, whether by moving or visiting. Travelling helps so much to one's developements in salsa 8) .

[Danoo]

my salsa life is 2 months :D
i just LOVE it

[Kali Ma]

I've been dancing salsa now since Feb. 2002. A friend who was visiting from the U.S. insisted that a group of us non-salsaing folk accompany her to a salsa evening, and, from that moment, I was competely hooked --the music, the people...I'd never seen so many smiling faces in a club in my entire life! I went out that following week, bought dance shoes, and went to back-to-back complimentary classes, the first at a local dance school, the second at a club. I stayed and danced my wobbly basic the entire evening after that second lesson, and was THRILLED. I didn't take lessons after that, though; I've had the incredible fortune to dance with people who have been patient when I really needed it (gotta walk before etc.!), and I think that classes are not necessarily the right route for everyone. I'd like to do a few classes at some point to correct a few technical difficulties, but I think that dancing is something that's not really being taught in classes (not even sure it can be). Choreography, yes...a library of different moves and dips-n-things, ditto, but I think it's up to the individual to decide how much or little structure they feel they need to accomplish whatever dance goals they consider to be of importance. Whew, I guess that's just my long-winded way of saying I haven't "learned" salsa properly! :)

By the way, is it just me, or has anyone else observed that either a person immediately catches Salsa Madness, or not at all? Hmm...

[jamaicanspice]

oh I've noticed it!!! I'm one of them peeps that got hooked!! BIG TIME!!! :D :D

[MapleLeaf Salsero]

By the way, is it just me, or has anyone else observed that either a person immediately catches Salsa Madness, or not at all? Hmm...

Yeah, I´ve noticed that too...

[Kali Ma]

Kinda crazy, isn't it? As if some of us have a salsa gene lying dormant in our DNS that kicks into overdrive at first exposure to salsa...clave gene, perhaps? I mean, (for example) I have always loved to dance, have always taken every chance that came my way to kick up my heels and shake the old boo-tay, but I'd never been just totally taken over by any dance (or any music) until salsa. Immediately, and completely! Absolute love, absolutely! Geez, I start to sound sorta evangelical talking about this... Ah, it's lovely to be someplace where there are so many others who understand The Madness! :D :lol: