Taking a Salsa Nap

I'm sure many of you work full time jobs, yet manage to stay at the clubs until 2 0r 3 in the morning. Most of the Salsa clubs don't even get going until 11 pm. Have you made a "Salsa Nap" part of your routine so you can stay up late, yet show up bright and early to work the next day?

:lol:
Ever since I caught the salsa fever and go out to dance almost every night of the week, instead of taking 1 hr lunch to eat, I would stuff it down in 5 mins & use the rest to nap so that I can be functional in the afternoon at work (especially since I do molecular bio research, precision is of essence). There are times when I get out of a club at 2 am in the morning, I do not even bother to go home but rather straight to work to avoid traffic & to sleep as much as I can in my car...

crazy...probably

crazy about dancing...most indefinitely :wink:

When I first started dancing salsa I went out 7 days a week for over a year. I don't mean be back at home by 3AM, but be back at home at 7AM or 8AM. At times instead of going home to sleep I would go directly to work and snooze at the parking lot until around 8:30AM, hit the showers at work if I could and I was ready to gear up for the workday and dance night all over again. It got so bad that at times I would go directly dressed in my dance gear to work. I was surely running on adrenaline. The only good thing was that I didn't even need to think about sleeping. I'd close my eyes and was already snoring. I would get my power nap in form of a 15 hour sleep from sunday morning around 7AM to about sunday night around 10PM when it was time to go back to the club. It's a good thing I learned to dance because as I used to have to go out that much to get my addiction satisfied. Now with a good partner I can dance 2 straight hours and be good for the night. I guess I should have gone to take classes a lot sooner. :mrgreen: The enjoyment I would have gotten in a lot less hours.

Now I get to the clubs here in NY City around 8PM and I'm out by midnight. We have great salsa dancing every night of the week.

G-d, you guys are making me tired as hell!!!

In my hard core club phase the salsa nap was a regular part of my schedule... I'm not a power napper though, so needed a couple of hours.

Its funny, but my students at the time keyed into my dance schedule. I was stuck with 9 & 10am sections (definately against my religion!) and they learned that if I came in and seemed rested then although I'd got a decent number hours of sleep I hadn't gone dancing. If I came in still exhausted then, although tired, I'd been out dancing and was in a better mood. So, needless to say, they prefered to see me come in weaving on my feet...especially if I was turning papers back to them since they also knew that I'd grade those after I got back -- always in a good mood -- from the clubs.

Wow, this topic is old... but it so much reminds me of... ME!
I was a regular 'bookworm' - hardly ever going out, just reading 'hard stuff' and watching 'difficult movies' - Bergman, Kusturica etc...
Then, I discovered SALSA!!!
It soon became fascinating... one night of going out became 2 nights, then three nights... fortunately for me, we had only one Salsa club, opened on Thursday, Friday and Saturday... of course I would stay from 10 PM to 4-5 AM the next morning... Fridays were pure hell...
Then I changed the dance teacher and got into this gang of 'sleepless' people... most of them either students or 'freelancers' who could in the first case skip some seminars and in the second start working at 3 PM if they wanted...
But I had a regular day job, 9 to 6... we started going out 6-7 nights a week... the a.m. days in the salsa club, the rest in any other club... we practiced dancing Salsa on anything... anything on 1-2-3, 5-6-7!!! House, hip-hop, R&B, oriental, you name it!
Now I just go out 2 nights a week, but this is because:
a) They barely ever play salsa on Saturdays in the only salsa venue around... they have to earn money to!!!
b) I have also dancing lessons and I'm exhausted after teaching...
c) I have a much more demanding day job...
d) I also take martial arts (ki aikido)... so, I NEED TO REST!
So, that's more or less my story

Haven't noticed this thread before -- thanks, Squirrel!

DanceMentor said:

Have you made a "Salsa Nap" part of your routine

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:idea: So that's how others cope with those late nights... I think I'll try it next Monday.

dancer at heart said:

Ever since I caught the salsa fever and go out to dance almost every night of the week, instead of taking 1 hr lunch to eat, I would stuff it down in 5 mins & use the rest to nap so that I can be functional in the afternoon at work

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I only get a 30-minute lunch break ... 5 mins eating, 25 mins DF-ing. :lol:

I nap whenever I can. Come from work and nap. Between dance classes I nap, some crappy hip hop when I want only salsa...nap.

Sagitta said:

I nap whenever I can. Come from work and nap. Between dance classes I nap, some crappy hip hop when I want only salsa...nap.

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I work basically every day and I have a very regular body clock- so regular in fact that even if I get home at 5:00am(salsa party or fun night of drinks/karaoke) there' s no way I can sleep past 9:00. It's hellish & I feel zombie-like the next day, but that's what happens with me.

I rarely stay out really late...the dance venues in my area open early, and we have very few of them. So, I usually go and dance from 7pm-10 or 11...and take a class during the week that is 2-3 hours of constant movement...but I'm considering going out of town to get more dancing in. Once a week is never enough Salsa!

I don't think I'll ever become a hardcore Salsa nut...I've got to get sleep and take care of all the things going on in my life...I'm a morning person...early hours are for yoga and qi gong.

Squirrel - You do Ki Aikido? Have you ever met Koichi Tohei Sensei? He's very inspiring. I too practice martial arts...so it can be tough to find a balance between Salsa, sleep and training time. Whatever works for you!

SG

This is not limited to salsa, at least for me. After running around all day, my formula is as follows: 15-minute nap, 10 minutes of stretching/exercise, a carb-filled snack, and a big mug of something caffeinated. Then I'm good to go, regardless of the dance genre. :wink: 8)

scorpionguy said:

I rarely stay out really late...the dance venues in my area open early, and we have very few of them. So, I usually go and dance from 7pm-10 or 11...and take a class during the week that is 2-3 hours of constant movement...but I'm considering going out of town to get more dancing in. Once a week is never enough Salsa!

I don't think I'll ever become a hardcore Salsa nut...I've got to get sleep and take care of all the things going on in my life...I'm a morning person...early hours are for yoga and qi gong.

Squirrel - You do Ki Aikido? Have you ever met Koichi Tohei Sensei? He's very inspiring. I too practice martial arts...so it can be tough to find a balance between Salsa, sleep and training time. Whatever works for you!

SG

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No, unfortunately I haven't yet had the pleasure... I would love to meet Tohei Sensei though... it would be a great honor for me.

cocodrilo said:

I have a very regular body clock- so regular in fact that even if I get home at 5:00am(salsa party or fun night of drinks/karaoke) there' s no way I can sleep past 9:00.

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That used to be me, when I was still working full time. Now I am able to sleep til at least 12 noon, if there's nothing super urgent I have to get up for.

All the people who knew me would be amazed at this change of pattern. I am finally taking things easy......relatively speaking :wink: !

That's great, Salsachinita, so you can catch up the next day. Although I get up at usual, I have no trouble going to bed at 10:00 the night after an all-nighter!!!

I have tried on many occassions to take so-called power nap before going out.. and have miserably failed every time because I am simply to pumped up to dance! :lol: This is probably because I limit myself to go out *only* 3 (4 nights at the most) so I am just too pumped up to sleep Also, I do get at least 5 hours of sleep, so that could be why I cannot take naps before dancing.. if I was sleeping 2-3 hours of sleep like some of u guys on the regular basis, I guess I shouldn't have any problem taking power nap.