How often do mistakes happen on your night out?

[cocodrilo]

It is how well mistakes are covered that makes them look as if planned. likely what you see as flawless, to those dancers, is the art of "cover-up"

Absolutely! If you make a mistake or miss a move and just stand there and freeze, well, people are gonna notice! If you keep the beat, do a shimmy and get back into it then there is no problem. Most of us who enjoy a good dance would hardly sit there and calculate how many errors we are making throughout the evening, but from my personal experience it could me as many as several(or more) per dance. But who cares? We are having fun!

 

[HM]

in my dictionary "mistake" is just another word for "risk-taking" or "spontaneous" or "creative" 8)

Good point!

I also prefer to dance a bit "risky" w/ a likeness that mistakes will occur and also like much more to dance w/ guys who think alike, trying to dance the "perfect" dance, doing only the minimum b/c I would get dirty looks otherwise.

In my experinece most of the guys also prefer "fun-dancers" than perfectionists 8)

 

[kdogg]

I make mistakes when I try to create new moves or try out moves I've seen others do. I'm usually okay after making the same mistakes a few times, but sometimes I've to give up the move I'm trying out for that night. Yes, mistakes are stepping stones to success.

 

[Sagitta]

Hey everyone,

I'm new here (as you can tell by my number of posts), but I've been reading posts from this forum for quite a while.

My question is, on a regular night out dancing, how many 'odd situations' or 'mistakes' do you or the person dancing with you make each dance (on average, so if its once every 3 dances..u can use fractions ie. 1/3..too much math?? sorry )?

What Id classify as mistakes are things like, when he leads you to a certain move you do something completely different..sort of like anticipating the moves..or going offbeat.

I cant help but sometimes anticipate a move....it can be real hard for me to relax at times even after trying so hard ...I try to enjoy the music but the leaders always opt for 'impressing their surroundings' by doing all their fancy combos :cry: ...

SO I just want to see how often every one else does it.. AND can you state how long you've been dancing for too?? I've been dancing salsa for 7 months now..always trying to find ways to improve!

Depends on what you consider a mistake. To me we are out to have fun and if I do something and a follower reacts differently from what I expect it's not a mistake or error and I just go with the flow. I have a coupel people whom I dance with and they just ham about when things happen and we have lots of fun. Those who freeze definitely do not make anyone look good IMO. Small steps help, too.

 

[Big10]

SO I just want to see how often every one else does it.. AND can you state how long you've been dancing for too?? I've been dancing salsa for 7 months now..always trying to find ways to improve!

I'm sure I make at least one "mistake" on every song -- which could be in the form of misjudging a break/accent in the music, throwing my partner off-balance during a multiple spin, bumping my partner into a nearby couple, and a wide assortment of lazy/poor leads. Songs where I am particularly risky might include up to a dozen mistakes. Like other posters have suggested though, sometimes I make the most mistakes with my favorite partners, especially when we are trying to play with the music (while laughing off our "mistakes" at the same time).

I started dancing Salsa "seriously" about 5 years ago, which is when I took lessons for about a year, and I've been dancing socially very frequently since then. It's safe to say that I've made literally thousands of mistakes during that time....yet for some strange reason there are certain women who actually like to dance with me..... 8)

 

[MacMoto]

Like others, I very rarely have a dance without any mistake. It's not unusual for me to make half a dozen mistake (or more!) in one song, be it misreading a lead, losing balance when turning, under-rotating, even hitting the leader or being hit by him (I'm reeeeally bad with this! )... And you know what, cutie? The memorable "WOW!" dances I've had in my two years of dancing salsa are not the ones where I made no mistake. When I have a great song that fires you up and good connection with a leader who appreciates my style of dancing, mistakes no longer matter. We have a great dance even though we both make mistakes. We laugh them off, we have fun, and that's what I remember at the end of the song. There have been times when the leader thanks me for a great dance even though I *know* I made many mistakes. To me, that's what social dancing is all about. Being able to dance perfectly would be great, but being able to make a dance fun is even better.

 

[ash88]

Like all the other posters have said, I too make mistakes fairly consistently throughout most dances. I'd say about 1 third of my dances occur without mistakes. This is usually because i'm not feeling the music (and am simply going through hardwired patterns devoid of imagination and creativity).

The other two thirds of my dancing is loaded with mistakes - when i'm really feeling the music, i tend to take more chances with hitting things like breaks, which some of the time i will predict wrongly. I'll still burst out laughing though, because at the end of the day we all should just be trying to have fun, and at least i have the guts to go for a break and not do a lame pattern through it

Some followers will apologise to me for making a mistake (like losing balance on a single/double turn), not giving me their hand quickly enough (because of too much styling), or not interpreting simple signals correctly (like a gentle pull from the followers right shoulder for a cross body lead from the shoulder).

When they apologise - they are doing so fairly needlessly. I couldn't care less if they stuff up the follow. Really. I can still have a ball unless they are rude in some way, or are not at all smiling (that disinterested look that is the bane of any happy leader). So every one of their apologies is just brushed off with a "doesn't matter" or "not important" and a big smile from me.

UPDATE: I finally had a decent night yesterday. I danced with a bunch of beginner/intermediates. Two highlights:

1) The big live band playing Lloraras and me hitting the three breaks with three mini dips. I love that song, and just being so in the music reminded me of what salsa is all about.

2) Dancing with a begginer who smiled and smiled and smiled, and then, towards the end of the song, looked up at me and asked, "can you dip me?" I felt like she trusted me, just for that dance, and that reminded me of the role of the leader, that he looks after the lady just for those few minutes. I gave her the most feather pillow soft dip, whilst simultaneously supporting her head with one hand as the last notes of the song melted away. Awwwww......

 

[amrimi]

Last night I had one of my best dances ever and I made so many mistakes I wouldn't be able to count them all. The reason was that I was laughing so hard I couldn't dance anymore. That guy was trying everything in his dancing to make me laugh. He would throw in lots of stuff in his dancing that actually was lady styling and while he did this he would act like he was flirting with some guys that were standind near us (Note: those were some friends of his. he was definitly not gay). It was so hilarious half of the dance I couldn't do more then just the basic because I was laughing so much.

 

[Ms_Sunlight]

Sounds entertaining amrimi!

You know, I always think a good dance is not about how many mistakes you make but about how good it feels. Sometimes I wish that people could just chill out. If no-one's hurt or offended, it's not a mistake, it's just an unexpected eddy in the flow of the dance. :wink:

 

[cocodrilo]

Sounds like you were having a lot of fun! That sounds like a good time to me!

 

[MacMoto]

You know, I always think a good dance is not about how many mistakes you make but about how good it feels.

That's exactly it. 8)

On the other hand, a technially flawless dance may not feel good if your partner is looking totally bored, not giving you any eye contact at all, too busy trying to impress the onlookers to pay attention to you, etc.

 

[alemana]

i was thinking about this thread the past couple of times i was social dancing. i think salsa is pretty much the only area in my life where i welcome what you might call 'mistakes - ' it's just so obvious that this is how you learn!

one of my favorite things is when i make a 'mistake' on a move and the leader gives it to me again, and i nail it. that's a great moment - i then have that move pretty much permanently. it's in my repetoire.

 

[Vin]

I like to keep some things in mind when I dance. One of those is a comment made to me by a friend in the scene after dancing with one of the local "stars"

"He would be great to dance with if I didn't have a mind of my own"

I agree with Africana, mistakes are simply a result of being creative or spontaneous.

I prefer the term misunderstandings, some of the women I find most enjoyable to dance with are those that take what I lead and interpret something different than I intended. I personally like it when a woman trys to fit new stuff into our dance, well ok not always sometimes women overstyle to the point of annoyance but hey if you're ready for me on the 2 (or the 6 depending on the style we are dancing) then I'm happy.

 

[Gussie]

Mistake happen.. all the time.

There are some people I dance with who I can usually follow well, but when I have a bad day it's a seriously bad day.

There are a couple of guys I dance with who I amsure dance with me for the comedy factor. There's this one guy in particular, he's always saying I am having a bad dancing day, I say something like 'makes two of us' and we basically go through the dance, sometimes it flows wonderfully, others it's just incredibly silly where I just read him wrong and we giggle and just have a lot of fun..

I think how serious you take your dance determines a lot about how many mistakes you make, if you make one, it's easy to focus on it and it distracts you and raises the chances of making yet more mistakes. I do this a lot. I've found though, in recent months maknig fun of it instead of apologising all the time makes for a much more fun dance.

To me.. and many of the people I dance with, a mistake can be seen as a new move you've not thought of.. found some nice ones this way..

 

[waltzgirl]

Just wanted to bump this thread. The post about advanced classes in DC made me think of it.