I don't need classes...

[quixotedlm]

A friend signed up for salsa classes because she got a dance studio gift card from a beau. She shows up at salsa clubs oftentimes, and has bad timing, leads herself, has very heavy hands At the end of the class, she says that she is not going to sign up for the class again because it was not worth $35 she'd have to spend, and she'd learn this stuff on the dance floor for free anyway...

She's much better than your beginner, but maybe barely makes the cut as an intermediate... She's also a nice person who danced with me at socials when I followers had to _endure_ me to allow me the opportunity to learn/grow when I was totally new to salsa... In spite of this sense of gratitute I have, I was really pissed by her comment and for a moment, felt like I didn't want to dance with her ever again. It somehow felt to me like she was insulting the rest of us who work very hard to become better dancers so that the experience of dancing with us is more enjoyable for all involved... And here she is blatantly saying that she was okay with preying on those who have worked hard for easy learnings, and I was also irritated that she is so oblivious to her own shortcomings...

No question here, just a rant :-|

 

[icering]

$35 dollar is a good knat price! but anyway....her head is jus tfull of air right now and as a friend you might wanna pop the balloon. I don't think you can just learn on the dance floor because there is nobody there to correct your technique, you only can assume your doing it right.

 

[Salcero]

A friend signed up for salsa classes because she got a dance studio gift card from a beau. She shows up at salsa clubs oftentimes, and has bad timing, leads herself, has very heavy hands At the end of the class, she says that she is not going to sign up for the class again because it was not worth $35 she'd have to spend, and she'd learn this stuff on the dance floor for free anyway...

She's much better than your beginner, but maybe barely makes the cut as an intermediate... She's also a nice person who danced with me at socials when I followers had to _endure_ me to allow me the opportunity to learn/grow when I was totally new to salsa... In spite of this sense of gratitute I have, I was really pissed by her comment and for a moment, felt like I didn't want to dance with her ever again. It somehow felt to me like she was insulting the rest of us who work very hard to become better dancers so that the experience of dancing with us is more enjoyable for all involved... And here she is blatantly saying that she was okay with preying on those who have worked hard for easy learnings, and I was also irritated that she is so oblivious to her own shortcomings...

No question here, just a rant :-|

There is a great book called, "Don't Sweat The Small Stuff." This seems like small stuff because your ability to become a great dancer is not based on someone elses approach to dancing or opinion of salsa. Getting "pissed" about her comment and perceiving it as an insult is wasted energy that you could be using during practice to perfect your craft. If nothing else this should motivate you to become a better dancer. Stay focussed!!

 

[quixotedlm]

This seems like small stuff because your ability to become a great dancer is not based on someone elses approach to dancing or opinion of salsa. Getting "pissed" about her comment and perceiving it as an insult is wasted energy that you could be using during practice to perfect your craft. If nothing else this should motivate you to become a better dancer. Stay focussed!!

Isn't that what friends are for - to judge

 

[SPratt74]

There is a great book called, "Don't Sweat The Small Stuff." This seems like small stuff because your ability to become a great dancer is not based on someone elses approach to dancing or opinion of salsa. Getting "pissed" about her comment and perceiving it as an insult is wasted energy that you could be using during practice to perfect your craft. If nothing else this should motivate you to become a better dancer. Stay focussed!!

Yep! I'll go with this statement! That and I want to add that maybe she just doesn't enjoy dancing like that and let everything out. Sometimes us girls will say stuff too when we get emotionally upset that we don't mean to. It also could be that she was expecting to become an instant success over night, but for those of us that have been around, we know that just isn't possible. And she could just be burnt out and didn't know how else to say how she felt. I've done this by mistake a few times lol, and I never thought about how my actions impacted others until later on in life. But either way, maybe take a break from her for a while, and then see how you really feel. Don't let that discourage you from dancing though!

 

[quixotedlm]

But either way, maybe take a break from her for a while, and then see how you really feel. Don't let that discourage you from dancing though!

It doesnt' matter to me. She is just a friend - not my constant partner or inspiration , nor do I have any desire to be around her much that it would impact my salsa life... it's just that the implications of her remark were seemingly rude IMO, so I wanted to rant...

 

[SPratt74]

It doesnt' matter to me. She is just a friend - not my constant partner or inspiration , nor do I have any desire to be around her much that it would impact my salsa life... it's just that the implications of her remark were seemingly rude IMO, so I wanted to rant...

I understand! I feel that way too about things that I enjoy and I hear people talking badly about them. You just feel at the time, how rude lol! But then it's like, well... I haven't said the nicest things about some other fields, so who am I to judge lol? We all have our thing in life that we enjoy, so to me it's not worth getting upset about those types of things any more, but it does upset you though when it comes from nowhere though doesn't it? Cause then you focus more on where did that come from??? I don't see it. How dare you say something like that lol?

 

[RugKutta]

I feel the same way you do about things like that. I'd have been kinda mad too if one of my friends who was clueless about salsa said some mess like that. Anyone who feels passionately about anything would be peeved at a comment like that made about their passion. But like someone said earlier, don't take it so seriously. It's not worth making an issue about. If the person is seriously wanting to get into salsa, however, you do need to bring her back down to earth. If she's not really into it, then don't worry about it. I'd just chalk it up to her not being serious about it or not knowing any better. I feel the same way when I ask ladies if they can dance salsa and they say stuff like "I know how to dance salsa, but I've just never done it w/ a partner before" (such an oxymoronish statement) or "I know how to dance if my partner knows what he's doing." I don't sweat it, I just say to myself "don't get mad. They don't know any better and you can't blame them for not knowing any better."

 

[kayak]

I have noticed that a lot of women get by with limited knowledge and have a pretty good time. I am sure this is because a better leader can often help her to make the moves even if they aren't perfect. He can also step down the level to something she can do. Adapting the lead and helping the girl out is even more true if she is cute. On the other hand, there isn't much to do if the guy doesn't have a pretty good idea of at least the core concepts of each dance.

 

[MacMoto]

I was really pissed by her comment and for a moment, felt like I didn't want to dance with her ever again. It somehow felt to me like she was insulting the rest of us who work very hard to become better dancers so that the experience of dancing with us is more enjoyable for all involved... And here she is blatantly saying that she was okay with preying on those who have worked hard for easy learnings, and I was also irritated that she is so oblivious to her own shortcomings...

I second kayak on this, quixotedlm. You are approaching this from the leaders point of view; for the leader, it's obvious right from the start that you need to invest some money and a lot of time to learn the stuff to become good. For the follower, things are quite different. Because of the very nature of the dance, a good leader can lead a girl who doesn't know much more than the basic step and give her an enjoyable dance. Whether the leader enjoys the experience of dancing with someone who feels like a 2-ton truck is another matter, but she can remain blissfully ignorant of the fact that the leader needs to come down to her level of dance ability to give her a good dance. On the dancefloor, nobody will tell her she's a bad follower and needs lessons, so it's very easy for a follower to start thinking that she can learn everything she needs to know on the dancefloor. I assume the free class she tried was at a fairly basic level. At that stage of learning, things are relatively easy for followers to pick up. It's only at higher levels that more technical stuff comes into play, which you simply cannot learn on the dancefloor.

 

[sweavo]

There are a couple girls like that around my scene. One is a very attentive follower but hardly any structure. She declares she "never goes to classes" but I think with her it's insecurity cos it's hard to keep up the salsa princess thing when you're bumbling through a new routine in a well lit room with mirrors!

I think next time your friend comes out with some stuff like that tell her she might want to think about doing lessons to get some structure cos your moves are improving and you wouldn't want to put her on her knat with some hardcore move that she can't keep up with...

Also if you feel like you don't ever wanna dance with her again, don't feel you have to. It's a reciprocal thing, it's not just the guys who have to watch their manners!

 

[salsera_alemana]

I second MacMoto on everything she said.

For the follower, things are quite different. Because of the very nature of the dance, a good leader can lead a girl who doesn't know much more than the basic step and give her an enjoyable dance. ... I assume the free class she tried was at a fairly basic level. At that stage of learning, things are relatively easy for followers to pick up. It's only at higher levels that more technical stuff comes into play, which you simply cannot learn on the dancefloor.

I do not think that this girl meant to be rude. She just voiced her thoughts. And if the class was on a basic level, she probably felt that she did not learn new things worth $35. I can relate to her. I have been dancing salsa for 15 years and have taken only a few classes in that long span of time. In a beginner's class you learn the basic step and a few turns. But after that, taking class after class will not make you progress fast unless you have good leads to dance and practice with. I learned the basics in a "then called mambo" class (in the craze of the Dirty Dancing movie) and found salsa 3 years later. I then applied my basic skills to salsa music (without taking any salsa classes) and danced my way up to the best leads (Puerto Ricans!) within 2 months. The better I became, the better my leads who asked me to dance. We women progress with our leads. The ideal combination is good classes (with good instructors) AND good leads, then we will get to another level fast, but only classes will not do it. For leads it is a different story.

 

[DensterNY]

well, some people aren't that comfortable learning things in a structured environment like an organized dance class. For instance, my girlfriend began dancing at 8 years old by dancing with a broom stick and watching her aunts and uncles dance. She definitely can hang out on the dance floor but I took her to one of my classes and she felt very awkward and couldn't get used to the counting.

Unfortunately, as someone mentioned early, with more advanced or challenging steps the individual with formal learning will have some advantages and the casual learner may find themselves stumbling. (God I hope she never reads this) I enjoy dancing with my girlfriend because we already have an intimacy but I kinda like bumping into someone who's learned formally too to push myself a little.

 

[quixotedlm]

I second MacMoto on everything she said.
...
And if the class was on a basic level, she probably felt that she did not learn new things worth $35. I can relate to her.

The class was not a basic one. It was an intermediate class pushing the boundaries to advanced.

To prove her point, she has learned all she knows on the floor and never taken classes. So i guess she thinks that if she could survive a class like this, then she could advance up even higher by simply dancing on the floor.

At the beginning of this class (a series class), I thought that she had finally recognized her limitations and decided to take lessons to remedy those. Turns out that she was merely cashing in on a freebie. She has been blissfully unaware that what she was doing is called 'pushing the lead' and not 'keeping hand tone'...

 

[MacMoto]

The class was not a basic one. It was an intermediate class pushing the boundaries to advanced.

To prove her point, she has learned all she knows on the floor and never taken classes. So i guess she thinks that if she could survive a class like this, then she could advance up even higher by simply dancing on the floor.

At the beginning of this class (a series class), I thought that she had finally recognized her limitations and decided to take lessons to remedy those. Turns out that she was merely cashing in on a freebie. She has been blissfully unaware that what she was doing is called 'pushing the lead' and not 'keeping hand tone'...

My honest opinion? If the class wasn't structured in a way that would make her aware of her limitations, then perhaps she has a point -- it may not be worth $35 she'd have to spend... Often group classes are geared towards leaders who want to learn new moves, and followers benefit little from these classes. What she needs is a class that focuses more on essential lead-follow skills where her limitations would be picked up and corrected, or perhaps a couple of private lessons with a good teacher.