Looking For a Few Good Salseros

[marques]

I have recently written an article about the shortage of male salsa dancers in Indianapolis. In the article I provide some helpful advice on encouraging men to give salsa dancing a try. This may be a helpful guide in recuiting new dancers.

'Trust me guys, dancing with sexy salseras all night is not as bad as you think .'

 

[salsera_alemana]

Marques,

This is a very good article that contains a lot of truths.

It used to be this way almost everywhere in the western world, I believe. I am not referring to Latin countries or NY or Florida here.

I have always loved to dance since I was a teenager! And there was always lack of dance partners in my country (Germany). So many women who loved to dance and were good dancers and hardly any guys who did not have two left feet. It was still like that at the beginning of the 90s when I discovered salsa. Thanks God for the Latin guys at those clubs who gave us women a new revelation about dancing!

A few years later my husband (whom I met dancing salsa) and I moved to the Netherlands and made an interesting discovery. I always thought it must have to do with the race but I saw that that was not the case. Dutch guys, who definitely are of the same race as German guys, moved much better and much more freely. They could move to the music because they were not inhibited by what others might think of them. Their attitude was different. So the problem was not so much physical but rather psychological.

When you go to German salsa clubs now, you see hundreds of German guys who are good salseros. Times have completely changed. German men have slowly discovered all the benefits of Latin dancing:
- It is easier to meet women
- the mere dancing can be so much fun!
I believe that all those guys have added so much more fun and excitement to their lives!

I believe many got to dancing via traveling to Latin American countries first. Germans love to travel and many went to the Dominican Republic and to Cuba since the 90s. They felt the vibration and lifeliness and heard the happy music and totally loved it. That made them look for that music in their country.

 

[Lofland]

So turn off your PC, stop watching the Colts game (ok, you can Tivo it first) and head down to a Latin dance studio or club.

lol! Seriously, I think the Internet and the huge amount of time spent on video games are part of the problem!

I wish I could send up a few dozen guys from Austin, TX, for you. This is the only place I've heard of where the men outnumber the women at the clubs and in lessons. In lessons, we sometimes have two men every woman. Part of the reason is that we have a lot of high-tech companies with mostly male engineers as employees. I took a female DF member out when she was visiting Austin last year, and she had a blast. She said she usually had to wait out half the dances at home in South Carolina, because there were so few guys. This was true even though she was young, beautiful, and a great dancer. In Austin she almost never sat down the whole night. Raluca in Bucharest also mentioned in the past that her local club had two women for every guy. I really need to start travelling to all these places, they sound like Heaven!

 

[marques]

Part of the reason is that we have a lot of high-tech companies with mostly male engineers as employees.

Funny you mention that, my first dance partner told me that most male dancers are either enginneers, IT geeks and a few scientists. I am personally an IT geek.

Logical people and salsa, who would have guessed it!!!

 

[Ms_Sunlight]

My other half's a charity worker. He's a trained teacher who moved into youth work. There is no geek about him whatsoever.

 

[salsachinita]

Logical people and salsa, who would have guessed it!!!

Indeed.

It's supposed to have something to do with balancing the right side of your brain ('logical' or tech people use mainly the left side)........

My bf is another IT geek. We meet in the salsa scene .........

 

[squirrel]

lol! Seriously, I think the Internet and the huge amount of time spent on video games are part of the problem!

I wish I could send up a few dozen guys from Austin, TX, for you. This is the only place I've heard of where the men outnumber the women at the clubs and in lessons. In lessons, we sometimes have two men every woman. Part of the reason is that we have a lot of high-tech companies with mostly male engineers as employees. I took a female DF member out when she was visiting Austin last year, and she had a blast. She said she usually had to wait out half the dances at home in South Carolina, because there were so few guys. This was true even though she was young, beautiful, and a great dancer. In Austin she almost never sat down the whole night. Raluca in Bucharest also mentioned in the past that her local club had two women for every guy. I really need to start travelling to all these places, they sound like Heaven!

Well... there are indeed... but I can lead, so I try not to waste so many dances ! But I'd love to meet you Lofland, and any other Salsero/DFer... let me know when you come!

 

[BugBear]

Well it seems that the problem with male dancers is a very common. Here in Bulgaria it is pretty much the same. The new group at our club has 20-25 women and only 3-4 men in it.
At the parties there are a lot more women than men too. And some of the guys don't have enpugh confidence to dance and they just sit there and watch. When I think about how much time it took me to ask our lovely instructor or a lady from the upper groups to dance I can't really blame them.
It's a good thing that most of the ladies feel uncomfortable with asking us to dance, because otherwise we would be very, very tired after each party.