Salseros - What kind of fabric for Salsa dance clothes?

Thank you for sharing this Boriken...very interesting and insightful. I had no idea things were that serious... :shock:

SG
 
scorpionguy said:
Thank you for sharing this Boriken...very interesting and insightful. I had no idea things were that serious... :shock:

SG
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You are welcome,
It is a funny thing, I've read quite a few stories(experienced a lot to) of people who go to a salsa venue and get all decked out, suit, hat, nice tie, then people ask them to dance all night long. All they can say is that they can't. I forget where in the internet I've read them, but they are a few of them around. This is especially so in a heavy Rican, cuban, New Yorker community where the ties to the old days are still pretty strong amongst the salsero community. Remember that Salsa was always more than just good music and good dancers, and why a lot people think of salseros as a cult. For to us, it isn't just music and dance but a lifestyle.

That is why Salsa can't just be a dance, it is something deeper than that. Seeing aslsa as a dance limits its history, culture, and underminds those who were there before us. Their strives to make it what is, and the respect we owe them. Salsa is about all that was, is, and will be. In history, life, and death. The more we understand its culture the more me can connect to the meaning behind the banging drums.
 
danceguy said:
A question for the Salseros out there...what kinds of fabric do you pick for your Salsa outfits, and is there a particular kind of shirt that you prefer?

Myself, I always wear a white shirt cotton t-shirt with a nice short sleeved dress shirt over it. I'm working on expanding my dance wardrobe but its been a pretty frustrating endeavor trying to find any shirts that fit and are made from good quality materials.
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This combination works for me too. I like to wear the dress shirt un-tucked, to allow body heat more chance to escape, like a chimney effect.

One shopping tip is to check-out the vintage stores in your area for Hawaiian shirts, bowling shirts, guayaberas, and other shirts with a straight lower hem. It is amazing what one can find in these stores.

I like guayaberas and similar embroidered shirts, but these are more time-consuming and/ or costly to clean, I have learned.
 
I watched all 06:40 of that clip, and all I have to say is, it would take a very special salsera to inspire me to wear mini-skirt-inspired man-shorts in January :).
 
nikita, 03:27, that Rob Roy/ Braveheart look is so 1995 .. but there was that one shirt that would be perfect for practicing shimmies. Can you make me one of those shirts, please? :)
 
brujo said:
Santa Madre, who the hell pays $110 for pants? I tend to stick with two layers, a cotton undershirt and any random club/work shirt on top. Fashion doesn't really matter that much as it is too dark in the clubs anyways for people to see. For socials, long sleeve athletic shirts that soak up the sweat without making the stains too obvious. I don't think anyone really cares about what the guy wears, and since accidents, rips and spills are bound to happen, it doesn't really make sense to spend that much on salsa clothing anyways.
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(yes I realize this is a very old post)

$110 for a pair of pants is too much? No wonder salsa clubs can't stay open with this mentality ("$1 for water?? Are they insane? Liquor? Ha!"). Sure, I believe in sales and deals and discount racks, because I make squat for money for the most part. But pants that cost more will in general look a lot better, feel a lot better, and last longer than cheapos. Wearing a "random" shirt, saying that "fashion doesn't matter because it's dark in the club" (lol), and (this is the best one) "nobody really cares about what the guy wears" is just silly, and perpetuates the myth that men are neanderthals, football-watching, beer-drinking, overweight slobs who don't care about their appearance. If you feel that way, fine--but don't include me in that category please. I'm not saying that appearance is everything, because that is SO not true--but the other extreme, that appearance is nothing, is just as bad.
 
I guess I don't live in an especially high-fashion city. The clubs all say "Dress to impress" in their ads. But when I look around, most everybody, including the women, are wearing jeans, though they're usually the nicer kind.

I have seen a couple guys in hats and suits, including one white zoot-suit; and they were among the top dancers in town.
 
SnowDancer said:
I have seen a couple guys in hats and suits, including one white zoot-suit; and they were among the top dancers in town.
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Yeah, I have definitely noticed if a guy is wearing a suit/hat he is almost guaranteed to be a very good dancer. I doubt it would occur to anyone who wasn't familiar with the scene to wear a suit to a dance club!

I haven't noticed as much predictability among the women... maybe very good dancers are slightly more likely to be dressed up... there's a lot of variation though. A lot of the better dancers are wearing tattered "on2" tee shirts. I did find earlier on that I got asked more often if I wore a dress. At the time I thought it was because men like women in dresses, but perhaps I was inadvertently sending advanced-dancer signals? Now that I have accumulated a group of regulars I get asked all the time anyway, so any clothing-related differences are less noticeable.
 
noobster said:
I did find earlier on that I got asked more often if I wore a dress. At the time I thought it was because men like women in dresses, but perhaps I was inadvertently sending advanced-dancer signals? Now that I have accumulated a group of regulars I get asked all the time anyway, so any clothing-related differences are less noticeable.
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good point... i recall wearing a hot little red silk halter dress out dancing a number of times and later discovered that i'd given the impression of being a much better dancer than i really am.

it was also very easy to heat up the dance floor because it put me in a sexy & festive mood. IME, dressing up that way definitely ensures getting asked to dance non-stop all night...
 
danceguy said:
A question for the Salseros out there...what kinds of fabric do you pick for your Salsa outfits, and is there a particular kind of shirt that you prefer?

Myself, I always wear a white shirt cotton t-shirt with a nice short sleeved dress shirt over it. I'm working on expanding my dance wardrobe but its been a pretty frustrating endeavor trying to find any shirts that fit and are made from good quality materials.
...
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As an update, for over-shirts, I have developed an affinity for vintage party shirts that are made from 80% Dacron polyester/ 20% cotton. I find these have a nice, dressy sheen to them, and are extremely light and airy, and move nicely when one dances.

I also like 100% polyester shirts that are non-wicking, and have a sheen on the outside. This material is hotter to wear, but will stay dry-to-the-touch, for a long period of time, so this is a compromise in favour of your partners' comfort :).
 
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