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The Sneaky Trick that Every Salsa Beginner Needs to Know (Better salsa in just 60 seconds)

60 seconds will soon add up!

This article is an expansion of a point I made in one of my first articles on how to dance salsa.

One of the hardest things for any salsa beginner is asking someone out for a dance, especially someone you don’t know.

However, asking is just the beginning of your worries because when you ask someone out to dance you are pretty much making a contract. It’s a contract that contains two main clauses; (1) you are going to dance with the person and in doing so (2) you are going to entertain the person (through your skills on the dance-floor… one hopes). You need to dance with this person for the full length of the song (at least 3 or 4 minutes) keeping things interesting with all the different moves and patterns which you have apparently learned up until this point.

This means that if you don’t fulfill either of the aforementioned clauses you are in breach of contract. You have reneged on your promise. You have been a very naughty boy and you must be punished!

Thankfully, this punishment doesn’t come in the form of the your partner screaming at the top of her lungs for everyone to hear, how bad you suck at dancing (although she may tell her friends). Nor does it entail you having to wear a large luminous-yellow hat stating “Please Dance with Caution! Sucky and Boring!” for all the other dancers to see and ridicule (although I will admit this appeared in the majority of dance related nightmares I had when I first started dancing salsa).

No, the punishment comes in how you make yourself feel when you believe that you haven’t performed well. You make yourself feel stupid and useless, like the previous few weeks or months of salsa classes have come to naught, like you have no business out there on the dance floor with the other people who “supposedly” can dance.

In short it can be a Salsa Career Killer!

Every beginner feels this way at the start
I can guarantee you that this “fear” of not performing to expectation was one of the main reasons that I had so much trouble in asking people out to dance when I first started and this was one of the specific reasons that I was so slow to improve during my first year.

I was so nervous about what I was capable (or incapable) of doing, nervous that I was going to bore my partner that I would spend nights at salsa clubs dancing virtually exclusively with my girlfriend or one or two friends in order to avoid the risk of making a fool of myself with people I didn’t know.

One thing that made it worse for me was the fact that I learned salsa in Japan. That meant that if I went to a salsa club I stuck out big time (fair hair, pale skin and the beard). In general, the only other foreigners in the clubs at the time were the foreign instructors so that meant some people would assume that I was… you know… good! This only added to the pressure I felt.

You learn the moves in class, you learn to dance on the floor!
That’s the paradox, you don’t want to dance because you think you suck but the only way you’ll actually improve is by dancing.

So what can you do. For me, the main issue was the length of salsa songs. I could relatively confidently lead the basic steps, a cross-body lead, a basic turn and a cross-body with turn. The problem was that if I had to constantly repeat those few moves over the course of a 4 minute song I started to freak out. Big time!

So, I came up with a little trick. A cheat that helped get me out dancing with other people and saved me having to worry about entertaining for the length of an entire song. It’s a trick that I am happily going to share with you as I know it will get your beginner salsa progress off to a flying start.

Here it is: all you need to do is wait for a song to start, wait a further 2-3 minutes and then invite someone out to dance for the last minute! That’s it. You’ll have about one minute of pure, unadulterated dance time. If you don’t know many moves, you won’t have to worry about boring someone for a full 4 minute (approx.) song and if you feel that you suck, all will be over in about 60 seconds. You’ll have gained valuable dance experience and (hopefully) your ego will still me intact

That’s it! If you’re a beginner, hopefully that will get you out dancing more regularly and with more people and that is all you need to start improving.

More Dances + More Partners = Better Salsa

Obviously this isn’t going to continue forever. You’ll quickly get better, learn more moves, gain more confidence and soon enough not even an 8 minute song will be enough for you and your mad salsa skills.

This one little trick was all I needed to get over my fear of boring someone on the floor. I may have only been dancing for a minute at a time but those minutes add up and they make all the difference.

Now get out there and wait for some songs to be nearly over 😉

Keep Dancing Folks!

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Tags: Begginners, Dance, Salsa, Tricks

Comments 8 Comments
Categories Dance, Goals, Salsa

The Dancing Irishman’s First Birthday

5 Jun

The Dancing Irishman turns one today.
All presents graciously accepted!

This day, one year ago I sent out a mass email to the majority of my facebook contacts asking them to check out my new blog, proudly titled “The Dancing Irishman”.

Since that day it has developed, haphazardly, into one of the most enjoyable endeavors I have ever undertaken.

At lot has changed in the past year; my goals, my dancing style, the focus of the blog and of course myself. The one thing that hasn’t changed is the excitement I feel every time I click “publish” on my latest post.

To celebrate the Dancing Irishman’s first birthday I’d like to share with you some of my thoughts on how the blog has evolved over the past 12 months. Despite having gained a lot of experience writing my articles I still sometimes find it hard to string my ideas together fluently so I decided to write this article using headings based on some of the questions I’m frequently asked by people I meet through the blog here in Cali or online, and some of the questions I’ve frequently been asking myself.

Where did the title come from?
Funnily enough I didn’t come up with it at all (I’m clearly not that creative). I’m Irish and I dance… in Colombia. I was ( and still am) a regular at some of the most popular salsa clubs here in Cali and I have a lot of friends in the international/traveler community here. I became known as the foreign guy who can dance (I am by no means the only dancing foreigner here but I think I just stuck out… it’s probably the beard… and the super paleness) and on more than a couple of occasions newcomers to Cali came up to me in clubs or blurted out during conversations with me “So YOU’RE The Dancing Irishman that I’ve heard about”!

A big thank you to all those unknowing passersby who helped name my alter-ego!

Is the actual writing process fun?
More than I can express in words. The truth is, if I don’t enjoy writing an article it never gets finished. I tend to find a topic that I’m particularly passionate about and end up getting sucked into it.

I write a lot on my phone while I’m using public transport or when I’m relaxing in a cafe. I know I’ve got something good when I can’t stop typing and I often ended up writing as late as 2 or 3 in the morning! When I have particularly strong feelings about a topic, that’s when everything really starts to flow and it feels almost cathartic to get things out of my head and onto paper.

I think one of the reasons I’ve loved writing the blog so much is that it’s encouraged me to genuinely put a lot of thought into what I do be it dance, exercise, languages or nutrition. I makes me study more and helps me verbalize why I love what I do so much.

Writing is pretty much the only creative thing I do and I never imagined how much pleasure I could get by putting my thoughts onto paper (or online at least). If you’ve never given writing a serious try before I highly recommend trying out blogging. Even if you have no intentions of developing a following it’s a great format to use as an outlet for that creative spark you have inside.

Has anything changed due to the blog?
Loads.

The first thing is that I now feel (almost) obligated to stay on top of my game dance-wise. Since I’ve chosen a name as assuming as The Dancing Irishman, I better make damn well sure that I can actually dance. It keeps me on my toes.

Something that I didn’t expect is that people sometimes come up to me in clubs telling me that they’ve read the blog. Often they’re travelers who were looking up information on dancing in Cali and I’ve gotten a lot of great feedback from them. I have to admit it actually feels pretty cool when people recognize me and say “Hey, you’re the Dancing Irishman”. Once again, the beard helps haha!

I also didn’t expect the blog to turn into a way to make friends but that’s exactly what happened. I’ve met some great people who are also bloggers and it’s been great interacting and learning from them and I’ve also met some great people through their comments on some of my articles.

As I write a lot about, Cali and life in Colombia I’ve also developed a lot of pride for my adopted city and I’m very proud to call myself Caleño.

Favourite articles?
I’ve published about 35 articles so far so it’s tough to pick a favorite so I’ll pic three instead.

I really enjoyed writing “How to be Great at Anything (Obliterating racial stereotypes in 10,000 hours)” because I really wanted to put an end to the idea that being able to dance was something you inherit in your blood. I think i made a pretty good point that it’s actually inherited through culture and therefore most people can learn to dance well regardless of their ethnic background.

I had a blast writing “The Etiquette of Salsa (All the stuff you need to worry about besides the dancing)” because it struck me as really important that newbies in the salsa world have a easy list of certain social rules to follow so they wouldn’t have to learn them the hard way i.e. trial and error. I also got pretty fired up writing that piece thinking about times when people have broken the rules e.g. when someone crowded up the dance-floor when it was already full and stole what little space I had (my blood boils just thinking about it now).

Finally I feel especially proud of writing “21 Things I F##KING HATE about Colombia!” which to date is the most popular article I’ve ever written (an exceptionally close second is “What I love about Cali, Colombia” ). I’m proud of it because I got to make some real social commentaries about life here in Colombia and the feedback I received was amazing. I knew that what I had to say wasn’t pleasant so I was expecting quite a backlash of angry comments from Colombians but the overwhelming majority of comments I received were positive and in agreement with what I had to say. One of the most aggressive, negative commentators actually contacted me a month later to tell me he had time to think about it and that he actually agreed with many of my points. He’s now a regular, positive commentator on the blog and I’m very proud to have him on board.

That article also reaffirmed one thing that I already knew; Colombians are very protective of their traditional cuisine (you won’t get far in an argument saying you don’t like it ;-)).

My Dance Goals
If anything, learning more about dance over the past year has shown me just how little I know and how far I still have to go to get better… and that feels amazing.

I’ve seen some spectacular dancers both in person and in videos who simply inspire me to get better and keep practicing. It’s some of the best motivation there is.

I’ve also come to terms that while I’ve not really taken to salsa caleña (the advanced moves are confined to choreographies and shows) I feel that my time here has really helped me feel comfortable when I dance and more willing to let myself go and actually move my body. As much as I loathe to say it, I definitely “feel the music” much more now.

I have some other, more definite goals lined up for the future which I should be revealing in the coming months, so stay tuned.

On Teaching
One unexpected side-effect of the blog is that a lot of people started contacting me for salsa lessons and that has now become a regular part of my life here in Cali. So much so that recently I created a page on the blog specifically dedicated to my lessons; “Learn Salsa in Cali”.

Teaching salsa has been an amazing experience for me as I simply enjoy teaching something I love so much. Especially, as I work mostly with beginners, I really get o see the “fruits of my labors” when I see my students who only a few hours earlier didn’t know the first thing about salsa, having a blast dancing in the clubs here in Cali. If they go on and develop a passion for salsa in the future, then I’m really happy.

I’ve been able to refine the way I teach and I feel I’ve really simplified teaching salsa caleña in a way that it generally isn’t taught here in many dance schools in Cali. That’s mostly thanks to the fact I’ve had some great teachers myself over the years and I’ve managed to hold on to and use the best methods that I found most effective when I was learning. So, thank you to all the teachers I’ve had over the years!

What I’ve learned about Blogging
You’ve got to give the people what they want.

Some of my most constantly viewed articles are those with the most practical information like “The Etiquette of Salsa (All the stuff you need to worry about besides the dancing)” and “How to find that goddamn “1″ beat in salsa” which deal with things that salsa learners really want to learn about. I’m going to try and focus more on developing more practical material for salsa learners in the future.

Also some of you may have noticed that while I say today is the blog’s birthday (June 5th), I have 5 or so articles published from May. This is because I wanted to have a number of articles ready for people to read when I finally launched the blog in June. I think it was a good move.

I’ve found that facebook has been my greatest promotional tool but within facebook, people actively linking to my articles has spread my blog much further than I actually expected. That was seen best in “21 Things I F##KING HATE about Colombia!“. That was probably the most strategic post I’ve published so far. I say strategic in that I worded the title specifically to get the most attention (use of expletives and a controversial topic) and it worked (even better than I expected). That got more hits in it’s first day than anything else I’ve published before or since and that was mostly due to “word of mouth” on facebook. Keep it up guys!

I’ve also learned that a good photo goes a long way towards catching peoples attention too, as seen with “The Women of Cali (Las caleñas son como las flores)” or “How to be stronger than you’ve ever been in your life!“. So just in case you’ve been wondering why I use so many images of scantily clad beauties, now you know that it’s for purely promotional purposes (teehee!).

The power of a fine bottom for promotional purposes should never be underestimated!

Thank You!
Of everything that’s happened due to the blog, my proudest achievement by far is getting such a dedicated online following. You are the people who read my blog regularly and graciously promote my articles by liking and sharing them.

Without you, the blog would never have made it past it’s first month so I want you to know how grateful I am for your support.

I have plenty of changes planned for the blog in the coming months which I really hope you’ll enjoy. I am really looking forward to seeing where I can take this blog (World Domination anyone???) with your help in the future so keep on reading.

Thanks and keep dancing folks.

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Have you been working-out lately? Because you look spectacular 🙂 If you liked this article go ahead and share it with your friends via the Facebook or Twitter buttons below and if you use Stumbleupon please give it a “Thumbs Up”. I’d really appreciate it 😉

Comments 13 Comments
Categories Cali, Colombia, Dance, Goals

The Worst Four Minutes of My Life

2 Apr

Last week I wrote about some of the GADs (God Awful Dancers) that can almost make you want to call it quits in your dancing career.

That post actually started out with me thinking about the worst dancing experience I ever had and the article took a slightly different turn. So this week I though I’d tell you about the horrifying event that inspired last weeks article.

Once upon a time…
… in a far away kingdom called Colombia, in the sultry heat of a city called Cali, there was a Dancing Irishman.

I was relatively fresh off the boat, having only arrived in the city a couple of months previously but I was already fairly familiar with the dance scene in the city. I was far from being a great salsa-caleña dancer but I could definitely hold my own in the clubs where a few basics will get you far.

It all started when a buddy of mine asked me to join him and his girlfriend on a night out dancing. To be more specific he told me that he “needed” someone to accompany his girlfriend’s sister. It’s normal in Colombia (unlike salsa scenes in non-Latin countries) for people to go out in groups or couples and just dance with the people in their group for the night. So it’s usually better to have an even number of guys and girls when going out in a small group.

My buddy told me that he really needed someone to dance with his girlfriends sister because they just “had to” take her out that night. That should have been my first warning.

Me being the (foolishly) friendly guy that I am, I said something that I would later regret for the rest of my life…”Sure”.

Who could say “No”?

La Noche de Horror
The night arrived and we went to what’s called a “Cross-over” club just outside the city limits. A “Cross-over” club is one that plays a mix of different latin music sytles like salsa, bachata, merengue, reggaeton, cumbia and vallenato as opposed to “salsotecas” which just play salsa.

We all hung out a bit and chatted and drank at our table for a while until eventually my buddy took his girlfriend out for a dance. Seeing as her sister wasn’t much of conversationalist I figured that now would be as good a time as any to take her out for a dance.

We walked onto the quite crowded dance floor, I put my right hand on her back and with my left hand grabbed her right. I listened to the music, a nice standard salsa that I had danced to may times before and when the timing was right I gave her a gentle push back to start.

Nothing.

My initial thought was “What the fudge?”. I tried again and once more she was having none of it.

She then started her own “basic step”. It took me about 5 seconds to realize that this was not going to be pleasant.

She started doing something with her feet that resembled a combination of merengue and drunken staggering. I would say that she was dancing on the wrong beat but that would imply that she was actually dancing on a certain beat in the music. That was not the case. This girl was marching to her own beat, a style of dance that hasn’t been created yet and if it ever is, will probably end up being called the “Drunken Monkey” or maybe the “Try and guess what I’m gonna do next”.

I tried to mirror what she was doing but there was genuinely no timing to her steps. I started grabbing at straws. I tried to bring her closer and change the steps to more of a circular closed style of dancing common in Cali, similar to close bachata. I figured if we were closer it would be easier for her to feel the rhythm from my body…

WRONG!
She clearly thought she knew what she was doing because she managed to distort the rhythm (and my body) to her own erratic beat once more. Every attempt I made to get us back on the beat was firmly subdued by unsmiling partner. Resistance was futile!

Even my attempts at a few simple turns to break the monotony were met with ridiculous wobbles and my arm nearly getting torn out of my shoulder socket by her vice like grip. She was being very clear: “I’m wearing the pants in this dance…bitch”.

I praised the Lord that the room was so dimly lit.

In the first 45 seconds of the song she had managed to reveal herself as a “Bossy Bertha”, “Lost Boy”, “Poker Face” and “The Claw” all rolled into one. I had met the “Anti-Dancer”!

At that stage I had realized that there was absolutely nothing I could do to stop this and, like many guys in prison shower-rooms, I was just going to have to take it like a man. I mentally shut down and tried to find a happy place in my head; someplace to hide for the remaining eternity (or 3 minutes, I’m not quite sure) of the song.

A “happy place” was not to be found but I did what I could to mentally distance myself from the the unspeakable horror that was being committed against me (and against dance in general). My legs went to automatic, but that’s not easily done when your trying to follow something that spits in the face of coordination.

I tried a couple of times to signal to the other dancers around me that I was in distress. I thought the look of pure despair on my face would convince some good Samaritan to put me out of my misery; maybe by throwing a bar stool at my head… or something equally effective. My pleas for compassion went unanswered.

I will be bringing one of these stickers with me for such emergencies in the future!

Finally, just when I felt I couldn’t take any more and I might have try and pretend to pass out to get of the dance floor, that ray of light that is the wind-down in the music came to my hears and I screamed for joy internally, yelling to myself “You’ve done it lad. You made it. She can’t hurt you anymore”. The song ended and gave her the most untruthful smile and “gracias” that I have ever produced in my life.

I walked back to the table, frail from my ordeal.

There waiting for us was my buddy and his girlfriend. He pulled his chair next to mine and with a with a huge goofy smile, whispered in my ear “She’s a horrible dancer isn’t she”!

The Fall Guy
I then realized why it was so important that he find a partner for his girlfriend’s sister that night. Why I was so essential. He didn’t want to dance with her himself. I was the “Fall Guy”. Betrayed from the start by my own friend. I felt things couldn’t get any worse… until I remembered that that was our first dance and we still had a full night to go.

What about you guys? Have you had any horrible dance experiences yourselves? Let me know in the comments (seriously, it might make me feel better about how bad my experience was).

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Tags: Awful Dancer, Horror, Salsa

Comments 12 Comments
Categories Cali, Dance, Salsa

God Awful Dancers

27 Mar

“My God! How long is this bloody song?”

What dancer hasn’t thought this? It could genuinely be that the song is exceptionally long, that you’re running out of moves as a lead or you’re getting bored of the same stuff as a follow.

This happens, and there are plenty of salsa songs that bring you into that terrifying seven, eight or even nine minute territory where only the most experienced and skilled salseros feel comfortable. Given time, these are perfectly avoidable if you can remember which songs are particularly long. Just listen to the start and if you know it’s a long one make yourself scarce. Maybe it’s time for a bathroom break?

But I’m not going to talk about those dances that feel long because the songs are long themselves; you learn to manage these with time, experience and plenty of improvisation. No, I’m going to talk about the other “LONG” dances; long because of the person you’re dancing with.

Now you all know what I’m talking about right! The kind of dance that feels like it’s never going to end. The type of dance where the torture just continues in excruciating slow motion. Where you struggle to hide the look of unhappiness/boredom/pure terror on your face.

My God! When will the torment end???

These dances happen on occasion and for a variety of reasons. Some of the most common GADs (God Awful Dancers) I’ve carefully categorized here for easy reference.

NOTE 1: This is a non-exhaustive list, some people will always find new ways to make a dance unpleasant!!!
NOTE 2: This list is completely unisex. While it may seem like I’m speaking about a specific gender, both men and women alike are capable of these offenses.

The Claw: One of the most common of the unpleasant dancers, the claw is characterized by their vice-like grip and inability to let go when they’re supposed to. Encounters with The Claw often end in sprained fingers, wrists and even shoulders resulting from high speed turns that would have gone smoothly if they had just left go.

Can be identified from a distance by abnormally well developed forearm muscles and fingers.

Unpleasantness Rating: 7

B.O. Bob: Another beast that occasionally rears it’s ugly head on the scene is the crafty Body Odor Bob. I say crafty because from a distance they can appear to be perfectly harmless, maybe even attractive but as soon as you get up close and personal your nose-hairs begin to melt and you scream internally in the knowledge that you can’t hold your breath for the entire song.

Can be identified on occasion by slightly discolored armpit-stains and a small swarm or flies buzzing overhead. A good long-range sense of smell can also help with avoidance.

Unpleasantness Rating: 9

Cat o’ nine tails: Beautifully flowing cross-body lead, perfectly executed turn-pattern, now into the double-spin… WHACK. Time to eat extensions, amateur. Spinning hair can be a true safety hazard on the dance floor and the level of pain/discomfort inflicted varies according to the length of the hair, the style it’s tied in and the speed of the turn. I’ve come up with a simple formula to calculate the pain inflicted by spinning hair:

P = S x (T x L)

where P=Pain, S=Spinning Speed, T=Tightness of the Plait (based on a scale of 1-5, 1=a loose ponytail and 5=one single solid plait (otherwise called “the nunchuk”) and L=length.

Identified by long, untied hair occasionally with some poor guys teeth hanging off the end.

Unpleasantness Rating: Variable from 1 (kind of annoying) to 10 (could someone help me find my eyeball?)

Ever get hit with one of these babies full force in the face? Try dancing salsa and you’ll get a good idea of what it feels like.

Wandering-Hands Will: Mostly a worry for female dancers (although “Wilminas” have also been documented) “Wandering-hands Will” is infamous for a tendency to put his hands where they shouldn’t be. No matter how simple the turn or combination, Will can find a way to touch parts of a woman’s physique that only her boyfriend (who Will prays is not watching) has permission to touch. Be it hands wandering a little bit too far south in the rear or a little too far north in the front, Will will “chance his arm at anything” and if he senses his prey has taken offense, will only reply with an incredibly fake “Sorry” or an disturbingly creepy sneer and wink.

Not that easy to identify as they come in all shapes and sizes but keep and eye out for the guy with his shirt unbuttoned to his naval and enough grease in his hair to fry a bag of chips.

Unpleasantness rating: 7-10

Bossy Bertha: The scourge of any lead, Bossy Bertha refuses to be told what to do and insists on controlling the flow of the dance herself. Simple turn here? “Nope, I want to do another basic”. How about an open-break? “No way, I want to do a cross body lead”. Let’s get back in time with the music? “What are you talking about, my rhythm is perfectly in time with the song. Do what I’m doing”. It simply does not matter what you do with Bertha, she will reserve the right to change it at her discretion at whatever awkward moment she sees fit. Oh and by the way, when something goes wrong… it’s your fault, not hers.

Identified by a constant scowl and general inability to smile…ever

Unpleasantness Rating: 8-9

The Screamer: This is going great, she’s followed everything I’ve thrown at her perfectly. This is one of the best dances I’ve ever had. Oh here comes that part of the song that I love, time for a super smooth dip… EAR SHATTERING SCREAM!!! There do exist some follows who, no matter how well they dance, are just not comfortable with dips. Be warned because if you try one you’re the one who’s going to have everyone looking at you like you’ve just molested someone.

Again, hard to identify but be aware a slightly nervous look in their eyes and traces of human skin under the finger nails (from the last time someone dipped them and they had to grab on for dear life).

Unpleasantness Rating: 5

Poker Face: Especially common amongst dance newbies, Poker Face’s distinguishing features are lack of … well, distinguishing features. No matter how much they’re actually enjoying the dance, they are gonna do their best not to show it. No smile, no eye contact (before anyone makes a comment I’m already well aware that I’ve had problems with this myself. I’m improving…I hope) no indication of emotion whatsoever. A dance with a Poker Face can really make you feel like you’re the worst dancer ever, no matter how well the dance actually went.

Can be easily confused with Bossy Bertha off the dance floor but in general they’re lack of smiling only stops when the dance starts.

Unpleasantness Rating: 6-7

Demolition Man: His objective, eliminate as many couples in his vicinity as he can using only his partner as a weapon. The Demolition Man will pull, push, throw and swing his partner into every couple on the dance floor with little regard for his follow who ends up feeling much like a rag-doll that’s been played with by a pit-bull.

Identified by a complete lack of spatial awareness, this is the guy that pushes grannies and small children out of the way when he’s trying to get on a bus.

Unpleasantness Rating: 15 (he bothers other couples too)

The Lost Boy: The Lost Boy dances in a perpetual “search mode”. Perpetually searching for the beat, that is. It’s a phase that many of us go through at the start but there are a few specimens that never seem to find it, no matter how long they’ve been dancing. They know plenty of combinations, plenty of tricks but they put it all together with the smoothness of a drunk monkey filling a dishwasher i.e. a complete and utter disaster.

Some people are about as efficient as this little guy at finding the beat.

Identified by an over enthusiastic twinkle in his eye when asked to dance and by uncoordination in simple tasks such as walking from his seat to the dance floor (when of course it’s already too late)

Unpleasantness Rating: 5-8

Caveat Dancerus There are many more ways that people can make a dance absolutely horrible but I think I’ve covered some of the main culprits with this list.

The main problem is that you can never really know how someone is going to dance until you actually dance with them. Every time you ask a dance of or accept a dance from someone you’ve never danced with before you run the risk of meeting a B.O. Bob or a Bossy Bertha. You can however, rest assured that they will let you know quite early in the dance who they really are… just so you can fully enjoy the torture of the next few minutes.

Which of these GADs have you met yourself? Let me know in the comments.

Keep Dancing Folks

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Tags: Bad Dancers

Comments 13 Comments
Categories Dance, Salsa

Dancing Salsa like an Irishman

20 Mar

Dancing for truth, justice and good old St. Paddy

Last Sunday was St. Patrick’s Day, a celebration of everything Irish and a great excuse for a party. Never one to turn down an opportunity for a rumba (party) I held a “little” shindig in my apartment to celebrate St. Paddy (NOT St. Patty), Cali-style.

All in all I had about 70 guests and a great time was had by all with lots of great music, great dancing and a whole lot of sweating in the tropical heat.

Video Antics
As you know from previous posts like this one I’m a big fan of videoing oneself dancing in order to see where you need to improve and how you’re progressing.

So I got a friend of mine to grab a quick video of my dance-partner Kelli and I dancing a mixture of LA and salsa caleña. Check it out below.

First off, I know, I’m sweating like an animal. If people can sweat dancing salsa in Ireland in the winter, just imagine what it’s like dancing in the tropics.

For those of you unfamiliar with Cali-style salsa, you can recognize it here from the basic back step (side to side in some cases) and the more circular, cuban-style turns. The majority of stuff with complicated handwork is LA style.

Post Game Analysis
One thing that I’m finally starting to improve is my eye contact which is something that I’ve always had trouble with. It might just be the fact that I’m dancing with Kelli who I’m very comfortable with by I manage to get a nice amount of eye contact in during this dance.

One thing that annoyed the crap out of me is the fact that I still hold back from doing more complicated Cali-style moves and footwork when I social dance. I tend to stick with the safe stuff which doesn’t do me any good in the long run.

Help the Irishman Out
What do you think yourself? Where do you think I can improve or what do you think I need to work on? I thrive on constructive criticism so if you think you could offer me a little bit of advice please let me know in the comments.

Excellent New Song
The song we’re dancing to in the video is “Mother’s Delight” from the new Irish salsa group “Baile an Salsa”, check them out. It’s a mix of traditional Irish music and salsa and I really think it’s a fantastic song for dancing linear On1 or On2 salsa. It’s not the most appropriate song for dancing salsa-caleña, however, so that may explain why I didn’t do many Cali moves in the video.

Dancing Alone
You might want to know why Kelli and I are the only couple dancing in the video. I asked the same thing to a Caleño friend of mine that night and he told me it was because the locals weren’t familiar with the song (or the Irish-style music for that matter). He said that caleños tend to only dance to music they’re familiar with. I’ve noticed this when I’ve DJ-ed before, anytime I put on a song that isn’t heard regularly in the clubs in Cali, people tend to shy off the floor and get some conversation in instead. Just a little observation.

We had a great time here in Cali last weekend and I hope you all had a Happy St. Patrick’s Day too, wherever in the world you are.

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Tags: Cali, Saint Patrick's Day, Salsa

Comments 10 Comments
Categories Cali, Colombia, Dance, Goals, Music, Practice, Salsa

Help Out South Africa’s Mini-Dancers

12 Mar

Make South Africa’s Khayelitsha Kid’s dreams come true
After salsa-promotor Albert Torres watched the children from Khayelitsha (a township in Cape Town) dance, he decided to give them a platform to showcase their talents at the Los Angeles Salsa Festival in May 2013.

Help send these kids to the Los Angeles Salsa Festival

My buddy Chilly, one of South Africa’s most well known salseros and bloggers told me all about their campaign to raise money to send these talented kids to Los Angeles to showcase their dancing talents.

You can find out more about the campaign for the Khayelistsha Kid’s here!

Salseros give something back
This is a fantastic opportunity for the international salsa community to band together and do something amazing for some fellow dancers.

Imagine you were one of these kids and how you would feel being able to travel to the other side of the planet to one of the world’s foremost dance events to show fellow dancers just what you can do.

How to help
You can support this very worthy cause by making a donation on AllOutSalsa.com

But you can help even more by letting more people know about this. Start promoting this project by sharing this article on Facebook, Twitter, Stumbleupon and whatever other social networking site you can think of. Use the links below to do just that. The more people who know about this the more money can be raised for these young dancers.

Do something special this week and help make the Khayelistsha Kids the first South African group ever to perform at the Los Angeles Salsa Festival in May.

Tags: Los Angeles, Salsa, South Africa

Comments Leave a Comment
Categories Culture, Dance, Salsa, Travel

22 Ways Salsa Makes Life Better

19 Feb

You can quote me on that!

My life has changed hugely since I started dancing salsa, unquestionably for the better and I’m certain that this is the case for everyone else who dances.

Whether you’re already reaping the benefits or you’re looking for a little motivation to start dancing, here’s a little list of the things that make salsa so popular and addictive.

1. New Friends: Getting into salsa opens up a whole new world of people from literally every walk of life who you otherwise wouldn’t have had the opportunity to meet. I’ve even made a lot of salsero friends through this blog, whom I haven’t met in person, yet! I am so grateful for the huge amount of great friends I have made through salsa.

2. Lose Weight: When I’m dancing 3 nights a week I’m at my leanest. If I ever go through a period when I’m not dancing for an extended period of time I really notice the weight pile on quickly! Dance and say goodbye to those love-handles.

3. Stay Healthy: Doctors recommend you get at least 30 minutes of exercise a day to keep your heart healthy. Salsa is a great way to up your heart rate and boost cardiovascular health and the fact that it’s so fun means you’ll stick with it. It’s definitely more entertaining than hitting a treadmill for 30 minutes. Social dance has also been shown to keep the mind sharper as we age, better than any other physical activity!

4. Improve Coordination: Salsa teaches you how to coordinate complex footwork with arm combinations. Countless studies and personal experience have shown that coordination gained in one physical activity is transferable to a whole range of others. So if you want to move well in general, dance!

5. Forget about Life’s Worries: I think one of the major reasons I fell in love with salsa was that it became a form of meditation for me. Dance allows you to focus all of your thoughts on the dance and forget about everything else for a few minutes (or more). Losing yourself in the moment when dancing is probably a therapy that a lot of people could use in this day and age!

6. Learn New Languages: Salsa communities the world over tend to be very international and that makes them a great place to learn or practice a new language especially Spanish (well, you may as well learn what all those songs are about: Short Answer = Lovey dovey crap).

7. New Cultures: For the same reason mentioned above you can learn so much about different cultures from meeting new people through salsa. This really helped me to learn more about the large Polish and Latin communities in Dublin.

8. Better Love Life: While salsa should never, ever be considered a dating service I can honestly say that it has done absolutely no harm to my love life.

9. Better Understanding of People: Salsa is social. You will meet all sorts of new people and form all sorts of new relationships and gain new insights into how people work. I can’t begin to explain how salsa will affect every interaction you will have with people in your life but it will, for the better.

10. Discover Passion: This was and is huge for me. Through salsa you discover the passion of dance, the passion created between a couple as they move together as one in harmony with music and then you begin to discover it in every other aspect of your life. And once you taste passion you will never want to look back at how your life was before.

11. Appreciate Music: I never really listened to music before I started dancing but ever since then it has become a huge part of my life. I pay attention to new music, not just what I can dance to, appreciate it, enjoy it and feel it.

12. Travel: I’ve lost count of the amount of countries and cities I’ve danced in. Salsa is truly international and if ever you’re in a big city where you don’t know anyone you can just google a salsa club, get dancing and start meeting the locals and maybe they’ll even show around their city too.

13. Learn to Relax: I’ve always found it tough to relax myself physically, so much so that a Japanese masseuse once described me as the tensest human being she had ever worked with. Losing yourself in the music and letting yourself flow with the rhythm is one incredibly effective way of relaxing your whole body, not to mention how well you’ll sleep after a great night of dancing.

14. Improve your Fashion Sense: While this doesn’t apply to everyone I’ve definitely noticed that when people enter the salsa community they become a lot more adventurous with their clothes, start to pay a little more attention to their appearance and basically “sex-up” their whole wardrobe. I know plenty of guys who have discovered the wonders of hats and waistcoats through salsa (you know who you are).

15. Boost Confidence: Probably the biggest difference most people experience with salsa is just the sheer confidence boost you feel once you get into. In salsa you have to step out of your comfort zone all the time; asking people to dance, trying new moves etc and this definitely transfers to other areas of your life. Sex, business, sports, you name it! An extra bit of confidence goes a long way in life.

16. Discover Other Dances: Once people start dancing salsa, they often don’t stop there. Salsa is like a “Gateway Dance” into a whole world of other dances like bachata, merengue, cha cha cha, kizomba, tango and a whole host more. What will your poison be?

What will your poison be?

17. Drink Less: This really applies in Ireland where we have a ridiculously alcohol-centered social culture. In my experience, salsa dancers don’t drink much (some of us not at all) and this may be why some people turn to salsa. It offers a social outlet that doesn’t revolve around booze which is a blessing in some countries.

18. Overcome Addictions: Salsa is addictive! Many people find themselves that the best way to get over one thing is to replace it with something else. Be it smoking, alcohol, drugs, food, popping bubble-wrap, an ex-relationship or whatever, salsa is a very healthy and rewarding alternative.

19. Dodge Pedestrians: This might (probably is) just be me but ever since I started dancing I’ve found I’ve become really good at skillfully dodging oncoming pedestrian traffic when walking on the sidewalk. I don’t walk around people anymore, I glide!

20. Physical Contact: This applies more to people in Asia and the English speaking world but dancing salsa makes you much more comfortable with human contact. Obviously when you dance you’re going to be in close physical contact with your partner but on top pf that, salsa communities, thanks to the Latin influence tend to be warmer and closer; people greet each other with kisses and hugs. The world needs more of this.

21. Meet Me: When I asked people on my facebook page about how salsa has made their lives better, a lot replied saying that it had helped them meet me 😉 So there you go: Dance salsa and meet The Dancing Irishman, what more could you ask for haha!

22. It’s Fun: I can’t believe I almost forgot to throw in the most obvious reason of them all. The more fun in our lives the better right! Dance passionately with countless beautiful people to fantastic music until the sun comes up. It’s the most fun you can have with your clothes on… the rest comes later.

What about you? How has salsa improved your life? Let me know in the comments.

Tags: benefits, life improvement, Salsa

Comments 28 Comments
Categories Culture, Dance, Exercise, Goals, Health, Languages, Music, Salsa, Travel

Stick to your Guns (How to make new habits automatic)

31 Jan

If I hadn’t stuck with salsa I’d never have learned just how much fun dance really is!

I was having a conversation with a friend of mine a few months ago, a guy who had traveled to Colombia to find a new, less stressful life much like myself.

He was working here and telling me how much he disliked his new job (he had started a little over a week before) and how he had read from some online guru that people shouldn’t spend their lives doing things that they don’t enjoy. He told me how much he agreed with this “guru” (he quit said job less than a week later) and how he firmly believed that people should constantly pursue new experiences.

“I don’t want to be the kind of guy that can’t remember the last time he tried something new” he told with a smile and a lot of confidence. “I want to try new things as much as I can”, “That’s” how you live your life”!

I felt a little sorry for him as soon as he said it!

Not that I disagree with him. I really believe that new experiences keep life interesting and keep us, as people, on our toes both physically and mentally. If you can’t remember the last time you tried your hand at something new, you really should take a good look at your life to make sure you’re not sinking into a rut.

My problem with what my friend said stems from that fact that he was so fervent about his belief in “new experiences” that he forgot how important it is to dedicate time to ones endeavors, to develop them beyond the superficial.

I’ll explain this the best way I know how; through salsa.

Let’s assume that when you went to your first salsa party a few years ago you were looking at salsa as your new experience. Let’s say you stuck with it for a few classes and learned the basic steps, a cross body lead and a turn or two and were pretty proud of yourself for it.

Then you decided to take up spear-fishing! All in the pursuit of new experiences.

You would never have learned the things that you have in all the time you’ve been dancing. You would never have learned how to enjoy music and dance as much as you do now. More importantly you wouldn’t know all the amazing people that you have met thanks to the world of dancing.

Give it time
As I said, new experiences are amazing but if you don’t dedicate yourself to new activities, you’ll never experience them the way they’re supposed to be. You’ll have just scratched the surface, thrown them a superficial glance and missed out on all the secrets that would have been revealed to you had you only “stuck to your guns”.

New Year, New You
I’m mentioning this now at the end of January because I’m sure many of you started out the year with great intentions and I’m also sure that many of you have thrown some of those goals out the window, just as I have.

Doing something new is easy the first time in the sense that you don’t need to dedicate yourself to it. Keeping it up is what’s tough, keeping it up is what takes effort and keeping it up is what reaps the greatest rewards.

My first salsa class was fun and, in a way, easy because I didn’t have any expectations for myself. I knew I was going to suck. Sticking with salsa for my first year however was tough. The few salsa parties I went to (they were surprisingly hard to find in rural Japan. Who’d have thought?) were like torture. I was terrified of making mistakes and beat myself up after for not having the confidence to ask more people out to dance. I thought to myself many times how easy it would be to just not bother, to give up and try something else.

However I also knew that if I stuck with it I’d be able to do the amazing things that I saw all those people doing on the dance floor and I’d be able to enjoy it as much as they seemed to be.

So I stuck to my guns and now they’re fully loaded (sweet pun, I know). I can dance (something I never imagined I’d be able to do) and dance has improved my life in many more ways than I can go into here.

Give yourself time
All dancing aside, if you want to achieve something, anything, you have to be dedicated to it.

How many of you said that you were going to eat healthier this year and are currently munching on the stale doughnuts you found at the bottom of your handbag? How many of you said you were going to get yourself a new job and your old resume remains only partially updated from the time when you got your last job?

Research these days says that for a new habit to stick, you need to stick with it for between 20-28 days. What that means is that if you try something regularly for just 3-4 weeks you break through a certain wall and suddenly maintaining that habit becomes a hell of a lot easier.

3-4 weeks is not a lot of time but that doesn’t mean that being dedicated that whole time is easy. It’s not. But if you stick it out, if you put up with the unpleasantness and inconvenience for just a few weeks your body will reward you by making it a whole lot easier for you. You’re not running uphill anymore, you’re cruising on the flat and straight road to victory.

Obviously 3-4 weeks doesn’t apply to everything. I takes me much more time to get used to something but from experience I know that there comes a time in every endeavor when things suddenly become easier, when things make sense and it all becomes a whole lot of fun.

I experienced it in salsa when my basic step became automatic and freed up my arms to do combinations and I’ve experienced it with Japanese and Spanish when I learned enough vocabulary and grammar to make conversations automatic instead of tediously over-thought.

Automation
In fact, that might be just it. You just need to give something new enough time for it to become automatic. Once that happens it’s clear skies and a nice wind at your back.

So what is it you want to do or learn?

If you want to get fitter then dedicate 3-4 weeks to going to the gym or going jogging at least 3 days a week.

If you want to eat less junk-food make yourself a promise that you won’t touch the stuff for a whole month.

Give yourself a month and once you start to see and feel the benefits you won’t need anymore will-power to help you achieve your goals. You’ll have made it automatic and that’s when the real magic starts to happen.

Forget January guys, your month starts here.

Tags: Dance, Goals, Habits, Success

Comments 7 Comments
Categories Dance, Goals, Languages, Practice, Salsa

What is Salsa Caleña (a few educational videos)

20 Dec

Pura salsa caleña!
No hay nada mejor!

Before I came to Cali I knew from glancing at a few videos on Youtube that they danced a very different style of salsa from what I had learned in Ireland and Japan. Add to that the fact that some people who had actually been to Cali before had told me that I wouldn’t get to far dancing the way I did and you’d be right in thinking that I was a little worried about strutting my stuff on the dance floors of Cali.

With the world famous “Feria de Cali” (a week-long party that begins right after Christmas) just around the corner and for the benefit of those of you who haven’t had the opportunity to visit the world capital of salsa, I’ve found a few videos showing just what salsa caleña (in it’s many forms) looks like. Enjoy.

Here’s a great example of what the local dancers call Salsa Cabaret which is basically salsa caleña on steroids (as many twists, flips and displays of showmanship as possible).

Here’s another lightning fast cabaret performance.

Here’s some great footwork from the 2 time world champions Ricardo and Viviana (pity about the awful commentary)

Here’s a solo performance that shows the level that some caleños achieve with their footwork.

On the other end of the scale here’s an example of how salsa is danced in Cali on the streets at a typical neighborhood party.

and here’s another example of a style of street salsa that has become very popular recently.

Finally here’s one of the most famous videos of Cali club style dancing (although this is much more professional than what you normally find).

I hope you liked them. Watching them has really put me in the mood for a rumba tonight.

Keep dancing folks.

Tags: Cali, Dance, Salsa

Comments 2 Comments
Categories Cali, Colombia, Dance, Music, Salsa

Be inspired!

23 Oct

Dancing with great partners really keeps you on your toes!

I dance well!

I am far from being a great dancer but I get by. I stay on the beat, I use a variety of moves to keep things interesting, I adapt my dance to the level and style of my partner, I avoid stepping on toes and probably most importantly I haven’t dropped anyone on their face in months!

What this adds up to is that at times I can begin to “believe” that I’m good. Don’t mistake me, there’s nothing wrong with confidence, in fact it’s essential for all aspects of dancing. From actually getting you out on the dance floor in the first place to allowing you to feel comfortable doing things outside of your comfort zone which is the only way to improve; confidence is essential.

Over-confidence on the other hand can be detrimental to your progression. Thinking you are the Shiz-nit (I’ve always wanted to use that word) may make you FEEL like a great dancer but it doesn’t MAKE you one at all.

Searching for Swing
Case in point: I recently took advantage of a 4-day weekend with a little trip to Bogota to give the salsa scene there another try after a mediocre experience there a few months back. I went out dancing two nights and had two very different experiences. Both nights I went out with some very talented Caleña dancers as partners (I’ll admit I didn’t hold out much hope for the local dancers) so for the experiments sake let’s say that that factor was fixed.

The first night we went out we strolled around a particular nightlife hot spot in Bogota looking for a little rumba. We tried two places, “Quiebra Canto” first and then “Salsa Camará”. In both places I can unfortunately say that I was the best dancer there. Now before everyone turns there nose’s up and scoffs at the cocky Irishman who’s full of himself, allow me to clarify. What I’m saying is that the standard was very low!

My dance partners and I were the main source of visual entertainment that night, both because we danced well and because we danced a lot, which can’t be said for the other couples there. I’m not criticizing the other couples though; they were social dancers and were content with having a little wiggle on the dance floor every 6 songs or so… and that’s fine!

I, however, am not interested in just “a little wiggle” on the dance floor. I want to be good! After some great dances with my partners we left the club and as we were doing so I thought to myself: “I really don’t want to be in a place where I’M the best dancer”. The next morning, all I could think was that Bogota is missing some “swing”, the word dancers use here to describe a combination of feeling, emotion, musicality and skill when dancing.

Eye Opener
The second night was a very different story. We went to “El Panteón de la Salsa” a place that had been recommended to me by an Italian salsera who had lived in Bogota. She told me it was the only place to get some real dancing in the capital. It’s in a slightly dodgy part of Bogota and I was advised by quite a few people not to go there but after coming all the way from Cali and for the sake of my “research”, I had to go!

I knew things were different as soon as I stepped through the door. The dance floor was full, the air was hot and humid and the atmosphere was alive with salsa. People were dancing salsa caleña, linear salsa and salsa cubana. There were people doing moves I’d never seen before, people sweating buckets in the heat and best of all everyone was having fun with the dance in there own unique way. There in that one little club with it’s two little dance floors was Bogota’s Swing!

I danced the night away and apparently got plenty of attention because I was the only foreigner there and I knew how to dance. However I was far from the best dancer there and that’s what made it so much fun. I could happily sit down and watch the other dancers, wishing I could do some of the things they could do. You couldn’t wipe the smile off my face the whole night!

Being around people that are better than us makes us want to improve. If you’re the best dancer in a certain club or certain city or even a certain country, what incentive do you have to improve?

Probably not much, right? This is one reason why the big international salsa congresses are so beneficial. They give people who have gotten used to a certain salsa scene the opportunity to see, dance with and learn from amazing dancers from all over the world! For example I’ve heard some great things about the recent Berlin salsa congress after a lot of my Irish salsa dancing friends attended it a few weeks back.

Finding Inspiration
To avoid developing a false sense of over-confidence we need to put ourselves in positions or places where it’s obvious that we’re “not all that”.

Try dancing with the the person you consider to be the best dancer in the club. Try going to a new club or class to learn from dancers you haven’t seen before. Try to keep yourself on your toes. There is nothing worse than becoming complacent.

I’m lucky to see amazing dancers every time I go dancing here in Cali. They are the minority but they exist and seeing this amazing minority is enough for me to want to make myself a better dancer.

Remember, confidence is a good thing as long as you temper it with the knowledge that there will always be someone better than you. This is what it’s all about, getting to see all those amazing dancers out there that are better than you and being inspired to better yourself.

If you can’t find anyone who inspires you in your current situation it’s time to shake things up, time to try new things, maybe even time to go somewhere new. Find that new source of inspiration. That’s how great dancers are made!

Keep dancing folks!

Tags: Cali, Dance, Salsa

Comments Leave a Comment
Categories Cali, Colombia, Dance, Goals, Practice, Salsa

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The Dancing Irishman

The Sneaky Trick that Every Salsa Beginner Needs to Know (Better salsa in just 60 seconds)

The Dancing Irishman’s First Birthday

The Worst Four Minutes of My Life

God Awful Dancers

Dancing Salsa like an Irishman

Help Out South Africa’s Mini-Dancers

22 Ways Salsa Makes Life Better

Stick to your Guns (How to make new habits automatic)

What is Salsa Caleña (a few educational videos)

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