Jules' salsa dance blog

Personal Space
Personal space is a funny thing. It is different for everyone and can change over time. Generally new dancers can be shy of being up close and personal with others - sometimes this changes as they grow used to the feeling of connecting with another dancer, sometimes people never get used to close proximity, and that's fine. For those who dislike the intimacy of close hold moves I would suggest Modern Jive or Salsa - although there can be some close hold moves they don't tend to be frequent and are often over quickly and most of the dancing is done with hand to hand contact. Tango and Blues however are very close hold dances with a lot of the lead being given through the body rather than the hands. It is possible however to dance these with space between you so it's a good idea if you are dancing with someone new to suss out how close your partner likes to dance. Some (like myself) don't bat an eyelid at being led chest to chest but others may find this extremely uncomfortable - and not just the ladies, guys don't always like close contact, so ladies don't automatically cling on for dear life! The safest thing to do is, at the start of the dance, allow your partner to determine how close the hold is - unless you prefer distance in which case you need to set your frame firm to prevent your partner drawing you too close, do this early and firmly and hopefully it should give the subtle message that you prefer a little breathing space.

Comic Relief Dance Competition - Final total!
We have our final total raised now - £518! Well done everyone. Thanks to everybody who helped make it such a fantastic success. Videos are available of the competition entries HERE. We have had grumbles that a year is too long to wait for another event like this so we are planning an Autumn Show and even contemplating something for Xmas too! If you'd like to get involved please send me a message!

Comic Relief Dance Competition
We ran our 2nd annual Comic Relief Dance Competition last Saturday night and what a fantastic event it was. We had everything from chair dancing to zombie salsa, modern jive with stunning drops and dips, lots of cross dressing and even a couple of dancing cats! We raised over £300 on the door and are still collecting in sponsor money and auction money not to mention donations from our lovely members who were unable to attend but still wanted to contribute. We think the total is going to be over £400! Well done one and all, a great night's fun and dancing for a worthy cause. Now go and start practising for next year! Go on!

Do you dance? Or are you 'a dancer'?
There are some people who can go dancing once in a while, enjoy it, but then not worry if they have to miss a week or two for some reason. These are the people who dance.
Others (like myself) cannot bear to go a week without dancing and will have severe withdrawal symptoms if we have to. We book dance events in our diaries months in advance to make sure we never end up double booked and have to miss a freestyle. We dance when our muscles are aching when we're so tired we really should be asleep and (tut tut) even when we're injured and have been advised not to! To these people, dancing is not simply a hobby, but an addiction. You find yourself bopping in the supermarket aisle, dreaming of dance moves and counting down the days or hours until your next dance fix. Work gets in the way of dancing not the other way around – you'd rather be exhausted at work than be 'sensible' and stay home. Blisters are like battle scars and dance shoes are always in your car, just in case... These are the 'dancers'. If this sounds like you, welcome to the club. It doesn't matter whether you've been dancing for two months or two decades, if you're a pro or a keen amateur, anyone can join the club and once you're in it's a lifetime's membership.
Which are you? See you on the dancefloor?

Palenke live band
We had another fantastic night with some of our members dancing to live latin band Palenke in Isha Bar, Kingston tonight. They played a great mix of salsa, bachata and merengue to a really enthusiastic and friendly crowd. If you haven't seen them, I recommend it. Their website is www.palenke.co.uk. go check them out!

Origins of salsa
If you'd like to know more about salsa, it's origins and the different styles and how they evolved I can recommend Wikipedia. I have included a link to the relevant page to start your research - from there simply click any links that catch your attention and if you find out anything you think other members may find interesting or useful, send me a message and I'll pass it on!

Teenagers dancing
I regularly teach salsa and other latin based dances in schools. Today I taught Merengue to 20 fourteen year olds in Guildford. Highly amusing watching the boys attempting to impress the girls with their shimmies and wiggles - it was worthy of a wildlife documentary! They all seemed to be having fun and there was plenty of laughing. Partner dancing for teenagers is beneficial in many ways. It gives physical benefits such as balance, co-ordination and exercise, but also teaches them valuable life and social skills too - respect for each other, co-operation, communication etc. Personally I feel dancing should be part of everyone's education, but sadly it isn't. However, it is never too late! As an adult I was dragged to my first ever salsa class by a friend (many years ago now) and to be honest I wasn't keen to go, but having got there I loved it and years later here I am now teaching!

Palenke salsa band
Some of our salsa club recently went on a social outing to watch live salsa band Palenke play at Isha Lounge bar in Kingston. It was a fantastic night and we left exhausted but smiling. I have found a clip of palenke playing live on youtube so thought I would share it with you. Click here to see their full band playing live. The Isha Lounge bar is fairly small so they played as a three piece there. We are planning to go and see them again - probably frequently! - so if you're interested in coming along drop me a line.

New class! Tango/Salsa Fusion
We have been so overwhelmed by the enthusiasm of our students for our recent fusion night that we have decided to start running these classes on a weekly basis! Personally, Tango/salsa fusion is rapidly becoming my favorite dance and I think the more people dancing it the better so this extra class will be included in the normal cost of the evening (£7). The classes will be during our Tango practica (7-8pm) every Friday at our Godalming venue. Hope to see you there! :-)

Salsa Fusion
As well as there being many different types of salsa it is also possible to dance a fusion of different dance styles - mixing Cuban salsa with cross body for instance - or even borrowing from a completely different type of dance. We occasionally teach salsa/tango fusion where we take elements of each dance to create something new. From salsa we take the rhythmn and timing of the steps - 123, 567 and from Tango we take the close body position and movements such as sweeps, ochos, boleos and ganchos. The result is a dance that is easier to learn than pure Tango, has a regular defined beat like salsa, but has all the subtle and beautiful intricacies that makes Tango so appealing. If this sounds good to you why not join us? Email us to find out more information and when classes are running.

What type of salsa do you dance?
So you dance salsa, but did you know there are lots of different types of salsa? For example Cuban salsa is danced mainly in a circular motion whereas we teach cross body salsa which is danced in a line or a slot with partners swapping sides rather than circling around. The variations between different salsa styles is due to salsa being adopted by new locations and countries - everywhere salsa is danced it absorbs local influences, whether it be the music, the fusion of other dance styles or even the type of hold. Salsa is danced in many locations so has developed a diverse range of styles within the genre of salsa. Even the timing of the steps can vary - we dance on 1, meaning the first step of our basic move is on the 1st beat of the bar. Some clubs dance on beat 2 as this can give a different feel to the dance. Next time you are watching people salsa see if you can spot any of these variations in their dancing.

Dance with me - film
In case anyone is interested, The Maltings in Farnham is showing 'Dance With Me' (Arty Tango film) this Thursday 30th Sept, matinee and evening performances with Q&A sessions with the director. If you're inspired by the Tango in the film why not come along Friday to our free Tango practica (practise session) 7-8...pm at the Wey Inn, Godalming (GU7 3HJ). Thanks to Ed for letting me know this film was showing.

Dancing as exercise
Salsa dancing is a great way to keep fit. For a start it is an aerobic form of exercise and therefore a great way to burn calories. When you go dancing you are often active for several hours (if you dance with us on Fridays you could be active for up to 5 hours!!) whereas you wouldn't be likely to spend quite as long in the gym or running etc. When you are dancing you are also learning and socialising and therefore you're not really thinking about the fact you are also exercising. Salsa dancing is generally low impact, but it can be high intensity - particularly if you are dancing to fast music. Due to the nature of dancing being done to songs, you get the option to rest approx every 4 mins when the music changes, or find another partner and carry on making salsa dancing a very versatile type of exercise - you can do as little or as much as you feel able to, unlike say, an aerobics class where you are continually going for 1hr regardless. Salsa also helps to tone leg muscles - particularly calf muscles so it really is important to stretch - though I confess I frequently forget myself after a good night's dancing! Oops!

Good dancing may be a sign of male health!
I've always thought this to be true but now it would seem that scientists agree with me! One of our regulars (thanks Adam!) sent me this link to a BBC report about male health and dancing. I thought it may be of interest to some of you. Whilst we are on the subject of male dancing, it is a common misconception that women are more keen to dance than men - we have on numerous occasions had the good fortune to have more men than women at our classes! Well I think it's good fortune as it means as a female dancer I get to have more dances, but that's just me being biased! So ladies, we have spare male dancers - spread the word and come and get them!

Our latest news
The last few weeks have been very busy for . We've introduced our new video salsa lesson notes - if you attend a class with us you get given a password to access videos of those moves on our website at the Recent Moves tab. If any of you fancy having your dancing videoed we are also offering that as a free service - we record you at one of our evenings, edit the video and email you a link to download your video. Please ask if that is something that you would like to do.
We had our Big Bank Holiday Weekend of Dancing, this was our first weekend of events and a big thank you to everyone who came along and made it such great fun. We will definitely do this again sometime.
Our Tango practicas have now been running every Friday before salsa (7-8pm) for a few weeks, these are free practise sessions for dancers to meet and share ideas in a relaxed informal environment, and beginners are welcome too.
We have also now got Pilates classes running every Wednesday 6-7pm at our Godalming venue - The Wey Inn, GU7 3HJ. Pilates is excellent for general health and well being and especially valuable for dancers who wish to improve their balance, posture, flexibility and core strength. Sessions are only £5 and there is no need to book.
If there is anything you think we can do to improve our services to you, please let us know, we're always looking for new ideas!

Footwear for salsa
Do proper dance shoes make a big difference? Well that depends on what you were wearing to dance in before. For example, if you were using trainers to dance salsa in, you may have found turns difficult as your feet would be gripping the floor. A pair of suitable dance shoes would have a slippery sole that would make a huge difference to your ability to do turns. As for ladies' shoes, I have seen countless variations on ladies' feet that I have no idea how they manage to dance in - backless shoes such as flip-flops fall off feet as soon as you try anything more adventurous than a basic step, neck-breakingly high stilletos make balance very tricky, wedges give little or no movement to the foot making steps clumsy and clumpy. But then again, many ladies' shoes are perfectly adequate for dancing in. A heel is fine as long as you are confident walking and turning in them, I personally like a fairly solid low heel to give me good stability and help with balance but that is personal choice. A strap across the front of the foot is good to make sure the shoes stays on mid step, and some degree of flexibility in the sole of the shoe allows your foot to bend and grip the floor better. As long as your shoes are comfortable and don't hinder your dancing you don't need to buy specific dance shoes, but if you feel your shoes are creating problems with your salsa then perhaps a visit to the local dance shoe shop wouldn't go amiss. Godalming has a lovely dance shop called Ballet-Hoo and Farnborough has one called Flashdance.

Trying different dance styles
I am often asked whether it is best to study just one form of dancing at a time rather than swapping between different dance styles. I think it is a very personal decision - some people find it difficult to switch between dances - salsa and jive for example - and others seem to find little problem with the changes. My best advise would be to give it a try and see how you feel. If it confuses you, stick to one dance until you're happy you've mastered it, then take a break from that and try a different dance for a while.
I personally feel the wider your dance experience the better you become as a dancer. If you have several disciplines to choose from you can begin to dance fusions of several dances and that's when your dancing starts to become really creative. But I happen to love fusion so I'm obviously biased! The truth of the matter is that dancing is creative and subjective - unless you are competing, where rules do apply, there is no right and wrong and dance can be formal or free, serious or fun whatever you want it to be. Just find the approach that works for you and enjoy it.

Salsa World Record Attempt on Aug 1st!
One of my students, Ben, has informed me that there is a salsa world record attempt taking place in London this Sunday (1st August 2010).
"Carnaval del Pueblo in Association with London Salsa, is calling all salsa enthusiasts, experts or not, to help us break the Guinness World Record for the “largest salsa dance”."
Unfortunately I am away so I won't be able to make it, but if any of you are interested in taking part or going to watch, the details can be found on their website. If you can make it, have fun and best of luck!!

July 29th 2010 - Moves v Routines
Most people who come to salsa lessons find they get the routine with no problem during the class, but then later after a break, struggle to remember the whole thing and come the next week can't remember even how it started. This is very common. The more you can freestyle the routine the more likely you are to remember it, but remember a whole routine is always going to be tricky. A better approach would be to take individual components from the routine and mix and match them with moves you already know. Have a go next time you come to class - pick your favorite part of the routine and see if you can use just that part in your freestyle - you're much more likely to remember short sections than lengthy combinations of multiple salsa moves. If you struggle to take out just a section please ask us and we'll be happy to help and make suggestions for how you can combine the moves with your own.

July 27th 2010 - The importance of freestyle
I have a lot of students who come to my salsa classes and learn the moves and do really well during the lessons but as soon as the freestyle starts they make a bolt for the door. Freestyle is not the scary thing many new dancers think, it's simply a chance to practice the salsa moves you've learnt with other people. It doesn't matter if you make mistakes - we all do, even experienced dancers get it wrong sometimes. The trick is to allow yourself to be human and mess it up and allow your partner to be human too - if it goes wrong, so what? laugh and try again. If it goes wrong repeatedly you can always come and ask me and I'll be happy to help you. If you don't freestyle and practise the moves the likelyhood of you remembering them tomorrow or next week is pretty slim and your progress will be very slow. A few dances of salsa after class makes all the difference. Your body has what we call muscle memory, which means if you do things several times your body absorbs the information and replicates the action when you need it next - like learning to walk, we stumble and fall as infants but the more we try, the easier it gets! So get brave, stay after class for a couple of dances and see how much quicker your dancing improves.

July 26th 2010 - How to dance with anyone
During today's class we were experimenting with different endings for the same move which has many fantastic benefits - it allows you to learn several moves in one, expanding your repertoire greatly and giving you ideas to play with. It means that when leading, only one move needs to be remembered to give you several potential moves to lead, it keeps it interesting for the ladies as they never know which variation to expect helping them to avoid the temptation of anticipating the move and also it gives the guys the ability to choose the ending appropriate to the person they are dancing with. What do I mean by that? Every dancer knows that different people feel different to dance with - some girls may require a firmer lead, some may be fantastic spinners, others may be great at shines. It is always a good idea to take a moment at the start of a dance with a new partner to lead some basic moves and see how your partner responds rather than robotically launching into your fixed collection of moves. If she is a beginner then you may choose not to progress any further, but stay dancing moves she will be comfortable with. If she is clearly more advanced then you can throw some of your more complex moves her way. Either way having different endings to the same move can be a fantastic resource - lead the same move on both dancers but use the easy end for the beginner and the harder end for the advanced dancer. For the ladies, every dance is different as each new man will have a different set of favorite moves, but as a man dancing only your own group of moves, you will need to find ways to vary your dances and keep yourself engaged and using different endings and moves depending on who you dance with is a great way to achieve this whilst giving your partner a great dance at her individual level.

July 21st 2010 - Charity Dance Night
A big thank you to everyone who came along to our charity dance night last night - I can hardly walk this morning as I was glued to the dance floor all night! Kevin and Karen from Christopher's Smile sent a lovely thank you email - and I would like to send special thanks to those of you who couldn't make it but donated money anyway, and to all the local dance teachers and promoters who put out our leaflets and gave us a mention. Very much appreciated!

July 16th 2010 - Dancing with beginners
Last night I was dancing with a new comer to salsa who said to me that I should probably dance with someone better. From my point of view if I dance with him and help him he'll become one of those better dancers a lot quicker than if he only danced with other beginners. He laughed and said "so actually you're making an investment?" and I laughed and said "yes and I expect you to save me a lot of dances in a year's time!" Seriously though - and here's where I'm going to get on my soap box - so many salsa clubs get a reputation for being cliquey because good dancers will only dance with each other so new comers always feel excluded. Even as an experienced dancer at unfamiliar salsa clubs I've been repeatedly turned down as the person I've asked doesn't recognise me and therefore won't risk dancing with me in case I'm a beginner. I've known dancers who have been having lessons for over two years and have never had a dance with the teacher! I am happy to dance with anyone, so if we've not had a dance yet, I apologise for not having got to you yet - please come and ask me and I'll be happy to have a dance with you regardless of whether you're a salsa god or a beginner with two left feet. After all, we all started out as beginners!

July 15th 2010 - Salsa and stretching
If like me you're dance crazy you've probably suffered from occasional aching muscles after a really good night's salsa dancing. Whilst dancing is a great workout we very rarely think of it as exercise, which means we forget to stretch at the end of the night! Next time you get sore calf muscles from lots of dancing take it as your body's way of reminding you to stretch at the end of each night. At we have stretch cards available for those of you who aren't familiar with stretching - pick one up next time you visit our Godalming or Farnborough salsa venues. Or you can always ask me to show you how - I was an aerobics and gym teacher in a previous life (hence me nagging you all to stretch ;-))! Also, aching muscles from a heavy night's dancing is a really good excuse to treat yourself to a massage... dancing and massage...mmmm heaven!

July 13th 2010 - Beach party
Great fun tonight at our salsa beach party in Farnborough - thank you to everyone who came in beach wear - especially Sam who got free entry for being brave enough to come dancing in bikini top and sarong.
Typically though our beach party fell on the only day this summer where it rained! What are the chances? At least we were indoors and it didn't dampen anyone's spirit - plenty of our usual silliness and everyone got involved dancing with beach balls under one arm. You are all very good sports. :-) Adam - inspired move picking up the inflatable shark half way through the class although decidedly harder dancing salsa with the shark than the beach ball!