4 Minor Mistakes, Maybe, But Come to Think of Their Impact...

I have attended a couple of Salsa events and on most occasions, one thing is always crystal clear on the first glance on the dance floor: followers (especially ladies) are twice the number of leads (for my case gents). 

The constant number of dancers lined on the sidewalls or sitting around the round tables confirms my observation.

And the look embedded on their faces says it all; they wish more leads appear from nowhere and even worse, they wish they hadn’t come. 

In as much as I hate to say it, part of the predicament can be blamed on them or their predecessors, for things they did intentionally or inadvertently. 

As nature dictates, the number of gentlemen should equal that of ladies, assuming all conditions are applied equally for both parties. Unfortunately, in most cases, that’s not the case since gents suffer severe challenges inclined to them and since most are not always ready to face it, that marks the end of their budding future in Salsa.

Having said that, the gents who persist and keep up the Salsa spirit eventually become amazing dancers every lady would die to dance with. 

It goes without saying that a big part of being a better Salsa dancer is played by the individual. 

However, situations and environment they are exposed to can as well deliver significant blows to their passion and existence as well.

Allow me to address followers mainly as the ladies and the leads as gents although we still know the inverse is true.

Let’s have a closer look at some of the mistakes leads and followers do and their impact on the beginners as well as remedies to them:

A.    The followers
If you do not do the following then of think of others who do.

i) Turning down a polite dance request blatantly with no reasonable reason.
Most advanced and even intermediate followers don’t do this but there is this lot that proudly does it. 

Unfortunately, most beginners encounter them. 

Sadly, I know this from from experience.

A beginner lead will request for a dance, with no strings attached, but the lady turns it down and immediately goes ahead to merrily accept a request from another dancer.

With that kind of ‘welcome’, it is the last time you will see them on the Salsa hall and sooner you will be complaining about the inadequate number of leads available.

We all know it is the ladies decision on whether to dance or not to with a certain dancer, but in any case you have to turn down a dance request, do it with some level of decency. 

At least give a reasonable reason so that you don’t end up chasing or hurting others feelings or confidence in the process.

ii) Giving completely negative compliments to the beginner leads.
Know this, the beginner knows he is still learning and that’s why he is trying his best to impress you with those ‘crude’ moves as you may call them. 

Serving it hot to him on his face seriously puts him off and kills his motivation and that is the last thing you want to do.
It is completely normal to cringe and frown at every mistake the new lead does but at least make sure to keep that encouraging smile and give encouraging compliments as well. 

Better still, correct them politely where you can.

B. The leads
The leads, in this case, are probably those who have gone past that beginner level and are trying to raise higher.

i) Bragging about your ‘lady appealing prowess’ to beginners
Let’s deal with it head-on, we both know that any experienced Salsa lead especially the gents who commands attention when dancing is a sweetheart to the ladies on the dance floor. 

First off, he knows how to appease them with his expertise and they crave to have a dance with him.
The exact inverse is what is for a beginner. 

Now, bragging about that ‘acquired ability’ can be a passion ‘killer’ for them. In other words, you are telling them that they have failed and dancing is only for a few individuals and not for them.

We completely have no problem with your prowess but why don’t you put your ability to good use by convincing a lady to dance with that neglected beginner. 

This may seem like a miniature act but you literally brought heaven down to them and gave their passion the proper kickstart.

ii) Failure to encourage the discouraged new leads
Most of us just get content with the fact that we are up and going in the course of learning Salsa as far as we are concerned. 

If we all can remember, you can attest to the fact that someone once had to bend down a little to give us the kind of motivation or advice that made sure we stuck to dancing. 

Most don’t bother about that beginner who recently suffered a rejection and respond to it as a normal thing.

It is always a good gesture to look over your shoulder and give the new lead a pat on their shoulder with encouraging words and actions. 

This not only eases the burden off their shoulders but they also have someone to look up to and consult when things go astray.

In conclusion...
It is the high time we took a collective responsibility to make sure Salsa dancing is the best experience even for starters. 

Since there is no limit number to the number of people that should know and join Salsa, I strongly believe we should give everyone an equal, or rather better opportunity to learn and grow. 

If this was done, then Salsa dancing halls and events would surely be the best experiences for everyone. 

It’s not like I’m implying there is no fun, but we both sure as shooting that there are lots of people out there who crave to learn but challenges like those above put them off. 

The be all and end all of Salsa: have fun and let others have fun too.

The above are just but a few of the experiences most go through. 
What are the other sad experiences you went through as a beginner? Be sure to share them with us in the comments section below. 

FYI: Just in case you haven't read: this is the first episode in the series, Story of my Salsa life.