u/nomadegyptian

Sometimes in a social, you'd hang out at a corner thinking these group of people are great and would be awesome to dance with, only you're met with cold shoulders because apparently you're new, or they're unfamiliar with you but most importantly you didn't know these two were dating/are boyfriend girlfriend/married. So you had to somehow make friends with the guy first?? It's somehow also you're fault for asking his lady? What are you two bozos doing in socials then, get out of here and go dance on dates, travel the world and dance amongst yourselves lol.

Me hot take.

Like voting, sooner or later, you have an impact even if you abstain because life isn’t a vacuum, and every action and inaction influences environments.

Do not get me wrong, everyone and anyone can decline a dance even guys. Same goes for asking for a dance.

If they don’t like the person (not because of safety, comfort, or boundaries, personality, hygiene) BUT base declines on look and age/race a scene declines faster. (Unfamiliarity too but I think this can be a pass based on your skill level). All in all they only have themselves and it looks snobby.

The best socials were built by people who made others feel welcome enough to come back. My friends and I see socials as a way to really improve and be in tune with yourself both physically, mentally and all of it. Salsa isn't like tango where you're pasted with one another the whole time. If you're still a snob or complain after almost a decade, unless if it's a heinous guy that does that stupid absurd floor level dip, then your dancing for you, sure but what for?

I organize socials from time to time, and one thing I’ve noticed over the years is that scenes die when people treat socials like VIP sections instead of social dancing. We'd have the socialite divas and star guys who will almost always hog a spot often front of the DJ but then just dance with people they know and choose, big plus for their insta highlights. Everyone notices eventually, and honestly, it gets old fast. They don't care as long as they look good and can have a good looking post. Older ladies and guys do this too.

Sometimes cliques join and dance with themselves this is far better than the divas or star guys, but in my years organizing, the community mending matters most. Declines and boundaries are completely valid, nobody owes anyone a dance. But even basic etiquette still matters. If your scene is small, your attitude affects the entire atmosphere whether you realize it or not. I've had welcoming, great social dance etiquette and technique guys ask a new crashing clique for a dance, there was no reason for a decline. They all just danced amongst themselves, four ladies doing shines amongst themselves, this is not bad but we just wanted to welcome you being first time in this social.

Promoters and organizers need to understand this too and start putting community first. A lot of events are too focused on short-term money, which creates disconnects especially with venues. Most salsa people are cheap, most barely drink and most come to dance. But if you build an actual community, where salsa becomes part culture, part language, part lifestyle, then people stay and money goes consistent naturally.

Sure we got the introverts, sure we got the inexperienced, but you grow in each social, you get to know yourself, put savvy defenses without looking or projecting too much. But the majority of people who evolved with salsa socials get better eventually in personality not just dance. The ones who are stuck brings a scene down.

Curious how others see this.

The la ale is started by the singer herself.

Then her band joins along for the ala ala. Then she generally sings the majority of the song.

It's a pretty recent song, pop salsa like. Her voice is very distinct, not Celia Cruz type. Can anyone please help?

If a bad has son in their name, highly likely they're a good dance salsa band.

Went to events advertised as salsa social dancing, some bands just can't play salsa and resort to either cha cha or traditional bachata, understandable, salsa songs are the hardest to compose live.

Some bands are too proud, I would also be whenever I'm part of it, but you may end up standing for ten to fifteen minute stretches scratching your head because they're announcing bad members, how they're thankful, and now they have to mention every single country the band members are from, and then also the patron's. Some events with live bands are just not it.

Musicians newer to salsa music join in but could dilute the song confusing dancers further.

A lot of band members do not really care about dancing salsa or do they know style differences. They're just there to play. But if you stare at them longer, they might get the hint, I know because I started playing in salsa bands before getting serious in dance.

Half of the time, live bands are just not geared for both social dancing and giving a concert. Salsa songs are hard to play live so having songs 5 to 8 minutes past means fewer songs and arrangements to have to play. I wish this was more normalized.

In events with live bands, look for a resident salsa DJ headlining the event, they might be your saving grace depending on who or what they play.

I love salsa bands anyway. When everything just clicks where everything is organic, it's an amazing experience.

Almost always, a super excited social dance participant walks over the instrument table, we usually will have maracas, guiro and cowbell. Almost always a dancer but non musician or new dancer or new person in the scene will pick one up and do their thing. Most of the time it's not bothersome, a dancer with more salsa music knowledge will even show them how to do something like a guiro properly. But almost always you will have a random dude pick up cowbell and also another will pick up clave but rarely because they wouldn't know what to do with a pair of sticks. But almost always with the cowbell they will just start hitting it with some sort of their own rhythm or some super excited tac tik tik tac tac tik tik tik tik.

I'm honestly also not a musician so I don't think I have the right to tell him to hit it properly or to show him but it's not like it is a easy pattern to make. Maybe if more people bring out a clave they could pattern nicely with it, because clave is simply 3-2 or 2-3. But it can get confusing because the cowbell is almost always usually the loudest even if someone is playing a clave. They will just go crazy with the cowbell.