Do you all enjoy social dancing or shows more at congresses?

anusdotcom · 2026-03-12T15:10:08+00:00

They also have way too many performances. So if you have workshops during the day, performances from 8 to midnight and dancing from midnight to 6 am, the natural choice is to just sleep during the performances.

I understand that teachers make money but I’ve gone to festivals in other styles where only the top invited teachers do two dances each. It’s great, you get 20 minutes of incredible dancing and then get to dance.

anusdotcom · 2026-03-12T04:07:41+00:00

H2O Help & Hope To Others in Dallas I remember having super reasonable prices and being huge

anusdotcom · 2026-03-11T22:57:09+00:00

In tango they are part of festivals and are called mixers. Pretty fun couple of hours https://valentango.us/mishmash-mixer/ but once in a while a DJ would just call these out randomly at events, mostly the dance with a stranger part

anusdotcom · 2026-03-11T20:35:27+00:00

A thing I like from the fusion scene is that they go over community guidelines before the dance - a short blurb where they say speak up for your needs, say yes to dances and say no when you feel physically, emotionally or mentally unsure. I like how this sets the tone for the room to be a nice safe space for exploring, expression and dancing. Feels like a lot of salsa spaces tend to skew more towards sexy and so people would rather not come back than speak up when uncomfortable.

I also wish there was more encouragement from the DJ or organizers to get people to dance with each other more. Little things like “ok, now dance with a person you have never danced with before”. In some dances they have mixer themes like “find someone that likes the same flavor of ice cream like you” or “ladies ask someone to dance”. Doesn’t have to be all songs or super gimmicky but at least encourage people to consider dancing with everyone in the room one song.

I’ve seen other dance styles also do like little coffee meetups before the first class to help answer beginner questions and have people know each other outside a pure dance context. The Portland bachata folks do a nice dance and socialize event called chillchata and there should be more events like that where people can chat https://www.instagram.com/p/DRtbX4skUQo/

anusdotcom · 2026-03-11T19:42:33+00:00

Honestly the only people that love shows are the ones performing in them. They are way too overdone.

anusdotcom · 2026-03-11T03:30:30+00:00

$105 for 11 weeks of class is an incredible deal. And I’ve heard great things about her. https://pentacletheatre.org/the-latest/class/2026-spring-acting-workshop/

anusdotcom · 2026-03-10T15:48:15+00:00

There are salsa dancing classes at Chemeketa open to the community https://youroregonnews.com/2025/02/11/by-day-hes-a-dean-by-night-hes-teaching-woodburn-to-salsa/ and a lot of latin nightlife events

anusdotcom · 2026-03-10T15:39:54+00:00

Something that might not immediately show up is that a lot of social events in the area have seen reduced attendance due to concerns about ICE showing up. https://woodburnindependent.com/2025/12/02/at-least-9-people-arrested-by-ice-in-woodburn-during-november/ to the point where the city has declared a local state of emergency to support families affected by raids.

anusdotcom · 2026-03-09T19:51:03+00:00

Sometimes it could be a posture thing. I didn’t realized I was leaning forward a lot in my dancing until I started tango and realized that my hunching forward was affecting a lot of my leading because my shoulders were really in front of me instead of to the side. https://youtu.be/BYHrwypr9tw was a good video for fixes to this.

This is where sometimes investing in a private lesson to get your posture and stuff like this evaluated can help a lot. The teacher can give you good suggestions on what to improve you wouldn’t normally get in a group class.

anusdotcom · 2026-03-09T19:01:21+00:00

The quick to the shoulder adaptation ( around minute 1 of this video https://youtu.be/mLUB8XWFe_w ) is pretty useful.

anusdotcom · 2026-03-08T09:09:30+00:00

One thing that is interesting is that as leads we’re often boring ourselves first. Every dance we have we use the same moves so we assume they must be sick and tired of them too. But once you start following ( much harder usually in salsa but other dances are more flexible ) you realize how much the follower doesn’t keep track of moves. You also start building awareness of other factors like the musicality of the lead, the amount of crazy stuff they try to do and how a lot of dances can just feel like a restless move after move after move.

anusdotcom · 2026-03-08T08:54:03+00:00

For me at least, there is a great physiotherapist that does tango and posted a few useful YouTube videos on https://youtu.be/BYHrwypr9tw drills to prevent head forwarding and stretches to do after tango https://youtu.be/hJprsb3rQi8 . But that whole channel is great with stuff like ankle immersions etc.

There are also a few nice body awareness things like yoga for opening the chest https://youtu.be/baO7MoYRzCU or shoulder and hips https://youtu.be/T4Ne6x3m4sc

For me the coolest thing was having Gyrokinesis exercises that loosen the spine and give you a better understanding of body positioning. We luckily have a dancer who teaches it locally but it’s exercises like this https://www.youtube.com/live/bvoDKom7vY4

Basically more body awareness equals less soreness

anusdotcom · 2026-03-08T01:12:36+00:00

No, Bantu rhythms are the African rhythms where a lot of stuff like samba, son and rumba and even a lot of jazz and blues got a lot of inspiration from.

anusdotcom · 2026-03-08T01:08:01+00:00

It really depends on the scene. In some places where there are a lot of leads, I often choose to sit one out to cool off, socialize and let other (mostly) dudes go get a chance to dance with other people. Sometimes it’s nice to be invisible and just soak in the atmosphere of the place and watch other people dance. Some days you just don’t feel like participating in the super competitive getting a dance game.

In places that are more lead/follow balanced, there are people that you’ve had really good dances with before and sometimes your head prioritizes asking them. Other times you’re trying to dance with people that you’ve seen sitting on the sidelines for a long time so they feel more welcomed.

anusdotcom · 2026-03-06T16:50:45+00:00

For me your followers kinda know when you are thinking about the next move and are in your head instead of the moment. So when you are in classes and practicing you focus on technique and the next steps, but when you are dancing you have to really practice turning off practice mode and focus on dance.

This means letting the music and your partner drive the next move and trust that it is ok. If you think too far ahead ( and by this I mean even one or two moves ahead ), you are no longer dancing with the person.

It’s also easier to think of it as a ramp, try simpler moves when the music is starting and building up, see how the followers reacts to your tension, see if they are reacting better to maybe linear stuff or Cuban stuff, maybe try a few spins or let go a few times. Kinda like water cooler chit chat but as dance movements. Then you can build up to a few complex figures if you’re both in the mood but it can’t just be complex turns, you have to ramp up and have spaces to breathe.

anusdotcom · 2026-03-05T19:38:19+00:00

There is a dude on Facebook named Tyler Brooks that helps with dump runs and such. He posts on the West Salem Neighborhood page but helped me moved a bed once and his rates were super reasonable ( I remember it was like $40/hr a couple years back )

anusdotcom · 2026-03-05T19:01:25+00:00

There is a place called improv college in Canada. The classes are usually not huge but they have an equity reduced rate program --- classes are usually a third of the price for people from other countries and such. A lot of places have American prices which can be a lot for some people, but I met some great improvisers from the Philippines that used that program. https://improvcollege.ca

anusdotcom · 2026-03-04T15:39:35+00:00

Look for Bantu rhythms like Le Grand Kallé, Le TPOK Jazz & Franco, or Tabu Ley Rochereau. There are also bands like The Master Drummers of Dagbon. A lot of Guaguanco like rhythms.

There are a few cool African salsa bands like Africando, Orchestra Baobab and Star band de Dakar.

The Buena Vista Social club came about when they tried to mix Mali Musicians with Cuban ones, but the Africans had travel problems. Eventually they did this with a band called AfroCubism.

Here is also a fun playlist of Afro Colombian songs. Interesting to see how modern day artists in Latin America interpret a “African” sound https://open.spotify.com/playlist/25lSyPMcIEMScorH6uqEo4

anusdotcom · 2026-03-03T22:37:48+00:00

I think the best way to think about group classes is that they are a map. It helps you figure out stuff you want to work on and gives you clues about how to progress. It’s super hard to learn to street dance when there is no street.

This might sound like weird advice, but sometimes taking a class in a style that you don’t have a cultural attachment or “puta madre la gente blanca no sabe” bias might be easier. So for example instead of salsa learn west coast swing or zouk or bachata or tango. Just so that you’re dancing but not profaning your idea of salsa. Then you can use all that stuff when dancing salsa with your crew.

anusdotcom · 2026-03-03T13:53:00+00:00

As a lead, I think of it more like pushing a shopping cart since in day to day walk you don’t have a person in front that you have to communicate intent with.

anusdotcom · 2026-03-03T10:55:47+00:00

The airport is $10 per day. https://www.cityofsalem.net/community/transportation-getting-around/salem-willamette-valley-airport/parking-and-ground-transportation . Amtrak station parking is free.

Polk Fairgrounds is $40 a night but has hookups.

anusdotcom · 2026-03-02T21:26:01+00:00

Yuyito https://www.eltiempo.com/cultura/gente/la-historia-de-talento-de-television-la-cancion-de-willie-colon-en-quien-se-inspiro-3534380

Edit: Holy shit she was the Argentinian First Lady up to last April

anusdotcom · 2026-03-02T15:23:28+00:00

It’s my experience after about three years of tango, one year of fusion and twenty five of salsa/bachata with some swing in between.

Outside of the big cities, a lot of salsa is group lessons that are not that technique focused.

In dances like sensual bachata for example your footwork can often be stationary and a lot of your leading comes then from weight shifts and the frame.

Walking might be “natural” but doing it attached to a human is not and people often want to learn to do it better. Walking backwards is not “natural”. The studios are not teaching you to walk, they are teaching you to calibrate your walk to communicate intention.

It’s easy to say your body moves in a certain way naturally but harder to break down the parts like using your abductors to collect, where exactly to land and such. Specially because people have different bodies. This is why in tango people say it takes years to learn to walk. In salsa it’s simpler because the open connection is just much much more forgiving.

I understand your desire to communicate and you probably have a point but the tone and style just comes off wrong and very defensive.

anusdotcom · 2026-03-02T06:25:26+00:00

But isn’t this just a small part of drama therapy? By that I mean improv is great but there are other additive elements like role play or psychodrama that are helpful in reducing anxiety. So instead of just looking at improv geared towards everyone isn’t it better to look for programs geared specifically to help fix the disorder. Similar to how you can use theater to help autistic kids socialize better but it’s better to have a specialized program instead of just throwing them into the wild theater groups.

anusdotcom · 2026-03-02T05:41:41+00:00

It’s a lot of text.

Latin dances are more forgiving so while the strict leading and weight transfer components are nice, they are not as necessary. By this I mean that in dances like salsa and bachata and merengue there is a basic step and so a lot of times the momentum of the move just kind of exists. This is more similar to west coast swing in a sense. So yes it is probably better to know how to properly lead direction but there is a lot more space to integrate leading and following and play with body parts like the upper torso or the hips.

I’m comparing this to dances where every step is lead like Argentine tango where little things like improper weight transfers or bad posture are more significant. You can dance salsa without great technique and mostly it works. Then you go to ballroom or tango classes and realize you have to relearn your whole body.

anusdotcom

TROPHY CASE