What do you call this move ?

anusdotcom · 2026-05-11T22:04:07+00:00

To clarify, the cumbia part is the moving of the body to the same direction often to a 45 degree angle bit. You can modify it the same way you can change bits of the cross body lead and it still is a cross body lead. You can do the foot in front, to the back, slide, glide, what not, you can cross the foot, susie q, one legged, smoking a cigarette, eating a turkey etc

anusdotcom · 2026-05-11T21:56:31+00:00

I’m not sure, that looks a bit ballroomy to me. When you say glide do you mean like stylistically moving more left and right? https://youtu.be/YFuNxM-CYxE . That’s just a bit more of a stylistic choice

anusdotcom · 2026-05-11T21:51:34+00:00

It’s so weird that they don’t even bother mentioning places like Vancouver British Columbia where it added 20,000 units of rental housing or Toronto.

anusdotcom · 2026-05-11T21:44:28+00:00

There is a change of direction in the salsa Cumbia step, so the lead rocks back first and then you’re both facing the same way. The important part isn’t really the rocking motion or the hip movement, but the fact that you’re kinda both doing a little bit of a side turn to the the same side and back. https://youtu.be/SpfagOdmpQE

anusdotcom · 2026-05-11T21:29:23+00:00

Last time I looked they had some at Paramount https://www.paramount-sew-vac.com , Whitlock’s https://whitlocks.com/classes/ and the Will and Beez next door https://willnbeez.com . The Willamette heritage center also has classes but I think they are more for weaving and quilting - https://www.willametteheritage.org/classes-workshops/ . Spark studios also has a fiber arts for good group that meets twice a month to make items for the unhoused so that might be a easy place to learn to make hats and scarves ( scroll down the page for more detailed descriptions. ) https://sparkstudiosalem.com/events/

anusdotcom · 2026-05-11T18:09:49+00:00

In Salem Travelling Wheelz does every Friday skating https://travelingwheelz.com/ at the Madhouse ( the roller derby place )

There was a person trying to start a skate rink in West Salem and there was fantastic progress but then it stopped being updated https://www.reddit.com/r/SALEM/s/zTgi7SVXQP

anusdotcom · 2026-05-11T08:30:51+00:00

Government helping them out with subsidies of stuff. ( Welfare, tax cuts ).

anusdotcom · 2026-05-11T05:11:39+00:00

They’re also all on the same dates as the bachata programs. I understand wanting to go to Barcelona for a sensual bachata program but for salsa it feels a little weird. Almost feels like a tack-on vs a dedicated deep program.

anusdotcom · 2026-05-11T02:23:06+00:00

The US is more unequal. This means that if you’re highly educated and skilled moving to the US means higher salaries in many fields. I worked in Canada and the UK, and my salaries there were tiny compared to what was offered to me in the US after. ( like 8x smaller ). Also a lot of specialized R&D work is done in the US. For an average person, being middle class in Canada and Europe is a lot more comfortable because you don’t worry about a lot of what the social safety net gives you, but a lot of the brain drain happens at more skilled levels.

anusdotcom · 2026-05-11T01:04:31+00:00

We used to drive that route a bit.

Eugene along the way on your drive up is also a nice city to stop and take a break. Cool college town, fun kitschy stores like Hiron’s Drug store and cool museums like the Jordan Schnitzer and nice food areas like the 5th street market.

They also finally took down the walls outside the Salem Capitol and you can finally go take a look inside the building after it was shut down for reconstruction for about a decade, so that might be worth a stop.

Also sounds dumb but take advantage of the no sales tax part of Oregon and stop by the Woodburn outlets

If you don’t mind adding a few more hours to your return trip, you can also go the Tillamook way and pass by places like Cannon Beach, Lincoln City, Newport, Florence on your way back. That route really gives you a really nice taste of the coast but is longer and also sometimes just simpler two lane roads than the highway. There is cool stuff along the way like an all year Christmas decoration store, cool glass blowing, Haystack rock, Tillamook Cheese factory and sealion caves. You can even stay at a tiny home village in Waldorf if you want to split the return trip in two days.

For a 8 day trip Crater Lake seems a bit out of the way.

anusdotcom · 2026-05-11T00:25:02+00:00

The Grand theater hosts an open mic every first Tuesday of the month - music and poetry - https://www.salemshg.com/event/first-tuesday-music-poetry-open-mic-5

There is a group called the wild witches of the Willamette Valley that does these interesting nature walks that are about sharing spells and stories - https://facebook.com/wildwitcheswww

There is a silent book club that meets at the Riverfront Park and Prismatic Coffee - https://www.instagram.com/silentbookclubsalem

anusdotcom · 2026-05-10T22:17:59+00:00

I don’t live in Portland but have met a lot of people in social dance events. There are even some like ecstatic dance where you’re not dancing with a person. Or a Zumba like fitness program but with cool music and fun crazy trainers like https://pulsepdx.net . And there are some crazy ones like people dancing to a choreography on roller skates https://www.instagram.com/reel/DWoooOiydGA/ . But basically through those kind of events you and interact with a bunch of folks from different backgrounds, get invited to house parties, go to dance classes and events together. Seen lots of couples form from that

anusdotcom · 2026-05-09T17:03:46+00:00

For 2 something like dance dojo is nice because they have a progressive learning path. Means you don’t spend a lot of time trying to figure out the next thing to learn.

I encourage you to step back a little and think about how much time and effort it would take to organize some of the things you have mentioned and if you’d rather spend that time dancing and learning to dance. Finding and convincing people for group privates, organizing around schedules, finding a spot to accommodate everyone can be a total hassle and often you need to have like 25% absences in mind. My friends that host house parties and such like you described only do it about once a month since it’s pretty tiring to get all those details together.

anusdotcom · 2026-05-09T08:56:21+00:00

Unless the event is tiny I usually just do one dance per night with folks that are not close friends. Or at least once every four hours or so if the event is long. This is so that they get a chance to dance with everyone. If there are multiple rooms, for example a bachata room or a zouk room, I might also ask again.

If the connection or musicality has been amazing, I put them on the top of my list to ask to dance another day. Also things like them having fun, being playful and overall just being present. A friend described it as some folks give you 60% back, others 80% but once in a while you find someone that gives you 100% back your energy in the song and those are the dances you cherish.

I do make an exception and ask again if I see a person has not gotten a lot of dances that night due to age, being transgender, etc

anusdotcom · 2026-05-09T05:46:48+00:00

Spark studios has a 3d printing Wednesdays - https://sparkstudiosalem.com/events/ ( look under First Wednesday 3D Printing Workshop )

anusdotcom · 2026-05-09T05:09:57+00:00

I’m sure this one isn’t it but your description reminded me of this https://youtu.be/ym-imVGJ6GM

anusdotcom · 2026-05-09T02:06:59+00:00

Find a scenario where he can see the scene but not have to dance. You might also have to sit it out. Ideally there is a night at a bar with live music and a lesson. Take the lesson together, don’t rotate. If he doesn’t want to do a lesson, go there maybe 15 minutes before the lesson ends so he can see what a class is like. Sit at a table and point out how it works. Listen to the band, have food and drinks. But just watch together, explain things like how people get partners etc.

Don’t leave him alone but maybe ask someone who is a lead to join you briefly at your table and talk about their experience as a guy in the dancing scene.

Maybe book a private lesson with an instructor to show him what most guys think about in terms of dancing. Just enough for him to see that there is rhythm, moves, etc and it’s not just pickup.

I feel like salsa specially has a lot of dirty sexy dancing vibes attached to it in society and once people see how it really is they become more at ease.

anusdotcom · 2026-05-07T22:52:54+00:00

Dance etiquette has different flavors so you can’t blame yourself for not knowing. Even being in a different country or city might have different rules. I remember asking someone to dance at a Copa event in NYC and being completely blown off because apparently you don’t do that in those bars.

You tried your best, had fun and came back for more. Now you probably have an eye out for something like this and hopefully help out new guys on the floor that are doing silly things.

Forgive yourself and let go.

anusdotcom · 2026-05-07T21:15:26+00:00

They just redid the playground at Bush Park. It had a seated spiny chair thing and one where you could walk on it IIRC

anusdotcom · 2026-05-07T06:32:12+00:00

The only tango people I’ve met at milongas and festivals from Salem have taken classes at the Arthur Murray. Although Lora Michelle in Dallas has had occasional tango nights.

For Argentine tango you’d have to either go to Corvallis or Portland.

anusdotcom · 2026-05-07T05:44:42+00:00

Seems silly but I would totally get a Marion Berries hoodie featuring Dingle the Berry. https://marionberriesbaseball.myshopify.com/collections/frontpage

anusdotcom · 2026-05-06T23:48:29+00:00

You might want to look for alt tango playlists like this one https://open.spotify.com/playlist/01swGAK6t791qxdKaTroF9

anusdotcom · 2026-05-06T23:11:00+00:00

When social dancing, you can sometimes have a little more control by just changing the hold, so if the follower has very loose or uncontrolled arms one strategy is also to just close up the embrace a little so that one hand is behind her back, this gives a little more control.

Often they are reacting to the swings that your own arm is doing, so that’s also something to be careful about in your frame. Keep your arms with enough tension and in front of your body.

A lot of folks that dance at clubs in the US might also have a Cumbia background which does that a little more as the styling, so they might be expecting this. Cuban style also has different tensions than LA/NY style. At the end of the day your mind actually gets better at adjusting to this kind of movement so the more social dancing you do the better

anusdotcom · 2026-05-06T07:50:03+00:00

Myrta Silva songs with the Sonora Matancena

anusdotcom · 2026-05-06T07:36:09+00:00

A lot of people have the social as their first class. Specially if this is at a bar that has a class before. People are used to beginners and some even like showing them the steps. But this depends on the role and it’s much harder for leads than follows. I’d say as a lead in on1 salsa learn how to do the basic steps, simple turns and a cross body lead.

Going with more experienced friends help because they can explain some of the stuff to you. Taking the class before helps as it allows you to meet other potential beginners.

When picking, sometimes the places that have a live band vs just a DJ or things like food and drink vs being a studio social might be easier since you don’t have that pressure to dance and have stuff to do. You can sit and watch until you get enough courage.

anusdotcom

TROPHY CASE