Detroit Salsa Dancing Scene
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The Detroit salsa dancing scene is one of the most vibrant and inviting social scenes around. Extending all the way from Windsor to downtown to the surrounding suburbs to Ann Arbor, seven days a week something’s happening. Just show up ready to have fun!
Getting Involved
Its easy to get involved in Detroit salsa, just check out the clubs where salseras and salseros ring the dance floor looking for their next spin. Whether they come as a group, solo or as couples, most dancers are interested in dancing with a lot of different people. Even as a beginner, if you have a nice smile and a good attitude it’s pretty easy to fill up your dance card.
Styling
Stylistically most dancers dance on1 but the clubs and socials play a healthy amount of mambo for the on2 dancers and also throw in some cha-cha, bachata and merengue. One can not fail to mention the Cuban style dancers and you'll regularly see a rueda pop up -- if you know casino de rueda, its generally OK to jump right in. If you're dancing in the "D", it helps to learn several different styles including rumba, jazz, modern dance, hip-hop, samba and cumbia so that you can adapt to any partner you might encounter and any music the DJ or band might play.
Salsa and Everything Else
As in most cities, the scene can be divided into three main categories: Salsa, Latin and Ballroom with the Salsa scene being very focused on the clave-addicted who take lessons and frequent the clubs and socials. Locally, there are bands, performance teams led by studio instructors and some accomplished competitive dancers. Detroit is steadily gaining a reputation as a dance destination and along with visiting instructors and performers, it’s not uncommon to have out of state dancers visit from the East and Midwest hit some of the local events.
The Next Next Thing
Since its fairly universal in the salsa world that with all the turns and crazy patterns dancers don’t drink enough to keep the clubs happy, the best salsa nights are usually during the week or Sundays -- which is why there are a lot of socials. However to all rules there are the exceptions and one needs to remain ever vigilant on the watch for the next big event such as a weekend workshop, new club night opening, or out of town pilgrimage.
Erasing the lines
Age wise and culturally, Salsa is all over the map. The fact that Detroit is very multi-cultural means that salsa is not a Latino thing and it really crosses all the preconceived boundaries. Most of the regular dancers are between 25 and 60 but, even with that said, there are enough exceptions to make it hardly worth a mention.
Summing it up
In the end, Detroit Salsa is about the variety of clubs, events styles and cultures and the familiarity of the hard-core dancers who are out there shaking it night after night.
"90% of life is just showing up" - Woody Allen
Getting Involved
Its easy to get involved in Detroit salsa, just check out the clubs where salseras and salseros ring the dance floor looking for their next spin. Whether they come as a group, solo or as couples, most dancers are interested in dancing with a lot of different people. Even as a beginner, if you have a nice smile and a good attitude it’s pretty easy to fill up your dance card.
Styling
Stylistically most dancers dance on1 but the clubs and socials play a healthy amount of mambo for the on2 dancers and also throw in some cha-cha, bachata and merengue. One can not fail to mention the Cuban style dancers and you'll regularly see a rueda pop up -- if you know casino de rueda, its generally OK to jump right in. If you're dancing in the "D", it helps to learn several different styles including rumba, jazz, modern dance, hip-hop, samba and cumbia so that you can adapt to any partner you might encounter and any music the DJ or band might play.
Salsa and Everything Else
As in most cities, the scene can be divided into three main categories: Salsa, Latin and Ballroom with the Salsa scene being very focused on the clave-addicted who take lessons and frequent the clubs and socials. Locally, there are bands, performance teams led by studio instructors and some accomplished competitive dancers. Detroit is steadily gaining a reputation as a dance destination and along with visiting instructors and performers, it’s not uncommon to have out of state dancers visit from the East and Midwest hit some of the local events.
The Next Next Thing
Since its fairly universal in the salsa world that with all the turns and crazy patterns dancers don’t drink enough to keep the clubs happy, the best salsa nights are usually during the week or Sundays -- which is why there are a lot of socials. However to all rules there are the exceptions and one needs to remain ever vigilant on the watch for the next big event such as a weekend workshop, new club night opening, or out of town pilgrimage.
Erasing the lines
Age wise and culturally, Salsa is all over the map. The fact that Detroit is very multi-cultural means that salsa is not a Latino thing and it really crosses all the preconceived boundaries. Most of the regular dancers are between 25 and 60 but, even with that said, there are enough exceptions to make it hardly worth a mention.
Summing it up
In the end, Detroit Salsa is about the variety of clubs, events styles and cultures and the familiarity of the hard-core dancers who are out there shaking it night after night.
"90% of life is just showing up" - Woody Allen
