Insulting
Two things happened last night that put a crappy taste in my mouth.
1) You can't have any fun without some creepy dude grabbing your stinger.
2) I'm pretty loyal to the YA group, many of whom also organize the Sky Mambo Project. I am a loyal Harem attendee - mostly because the music is really great, I'm comfortable being myself and I can have a good time without the sleezy pick-up bar atmosphere.
So this woman started walking around last night handing out free passes to a club that's starting Latin nights on Thursdays - ya'll know who she is.
"We are looking for serious dancers," she says. "We will be playing salsa, merengue, bachata and reggaeton. We've done the shake your booty to reggaeton before, but what we want are 'real' dancers."
First, I bristled at the fact that she was handing out these cards at the YA social hoping people would attend her Latin night on Thursdays - the same night I go to Harem. No, I don't want people leaving Harem to go there and possibly redirect dancers away from such a good thing (but that's me being all overprotective).
But more importantly, the cute middle aged lady I was sitting next to looked at me after she left and said, "Gee I must be too old, she didn't give me one of those."
I said, "That's probably true, but you wouldn't be treated that way if you go to Harem."
I'm not saying people can't cross-pollinate and enjoy a variety of places to dance, but be an equal-opportunity venue. If you want serious, responsible dancers, then stop inviting only the people you "think" fit the mold.
If I go there and it feels like another sleezy pick-up joint, I won't be back.
I say, choose your patrons wisely, missy.
Salsa dancers really don't fit a mold...
Obviously salseros come from everywhere, have all different looks and are all ages.
I'm all for having people open new clubs for salsa, but it happens over and over that instead of developing a new market and promoting to people who are not currently in the salsa scene, they just go after another club's customers. Not very productive and it ensures that the scene won't grow. Better to have one great club than two or three mediocre clubs that don't make enough money to keep going. Even better to have 5 great clubs making enough money that 5 more open.
I didn't meet her, but I hope she has a plan to grow the salsa scene, not just dillute the audience from a club that is already helping to grow the scene.
Geo-
A little more info
I actually had a conversation with the lady promoting the new Latin night. Forgive me for forgetting her name. She seemed pretty sincere and approached a variety of dancers irregardless of age. She was amazed at the number of dancers & skills of dancers. She had a lot of positive things to say. She wasn't the only one handing out promotional material for other venues & clubs. I was approached by a number of people with news of where new classes were being offered, other socials, & clubs. Plus there is literature available on the tables at entry.This is something I guess I have gotten used to over the years and did not get the impression she wanted as much to steal business as to offer dancers more options since geographically we are so spread out. Isn't that what we asked for in the past? I think YA Salsa would like to maintain a non-biased approach to dancing venues and seems to give equal opportunities for instructors, club promoters, social organizers to give a little speal.
I, too, have my favorites. However, I have been known to dance at a variety of places...even in the streets of Detroit. I, like you, cross off the sleezy places quickly.
Sharon
Not Insulted, concerned
I happened upon my first YASalsa social in March of this year. I was attracted to the music, atmosphere, and mostly the ethnic, racial and age diversity of the crowd. With that said, being in the "mature woman" category I was not approached by the young lady distributing hand-picked invites to some seemingly new hot Salsa spot. Insulted? No. Concerned? Yes. I'm concerned for the not so voluptuous, tight abded young women who may have been snubbed by this person. We, more mature women, have the wisdom and life experience to know what this is all about. Covert actions, such as described above could have a deleterious effect on our younger female dancers.
The spirit of dancing will die if we exclude certain groups (old women). Who will be there to mentor and nurture our young maidens if we Old Crone's are left for the rocking chair?