Commentary

I was looking at the salsa class information and noticed that the class information has not been updated since last year. Much of that information has changed.

I went to the Chicago Salsa Festival this past weekend, and thought you Detroit salseros might be curious what it was like... it was AWESOME! Unlike the February Congress, there were HUNDREDS of people as opposed to THOUSANDS. Because of this, one could actually see and hear the instructors; the performances were more intimate; the social dance floor, although full to capacity, was not so full as to induce injuries... basically, it was a wonderful experience.

Mother Nature. With us or against us? Just when it seemed like our biggest worry would be the heat, the Michigan weather changed it up and sent the high winds, torrential rain, fallen trees and power outages. On the upside, the storm cooled things down like nothing else and didn't deter more than a handful of the dancers who have been anticipating this Super salsa weekend.

We call them super salsa weekends because they are truly big weekends for YA. Months of planning and effort from many volunteers goes into delivering top notch instructors and performers with unique and interesting styles and talents to our collective doorstep here in Detroit. Offsetting the cost of these super socials is where the majority of proceeds from the regular socials end up. The more support and enthusiasm at the other events, the more encouraged and capable we are of delivering the super events.

The super social weekend started off with a fun impromptu performance with Johnny, Andres and Laura Geldys at The Harem. Johnny and Andres demonstrated their 2:1 partnering style where they simultaneously dance with the same partner -- pretty slick and of course kudos to Laura for being so exceptionally adaptable. After a fun night there, things started early Saturday with a full day of workshops at the new Jewish Community Center location. After that, it was on to the Canton-Plymouth High School Salsa club's social and then if that were not enough dancing a final stop at the Dance Revolution Serious About Salsa social. Then came Sunday...

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Part 3 of Awareness

What is “your space”? For want of a better definition, your space is the area that is more or less reasonable for you and your partner to use on the dance floor. Generally speaking in club dancing, that space is a rectangle with a line running down the center where you and your partner stick. In formal terms, this is called “slot-dancing” and it is generally the best way to make a predictable and comfortable dance space. The key for dancing in the slot is drawing these imaginary lines -- North, South, East & West -- and following them without fail.

The Slot

Probably everyone has heard of "the slot", but not many of us dance with a real awareness of it. Most styles of salsa dictate that you move in straight lines. Every cross body lead, enchufla, and turn must start and finish on the lines. For leaders, that means getting out of your partner's way (being exactly perpendicular) and establishing a clear path that can only be followed one way. For followers it means following that line and staying within the boundaries your partner is trying to set. Dancing with this awareness and control will not only make you safer, it will improve your turns and make everything you do even better.

After a few too many accident reports at our March social, we are declaring April Awareness month at YA Salsa. While, its fortunately pretty rare that anyone is seriously hurt, it's too common that people end up wincing in pain from footsteps or the occasional collision.

Dancing safely isn't just for crowded dance floors – the floor often gets crazier when there is lots of room and couples start pulling out all their favorite yet unperfected moves. Regardless, some simple principles apply and over the next few weeks, we will try to cover them all. The point here is not to make the dancing boring or preach: The point is to make it a better experience for everyone.

There are a lot of things to cover, so we'll break them out into separate articles over the next month:

• Be Aware
• Protect Your Partner
• Dance in Your Space
• Step Lightly & Turn Tightly
• Watch the Dips, Drops, Tricks & Kicks

It's true. The word got out and we continue to blow the doors off of the American Legion. The March social was a whopper with 325 dancers coming IN and then walking out (or hobbling in the case of a few unlucky feet) tired and happy. Yes it's crowded, but its a great crowd and one can't even begin to explain to the uninitiated, the energy and feel of these events. It's not only an opportunity to dance or meet up with people you haven't seen in a while, we also get the opportunity to acknowledge the people who by doing their thing make our lives better.

Thanks & Happy B-Day

This month it was a birthday shout out to Cisco whom with his Salsa Detroit crew have been pillars of the Detroit salsa scene for longer than I've been dancing and a he is a key member of YA Salsa too. Everyone knows, the dancers can be tough on the DJs and promoters but that's because we are so into the scene that we want it to be perfect all the time every night -- which is of course different for everyone. So Sunday Jamin made a special point of not only calling out "happy birthday", but also making Cisco step out from the DJ station and join the rest of us on the dance floor for the snowball with a great running commentary. Little does he know that he'll probably be dragged out there every month until he goes willingly.

As always we say thanks to you for coming out to dance with us on Sunday. Surprisingly 250+ people braved the sub zero temperatures just to dance salsa! It was bitter cold on the outside, but once inside it was blazin’. When you have 250 people dancing non-stop, not even the artic temperatures can keep a room cool! By the way, where did all the new faces come from??

For many Detroit salseros the upcoming Chicago Salsa Congress will be their first Chicago Congress or maybe even their first congress. So we are here to offer a little info on what to expect and how to make it home in one piece.