Nina's take on the whole Ballroom v/s Street Salsa. I hope this will be my LAST ever article on this because I can argue FOREVER about the merits of both, and have been for a while. ;)

Copyright 2002 Nina

The war wages on, in RMAL, Salsero Corner, and wherever dancers gather;the battle of the Ballroom Latin and the Street Latin dancers. I am a street dancer, let me put my bias right out there from the start. But, I am not anti-ballroom, I believe there are 2 totally different dances, and to continually argue over which is better is to miss the boat completely. I prefer and promote "Street Dancing" because it is about the Dancer and not the Dance.

In Ballroom it is possbile to dance incredibly, to move so quickly and so skillfully that it amazes all who see it. But in Ballroom, and its little brother of the streets, "LA style salsa", there are more barriers to greatness. Perhaps this gives Ballroom dancers that feeling of superiority and elitism that bothers us in the streets.

"Well", they sniff, "sure she's a great dancer, but how hard IS it to be a great STREET dancer?" Then they practice their steps, their routines, their moves until they have it pat. But change the song, the partner, the floor and they are thrown. If they miss a step or dont come out of a turn right, they wait till a new song and try again for perfection. So many chances to dance, so few to dance well.

In the streets, thats the name of the game. Hell, some of my best moves have come from trying to fill in a space where one of us got out of step. I like to circle my partner while we get back in step and I always think up SOMETHING to make it fun. If you get on the floor be prepared to come with it!

I have been lead by partners from New York, Puerto Rico, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Panama, Texas, Colombia, California, Venezuela, Argentina, Peru, Uruguay and other countries. I dont mean people who live here but are of different origins, i mean partners who have JUST arrived and still dance in their local style. The best compliment I receive is that almost every man I dance with tells me I dance just like the women at home. I always smile because what they dont know is that I simply dance like THEM. I dont get upset if a man doesnt dance my style (a hybrid New York, Puerto Rican, Dominican Style). I simply adjust. Are there women who dance better than me? Certainly! Are there women who get more dances than me? Not many. I dont get upset when we make a mistake, or we lose the beat. If they throw something out there and I cant keep up, I still try.I dont dance exclusively with partners I already know I can dance with. I dont dance exclusively with partners who seem to dance like I do. And when I dance with someone and the entire dance was riddled with mistakes, i dont say no when he asks me again.

A good street dancer can dance anywhere. So the floors arent right, doesnt matter, you adapt. There have been nights when I took my shoes off and kicked them to the side because they werent working with the floor and my partners style. The floor may be rubber, wood, vinyl, concrete, grass, sand, or even carpet. But we adapt and keep going. We may have a small crowded floor requiring tight tiny steps and razor sharp whips and turns, maybe we will have a huge floor allowing us to crouch down, dance about, whirl, prance, and show out.I have to admit, I like a lot of floor space and sometimes my partners get sointo showing me off that we end up clearing the floor, but I can also dance in a space 12 inches square. In ballroom the shoes and the surface are very important, a lot of things simply cannot be done without the proper balance of friction and smoothness. If u take your shoes off or change them it can totally throw off your stride to the point that you cannot dance well. This applies to street salsa also, but the difference is that in teh streets it isnt about MOVES, its about the total look and feel of the dance. Even with only the basic footwork a salsero can perform beautifully.

There are street dancers, the ones that come to mind are the NY Mambo "On 2"crowd, who are sticklers for rules. Shines, dancing in slots, timing etc. But there is still an emphasis on the dancer, on working with the music and with the partner. If a hold isnt working, or perhaps it feels better leaning in instead of standing erect, then its ok. Where Ballroom dancers think street dancers dont follow rules because they dont know how, the street dancers think that Ballroom has the rules to guide people who cant dance without them.

Then there is the music. First of all, the music is generally selected for tempo, if it has the required BPM then its ok.Second, it always seems to be some horrible crap. I dont know WHY, but it sucks. I suppose that the sheer amount of complexity of true afro-latin music would simply distract from the clean style that is ballroom. "BUT..BUT..BUT Nina! We dance to the music, we use it when we plan our routines".That is true, but the focus is on tempo and perhaps any outstanding features ie a drum roll, loud cymbal clap. Go to a ballroom and change the song to another one that has the same tempo, and watch to see how many people change their dancing. Yu wont see many. A Victor Manuelle song should make you move differently from an El Gran Combo or a Tito Puente song with a similar tempo. You should dance a little differently to a song with cowbells than to one without. I like the scrapy guiro sound, I always do a little shimmy when I hear it. "Boom chicka chicka, chicka chicka, tsshtsts". (Dont laugh, thats me making scraping and banging noises".

I love to dance, it is my passion and I try to make it my art. When I dance well people will sometimes stop me before I leave and tell me,'I just wanted to tell you, you dance beautifully". I used to dance for myself and my partners, but now I have started dancing also for those who watch. And i like to think that when I dance you can SEE the music. If it is romantic, if there are cowbells, or a guiro, or maybe some flutes, if it is frantic, complex, sensual, funny- all of this, you can see when I move. When you see ballroom you usually know only 2 things 1. how fast the music is and 2.whether it is a Fun song or a Romantic song.

LAST but not least, is partnering. Ballroom dancing does require good partner skills, but they are not the same as in Street ancing. The focus is on the dance, the moves, the tricks and not on the interaction between the dancers. It is so stylized and formal that while u can see that they have a passion for the dance, you dont see the passion for each other, for the music. There is always a distance, a separatness that never leaves. Sure they touch each other closely and initimately, even look at each other and may FEEL passion. But they dont lose control, they never reach the Other Side. That ecstasy, that primal rush isnt there. When suddenly the music grabs you and you throw back your head, close your eyes and lose yourself in the dance. THAT is why those of us in the streets aint leaving it for NOTHING.

There is the moment when you get on the floor with a stranger, the music starts and you dance. A moment passes and you both suddenly know, you are there. It is my trinity- the Leader the Follower and the F*ckin Mambo. Because it is MORE than just how he moves and how you move with him, its is how the MUSIC is moving you both;like 2 marionettes held by the same hand. When you can close your eyes, relax and allow your body to melt into his and allow yourself to move without resistance;you no longer feel the difference between you, when he moves you move, you become for a time one body and one mind. Even though this is the first time you have ever danced you know what he is going to do when the coro comes in, you know how he will move when the horns are blaring, you know what the cowbells are saying to him AND he knows the same about you. There is no need for words, there is no need for looks. It is an intimacy few experience.

Now watch me ruin this whole article. Ballroom is to Street dancing as Porno is to Making love. You can make the steamiest movie in the world with the most beautiful people doing the most wondrously sexy things and LOVING IT, feeling great and passionate about it. But it will never compare to ten hot minutes with the one you love. Porn is about looking passionate, acting passionate and maybe even feeling it. But the passion is for the act, for what they are doing. When you love someone you want to share with them that emotion, to express it, to become one with them and feel the heat that they have for you. You dont doit because u realllly think sex is fun and that it would be really cool to do this act or the other.

Dancing is the same, when the music moves you, when it overwhelms you, when it threatens to overtake you, you have to let it out. And to share that with another person who feels the same is a gift. We are alone on this earth and the moments that we can enter the soul of another and see and feel as they do are rare. That is what we see when we see dancers. We see the Ballroom crowd having fun and looking good, but we dont see that fire we look for in the streets. We know that they arent going to let us in, or that no matter how open we are they cannot share that passion with us.I can dance Ballroom style and when I do a good job I am damned proud, I give myself a 10. But when I dance in the clubs and its great, its like falling in love;I go home and dream about it like a giddy schoolgirl with her first crush.

We dont feel passion for the dance, we feel passion and so we dance.

Nina
My next article, after u have managed to digest all of this, willbe on what makes them come back for more? Being a Good Partner.

Copyright 2002 Nina