I want to learn salsa dancing: Why do most people start salsa dancing, and what is the experience like once they have started? That is what we are going to tell you in this article.
The top 3 reasons to start salsa dancing
The community of salsa dancers in the Netherlands is relatively large, if you compare it with our neighbouring countries Germany and Belgium, for example. But why do people actually start salsa dancing? What is the reason? To be able to answer this, you have to do 1 of these 2 things: start a survey, or know a lot of salsa dancers and ask them the question personally. The second is the way we are going to answer this question.
- It looks fun, I want to be able to do it too
- Joining a friend
- I want to go out and meet someone
1. It looks fun
A lot of people who start salsa dancing have seen it live somewhere and immediately became interested because it looks beautiful and fun. You often hear “It looked so fun and beautiful, the way the ladies move. I want to be able to do it too”. Not everyone likes dancing, but most people can appreciate watching someone else do it. Especially when it looks beautiful and graceful. That is often the reason for people to start themselves.
2. Joining a friend
“I want to learn to dance salsa, but I don’t dare to go alone”. As a result, a friend has to come along, just so you don’t go alone. You hear this a lot too. As a result, the person who comes along also enjoys salsa dancing and sticks around. It is also always more fun to go with someone and not alone. You also see this a lot among younger couples. The woman wants to start but the man doesn’t, but he comes along anyway so they have an outing together.
3. I want to go out and meet someone
Not everyone meets their partner or best friend through acquaintances, at work or in their circle of friends. Some people want to start salsa dancing in the hope of meeting someone nice. After all, salsa dancing is a social dance and an excellent way to get to know new people. Among women, the reason is often that they don’t find clubbing that much fun/elegant, so salsa is a good alternative to still go out and meet someone. Among men, you often see software programmers who start salsa dancing, because they don’t really like clubbing either.
Those were the 3 most common reasons to learn to dance salsa. Of course there are many other reasons, but usually they still fall into 1 of the 3 categories mentioned above.
What is it actually like to start salsa dancing
Here too, we are going to name 3 different points. How do things actually continue after your first class?
- Stopped after 1 course
- I think this is a fun way to be active once a week
- I want to become that good too
Stopped after 1 course
Not everyone enjoys salsa dancing. For us (salsa dancers) it seems impossible not to enjoy salsa dancing (we have also listed 7 reasons why you should start salsa dancing right away). The most common reason to stop after just 1 course: it is not as much fun as it seemed after all. Two other reasons are time and not feeling at ease. Some people feel that they will never dance beautifully.
Being active with salsa dancing once a week
You also often see this, mainly among young families. Mothers think it is important to be active once a week with exercise (salsa dancing). Most women have, for example, had dance lessons at some point in the past (ballet, jazz, hip-hop) and now want to pick up dancing again. Others think it is important not to flop onto the couch at home every day, but to be active for a while. This group of people also experiences salsa dancing as a fun outing to catch up with their salsa friends.
I want to become that good too
For some, once a week is not enough; they really want to be able to dance very well and also have the time for it. This group of people usually take a lot of classes and try to go to a party every weekend. Some of them also go to salsa festivals and at some point start combining their holidays with salsa. It is only a small group that does this, but they are the real die-hards. (watch this video to see a top salsa dancer in action)
1 thing is certain: salsa dancing is incredibly fun once you can do it. It is a fun way to go out and keep yourself busy. Many people also find a partner through salsa dancing; after all, it is nice when you both share the same interest, and what is more fun than being able to dance a beautiful salsa song together at your wedding?
Salsa dancing for us
I want to learn salsa dancing: That is how we once started too. And years later, here we are.
We dance salsa almost every day! Partly through our salsa classes, but besides that we train ourselves to give salsa performances. We also provide workshops, bootcamps and other forms of salsa classes. We travel around the world to dance salsa. Do you want to hear our stories? Can’t you dance salsa yet and are you curious now? Send us a message and come join a trial class. We would love to tell you more!
Watapana Dance Company
