Why do we dance Salsa? Every time a student asks us this question, it makes us happy. Because we love talking about it and sharing our stories and experience with others!
There are several reasons why we dance Salsa (see also the top 7 reasons to dance salsa). In this blog we want to talk more about it from a personal perspective and experience. We’re going to share the answer in 3 parts, but it remains 1 answer.
What dancing means to us
Apart from Salsa, dancing is our lifestyle. You can surely find lots of beautiful quotes about dancing on the internet. We can best express it in the following way: through dancing we can express ourselves, feel free and enjoy life. We also see dancing as a celebration. How many people have never celebrated a special moment with a little dance? One of our favourite quotes comes from Martha Graham: “Dance is the hidden language of the soul”.
Why Salsa
Why Salsa and not Tango or Bachata or Ballet? Now that you know what dancing means to us, we’re going to tell you what Salsa means to us. You can read more about the history of Salsa on this page. What actually is Salsa, a music style, a collective name? The best definition we have ever heard, and also believe in, is: “Salsa is the name of a certain period in which (a community of) Latinos in New York created a platform to identify themselves through Afro-Cuban and Latin Jazz music styles”.
The salsa scene
Nowadays we talk about the Salsa scene. The same principles apply: people are brought together by music! Salsa knows no borders, knows no nationalities, no second or third world ranks. On the contrary, we get the feeling that Salsa connects us with people from different cultures, nationalities, beliefs and backgrounds.
The music
Apart from the fact that 95% of Salsa has Spanish lyrics, the lyrics are usually dignified and respectful. People often sing about love in a beautiful way, and this inspires us to see the world as something beautiful. In addition, every standard Salsa song is so musical, in the sense that so many instruments make up a whole.
The history of Salsa goes back a very long way and is built on many traditions, cultures and beliefs. And you can notice that in Salsa music. We have immersed ourselves (and still do) in the history of Salsa, and this only strengthens our passion and love for this amazing music, if we may call it that.
The movement
You notice more and more that people want to live more consciously. More exercise, more sport, eating better, eating responsibly, you name it. But you often notice that people struggle with this. Not everyone enjoys going to the gym. To be honest, neither do we, much. But we do think it’s important to be healthy. As if the gym is the only place where this is possible? Salsa dancing gives us more than enough satisfaction that we are moving in a healthy way. You could say we dance almost every day; it sounds like a lot and it sounds tough, but how many people watch television every day? That doesn’t sound strange. So why not dancing?
Several studies have been done that prove dancing can be seen as a sport and provides enough exercise for normal needs.
The conclusion
In short, dancing is our lifestyle, we are very passionate about salsa music and we love staying active in order to live healthily. So we can give our answer in the following way
Why do we dance Salsa?
Salsa dancing is our passion and lifestyle, and it has a very positive effect on our health and on the social aspects of life and identity. Not a single dance goes by that we haven’t enjoyed. We also dance because we want to share our passion and love with others, so that they too, for whatever reason: dance Salsa
