When Should New Dancers Start Going to Dance Parties?
Do you want dance to change your life? Then you’ve got to go to the party! Who knows who you could meet and what could happen? You might end up moving halfway around the world 😅🌏
Some new dancers are very brave and start going to dance parties after their first class. More often, new dancers need someone to push them to join, even though the reason they started dancing is that they want to dance socially. They think, “I’m not ready for a party! I don’t know what I’m doing. I’ll go to a party when I can dance well.” So they continue taking classes and improving slowly, but they continue to feel they aren’t “good enough” to join a real party. Without joining the social community and actually social dancing for fun, they don’t make a strong connection to the dance and it doesn’t really become a part of their life.
Here’s the thing- if you wait until you are “good enough” to join the party, you probably never will be, at least in your own eyes! And if you don’t join the social dance parties, you are missing out on a lot of enjoyment and the main reason that Salsa, Bachata, and Zouk cultures stay alive and spread. Salsa didn’t spread all over the world because people like taking salsa classes- it spread because people like dancing salsa in PARTIES, whether on the street or in a studio or a bar or an international event at a swanky hotel.
As beginners, what worries us most about joining a dance party? These are some of the main worries in the beginning.
– People watching and judging
– Not understanding the music
– Not understanding the etiquette and culture of the party
– (Leaders) Forgetting our steps and not knowing enough moves to dance a song without boring our partners
– (Followers) Not knowing what the leader is asking for or not being able to do it well
– People watching and judging
When I started learning salsa and bachata, I took classes for at least six months before I went to a party, and I was super nervous when I finally showed up. I thought everyone would be so much better than me, and I would look ridiculous compared to them. And of course that was true 😅. But I overestimated how much people would care. People mostly go to social dance parties to dance and have fun, not to watch other people dance. Although you might feel everyone is staring at you when you make a mistake, actually people are mostly thinking about themselves and their own dances. If they are watching other dancers, they are probably looking at people that they admire or enjoy watching or they are comparing themselves. If you are a teacher or well-known, people might be watching, but if you are a beginner, unless you are doing something crazy or unsafe, people are probably not that interested in watching you for very long. Yes, they might notice you and see that you are a beginner, but so what? Everyone in that party was also a beginner when they started, and most social dancers want their communities to grow because it gets boring always dancing with the same people for years. We want to see more beginners and watch them grow up!
We were all beginners once, and reasonable people will not fault you for being a beginner (But they might be disappointed if you don’t improve over time, so keep going to class 😅).
– Not understanding the music
Bachata music is pretty simple to understand. There are only a few instruments and the rhythm and structure are uncomplicated. But new dancers still have to figure out how to notice when the timing changes and understand the different sections of the song. Salsa music, on the other hand, can be quite simple or extremely complicated. There can be multiple rhythms and many instruments, and it can be hard for the dancer to even find the one. As a beginner, I would see people playing with the music and wonder how the hell they knew what was coming in the song. It was a total mystery. Brazilian Zouk parties play music from many different genres and rhythms, so dancers have to figure out how to step to a variety of beats and feelings. So shouldn’t beginners understand the music before they go to the party?
Yes, as a dancer, you want to have a good understanding of the music that you are dancing to. You can get used to the music by listening to it at home. Follow Spotify lists by DJs and artists and listen as much as you can. However, if you only listen to music that you find online without hearing what is played in the party, you may spend a lot of time listening to artists and genres and tempos that your local scene doesn’t dance to. If you want to understand the music that will be played at the party, then the best place to do that is… the party.
Another thing is that understanding the music by listening is not the same as understanding by dancing. I’ve seen professional musicians that cannot step on the beat. You need to not only be able to count the music and know where it’s headed, but you have to be able to coordinate your own body’s energy and movement to it, and you only get that practice by actually dancing.
Yes, you should be familiar with the basic rhythms of the music you will dance to, but you won’t understand how people actually dance to the music socially without going to social events. So just accept that you will be a bit lost in the beginning! Watch what more experienced dancers do with the music and dance a lot, even if you are just practicing the basic step by yourself! You will build muscle memory to the music so when you dance with a partner you won’t have to think about it as much. Most senior dancers seeing you practice fundamentals by yourself in the party won’t look down on you- they are more likely to be impressed that you want to improve. If you feel silly dancing by yourself, remember that you will improve faster than people that sit and wait for a dance!
If the local DJs post recordings of their sets online, you can listen to them later, or you can Shazam some songs in the party and find those songs and artists online. Either way, because you went to the party and danced to the music, you will have a better understanding of what music is actually played for social dancing in your scene, and you will improve your dancing and musicality.
– Not understanding the etiquette and culture of the party
Joining a new social environment where we might do or say the wrong thing or embarrass ourselves can be scary. Before you go to a party, pay attention to what your teachers say in class about how to behave, talk to more experienced dancers, and read blog articles like 【跑趴系列】第一次參加 Salsa 舞會就上手 and 【跑趴系列】Salsa 舞會到底是甚麼樣子呢？ so you have a better idea of what to expect and what others expect of you. After that, you just need to actually go! After you experience it a few times, you will get over the fear of the unknown.
– (Leaders) Forgetting our steps and not knowing enough moves to dance a song without boring our partners
Leaders, you will definitely forget the patterns you’ve learned, and your dances will not have much variety in the beginning. But that’s just how it is in the beginning! When you begin social dancing, you don’t have muscle memory from improvisation, so you can only use things that you can clearly think about. However, the environment of the party is much different than class, and you won’t be able to focus the same way. So even if you memorized a lot of patterns before, you will probably not be able to think of most of them, and they won’t come naturally without muscle memory. It’s better to start dancing socially early so you can build up the muscle memory gradually 🙂
Will followers be bored? Yes, it will happen, but you can reduce that a lot by choosing your partners well (see Choosing Social Dance Partners as Beginners) Don’t go to the party as a new dancer and chase the most popular, visible dancers. Those people have probably danced for quite awhile and put a lot of time and effort into developing their dance skills, and unless they have the patience of a saint, they probably will be bored. It’s normal. Instead, focus on dancing with followers that are around your level or newer, and ask dancers that are waiting on the sidelines after the song starts so you know that they weren’t about to dance with someone else. Followers that are also new and aren’t being asked to dance constantly are more likely to enjoy dancing with you, and you will feel less anxious.
– (Followers) Not knowing what the leader is asking for or not being able to do it well
When you start social dancing as a follower, you will get lost all of the time. Leaders will try to do all kinds of things that you haven’t learned, and you will feel very confused. So isn’t it better to take a lot of classes before so you can understand what the leaders will do?
Of course you should take classes. You need to learn the basic steps and rhythms, how to maintain your frame, compression and elasticity… many things. But learning patterns in class will not fully prepare you for following socially simply because there is so much more variation in a 3-4 minute social dance than in the isolated pattern that you learn in a class. If you are a new dancer and you start social dancing and feel lost, it won’t feel surprising. But if you go to class for many months or even years and then go to a party and feel lost, you may feel very frustrated! Better to go to parties early in your dance life and learn to follow the basic patterns as you are learning them in class.
So what’s the takeaway of all this? Simply this- if you want to dance in a real party, don’t wait until you are perfect because you never will be! Get out there as soon as you are brave enough. Take a few friends or classmates with you. Yes, you will be lost, and you will make mistakes, but that’s normal and OK. You will gain experience and confidence and meet new friends, you’ll learn a lot faster than if you only dance in the classroom, and although you might be frustrated sometimes, hopefully you’ll also find joy and inspiration.
See you on the dance floor!