We'd heard that every club in town offered free salsa lessons every night from 9-11. So we checked out the first club that was recommended to us and liked it quite a bit. After a few weeks we decided that we'd try some of the other ones - meet new people, learn new steps, maybe even improve our dancing.
Fail.
Apparently we hit the best club in town on our first try.
Now, I am not a connoisseur of dance clubs and certainly not Salsa clubs, but right from the beginning the club we tried tonight was different. Compare:
Mythology: doors open at 9; lesson starts at 9:01; lessons continue throughout the night including several more basic run-throughs, more complex steps, and even some Bachata - a completely different (and actually easier) type of dance; these lessons are interspersed with social dancing in which the teachers, the regulars, and the newbies all dance with, well, everyone else.
Inka Team: doors opened some time after 9, we got there around 9:30 and there were a few guys dancing something and then several obviously more experienced dancers formed a circle and did some Salsa; "lesson" started at almost 10 and consisted of 4 very basic steps; social dancing followed this in which it was painfully obvious who went there every night and who was just curious because those in the second group just got to sit and watch while all the regulars danced with their friends.
Now, I know it may be intimidating to ask a stranger to dance - but that's what you do at dance clubs! And yes, I spent a good amount of time at the other club dancing with one of the instructors - a professional dancer and teacher - but I still wanna dance with other people! And I get that it's fun to dance with people you know - but if you asked new people to dance there'd be even more people you knew to dance with!
The atmosphere at Mythology is one of fun, acceptance, learning, and well, more fun. The atmosphere at Inka Team was...lame. I'm not sure where all the other differences come. I know the instructors at Mythology have much more personality and teach a much higher level of Salsa. I also know that there are few regulars besides the instructors there which fosters an atmosphere of open friendliness sadly lacking in most of the dance clubs I've been to (including the Swing clubs in the US). And so we won't be going back to Inka Team. Obviously.
There are a few more clubs in town we'll try, but it looks like we really hit the jackpot on our first try!
(What do you think, could I be on my way to being a professional dance club reviewer?)
Fail.
Apparently we hit the best club in town on our first try.
Now, I am not a connoisseur of dance clubs and certainly not Salsa clubs, but right from the beginning the club we tried tonight was different. Compare:
Mythology: doors open at 9; lesson starts at 9:01; lessons continue throughout the night including several more basic run-throughs, more complex steps, and even some Bachata - a completely different (and actually easier) type of dance; these lessons are interspersed with social dancing in which the teachers, the regulars, and the newbies all dance with, well, everyone else.
Inka Team: doors opened some time after 9, we got there around 9:30 and there were a few guys dancing something and then several obviously more experienced dancers formed a circle and did some Salsa; "lesson" started at almost 10 and consisted of 4 very basic steps; social dancing followed this in which it was painfully obvious who went there every night and who was just curious because those in the second group just got to sit and watch while all the regulars danced with their friends.
Now, I know it may be intimidating to ask a stranger to dance - but that's what you do at dance clubs! And yes, I spent a good amount of time at the other club dancing with one of the instructors - a professional dancer and teacher - but I still wanna dance with other people! And I get that it's fun to dance with people you know - but if you asked new people to dance there'd be even more people you knew to dance with!
The atmosphere at Mythology is one of fun, acceptance, learning, and well, more fun. The atmosphere at Inka Team was...lame. I'm not sure where all the other differences come. I know the instructors at Mythology have much more personality and teach a much higher level of Salsa. I also know that there are few regulars besides the instructors there which fosters an atmosphere of open friendliness sadly lacking in most of the dance clubs I've been to (including the Swing clubs in the US). And so we won't be going back to Inka Team. Obviously.
There are a few more clubs in town we'll try, but it looks like we really hit the jackpot on our first try!
(What do you think, could I be on my way to being a professional dance club reviewer?)
No comments:
Post a Comment