***DISCLAIMER:
If you agree with this blog.... Good.
If you think I'm talking about you... I probably am.
If you don't think this applies to you... It probably does.
If it does apply to you... It's not personal. I probably still like you as a person... I just can't stand dancing next to you.***
Ok. Now that I've got that out the way...
I ranted, raved, and complained wrote in a blog entry a few years back about the lack of floorcraft in the salsa scene, and how we'd all be dead if many people's driving matched their dance floor navigation. Not much has changed since then, unfortunately. Folks are still out here dancing as if no one else is on the floor with them, having a dangerous "I don't care how crowded it is, I'm finna get these moves out" mentality. So here I am, getting back on my high-horse one 'mo 'gain (that's "once more, again" for those who don't follow), trying to change the salsa world one blog at a time.
Ok, don't get me wrong, y'all; I understand that the dance floor is often a crowded place. Accidents are going to happen, and no matter how hard you try, you can't avoid them completely. However, this is not an excuse to dance with reckless abandon. It's one thing when beginners and casual "I go salsa dancing once or twice a year at most" dancers do inconsiderate things, like not keeping their space, backing onto a dance floor blindly (I hope y'all don't back out of parking spots like that...), and cramming onto a dance floor when the more considerate thing to do would be to just sit the song out (Sit the song out? That's out of the question! -_-). It's no less annoying when it's the beginners, but forgivable. What irks me the most is that, far too often, it's the salseros who are guilty of the same foolishness. Social dancing veterans who really should know better.
Now, the old me used to take the path of least resistance and just move away from wild dancers. Since there are a crap-ton of wild dancers on the floor at any given time, this meant that I would end up doing more dodging than dancing, which I quickly grew tired of. This lead me to develop I technique I call "defensive dancing".
Defensive dancing is basically holding your ground; using your body language and dancing to convey to others, "HEY! I've been maintaining my space this whole time. You should do the same." Yes, the kicker here is that, to use defensive dancing, you yourself have to already be practicing good floorcraft: keeping your moves small, being consistent in what and how much space you're using to dance, making sure you have room to execute your moves before you do them... You know, things every "good" dancer should know and practice already. In other words, check yourself, first.
Once you've determined all of the above, you position yourself so that if any reckless dancers around you should intrude on your space, they bump into you, and not your partner. Yes, fellas... this means taking one for the team and being a gentleman. Another thing I do is that I've conditioned myself to, upon contact, give a little push back. Not enough to really push, but just enough for the person to realize, "Oh, this person isn't going to move out of my way. Oh wait... Maybe I'm actually in his way." I also do this when someone chooses to squeeze their way into space next to me that is obviously too small to dance in. For instance, numerous times I've been dancing less than a body width away from the edge of the floor, and someone decides to, in their infinite wisdom, cram into that space. It doesn't always work, but more often than not, they get the picture and move on to an area with a bit more space.
I use defensive dancing, not just because I don't want to spend the majority of a dance rescuing my partner from the paths of reckless, inconsiderate people (although I'm more than willing to do so), but also because if all we do is move out of their way, those dancers will never get the hint that they indeed are taking up too much space or not watching where they're going. "Well, who died made you the traffic cop, Myron?" Nobody, actually, but somebody has to do it. "But salsa is about having fun!" you might say. Well, having fun and being considerate aren't mutually exclusive. And it's always all fun & salsa until you get crucified to the floor by a stiletto, or you darn near get KO'd by a random ladies styling arm.
