A packed dance floor is suddenly a little bit roomier when a cha cha track comes on – or at least, I've often noticed this trend at socials, clubs and congresses.
Surprisingly, a few of the most accomplished salseros I know have prefaced our dance with something like “I’m not very good at cha cha” – even though our cha cha turned out to be delightful!
So what’s the deal here? Is cha cha really all that intimidating? I gotta know, so take the poll!
Update July 5: Of the 30 people that voted, 66% say that they love cha cha (and not intimidated).
Cha cha is not intimating, however I think people find it too slow and therefore perceived to be boring. However if the girl styles well and the guy can let the girl style and give her time, it can lead to magic.
ReplyDeleteI was dancing with this one person, and we had such a crazy connection. This person was in a rush to go, but decided to wait 40 minutes so we could have another cha cha. We closed the evening.
Magic on the dance floor...ahh yes! Thanks for your thoughts :)
ReplyDeleteWhats sad here is that cha cha is actually it's own dance, but most salseros never learn it. So they do salsa to it AND THROW IN A TRIPLE STEP!.
ReplyDeleteThe question "I'm unsure what turn patterns would work well" underscore that. The turn patterns that work well have been developed over the past 80 yrs: hockey stick, new york, cuban breaks, sweetheart etc.
Cha cha is it's own dance. It's not salsa. It's too bad more ppl don't learn it, it's a fantastic dance.
Same with rumba. It's too bad the salsa community don't include some of the ballroom dances, even looser versions like american style, instead of sticking with so called street dances, because they're simpler, like hustle.
it's interesting the styles of dances that are trending to compliment salsa these days, like zouk for example. I wonder if this trend will continue...
DeleteCha Cha like slow salsa songs require different type of attention. It's not a matter of just stepping the numbers anymore, and people get intimidated because of that. When I finish dancing a Cha Cha or a boogaloo I am even more out of breath than when I finish dancing a fast salsa because I overcompensate by adding more body movement, flirting with my partner, etc!
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