UKSALSA CHAT | ON2 CHAT | SUZYQ CHAT 
Subject: Confusion about styles
From: Dave G
Date: Friday 21st February 2003, 11:54 am

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It appears that my comments have been misinterpreted.
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Often happens in chat rooms :-/

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I was trying to say that the UKA does not break salsa into individual styles, rather that it does not matter what style you do, as long as you do it well! We could get into a long argument about what makes a good dance
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Or indeed other arguments such as:

  • can one person decide that someone is dancing Salsa well, regardless of style?

Or:

  • is there a definition of Salsa which encompasses all styles of Salsa, but which rules out everything else (like Jive or Cha-Cha danced to Salsa)?

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My information is not coming from the UKA, but rather from my limited experience on the salsa scene. I'm sorry if it offends you that I get things wrong from time to time - No one ever taught me how to spell Colombia - and I've not been to salsa clubs in cuba, colombia, new york and los angeles to compare the different styles.
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I'm not offended. More amused, really. You post a message which sounds very authoritative about different styles of Salsa, but then you follow up with messages where you say that you haven't seen most of the things you talk about.

You don't need to visit these places to see the styles. You can visit plenty of Colombian clubs in London, for example. There are many Cubans around the UK if you want to see their style. There are frequent visits by dancers from New York and LA to the UK.

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Not having danced new york, I cannot comment on the relative volumes of on1 and on2 dancers. I just assumed that as most of the uk bulletin boards refer to new york style salsa in the same breath as 'on2' that the 'on1' dancers must be in the minority.
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The reason most people talk about New York style and on2 in the same breath, is precisely because it is a minority dance. On1, the more common dance, isn't talked about specially in New York because the people who dance on1 in New York dance pretty much the same as on1 dancers in other places.

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Initially, I was told that this is called New York salsa, but as the teachers started learning new moves, they moved on to LA style salsa.
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Sounds to me like your teachers were trying to blind you with science, or use the latest buzzwords to impress you. In fact, most teachers I am aware of, were first impressed by LA style (with its wow! zow! yowie! factor) and then moved on to New York on2, since it's a better style of Salsa for those who really want to dance to the music.

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And to be quite honest, I could not really tell the difference. All I can really say is that the LA moves were a lot punchier, and we started doing a lot more shines.
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I'd agree with you on the "punchier". I think that sums up LA style. It's a real "look at me" style.

dG

   
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