• Fun Stuff

    The Best Way to Get Better Dances

    You want to have great dances when you go out social dancing? There’s no better way to do this than to take it into your own hands. It takes passion for dance and a willingness to put yourself out there. It means competing for those partners that will totally make your night. It means turning into a dance hound.

  • Fun Stuff

    New Years Resolution: Recognizing Our Dance Inspirations

    We have a lot of inspirations in the dance scene. Inspirational performers, social dancers, and personalities. People we admire for their dancing, and people we admire for who they are. With the new year approaching, many of us are making new years resolutions. Some we will keep, some we will try to keep, and some are over before they even start. I would put forward one easy new years resolution for every dancer:

  • Fun Stuff - Inspirational - Social Dancing

    The Day I Was Told I Shouldn’t Dance

    I’ve been told twice that I shouldn’t dance. I only listened once. The first was when I was a beginner. Only a few weeks into my dance journey, my instructor became frustrated by my lack of ‘natural’ ability in Salsa. He point-blank told me “maybe dance just isn’t for you.” His advice didn’t help me at all. Because I was not grasping his ‘concepts’, he instead determined that I was not built to dance.

  • Community Building - Fun Stuff - Inspirational - Social Dancing

    How to be a Dance Evangelist

    You know the person. Magically, they seem to find a continuous flow of new dancers for the scene… and many of those people actually stick around. They are what I like to call a ‘Dance Evangelist’.  I self-identify as a Dance Evangelist. Since I started dance, I’m pretty sure I’ve gotten at least 50 people into various forms of dance – and that’s probably on the conservative end. Salsa, West Coast, Zouk. Even Lindy and Blues at a time. So, I feel pretty well qualified to write this, but I am always open to new ways to improve my own Dance Evangelism.

  • Dance Discussions - Fun Stuff - Inspirational

    Why Do You Dance: A Collection of Dancer Opinions

    “I dance because dancing is life” – ‘T’ – New York, NY – USA Why do we dance? I dance because there is nothing else that engages me the same way physically, emotionally and socially all at once. It is a journey of perpetual growth alongside people I adore and cherish. But, I’m not the only dancer out there. In a quest to find what drives us dancers in our crazy, colorful, passionate pursuit of dance, I decided to reach out to the community. From solo artists to stage performers and social dancers, some themes seemed consistent across genre and…

  • Fun Stuff

    StarStruck

    I recently got back from touring Europe for Zouk. It was the first time I had danced outside of Canada for Zouk, and also the first time I met so many “big names” in such close quarters. Back home in Canada, I’m pretty confident in my Zouking skills. I understand my limitations and shortcomings, but when a dancer comes to visit, I very rarely feel nervous about asking them to dance. Additionally, as a performer and local teacher, I feel pretty secure overall as a dancer in my  home country and surrounding area.

  • Fun Stuff

    The Descriptor Chain

    Whenever I meet someone new, the inevitable question of “what do you do for fun?” comes up. Usually, the first thing that I say is “I am a dancer, and that’s usually what I do with my nights.” Usually, the first thing the person thinks of is one of these:

  • Etiquette - Fun Stuff - Social Dancing

    Dance Crushes

    It’s like high school all over again. Your eyes meet the back of their body across a crowded room and you feel your face flush just a little more than being sweaty from dancing usually makes it. Cause, seriously, my goodness can they ever move their body. They just look and feel so damn good to dance with!