In the previous post of this series I described some of the
biggest lies out there that have enabled promoters to put Kizomba into the
salsa category in recent years. While the blatantly wrong statements such as
“Kizomba is a Latin dance” are easy to spot for any serious dancer, there are
many discussions around this topic which are subtler, having proponents and
opponents in both the salsa and the Kizomba community alike. Some of these are
further discussed in this post:
4. Salsa dancers welcome the variety Kizomba introduces and the
contrast between these two dances makes it an ideal addition to the
various songs played at salsa nights. Maybe the juxtaposition of such
completely different dance forms does bring joy to some people similarly
to sport combinations such as chess-boxing that have indeed gained
popularity. Variety and contrast is certainly something that can have an
attraction to some people, however, I do reject the sentiment that the
majority of people paying for a salsa social night are pleased when they
are being forced to break their vibes and feelings to make room for an
entirely different and unrelated dance form that completely disrupts the
flow of the ambience. Other dance forms do perfectly well without the need
of unrelated dance styles being mixed into the flow so why should this be
different for salsa? I.e. you would never hear a Jive dancer complain that
there is not enough Flamenco going on at a Jive party and salsa in itself
is already such an intricate balance of influences from other dance forms
that its mastery can easily provide days of entertainment that can be as
varied as the creativity of the dancers permit. Finally, if variety is
indeed a concern then why not play some more songs that are actually
related to salsa such as Cha-Cha-Cha, Mambo, Son Cubano, Rumba etc.
With Kizomba and salsa being as
different as they are, they tend to attract completely different personalities
and styles of dancers and even though there are an increasing number of people
who dabble in both dances, the connection to the partner and music is
completely different. While I know more and more people who enjoy salsa and
Kizomba separately, few of them enjoy the emotional roller coaster of
constantly alternating between salsa and Kizomba songs on the same night.
5. A lot of people who dance salsa also dance Kizomba hence there is
a clear correlation between these dances and they should be pooled
together.
Wrong. A lot of people who enjoy
dancing either salsa or Kizomba enjoy dancing in general. Hence, they might be
willing to try out other forms of dances even if they are completely unrelated
(although most likely they would prefer related dance forms). It is as a result
of constantly pooling these two dances together that people dancing one dance
are exposed to the other and the more events they attend where both forms are
mixed the more they will try and learn both in order to get the chance to dance
all night. I.e. without the bundling of these dance forms in the first place very
few people would ever have the idea to dance these two styles together and
similarly if instead of Kizomba every salsa promoter would suddenly start to
play Hip Hop for a significant part of the night then more and more people would
be willing to learn salsa and Hip Hop. It is therefore the pooling of the dances
that generates the number of salsa dancers who also dabble in Kizomba and vice
versa rather than a significant amount of people coming up with this particular
combination independently and then demanding a salsa/Kizomba social night to
experience it with others.
6. Salsa being the dominating social couple-dance form
internationally should take less known dance forms under its wing to give
people a chance to experience something new that they would otherwise not
come across.
Fair enough, this is an argument
that has its merits. Few people outside of the Dominican Republic would know
much about Merengue if it was not for the fact that Merengue has been show-cased
around the world via the “salsa” platform. However, surely this type of
behaviour needs to be done in moderation before it takes away from the main
purpose of the event which is salsa dancing. I.e. if you went to a Bon Jovi
concert where Bon Jovi got to perform for only half an hour while other less
known bands were filling the evening that is classified as a “Bon Jovi” concert
then more than a few disgruntled fans would demand their money back yet in the
salsa community this seems acceptable. Given all the allowances salsa events
have already made for songs and dances other than salsa over the years no-one
can accuse the salsa community of not being welcoming to new dance styles but at
a point where these dance styles become popular to a degree that they attract a
significant amount of dancers then they need to establish their own events
rather than paying back the salsa community by taking an ever increasing chunk
of the night whose marketed purpose is salsa dancing.
Additionally, there are a plethora of beautiful dance
styles out there which are not promoted in any way but deserve just as much
attention and admiration as the ones that have become popular in recent years.
So rather than just promoting the current fad why not promote something different,
original, completely new or old and forgotten? In the end, what gets promoted
in salsa events over time does not follow any logical structure other than
promoter’s projection of profitability. At the same time there are plenty of
dances that are completely ignored which are closely related to salsa in terms
of the way they feel or the way the music sounds or in terms of their cultural
or historical paths etc.
