Stop Salsa Violence.

As the image says, ‘Stop Salsa Violence’ » is a global campaign against violence on the dance floor. This campaign was started by the folks at Salsa Croatia ». I first learned of this campaign from Irena Pfundner’s post, “Recap on salsa violence” », from her blog, Dulcelocura06’s Weblog ».

For me, I know that I’ve improved in my floorcraft because now the salseras I dance with rarely get stepped on. It does not matter whether she is an advanced salsera, who takes appropriate-sized steps, or an absolute beginner salsera, who takes honking huge steps. It does not matter whether the dancefloor is spacious, with only experienced salsa gigolos and salseras, or if the dancefloor is packed, with mostly inexperienced beginners. I’ve learned to adjust my lead, my frame, my steps, whatever, to accommodate and protect a salsera’s feet. If there is one thing I’ve improved on most, as a salsa gigolo, it is to make sure that the salsera I’m dancing with doesn’t get stepped on or hurt.

That’s not to say that I haven’t stepped on a salsera’s feet. I still do. Even the best of us do. But now I know when it is mostly my fault and when it is not. If I am dancing a basic, in one place, and suddenly I feel my heal contact salsera flesh, I know that a fellow salsa gigolo has mislead her into me. If I don’t get an apologetic look from fellow salsa gigolo, I will apologize to salsera and assume responsibility, and chalk it up to fellow salsa gigolo still learning his floorcraft (Don Baarns, The Unlikely Salsero, has written a good post on this phenomenon, “Unaware Club For Men” »), or salsa gigolo covering-up his own mistake and not taking responsibility (not cool).

I think the revelation for me was when I was in a salsa club, standing next to the bar, when, surprisingly, my salsa instructor stepped on my foot. Now, I was taking-up very little dancefloor real estate, and more importantly, I wasn’t even moving, and this was the first time I’ve ever seen this instructor step on anyone, let alone, on me, so it was really unexpected. Of course he apologized, but I was still stunned. Not because my foot was stepped on by my salsa instructor, but because of the way he stepped on my foot. It was so light. It was not so much a step, but a caress. It felt like he stepped on my foot with love. So this is another way I know I’ve improved: When I step on a salsera’s foot, I am sure to step on her foot with love.

So in that previous scenario, where fellow salsa gigolo mislead salsera into my back-step, even though she may have thought it was my fault, and perhaps she felt a bit indignant when I waited a couple beats for fellow salsa gigolo to assume responsibility … before assuming responsibility myself … even though I stepped on her, I knew it didn’t hurt, because I was sure to step on her foot with love.

Along with this campaign from Croatia, here is one possible solution from Croatia, in the form of a pool party at Croatian Summer Salsa Festival 2008 ». I don’t know about you, but this clip makes me think that the salsa world everywhere could use a bit more Croatia in their salsa and bachata:

Here’s a map to Croatia and Slovenia, if, like me, you’ve suddenly become interested in visiting there some day:

Map to Croatia and Slovenia