Free Salsa Dancing is a Blessing or a Curse?

It is weekend and you want to go out Salsa Dancing. You check out the Salsa agenda's, go through your mail and your social network pages. To your own delight, you see lots of Salsa parties free of charge. Chances are that you will choose one of these free Salsa dance venues instead of the ones where you have to pay a a cover charge.

This article explores the positive and the negative sides of free Salsa clubbing.

Owners of 'regular' parties such as House and R&B parties are complaining about the decline in revenues forcing many to shut down their businesses. They give the economic crisis and the reluctance of people to go out clubbing as they used to do before 2008. Fact is that their clientele now have a larger pallet of choices ranging from free dance 'raves' to small & cozy Salsa parties organized at one of the local bars. The growing amount of newcomers and the importance of social media in advertising these free parties to a large public has given the clubbers more freedom to plan their nights out strategically.

The Salsa dance industry has the same problem: there is a growing number of Salsa fanatics who decide to become Salsa entrepreneurs and flood several cities with their own free Salsa dancing. It is a small step for regular club & bar owners hiring Salsa instructors for weekly regular Salsa classes to have one free Salsa party in the weekend. People dancing together on the dance floor attract drinkers who will sit and watch them at these venues. This is enough if the club owner does not have to pay for the Salsa DJ and/or the Salsa dance performer who renders  his or her services for free. The total of Salsa clients is not growing in proportion to the amount of Salsa dance venues, so all these events will experience loss in income in the years ahead.

Free Salsa clubbing is good for me because:
I save money while still getting my regular “Salsa Fix”.
The money I have saved can be used to buy full or partial passes for attending international Salsa congresses and festivals.
My dance level will improve exponentially because I will make more “Salsa Dance Miles”.

Free Salsa clubbing can be bad for me because:
I contribute indirectly to the loss of quality at the high level Salsa parties at congresses and festivals. The organizers of these big Salsa parties depend greatly on the amount of visitors they get to pay for the expenses of good DJ's, live bands and professional world class Salsa performers.

You can write your own benefits and dangers for the Salsa industry in the comment section.In the meantime, enjoy Magna Gopal's social Salsa freestyle dance during the Korea Salsa Congress 2008.