04/05/2024
SALSA in Da Nang is DEAD
Today is a very sad day for me, because yesterday I decided to quit dancing Salsa in Da Nang. It’s been a long journey: I started dancing Salsa more than 25 years ago and I’ve danced Salsa in Da Nang for 7 years, teaching it for around 4 years.
So, what happened? We now have dance socials almost every day, so things seem to be good, right? Well, not that fast! It turns out that all socials are either run by Kizomba people, or by people who neglect Salsa or are simply not passionate about dancing at all and seem to have other interests. Even at socials that have traditionally played Salsa, the Kizomba folks find their way to muscle their way in and take over the music. Yesterday I went to a social to meet my friend Anna from Saigon, one of my favourite Salsa dancers. In the one hour I was there, they played ONE Salsa song. When the crowd got so upset that they wanted to take over the music, I was pushed to the side. That’s when I left. So why are the Kizomba guys taking over everywhere? In some cases, this is due to weak leadership by the people who host these socials. I’m always sceptical of socials run by people who are not truly passionate about dancing, who only dance occasionally and only with one partner. You don’t even think you need a Spotify subscription to run the social?? Think again! That’s the ONE responsibility you have: put on good music! The crowd relies on you for that.
So, all in all, the Kizomba folks had an easy time taking over pretty much all the socials in Da Nang, and they didn’t hesitate to push out Salsa. Why they’re still calling their socials SBK (which stands for Salsa, Bachata and Kizomba) is beyond me. They should just call it K*K, of K, to avoid unwanted historical references. You might argue: “Robert, why don’t you dance Kizomba? Dance is dance, right?” Firstly, dance is not dance! If Kizomba was the only dance in the world, I wouldn’t dance. I would be playing chess, or golf, or something else that puts me to sleep. I occasionally dance Kizomba, if I like a song, but overall it’s just too low energy for me.
Make no mistake: Salsa didn’t die in Da Nang because people lost interest. When I was running my own social at C Lounge, the dance floor was PACKED, ESPECIALLY during Salsa! Salsa died in Da Nang because the Kiz guys start to try to dominate the scene, taking over all the socials, sometimes in a stealth, sort of through the back door kind of way. And the Salsa people started staying away because they got tired of waiting forever until some breadcrumbs fall off the proverbial table.
Last time I quit Salsa I didn’t dance for 10 years. I don’t know whether there will be a Salsa 3.0 for me. I will continue to dance while travelling. I just HOPE that the Salsa scene in places like Kuala Lumpur and Saigon doesn’t experience the same fate as here in Da Nang.
