When did salsa become a ballroom dance?

Question

Ballroom is fine if that's what you want to do but why attempt to restrict salsa when rules and mandatory classes.

The point of the question is that salsa shouldn't be dance for competition like ballroom. It's a feeling.

Isn't it a street dance based on African rhythms and Afro-Cuban orisha worship? If so, how can you judge that. How you judge someone when there shouldn't be any rules.

Answer 1

When large numbers of brothers and sisters with less melanin and sabor, start learning how to dance. Sometimes the ability to improvise eludes them so they put rules in place and open salsa schools to learn to dance.

Also they are some people who are afraid of people of color, they want to learn the dance but they they don't want to be around surrounded by Latinos and be in the minority.

Answer 2

Even though salsa was born on the street, it did develop very specific and strong rules. You should study the history. It's very interesting. The musicians actually adapted their music because they saw how certain characteristics made the dancers happier. Salsa does have rules, even though it is very interpretive and a lot about the feeling. There is a proper beat and there are rules to which foot should be down on what beat. If you aren't dancing salsa in relation to a 4/4 timing then you are doing it wrong. I've been studying salsa music for a couple of years. Salsa music is indeed very rigid but it's also highly creative. The clave rhythm for example is NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER broken. Once it is established the 3/2 or 2/3 rhythm is constant and will not change throughout the song. The instruments around it might change but the clave won't. The rigidity of salsa juxtaposed against the enourmous creativity it allows is one of the reasons why I love salsa music and dancing so much. It has a very strong structure but the structure allows for HUGE variety and creativity.

Any time you have rules that can be quantified, you can have a good competition. Competitions are just as much about the strength and crispness of the timing and the adherance to the generally understood rules as they are about artistic elements. Certain factors such as on1 timing, on2 timing must be established and maintained. For example, if you start your competition dance on2 then switching to on1 timing, even for a few bars, will cost you points.

By the way, Mambo is ballroom. Salsa will always be street. This new competition level salsa is really nice though.

Answer 3

Please allow me to mention that Ballroom competitions in real life don't look the same way as they look in the movies. I don't mean to sound partonizing, I simply don't know how much you know about competitions. In a ballroom competition, up to 24 couples can be on the floor at the same time, not one couple at a time as they show it in "Dirty Dancing"

Salsa when danced at Ballroom competitions is danced as "Open category". What it means: as opposed to Waltz or Rumba, there is no list of assigned or pre-defined steps, even for beginners. All steps are valid, as long as they look like salsa. However, there is one general restriction of a ballroom competition that still applies: no lifts and drops. This is mainly a safety concern for competitors - when you have 20 couples on a 60x36 feet floor all trying to outperform each other, severe injuries can occur if lifts and drops are permitted. These rules apply to all dances in general ballroom competition.

However, there is a division of Ballroom competition that is called "Theater Arts" where couples dance one couple at a time. They are allowed to perform lifts and drops. This is where people can dance salsa in any way they wish, no restrictions whatsoever. As long as the make it look pretty. They can even use props like chair, tables, platforms, hats, canes or other objects if they wish.

That said, I must add that those who enter salsa and those who dance other dances in Ballroom competition happens to be a non-overlapping crowd. As you might know, a couple can enter to compete as many dances as they wish. So those who compete in International Latin and Standard at high levels usually don't compete in salsa, and vise verse.

I tried to research when (date) did salsa become part of ballroom competition and I couldn't find the answer. Mambo, however, was a part of ballroom competition for a long long time. Pretty much from the time the ballroom competitions came to exist. It is up to the competition organiser if they want to include salsa and/or some other nightclub dances into their competition.

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(After comment)
Well, then, it's not really a question, it is a statement of opinion. I can add that judges ARE looking for artistic exression more than anything esle in salsa. Been there, done that. I loved salsa. As soon as my feeling for salsa was gone, I no longer placed first or anywhere near the top in competitions, even though I was "technically" a better dancer. (I have no idea how judges saw it, but they saw it right away.) This is when I knew - time to stop. Salsa is no longer my thing. No need to make a fool of myself by mechanically going through the moves. Stick to International Standard and Latin. :-)
Why ballroom people do salsa? Just because they like it. Why do they compete in it? Because they compete in other dances, why not salsa. I don't see how Rumba or Cha-Cha or Samba is vastly different. They also have rich heritage and similar origin as far as I know. It doesn't mean that the original version of the dances doesn't exist or is less important. Ballroom version is just somewhat different, has different ideas and agendas in mind.