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Salsa: Dance Floor

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Salsa: Dance Floor
Beliefs And Values Seen in Contemporary Salsa Dancing

Salsa culture is being consumerized throughout the world and with it the ideals of Latin culture are being spread. Salsa is being,

transferred, translated, transculturated and sold all over the world via multinational corporations (Cultural Studies, pg.1).

With the massive spread of popularity and the mainstream commercialism Salsa dancing has been molded to every different "walk" of life. Even though the Latin ideals still link the dancer to the past, each new community brings something distinct to the dance. Salsa dancers adapt the culture to new environments while retaining some of their traditional ideals and values because those ideals are based on acceptance of new influences.

The Salsa community has the principle of inclusiveness on the dance floor; this is the main reason why Salsa dancing has become so popular. The attitude on the dance floor is always accepting no matter how advanced and intimidating the dancers are. The following excerpt is from an interview with Cynthia Harper a UCLA dance teacher.

The Salsa floor is a unique community because there is always someone who will dance with you no matter what your skill level. If they realize that you are a beginner they may start teaching you some moves or let you know about a class they are teaching. Even then they will teach you moves that are your level so they still make you look good on the dance floor. (Cynthia Harper)

This idea of an open dance floor is a trait that is very appealing to social dancing because it takes the pressure off the dancers. As Cynthia said, someone will almost always ask a woman to dance and adjust to her skill level as necessary but still pushing her to perform the best moves she can. Salsa is very welcoming but also very showy and competitive on the dance floor.
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