Quote: (11-19-2013 01:25 AM)Wayout Wrote:
About dancing : I'v been dancing for about 10 years and I am up there in the top 5% in the US. But dancing doesn't get you lays. And yes, even if you are an experience dancer you still take lessons from different teachers to add to your style and pick up some tricks. Ballroom is really strong in Russia as well - so there is always something to learn. I always wanted to go to a salsa festival Jan 2 in Krasnoyarsk (HOt Siberian salsa something,look it up on youtube) and then bachata festival In Yekaterinburg same month
WayOut:
You are in the top 5% in which genre? And, how would you know that you are in the top 5%? In which cities have you danced.
Just to be fair, I will give you a little bit about my dancing background. I have danced for about 11.5 years. Currently, I dance Salsa, chachacha, merengue and bachata. In my first few years of dancing, I took a lot of classes, including taking classes by attending salsa festivals, bootcamps and congresses- mostly in California. Since about 2006, I taught mostly salsa as a side gig (b/c I had a full time office/professional job during that time), and done several performances (couples and small groups).
In the salsa world, I would consider myself fairly advanced; however, the real top dancers have performed way more than me. In some clubs, i may be among the top dancers (depending on how you rate); however, many times in LA, there are a large number of high-skilled dancers, so frequently I feel really humbled in seeing other styles of the same dance and also seeing world class dancers who may travel to LA from time to time from other parts of the country and world.
I have salsa danced in various cities in the USA - including Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Denver, Las Vegas, Cincinatti, Miami, Jacksonville, DC, Boston, Chicago, Minneapolis and in Mexico, Tiujana and Puerto Vallarta.
Also, since I am NOW in my 40s, frequently, young cocky talented guys and gals are always upcoming and showing energy, flexibility, dexterity and skill that i can kind of remember having at some point in the distant past ... but no longer do I aspire in carrying out and/or imitating some of those young person(s) moves and/or style.
So, if a guy says that he is in the top 5% of dancers, I wonder what is the poole that you are defining, and how are you coming to that calculation? For example, it would be different if you were to say that you are top 5% of all dancers of X genre nation-wide or if were you say all performers of X genre nation-wide, or if you have some other way of considering how you came to your estimate.
ALSO, do you have 10 years experience in all forms of dance? For me, I would say that I have 11.5 years of salsa, chachacha and merengue, and I have about 4 years experience with bachata. I don't really claim to have other dance talents, even though I can kind of fake some others, but it would NOT look too pretty.
Edit after reading CAP7's response:
Salsa has gotten me laid quite a few times; however, it plays out in various kinds of ways depending on how a guy uses the salsa.. and surely it worked better in my early 30s as compared to my 40s.... but salsa can be used as a good vehicle for playing around with a large number of girls, especially if a guy is a good dancer. These days b/c of my level of talent (and I do NOT claim to be in the top 5% nation-wide), I can dance with some real hotties based merely on my abilty to make them look good on the dance floor and they are impressed or flattered, especially if they are beginner dancers.