Though I’ve long enjoyed popular Latin music - I’m a lifelong Herb Alpert fan - I didn’t discover salsa until the spring of 2009. It was love at first sight - after which I quickly got mired in what’s popularly known as “Beginner’s Hell.”
Let’s face it - Latin music and dance are both very complex and hard to learn. That’s good; it makes learning them all the more rewarding. But it can be overwhelming for beginners. Throw in the culture shock, and it’s no wonder the great majority of people who try salsa classes drop out.
This is the text that originally graced SeaLatin.com’s home page...
The United States is a sinking ship, a dying empire dragging the rest of the world down with it. Free market capitalism and rampant corporate corruption, war without end, a hamstrung global economy and an embattled environment all cry out for solutions. Some even say music died in the 70’s. Will the entire planet be owned by Bill Gates, corporate creationism and grunge rock, all headquartered in Seattle?
Wait - what’s that sound? A revolution is brewing South of the Border, and people around the world are embracing it. South America has largely united behind the vision of fiery Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who is now reaching out to Africa and the rest of the world. Will this New Left movement spread into the U.S.? Or will people unite behind the Zapatistas?
At the same time, an ever evolving Latin music and dance revolution has already conquered the U.S. In fact, it’s sweeping the world, driven largely by the United States’ growing Hispanic population. In the meantime, the protest music of the 60’s survives in the form of nuevo canción, which in turn helped launch Spanish rock.
As you can see, Latin music means different things to different people. I’m still struggling to understand it, from the social scene to the political arena.
For the time being, politics is but a very tiny part of this website. But I think that pausing now and then to explore the deeper meaning of la musica makes it all the more special. (Check out the videos Politics of Rhythm and Comandante Ramona.)
So enjoy Latin music and food and give Latin dance a try, but please take a few minutes now and then to reflect on their meaning.
Beginners Welcome?
After a string of bad experiences, I scratched my head, wondering why there was so little helpful information about my local salsa scene on the Internet.
Come to think of it, why was it so hard to get friendly advice via word of mouth? When I began threatening to blow the whistle on a bad salsa instructor, even his critics told me to shut up. Even offering helpful tips to beginning dancers is regarded as a cardinal sin by many salseros. There’s a culture of silence in salsa that can be deafening.
If the experts aren’t interested in helping beginners see the big picture - or even protect them from bullies - I decided I’d do the job myself. Thus, I created this website primarily as a guide for people who are new to Latin music and dance.
About the same time, I began posting questions on online forums. Though I met some very nice, knowledgeable and helpful people, I also met some arrogant, narrow-minded jerks. Some people have called me arrogant and overly “analytical.” But I know my limitations; I’m not the best person to ask for advice on how to dance. But if you want to know how to learn how to dance, some of the free advice I have to offer could save you a lot of money and pain.
Popping Bubbles
It appears to me that the majority of veteran salseros live in a bubble, largely disconnected from beginners. Their advice to struggling beginners is typically “Just close your eyes and grit your teeth.”
And that’s probably good advice - for some people, like the tiny minority who evolve into competent salsa dancers. But what about the overwhelming majority who drop out? I’m convinced that some would be dropouts could be persuaded to stick with Latin dance if they only had a little guidance. Moreover, even people who still drop out might salvage more from their experience if they only had a better understanding of Latin music and dance.
If you’ve seen this site’s home page, you might have guessed that I’m also obsessed with political activism. The politics of the rhythm is something I would indeed like to explore, though there’s currently little political content on this site.
However, my personal interests aren’t limited to politics. I’ve taken an interest in the salsa scene in general, which can be intriguingly weird.
Traffic
I created the subdomain http://seattle.sealatin.com to serve as a reference on the Seattle salsa scene. It gets far more traffic than the main site, largely because I’ve put more work into it.
However, I’m now doing more work on the main site, and traffic on both sites is increasingly quite rapidly. As of August, 2010, a series of six “Good Stuff to Know” articles ranked among the post popular pages on the main SeaLatin site. The second most popular page, after the home page, was Latin Dance Etiquette.
However, those pages took a back seat after I published a series of articles about bachata. Stay tuned for the salsa series! :)
The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism - 
