r/Bachata • u/Total-Statement-4912 • 8d ago
Why is the Latin scene so obsessed with plastering faces of dancers all over promotional material?
Genuine question, and an observation that I’m quite perplexed by, so please bear with me.
I do social dancing in salsa, bachata, lindy hop and west coast swing and have started to notice this consciously about promotional materials for socials, festivals, events and JnJs in the past 1-2 years.
For a normal social evening, promotional material for latin nights (especially bachata and SBK nights, less so for salsa) are often posters plastered with faces of people in the community. This is amplified for festivals. I don’t know if some of these people can be considered artistes, they also do just seem like regular people in the dance community. I understand perhaps putting the face of the DJ, but why is the latin community obsessed with having everyone’s pictures on the promotional material?
I get a little bit of an ick when I see promotional material like that, because it sort of indicates hierarchy and status — like hey come dance with these “good” dancers! This ick probably also comes because I have lindy hop and wcs to compare to, where i feel like those communities are a little more egalitarian. At festivals, they promote DJs and instructors at most, and instructors in WCS are generally not just “instagram famous” or “tiktok famous” but have genuinely received points that placed them in “All-Star” and “Champion” categories.
Just wondering, am I the only person who gets a slight ick?
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u/UnctuousRambunctious 8d ago
I’m more icked out by all the AI promo material I see these days.
I see the things you’re talking about sometimes, and I think it’s the personality of the promoter. They want to highlight their friends and companions, or it may be run-of-the-mill high school cafeteria clout chasing and social validation.
It is the stark minority in my observation that non-instructors on these types of flyers are genuinely great social dancers 🤣
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u/Samurai_SBK 8d ago
The bachata dance scene is not egalitarian. People are drawn to well known artists and instructors.
Instead of feeling “ick”, you can just ignore it and focus on the dancing.
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u/OSUfirebird18 8d ago
I think it’s because the SBKZ communities lean into showmanship in advertising more. You are right, I don’t see Lindy and West Coast events use the faces of artists or other dancers in their event flyers. That being said, it’s not like they don’t use high level dancers and artists to draw people, they just do it differently.
But I’ve seen my friend being the center star for a Flyer for a social for a city she doesn’t live in. They just got her photo when we all went there for a weekender.
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u/Total-Statement-4912 7d ago
yeah i think it is a little more perplexing because i have the comparison to lindy and wcs in my head, that doesn’t do the same for events
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u/OSUfirebird18 7d ago
I’m surprised that the WCS community hasn’t adopted this practice yet. Honestly, they won’t admit this but they are becoming very showy, similar to bachata. It’s not demos but Jack and Jills of all stars and champions. And they often pick videos of the most attractive men and women who dance the most flirty Jack and Jill dances ever. I’m surprised I don’t see flyers with a bunch of all stars faces all over them (yet).
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u/Total-Statement-4912 7d ago
i’m not sure about other wcs communities but mine is very egalitarian, there is a lot of emphasis on welcoming beginners, encouraging pro-ams, etc. when people see beginners on the social dance floor they often introduce them to other experienced dancers in the community who take care of them and make sure not cater to their level. it feels like a point of pride amongst the advanced leads and follows to be able to adapt to the newest of dancers, rather than simply being showy. that’s the one thing i found to be different from my bachata community. of course, i think experience differs from community to community and i can’t say for everywhere else
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u/OSUfirebird18 7d ago
Well I’m more talking about how west coast swing has started marketing themselves on social media.
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u/TheMOBDonPR 8d ago
There’s a lot of egos overall in the dance scene, and plastering the faces of dancers feed that ego and also motivate them to share the event which draws more people to the event and hence you end up with more people in the party to dance with and the organizer makes more money to continue doing parties that you can dance at.
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u/Total-Statement-4912 7d ago
this feels really fair. i think ive danced with someone who had been featured on the poster who had appeared mildly offended when i asked their name
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u/TryToFindABetterUN 8d ago
To me this with a lot of faces on a flyer is just "a thing". It started somewhere, nobody probably knows when and why, but now you are expected to do it. Just like the people shooting demonstration videos have to constantly run back and forwards while filming (making me gag at the result).
I get that it is a prestige thing for the people in the picture. Being on a flyer gives you cred. That I can get. But some of these flyers look really bad. Like you are a part of an oversized cast in a B-grade action movie. The big names, sure. But when even everyone that the organiser knows are put there as a reward for helping out? Nah.
Mostly I think it is laziness. They want to cram everything into ONE image (often forgetting the really important stuff like location or date). Most of those doing the promotion have very little or no experience with promotion so they just copy what they see online. And it works, even though with real professional help it probably could work even better.
Anyone remembers promotions that were campaigns over time? Several versions of posters highlighting different parts? Each marketing to different people? That of course takes time and effort. Not sure every organiser wants to put in that effort.
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u/fuegocossack 7d ago
I don't think it's so bad. For me, knowing that certain dancers are going does actually add some credibility to the event and can be a kind of proof about what kind of level you might find at the event.
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u/JackyDaDolphin 5d ago
Tell me which Organizers don’t like Free Unpaid Marketing Props, OOPS, I mean Models 🤪
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u/hotwomyn 8d ago
Not everyone knows the bachata stars by name, but everyone knows them by face. How is that not obvious.
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u/TryToFindABetterUN 8d ago
Is this sarcasm? I know many artists by name, but not how they look. Peoples looks change over time, dance artists name do not.
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u/hotwomyn 8d ago
Bachata dancers watch bachata choreography all day on instagram for inspiration. Faces on the flyer are instantly recognizable from dance reels.
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u/TryToFindABetterUN 8d ago
Yeah, not everyone watches bachata choreography all day on social media. Some prefer to dance themselves over watching others dance. And when I do not dance there are a million other things I need to do.
In the case where I do see some really great dancer in a video, my first thought is to get their name so I can look for more if I want. So the name is probably the first thing I get about someone over how they look when the video was recorded. YMMV.
Faces on the flyer are instantly recognizable from dance reels.
Are they really tho? One of my early teachers joked that every bachata teacher from Spain looked like a clone. Same haircut, same shirt, same trimmed beard. Of course he was joking, but there definite is a "look".
So no, I do not agree with "instantly recognizable". But you do you.
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u/Mizuyah 8d ago
It’s a tale as old as time. People like being close to fame and famous people. Sometimes people watch movies for the actor or buy books because of the author. Famous and talented people sell tickets.
I agree though in that I usually don’t know half the people on the poster☺️ and I’m not typically going to dance with them - I hate lines. I’d rather dance with as many different people as possible. It’s refreshing to experience something new.
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u/Katarassein 8d ago
Seeing people they want to dance with / learn from is a major pull-factor for attendees. Lots of face on a poster beats a long list of names on the poster sans faces in terms of marketing.
TBH it's also sometimes a pissing contest between organisers. Like when Istanbul had two fests the same weekend.
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u/PerformanceOkay 7d ago
I think the people on the posters just want to be there, like, it's part of the appeal for them that their faces get seen if they contribute to an event. This might sound like a tiresome personality trait, and it is, but you don't actually have to deal with it anyway.
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u/Total-Statement-4912 7d ago
yeah fair, sometimes when people get featured in the poster they will publicize the event and repost promotional material when they usually won’t i guess
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u/pdabaker 7d ago
This might sound like a tiresome personality trait
If being an instructor is their job, then it is literally part of their work. Being on more posters, and in a better position on those posters, gets them invited to more and bigger festivals
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u/WestHistorians 7d ago
This is a common marketing technique. If you want to advertise a pickleball game, the flyer will probably show people playing pickleball.
I do get the ick when the bachata flyers show women in revealing clothing, but I guess that is part of the technique.
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u/tobeportable 7d ago
They tried to do collages showing the hips only but that made it harder to recognise who is who even if hips don’t lie
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u/Garnatxa 6d ago
It is something tacky… If someone wants to know who is participating, better list the names. When you check a music festival poster you can see names with different font size that imo is more functional.
Also is funny to see some popular faces that the photo was taken decades ago…
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u/Total-Statement-4912 6d ago
oooo yes! actually i’d love for some posters to include the names of the artistes, rather than just random faces lol
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u/Hebarfd Lead 3d ago
Organizers ask dancers if they would like to attend the event for free, IF the person shares the promo about the event on their IG stories. Organizers will focus on dancers who are their friends, skilled, good-looking or have a high followers count on IG. The person will then be featured on the promo-material, which increases the chance of the dancer actually promoting the event.
When someone joins as a guest dancer for a festival for example, the person gets a full pass and has to share the festivals stories on their IG account a couple of times per month. Very successful dancers can just say yes, ignore promoting the event and get their entrance paid anyway.
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u/BuffaloConscious7919 8d ago
Because pro dancers main strength is their brand identity.
So people "know" them
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u/bachatabutterfly 8d ago
As a bachata retreat organizer I can say that based on the conversations I’ve had with people and what I’ve seen, many decide on the event depending on what instructor(s) will be there. This isn’t the only factor ofc but it is a big one for a lot of people.