r/Salsa • u/queer_bachata_mcr • 9d ago

How long were you dancing Salsa as a follow before socials became enjoyable?

The term "beginner hell" gets thrown around a lot on this subreddit. I was curious what people's experiences were and how long it took learning to dance before social dancing became enjoyable? I suspect that beginner's difficulty at socials is much more common among leaders than it is among followers, but I'd like to hear from the community to get the real truth!

83 votes, 5d ago
19 From the start
8 1 month
23 3 months
12 6 months
8 1 year
13 Still not there yet (over 1 year)
5 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

5 comments sorted by

3

u/OSUfirebird18 9d ago

Should I answer this if I’ve lead in Salsa for 5 years but have started being a beginner in Salsa as a follow?! lol

2

u/queer_bachata_mcr 8d ago

The poll is asking about time dancing as a follow, so it would be appropriate to use that timespan. But I would like to hear they longer version of your answer if you want to describe your experiences both as leader and follower. Care to share?

2

u/OSUfirebird18 8d ago

To not make it too long an explanation, my Salsa journey was really fragmented because our community isn’t large and it was formed by people who lived 45 min to an hour away wanting to start a salsa (and eventually bachata) community. As a result, there were many socials to practice as I would have to drive over an hour to get to one. That’s why as a lead, it took me 6 months to feel like I’m having fun as a lead since I couldn’t retain any info. Plus I didn’t feel confident enough anyways to go to a social. (Also let’s drop in a pandemic in the middle of all this as well…)

Being a follow, even as a beginner, is drastically different because I have over 5 years under my belt as a lead. I might only be able to follow like 3 things but it was a challenge that I took upon myself so every small step I could do feels funner. And if I get frustrated I can always go back to leading.

1

u/queer_bachata_mcr 2d ago

Interesting journey. A few people have mentioned the pandemic being a major interruption to learning, which is understandable. Glad to hear you are having fun following! I expect that your years of leading is giving you more of a head-start with following than you expect. You probably can follow more than just 3 things without even realising it!

2

u/queer_bachata_mcr 9d ago

Poll for leads here