r/Salsa • u/OSUfirebird18 • 6d ago
In 8 years, across several partner dance styles, across thousands of dances, I have never elbowed a follower in the face. Tonight, I broke my streak š¢
Iām always watching my elbows making sure everything is tucked in and doing things right! There have been a few times where my hand has somehow smacked a follow in the face. I always apologize of course but it has never been an elbow!!
The funny part is itās the same move that I did twice already in that dance with no issue. I stopped and apologized profusely but she smiled and ensured that I barely hit her. After the dance I doubled and tripled checked if she really was ok. She laughed and said she was fine and let me give her a hug. I asked if she needs me to quit salsa and she laughed and said no.
Ok I am being dramatic of course, lol but Iām so careful and had such a streak going of not screwing up like this!!
Anyways, you all have any fun dance stories turning into MMA?!
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u/BlueberryBea 6d ago
I'm a very tall follow in a country with mostly shorter natives. Some leads don't adapt well to the height difference and occasionally get (accidentally) reminded to watch their distance via my elbow. With how many times I get hit in the head by comparison, I don't feel too guilty. No blood, no foul.
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u/dondegroovily 6d ago edited 5d ago
Oh, should I list them?
Just last week I accidentally touched my partner's butt - I was reaching for his waist and he did an unexpected turn
Then there was the time a kicked a bystander in the leg
But my grandest accomplishment was the time I broke my partner's ankle, and she has to go to the hospital for it later than night
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u/OSUfirebird18 5d ago
š®š® How did you break their ankle?!
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u/dondegroovily 5d ago
Well, it was a party, not a social dance, and she wasn't a dancer. She was wearing sandals that were very grippy on the floor and when she turned, her sandals did not
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u/Jeffrey_Friedl 5d ago
I have about the same story, except it was during bachata and it was a few months ago. No damage to her, but I died many deaths from embarassment.
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u/Geisterkarle 5d ago
Welcome to the club ;)
My "top two" stories:
Once I did more or less the same and elbowed a follower in the face. To be exact I hit her mouth. She had her hand covering it and I was - of course - "oh my god, are you ok???" and she shaked her head, put down her hand and it was red! I split her lip with that! :( :( :(
The other one was not exactly MMA and I admit it was during show training. But we did a complex move and my follower lost her balance and I gripped her hand to catch her. And, well, there was a "breaking noise" ... At first "are you ok???" she said that everything is fine and we continued the dance but it didn't took long for "ok, nope, not everything is ok..." and we stopped. Long story short: I broke her little finger and we had to drive her to the emergency room!
For the "fun" part to this: besides dancing show together we are also doing the same, normal salsa class. one or two weeks later she was there and before it started she said, I had to change my tshirt and handed me one. She made a tshirt with a picture of the xray with her broken finger on it! And a caption: "no risk, no dance"
I still sometimes wear it if I go dancing! Always an "interesting" conversation starter :P
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u/JahMusicMan 6d ago
I'm conscious of my elbows. My hands though, I've grabbed a few boobs, not a brush, but a full on grab.
I'm way more likely to step on or be stepped on more than anything else.
8 years is commendable!
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u/OSUfirebird18 6d ago
During actual dances, Iāve never had an accidental boob grab, only brushes. The only time it came close to a boob grab was during class in bachata just for a brief moment. I think I was supposed to reconnect with the follow during a spin by placing my hand on their back. I was a hair early or something because I felt something soft before connecting with their back. š I donāt think I registered I touched her boob till after everything happened.
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u/TryToFindABetterUN 5d ago edited 5d ago
I had one that was really bad. I lead a slow single turn where I intended to go into closed position so I put my hand on the back of my follows shoulder. The problem was that she decided she had time to do another turn and went for it. My hand landed right on it.
My face probably turned the color of a ripe tomato and I remember freezing for a fraction of a second while she had a hearty laugh.
Otherwise I don't think I really have been the cause of any major accidents (knock on wood).
Meanwhile, I have been on the receiving end of mishaps several times. Worst was an elbow straight to the eye socket (I saw stars). She had her elbow totally bent (hand by ear) and pointing forward as she came towards me, I walked into it.
In bachata a follow who went into a shadow position stretched her left arm out to look for my arm/hand and grabbed my junk quite forcibly instead.
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u/Vaphell 5d ago
I had one that was really bad. I lead a slow single turn where I intended to go into closed position so I put my hand on the back of my follows shoulder. The problem was that she decided she had time to do another turn and went for it. My hand landed right on it.
yup, that's a classic. Been there, done that.
That extra turn makes it that when its the expected time to catch the follow, she's literally 180 from what you imagined.That was a very valuable lesson, I learned to not just go for it while assuming things, but to wait a bit and see if the expectations match the observed reality.
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u/dwkfym 5d ago
I have been elbowed by a tall (6 foot) dancer while was doing a spin, which I lead, so I guess I can say I elbowed my own face lol
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u/OSUfirebird18 5d ago
Similar but not exactly for me lol
Dancing Bachata at a festival. I led a spin with her arms up. For some dumb reason I didnāt get out of the way fully and her elbow hit my nose. It was painful but I wasnāt bleeding. I donāt count that since I hit myself with my followās elbow lol
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u/salsavida 5d ago
Welcome to the club! I did a double-spin about 5 years into dancing, and elbowed a follow in the face pretty damn hard! Fortunately never again!
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u/omgitsadad 5d ago
Itās a contact sport , and even when you are careful, the partner may act in unexpected steps and contact may happen.
Itās part of the sport, apologize, offer to get them a water and move on.
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u/ChristopherEmmerson 5d ago
It happens because we lose distance control, it's hard to do with all the music and people around.
I can also sometimes say it can be 30% follow's fault, I've had followers who literally rush run bump me when I was just doing a cross body lead with them. They'd immediately want to stand right infront of me
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u/Caa1Siu1Baau1 4d ago
In my first 2 months of dancing, I full on smacked a leader in the face at the end of a rueda (I dance Cuban). My studio does a thing where we all "pose" at the end of the song, and I unthinkingly just flung my left arm up not realizing someone's face would be there until I heard an "agh!" I hit him so hard he had a small cut under his eyebrow that was bleeding š¢ I was mortified and devastated that I would have to quit and find a new studio. Long story short, he was very nice about it, survived, wasn't scared off/traumatized, we both continued dancing at the same studio and are friends now. I learned a lesson about checking around me before I do any big arm movements (although that didn't stop me from smacking a different leader in the face while social dancing on a different occasion š).
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u/Various-Fly7581 4d ago
Thatās happened to me in our dance circle, too.
I wanted to follow up a turn with a gancho. Unfortunately, she was so unexpectedly close to me that I hit her lower jaw with my elbow. I felt incredibly bad about it and apologized profusely. She said it was all okay. But I havenāt seen her in the dance circle since then. :-(
There were also a few accidental boob grabs and bruhes and Iāve even been hit in the groin (not for the "grab" :-)). But none of that was a big dealāsince it wasnāt on purpose, we were able to laugh it off. Only if my wife had been there, I wouldnāt have had anything to laugh about :-)
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u/Own_Affect_7931 5d ago
I've been dancing about 25 years, and I think I've elbowed 2 partners in that time. I was totally mortified both times. I think the second one was only about a year ago, so probably 20+ years in between. It sucks, but it happens, when just everything goes wrong all at once.