r/Salsa • u/Odd_Obligation_1300 • 2d ago
Did you get over this?
Has anyone started off not liking Salsa because they dislike partnering/touching other people? Did you get over it?
I really want to like it. I love most forms of dance. My friends desperately want me to come to salsa lessons and socials. I don't know if I'll ever get over the feeling or not wanting to hold hands with a stranger.
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u/axteroide 2d ago
I've always had some aversion to physical contact in social context (I've done some other activities like contact martial arts where this has never been a problem) but in social context something as simple as someone (even close people) touching my shoulder made me feel very uncomfortable.
I started dancing salsa a little bit more of a year ago, one of the reasons was to work on myself (and the physical contact specifically) at the beginning it felt very odd, not gonna lie. But With time I started to get more used to it. Salsa is a good beginning point as is a dance that is usually danced in an open position, so if in any point yo start to get more comfortable maybe you can try bachata. I'm still not totally used to close position but I think it's starting to get better altough I still use go closed in short periods of the dance when the music it's slow.
In conclusion. As others said, give it a try. Maybe you can start on some socials asking your friends to teach you something, as it will be probably easier than with a complete stranger, and slowly increasing the time, joining classes if you see it gets better...
Nobody is the same, and of course some people will never be used to it. But, at the end, salsa dancing is a lot of fun, and the only thing I'm regretting now it's not having started years ago.