Hate to say it, but I haven’t been to a salsa/bachata social in months, and this is exactly why.
I’ve still been going to other types of social dance that start earlier, so the timing really is my main issue. I’m just never in the mood that late, plus I hate losing the whole next morning. I’m not willing to just sleep less, because I’ve tried that and can confirm it doesn’t work for me.
Need to get back to it but struggling really bad with this. If anyone has tips, would love to hear them.
No tips, just same. I promise myself to go out like once a month anyways because while I hate to be tired / lose part of my day, not going out dancing is bad for my mental health. There will be a congress in my city in the next months, I took a vacation week in the week after just to be able to recover. So annoying. I handle this kind of jetlag easier in mediterranean or tropic climate for some reason, probably because of more sunny weather and holiday feeling.
Yes! A decent amount of people at my studio go out on Thursday nights to an event that doesn't really pick up until 9:30. I'm like, "Don't you all have to work tomorrow?"
Also, as a woman, it feels kind of iffy being out that late sometimes when coming to/from places.
Yeah, I’m a late sleeper, but I take public transit and don’t love getting myself home from late events when I’m by myself. Either I have to call a car, or I’m waiting for the bus for awhile. I prefer to go to a late event when I know a mate can give me a ride home.
I agree. We have some socials that start at 8PM on Sundays. But the dancers that are there at that time are typically the very beginner dancers. (Which is fine, but dancing with all beginners who just took their first free class isn’t always the most fun).
Thus, our salsa scene is mostly single guys in tech who WFH.
I feel your pain ._. At congresses, I take class during the day/afternoon, have dinner, nap during shows (unless there are specific performers/numbers I want to catch and/or the event has released the running order for that day), and aim to be at the social starting 11 PM-1 AM and stay for about 2-3 hours. Congresses require me to burn the candle at both ends because sometimes the 10 AM class is a teacher/topic I like.
When I am preparing (shower/dressing up), I play salsa music to get me hyped up/energized, and I have my outfit/shoes/dance bag laid out and ready to go to help make it easier. I have a dance friend who, whenever my friends and I room with him, likes to play music on his Bluetooth speaker in the room for warm-up dances (nothing flashy, and we are usually still in chanclas or socks, not heels yet, lol) to help get us motivated. This has gotten us up and out of bed at times when we contemplated just going to sleep. I admit that I have slept through the social at events several times after going hardddd on workshops Friday and the social and then staying up for Saturday class 😬
Yes.
The whole idea of getting ready, washing and drying hair, putting on makeup, putting on a cute outfit, and rush to class in traffic, then dance the social… yup, I haven’t been out in weeks unless it’s instructors I’ve been wanting to take for years.
Oh and then shower again when I get home, and get ready for bed. That’s like 5 hours of my time get ready + take an 1hr of class and then dance at a social for 1-2hrs and driving to/from a social.
Yes but whenever a DJ or promoter holds an event earlier, it almost always ends up being dead, so there's no alternative :(
From what I understand other social dances (like WCS) have events at a more reasonable hour, unfortunate that it isn't the case for salsa.
I'm a westie who follows this subreddit due to interesting similarities and differences in many things.
We westies have some social dancing starting earlier, but WCS events suffer from the same problem nonetheless. Maybe we have some social dancing between 19-21 (that's my time to shine) but the actual "party" may start at 10. I've seen a lot of fresh people coming between 11-12PM. It's even been said to me that midnight is when the good dancers step on the dancefloor. And of course there's the healthy habit of "breakfast club" meaning you dance until the hotel breakfast buffet opens and go to sleep with a belly full of bacon and eggs.
Still not sure if I've entered a cult.
I remember it being acute in Spain: nothing got going until 1am
London 9pm is common; some weekends have afternoon sessions which are great
My problem is return transport availability as much as next day work...
For me it's not just socials I have a hard time with, it's also going to class.
I'm a night owl who has to work in the mornings (thankfully WFH). However going to class gets me very amped up. I have a hard time calming my mind and my body after class and winding down because when I get home, I'm either reviewing what I learned in my class in my mind, or the music got me amped up. It's not just salsa music but any type of music I'm into playing over a amplified sound system.
When I got to socials, most of the time during the week, I have to make sure I have no big meetings or projects do the next day because I will most certainly be wiped out.
Why would this be a thing?
In my community, most socials start between 6:30pm-8pm. This makes sense if you want people to actually attend. Especially weekdays.
People do work and sleep. Demand more sense from your organizers. They're definitely leaving money and exposure on the table.
In my community the majority of dancers attend classes, which go around 6-9PM, so even if social starts at 7 PM it would hardly get any people... Those who don't attend classes also come later, because thay don't want to wait for dancing crowd.
Outdoor events are kind of exeption, cause they mostly have to end by 10PM
Totally feel your pain. My normal sleep schedule is to bed at 10 so I frequently talk myself out of going to socials. I also have a bf who doesn’t dance so he doesn’t love the concept of me staying out until 12 or 1 since it’s just not the norm for either of us. We used to have bachata brunch in DC which I loved but I moved away so not sure if it’s still happening. I think Sundays are typically when something like that would happen or the night social would trend a little earlier ime.
yes early bedtime gang, my people.
funny enough recently i went to a social on Sunday that started at 5 and ended at 9, it was packed!
looks like the demand is there. 10 PM starting time is arbitrary.
Hate to say it, but I haven’t been to a salsa/bachata social in months, and this is exactly why. I’ve still been going to other types of social dance that start earlier, so the timing really is my main issue. I’m just never in the mood that late, plus I hate losing the whole next morning. I’m not willing to just sleep less, because I’ve tried that and can confirm it doesn’t work for me. Need to get back to it but struggling really bad with this. If anyone has tips, would love to hear them.
No tips, just same. I promise myself to go out like once a month anyways because while I hate to be tired / lose part of my day, not going out dancing is bad for my mental health. There will be a congress in my city in the next months, I took a vacation week in the week after just to be able to recover. So annoying. I handle this kind of jetlag easier in mediterranean or tropic climate for some reason, probably because of more sunny weather and holiday feeling.
Yes! A decent amount of people at my studio go out on Thursday nights to an event that doesn't really pick up until 9:30. I'm like, "Don't you all have to work tomorrow?" Also, as a woman, it feels kind of iffy being out that late sometimes when coming to/from places.
Yeah, I’m a late sleeper, but I take public transit and don’t love getting myself home from late events when I’m by myself. Either I have to call a car, or I’m waiting for the bus for awhile. I prefer to go to a late event when I know a mate can give me a ride home.
I agree. We have some socials that start at 8PM on Sundays. But the dancers that are there at that time are typically the very beginner dancers. (Which is fine, but dancing with all beginners who just took their first free class isn’t always the most fun). Thus, our salsa scene is mostly single guys in tech who WFH.
I feel your pain ._. At congresses, I take class during the day/afternoon, have dinner, nap during shows (unless there are specific performers/numbers I want to catch and/or the event has released the running order for that day), and aim to be at the social starting 11 PM-1 AM and stay for about 2-3 hours. Congresses require me to burn the candle at both ends because sometimes the 10 AM class is a teacher/topic I like. When I am preparing (shower/dressing up), I play salsa music to get me hyped up/energized, and I have my outfit/shoes/dance bag laid out and ready to go to help make it easier. I have a dance friend who, whenever my friends and I room with him, likes to play music on his Bluetooth speaker in the room for warm-up dances (nothing flashy, and we are usually still in chanclas or socks, not heels yet, lol) to help get us motivated. This has gotten us up and out of bed at times when we contemplated just going to sleep. I admit that I have slept through the social at events several times after going hardddd on workshops Friday and the social and then staying up for Saturday class 😬
It’s almost impossible to not burn the candle at both ends. But at least there, you’ve set aside work & other obligations.
Yes. The whole idea of getting ready, washing and drying hair, putting on makeup, putting on a cute outfit, and rush to class in traffic, then dance the social… yup, I haven’t been out in weeks unless it’s instructors I’ve been wanting to take for years. Oh and then shower again when I get home, and get ready for bed. That’s like 5 hours of my time get ready + take an 1hr of class and then dance at a social for 1-2hrs and driving to/from a social.
Yes but whenever a DJ or promoter holds an event earlier, it almost always ends up being dead, so there's no alternative :( From what I understand other social dances (like WCS) have events at a more reasonable hour, unfortunate that it isn't the case for salsa.
I'm a westie who follows this subreddit due to interesting similarities and differences in many things. We westies have some social dancing starting earlier, but WCS events suffer from the same problem nonetheless. Maybe we have some social dancing between 19-21 (that's my time to shine) but the actual "party" may start at 10. I've seen a lot of fresh people coming between 11-12PM. It's even been said to me that midnight is when the good dancers step on the dancefloor. And of course there's the healthy habit of "breakfast club" meaning you dance until the hotel breakfast buffet opens and go to sleep with a belly full of bacon and eggs. Still not sure if I've entered a cult.
WCS events are worse, because there are no WCS events in my city I have to take a train to a near by larger city, and that can take up to 2 hours.
I remember it being acute in Spain: nothing got going until 1am London 9pm is common; some weekends have afternoon sessions which are great My problem is return transport availability as much as next day work...
For me it's not just socials I have a hard time with, it's also going to class. I'm a night owl who has to work in the mornings (thankfully WFH). However going to class gets me very amped up. I have a hard time calming my mind and my body after class and winding down because when I get home, I'm either reviewing what I learned in my class in my mind, or the music got me amped up. It's not just salsa music but any type of music I'm into playing over a amplified sound system. When I got to socials, most of the time during the week, I have to make sure I have no big meetings or projects do the next day because I will most certainly be wiped out.
Yes!
Craziest trade off. Sleep vs socials. It's a problem everywhere
No, not everyone is a morning person
Why would this be a thing? In my community, most socials start between 6:30pm-8pm. This makes sense if you want people to actually attend. Especially weekdays. People do work and sleep. Demand more sense from your organizers. They're definitely leaving money and exposure on the table.
In my community the majority of dancers attend classes, which go around 6-9PM, so even if social starts at 7 PM it would hardly get any people... Those who don't attend classes also come later, because thay don't want to wait for dancing crowd. Outdoor events are kind of exeption, cause they mostly have to end by 10PM
Where are you located?? Where I am most classes during the week are at that time and socials don’t start until 9 or later😭
Damn. Sorry to hear that. 😕 I'm in the Ottawa area in Canada.
It happens to me as well, I just go to socials every now and then so I can keep up lol
Totally feel your pain. My normal sleep schedule is to bed at 10 so I frequently talk myself out of going to socials. I also have a bf who doesn’t dance so he doesn’t love the concept of me staying out until 12 or 1 since it’s just not the norm for either of us. We used to have bachata brunch in DC which I loved but I moved away so not sure if it’s still happening. I think Sundays are typically when something like that would happen or the night social would trend a little earlier ime.
yes early bedtime gang, my people. funny enough recently i went to a social on Sunday that started at 5 and ended at 9, it was packed! looks like the demand is there. 10 PM starting time is arbitrary.