View Poll Results: Is MJ better than Salsa

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  • Mj is better

    24 75.00%
  • Salsa is better

    8 25.00%
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Thread: Is MJ better than Salsa

  1. #41
    Commercial Operator Sugarfoot's Avatar
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    Re: Is MJ better than Salsa

    I agree with others when they say that choosing which is best? Salsa or MJ is a bit of an odd question. Which do you prefer? Would have been better. This is predominately a MJ forum, so no guesses to which way the vote will go. Try putting that poll on a major Salsa forum.
    Many have said that the music is the problem. This statement is also often heard from those who first take up Tango. This is partly because the music is from a different culture, but I propose that the music is the answer, not the problem. Dances that have music written specifically for them have many benefits, not least…longevity and world wide popularity. Something that, Salsa, Tango and perhaps Swing have over MJ. Such music will not mean as much to those who do not dance the dance.

    I guess I was lucky enough to take up these dances at more or less the same time. This meant that I grew to appreciate each for there differences; the mood/feeling they give, the different atmospheres they create, the simple fun to rewarding technical challenges.

    I was on a Tango week in Prague. Everyone went on to the Salsa clubs/bars after the Milonga. Most have live Cuban bands. The clubs are far more packed than a MJ event. You have no choice but to move with rhythm of the band, the surrounding people etc. Everything is kept small, almost internalised. Salsa is an earthy dance that stirs the soul. When you get into that trance like rhythm and your body just moves it is an undeniable high. I have never experienced this MJ. I am not talking about moves here. Just pure rhythm…a rhythm that joins a room in unison. When people from MJ take up Salsa, that often make the mistake of listening to the music rather than feeling the rhythm.

    MJ….. I here music I know and dance to it. A feeling of involvement in the music
    Salsa…I feel a rhythm that knows me and makes me dance. A feeling of letting go to the rhythm

    I enjoy dancing to music I know and understand as in MJ, but Salsa rhythm can take me to a place that knows me. I get a similar, but different (???) experience with traditional Tango music.

    It will always be debatable and individual as to which produces the more musical dancer, but for a sense of rhythm and connection Salsa wins hands down.

  2. #42
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    Re: Is MJ better than Salsa

    I have been salsa dancing for over a year now, I'm a slow learner mind. And have some experience in faha (or whatever it's called), [a brazillian partner dance].

    I don't think you can compare two different disciplines and say which is bettter than the other. Because everyoe has different tastes, and beauty is definately in the eye of the beholder, in my opinion.

    I studied two different martial arts, muay thai and tae kwan doe. Both are smiliar and different in many respects, my muay thai colleagues all say that MT is a lot better and superior than TKD, my TKD colleagues say that their striking is much more powerful and vastly superior.

    Both point out professional TKD vs MT fights where their respective artist beats the other artist, and declare that as proof of their superiority.

    But it's not the art that is superior, it's the individual fighter, and in the Mj vs salsa discussion, I'd say that it's not the art, it's the artist that makes the dance beautiful/

  3. #43
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    Re: Is MJ better than Salsa

    I found salsa dancing a lot of fun and very easy to learn because of the higher quantity of salsa bars out there, which means a bigger salsa community and just from the virtue of that you get a lot more exposure to learn salsa quickly as opposed to tango, which takes a lot more longer to learn due to the small tango community

  4. #44
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    Re: Is MJ better than Salsa

    no ...

  5. #45
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    Re: Is MJ better than Salsa

    Quote Originally Posted by totalfreak View Post
    But it's not the art that is superior, it's the individual fighter, and in the Mj vs salsa discussion, I'd say that it's not the art, it's the artist that makes the dance beautiful/


    I love this line

    It sums up what I've been thinking for a while now about the whole WCS/MJ thing I see going on. There seems to be a mnd-set amongs certain elitist types that WCS is a better dance than MJ. The evidence they offer is the fabulous dancers we see doing WCS from the USA.

    However, these people are simply fabulous dancers and fabulous movers. They could probably make walking down a fire escape into an art-form

    IMHO this whole "which dance is better? debate is looking at it from the wrong perspective. Each dance is what it is. You can say "who does that particular dance the best?" That is what competitions are there to decide.

    You can even ask "which dance do you prefer?" That is personal choice.

  6. #46
    Registered User NickC's Avatar
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    Re: Is MJ better than Salsa

    definitly Salsa is better, you can't put MJ on your dorrito's,
    seriously, though I dont think they compare, salsa's is a dance expression to salsa music and MJ is a dance expression to R&B, I think someone like Victor is qualified to answer this as he is an expert at both, but to me salsa music is a bit samey and R&B more varied, Salsa compares in a way to WCS as they are both syncopated and so when done by really good dancers, they both (I believe) have the edge on MJ.
    But for me its MJ as I'm better at it.
    Has anyone else noticed how people think Salsa is somwhow "cool", loads of R&B songs refer to Salsa but I've never heard R&B in a Salsa song and lets face it I never will
    Nick

  7. #47
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    Re: Is MJ better than Salsa

    Quote Originally Posted by NickC View Post
    Salsa compares in a way to WCS as they are both syncopated
    Salsa is not syncopated, it uses double and single rhythm

  8. #48
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    Re: Is MJ better than Salsa

    Quote Originally Posted by NickC View Post
    MJ is a dance expression to R&B,
    Quote Originally Posted by Alan Doyle View Post
    Salsa is not syncopated,


    Oh, thank U.

  9. #49
    Registered User frodo's Avatar
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    Re: Is MJ better than Salsa

    Quote Originally Posted by NickC View Post
    Has anyone else noticed how people think Salsa is somwhow "cool", loads of R&B songs refer to Salsa but I've never heard R&B in a Salsa song and lets face it I never will
    It may depend on how you define a Salsa song.

    Sugarfoot & partner (I think his partner may be a Salsa teacher), have taught R&B Salsa. I don't know the whys and wherefores though.

  10. #50
    Senior Member rubyred's Avatar
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    Re: Is MJ better than Salsa

    The two styles are totally different and depend on what type of music, mood and mode of dancing you are into. The music is totally different, latin ..............R&B...... blues......... rock ...................WHAT EVERthe two styles are different, the footwork is different, the steps are different...therefore how can you compare like with like they are different styles...none more beautiful than the other...just different, like judo is to aikido.[ which I have experienced by the way!!!]....things are only better if they suit you more, so to me the question would read as is MJ or Salsa better than Tango?........no way Jose...cos I am into Tango more at this moment in time, although I still like MJ and Salsa LOTS AND LOTS
    if you love the life you live then you'll get a lot more done

  11. #51
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    Re: Is MJ better than Salsa

    Quote Originally Posted by totalfreak View Post
    But it's not the art that is superior, it's the individual fighter, and in the Mj vs salsa discussion, I'd say that it's not the art, it's the artist that makes the dance beautiful/
    Couldn't agree more, same argument applies to all the other dances too.

    In this thread a lot of posters seem to complain about salsa music 'all sounding the same'. That used to be my chief complaint. Then I discovered some classes and DJs that play great music that I really want to dance to.

    Oh, one other thing. Last nights Salsa class had waaayyyy more fitties than the average MJ night . Shallow? Me? Surely not!

  12. #52
    Registered User fandangle's Avatar
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    Re: Is MJ better than Salsa

    Quote Originally Posted by Andy McGregor View Post


    I love this line

    It sums up what I've been thinking for a while now about the whole WCS/MJ thing I see going on. There seems to be a mnd-set amongs certain elitist types that WCS is a better dance than MJ. The evidence they offer is the fabulous dancers we see doing WCS from the USA.

    However, these people are simply fabulous dancers and fabulous movers. They could probably make walking down a fire escape into an art-form

    IMHO this whole "which dance is better? debate is looking at it from the wrong perspective. Each dance is what it is. You can say "who does that particular dance the best?" That is what competitions are there to decide.

    You can even ask "which dance do you prefer?" That is personal choice.
    What he said...

  13. #53
    Registered User Miss Flicts's Avatar
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    Re: Is MJ better than Salsa

    I dance both reasonably well and love both in different ways. I really can't choose one over the other in terms of the actual dances: I love the footwork element of salsa because it feels like you're really dancing with your partner, but I also like the make-your-own-footwork element of MJ because of the freedom it offers for creativity.

    There are far more good leaders in MJ (because it's easier) so I get more great dances at an MJ night. Good salsa leaders are harder to come by, so at an average local salsa night I know I'll have more not-so-great dances. This means I tend to go to MJ nights rather than salsa nights because I'm guaranteed more lovely dances.

    I also find the MJ crowd more friendly and relaxed, but that might just be because I know them better?

  14. #54
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    Re: Is MJ better than Salsa

    Certainly different. Having done salsa, i'd like to think that the time looking into salsa music, the instrument patterns, technique for leading all helps out to try new dances - so far i'd say so.

    Whilst salsa has more rigid footwork that's taught, the hand/general moves and movements can be fairly similar, so a background in salsa certainly helps transition to learning MJ.

    I'd say it's harder to style (well) in salsa initially than ceroc. Forgetting footwork, and concentrating on other aspects really does pay dividends for ceroc nights. Blues is a great example - there's simple nothing exactly like that for salsa. it's like a huge slab of music just waiting to be explored with your partner. (which can be awesome and scary simultaneously for the beginner!). If you started doing anything like blues at a salsa night, or even "off regular salsa count timing" you'll possibly get less of a positive reaction!

    From the events and classes i've seen so far, MJ pulls much bigger crowds in for beginner and intermediate classes, and also the freestyle sections are much more packed with folks having fun, who haven't necessarily done much dancing before. Salsa is in contrast to that i'd say - in part perhaps because it's harder for absolute beginners to get up to speed leading in salsa than ceroc. Venues are bigger for ceroc / MJ nights - at least the ones i've seen (e.g. 8-12 couples vs >80 couples). Less of a one man band, due to the bigger event size for classes on the whole.
    Depends where you go though - I know bigger cities can get bigger salsa classes and events on and match ceroc/MJ numbers.

    Depends what you want. There can be great and awful music for both styles. Doesn't have to have a clave at all. Heck, you can have a whale of a time if you don't fixate on the historical side of mambo, and do your own thing. Want to dance to Kanye and Shirley Bassey on Diamonds are forever, with some dance style shines and isolations? Go ahead.

    Salsa - warm ups and cool downs. You usually can find places where they'll do some shines and footwork to get you up to scratch doing bachata, salsa, and general footwork to warm you up. Not always double turns, hook turns etc, but enough to be fun. Salsa shine 2 step hehe.

    Dancing salsa, you get a lot more comfortable in close hold than MJ folk it seems. From reading the boards here a little, it seems that the proximity of salsa is too much for some. I'd wonder what you thought if you took a Nigel & Cash Reggaeton or bachata lesson Or kizomba...)

    It's so weird trying MJ, and not being able to do close hold. But then I guess the basics of salsa in open hold can look weird!

    Timing/feel is different. From a 123 567 (or two34 six78) to a 12345678 (or 1 3 5 7 , what is it with you MJ lot and counting )
    Different feel for the flow of energy in the dance. MJ allows you to have a more fluid dance, as it doesn't have the WCS style compression and release that salsa has. You can add it, but it's not exactly the same.

    One last thing for salsa - but they're probably lots more for both - the chance to try new dances within a salsa lesson. Lots of places do a bit of bachata, or merengue, or rueda within a salsa lesson.

    Subjectively better in some ways, not in others for me. Sure is fun and friendly so far though

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