SALSAHOOK.COM — To many, dance is a great passion, to others it is just a hobby, to others it is part of their culture, to others it is just something they do to meet friends, but to some, dance is a means to an end and a way to generate income for themselves. When dance is your profession, you realize that there is a lot of obstacles out there that prevent you from either succeeding or profiting as much as you could, if the market wasn't so saturated or there were other dancers who practically give away their services and talent for free, or very little, just to gain a name or to get on a stage to perform. 

Dancers traditionally make their money from instruction, choreography, performances, etc., and for a very lucky few, they make it into film and television, or other media fields that cater to their talent or looks. In the recent years, however, an influx of talent into the salsa scene caused a complete saturation that brought previously highly popular and profitable dancers to leave Los Angeles for Italy, Spain, and/or other countries where they were perceived with more value. But even there now, with the global economy crisis and more talented dancers surfacing at the top and wanting to get a piece of the pie for themselves, the prospects of profiting as they once did are very slim, and only attainable by a very few. 

In the Latin dancing scene, unless it is strict ballroom, anyone can teach salsa dancing to newcomers at a club or a dance studio, and some former DJs or promoters have realized that they can also teach the basics of salsa, which is about all that new dancers want to really learn. And so, they stopped hiring instructors to come in and teach and began doing it themselves. This, in turn, shrunk the market for professional dancers and caused them to have diminished income possibilities, as it can be imagined.

Moreover, the resurgence of Salsa Dance Troupes really raised the bar for professional dancers, as certain successful choreographers were able to put together teams of new or intemediate dancers and teach them pure choreography and have them perform on-stage, and do quite a good job...to be completely honest. Now, you had people planning events realizing that they did not have to pay that much or anything at all for a good show, with good costumes, good looking dancers, and good choreography. At times, those teams actually looked and performed better than professional dancers who had been around for decades and had already aged too much or their dancing was decaying, or not keeping up with the times. So, the decision for event planners and promoters was obvious in not just a 'return for investment' point of view, but the quality that they were looking for (mostly in looks) to showcase to their patrons and clients.  

Finally, inevitably people who at one point paid professional dancers at workshops around the world, eventually learned to dance, and became so good that they were asked to teach around their city. So you did not need a Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, or Italian dancer to come in to teach anymore, and you could cut costs greatly if, for example, you were planning a salsa congress in Korea or Japan where traveling fees could be very costly.

Now there were Korean or Japanese dancers who were as proficient as those who had previouly toured around their country to teach and perform. Yes, the "wow" factor was still part of the marketability of Salsa, and there were still a few shows worth grabbing and bringing in, but the point of sale that "we are the best and we bring the best" was no longer viable in such regions of the world. Why pay a flight, a hotel, and someone to come in from 1,000 miles away when you have people doing it for a small fraction of the cost or for free, or, cha-ching!!... you could even have the dancers pay you to perform! Now, that's an idea!

And so, dancers nowadays don't get paid to perform at congresses; rather, they are the ones having to pay to get in at a 'discounted rate'...and in some cases, that rate doesn't give them access to workshops or certain nights of the event. Really, dancers have sold themselves so short that they have hurt the truly professional dancers who depend on dance to make a living, and now nobody has anything to show for their talents, which were once cherished and appreciated by all, not just in kind words, but in monetary means as well. 

In conlusion, a variety of factors, ranging from proper business decisions to the fact that some people who are great at dancing do NOT depend on the dance to make a living (they are doctors, teachers, etc.) and would perform for free just because of the joy it gives them, has caused the dance scene to hurt tremendously. You obviously don't get the same level of instruction from an intermediate dancer who happens to be a DJ or Promoter, than you would from a professional and trained dancer who knows how to teach body movement, not just teach steps to follow. And although routines might look good on-stage when done by basic dancers, it is not the same to the trained eye of those who love dance and body movement as if a professional dancer was performing the same moves. 

Hopefully time will bring about change that will benefit those who have truly paid a price for their dancing, dancing ability, dancing instruction, and dancing academic titles.