Dear All who commented,
It would be impossible to reply to every single comment. So I am trying to explain myself a bit here.
Purpose of the reviews.
First of all I would like to thank you all, for commenting and keeping the discussion going, I am not really concerned about the outcome/judgement of the discussion, all I wanted is the Salsa community to get proactively involved and give a them a place to vent out their opinions, however , prejudiced they may seem, that's the reason I allow anonymous comment on my blog.I have never censored or edited any of the comments. So everyone is pretty much free to voice their views.
My reviews are not personal attacks or vendettas.
What I do in all my reviews, I just review the business model of the institute, I don't get into too much technical details as to how good the Instructor is as a dancer and which dance is his specialization. I believe anyone with a passion to teach can be a teacher and one doesn't need to be a internationally acclaimed dancer,(I have taught many newcomers the basic of salsa myself at events organised by us), but I do want the Instructor to have the right attitude and shouldn't think the students are helpless and ignorant and fleece them.If I had any intention of a vendetta i wouldn't list Anand Majumdar as one of the Salsa Gods of Mumbai on my blog you can check the link here , as per my personal view, Anand is one of the best dancers I have come across , but if someone doesn't agree , he is free to voice his opinion, also I promote Anand learn Salsa DVD series on my blog here. So please any instructors , get this idea about a vendetta out of your mind , not my style.
Why should you take this review seriously.
I have tried to build up my credibility by listing some testimonials here, of some of the Mumbai Salsa Meetup members , also I have also try to make the review a bit light as you can read in my disclaimer statement . But its finally upon you all to judge how seriously you need to take my reviews, I am in no way in a position to force it upon you.But people who search for reviews on the Internet are going to land up on my blog , cause google loves my blog, if you do searches for "salsa india review" or "Raunaque sidana review" or "Anand Majumdar review" , the first page results give a link to this blog. So I am not really concerned about anyone taking my reviews seriously as I generate enough traffic on my blog with searches.
Final Statement.
Finally I would like to apologise and ask for forgiveness if I hurt anyone's sentiments or cause sleepless night, I was just trying to do my job. Also please remember this is not a paying job, I do it , just to be a proactive player in the salsa community, I cannot afford to actually spend lot of time on research , i just write from my experiences over the past years.Since I'm planning to do these reviews every year, If anyone one of you feel genuinely that the quality of the review should get better, you can contribute in 3 ways.
- You can offer to help me out with my research , so we have proper figures and feedback in hand.
- You can write for this blog , and become co-authors here, thus making this forum more popular.
- You can contribute by tipping/donating,you can become a advertiser. If anyone is interested in the same , they can get in touch with me, or just make a payment through the tip jar on the right hand corner.
Do send in more comments on Salsa India review and Review on Raunaque Sidana. I am trying to come up with a review on Kiran Shriyan Dance School, but need some feedback about his classes from his ex-students, do drop me a mail on that on manoj@mumbaisalsameetup.info
SaSaSalsaaaaa
Manoj
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I followed some of the comments and the reviews on this site since joining it on one of my trips to India.
Someone commented that author shouldn’t review because he is a beginner himself. That is BS. Having experience mumbai salsa scene myself very briefly (4 to 5 salsa parties/socials), I agree with author’s overall assessment. He many not be best of the writers and has limitations about what to look for in a salsa dancer, his impressions are not very off the mark.
I can see salsa schools mushrooming in India and especially Mumbai. Salsa is very young in India. Therefore I don’t expect Indian salseros and salseras to be at comparable standards worldwide.
Let me give you my honest opinion. Apart from exceptional few, even the best dancers I have encountered on the Salsa floor in India are at the best advance beginner (or improver) level. While salsa schools/classes in Mumbai have some grades/levels attached to them, it means nothing.
I have met and seen a few of the instructors dance. Ones I have seen are intermediate to high intermediate levels. You can see such dancers dime a dozen when you go to cities like NYC, London, Paris, Tokyo, Seoul, Sydney, etc. So if you think your instructor is dancing at a world class level, you need to take a breather. There are plenty of videos on the youtube of many world class dancers.
I don’t know Anand. I will refrain from commenting on his skill.
One of slightly convenient way for everyone to see someone’s style is to check their youtube videos.
I find in India that people tend to overestimate their salsa dancing skills. They usually think that because they have attended x number of classes they are now intermediate. Dancing is more than attending classes. It is one of the most difficult skills to learn. It involved body mechanics, brain-body coordination, controlling multiple things at a time, deciding and responding within very short time frames, muscle memory, body balance etc. Having skills in another dance form definitely gives a head start in learning salsa. However salsa has its own flavor. Some of the things that make you a good ballroom dancer makes you bad salsa dancer. Those who are aware of it become better than those who are not. These are the things that any instructor should focus on. Showing steps and moves is very simple. Breaking it down and showing the technique to do it what really separates a good dance instructor from mediocre ones.
One of the greatest challenges in dancing is to teach to beginners. Therefore it will be wrong to dismiss a review because it has been written by a beginner.
I see a whole lot of commentators jumping and irrationally defending certain instructor. Even in the review that is for other instructor.
Proof of pudding is in eating. So if you want to back up your point, record the class or dancing style of your (in case you think it shows your instructor in good light) or the instructor himself/herself while they are dancing. Let the world judge it then ! However stop casting aspirations on the motives of others.
SasleroNYC — great summary.. completely agree and have written similar comments earlier myself.. I am based out NYC as well and would love to meet other ‘desi’ salsa dancers in the area.. feel free to drop an email at tippi_vag@yahoo.com.. ciao
Hi,
I just wanted to quickly make a comment on your closing comment on Anand Majumdar. I am curious as to why you took such a 180 on your opinion of him after writing such harsh blog about his “business model”? Also, your comments on Anand were quite extreme and if you felt as strongly as you did and felt that you were true to your profession as a critic then you would have never written what you have above. I definitely think you owe Anand a big apology and the Salsa community as your opinions were baseless and unwarranted. What you wrote was only to defame and discredit him for your entertainment and pleasure. I think that if you want to earn creditability from your readers than you should always try to write fairly without prejudice and not target someone’s livelihood or to discourage others from taking classes. If I were looking for a Salsa instructor and I had read your blog, I would not have joined Anand’s school, and clearly that is what you wanted to accomplish. Remember the old saying “what goes around comes around and when you dig ditches for other, you often fall in them.”
Sincerely, NM