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Any Dance Lessons Available in San Jose
https://forum.costaricaticas.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=31240		 Page 1 of 2
Author:  Jf07120 [ Sun Nov 01, 2009 7:15 pm ]
Post subject:  Any Dance Lessons Available in San Jose
Was wondering if anyone knew if there´s a place or someone who provides latin dance lessons. Thought it´d be great opportunity to hone the dancing skills while I´m down in San Jose.
Author:  Lostinspace [ Mon Nov 02, 2009 7:47 am ]
Post subject: 
One of the chicas at SL told me that there are places that give dance lessons and she would call some of the places the next time I was in town. She said she would find out cost and what times are available. I also got the impression that she would like to be my lesson partner too.

I'm sure many of the chicas would feel the same way.

Lost
Author:  Prolijo [ Mon Nov 02, 2009 5:48 pm ]
Post subject: 
Most of the spanish language schools offer free dance lessons in the afternoon after their regular classes. So that is yet another reason to consider signing up with one of them if learning to speak spanish were not already reason enough.

Also some of the dance clubs themselves offer formal lessons, usually earlier in the evening (or afternoons?) before the large crowds arrive. Not sure what if anything they charge for those lessons. Some of the larger clubs that you could check with include:
Salsa 54 - Calle 3 btw. Avs. 1 y 3 Phone 2233-3814
Castro's - Ave. 13 y Calle 22 (Barrio Mexico) Phone 2256-8789
El Tobogán - 200 m north and 100 m east of La República, Barrio Tournón (just off the Guápiles Hwy NW of El Pueblo) Phone 2223-8920

I'm not sure of the last 2, but I'm pretty sure the 1st one has classes.

As for formal dance SCHOOLS, you could try one of the following
1) Merecumbe 2240-8511 for their Escazu office, but with other locations all over the SJ metro area
2) Academia de Bailes Latinos 2233-8938
3) Academia Salsabor Latino 2224-1943
4) El Malecon Escuela de Baile Populares 2255-0378
5) Inovacion Latina 2255-1460
6) Kinesis Academia de Baile 440-0852
Author:  JazzboCR [ Tue Nov 03, 2009 2:32 am ]
Post subject: 
This Thread's info is so important I'm going to tag it. latindancestudios.
I'm thinking this workaround won't be necessary with BB3--hope my tag survives the journey.
Author:  JazzboCR [ Tue Nov 03, 2009 2:33 am ]
Post subject: 
my bad--late-night double post.
Author:  Bvt [ Tue Nov 03, 2009 2:34 pm ]
Post subject: 
I have heard good things from a Tica about Mercumbre. One these days I will check them out. Any vets have any info about private lessons from them they have a lot of different locations.
Author:  Prolijo [ Tue Nov 03, 2009 4:29 pm ]
Post subject: 
I found this one review on Merecumbe on another forum from 2007:
Quote:
Merecumbe
What, pray tell, is that? I hear you ask. Well, it is a dance school which I now patronise every Tuesday and Wednesday. I thought it was about high time that I learnt this skill. The dance floors of Central American are alive with people twirling around all over the place and it seems a shame to miss out on the fun. So I enrolled here.

And it is pretty good fun. As seems usual with me, I am in the middle of the class in terms of ability (or lack thereof). We're mainly learning two dances at the moment: the merengue and the salsa. Initially, the meremgue is easier because the 2/4 timing is a little easier to master. Dance afficionados will know the salsa is a 4/4 timing, but has a stop in it. (1, 2, 3 stop!) and it a little difficult for me to get my head around it. Still, I'm getting there, slowly.

The classes are roughly mixed half and half blerks to ladies and they force partners to swap all the time. This has it's benefits (fancy Costa Rican girls) and drawbacks (forceful matriarchs demanding to lead the way) which leads me to the dance relationship. Now men apparently lead which, at times, feels a little bit like horse-riding in that subtle cues are required to lead the lady in the direction you want to go (sorry for the analogy girls). To me, this indicates that you have to know what your doing. Patently, I don't and so foot stamping, misdirections and lousy balance ensue.

The course is cheap - 12,500 colones for a month (about UKP13 pop pickers), which is about 8 or so lessons. The instructors know what they're doing. It is a shame I don't know what they are saying half the time though, so hopefully my Spanish might improve a bit too. All round, I think I'm onto a winner.

Adelante, dos, tres and, atras, dos tres, and...
So there you have it (at least as of 2007). Quality is reportedly pretty good albeit, as one might already have expected, instruction is almost entirely in spanish, which may be a problem for some guys. Cost is about $20-25 per month for 2 classes per week. I don't know if individual classes are offered but if so would probably be less than $5 each. So expense should not be a factor. I suppose you can sign up for this with your favorita novia, but it appears that is not really necessary and you probably won't be dancing with her most of the time anyway. It seems to me the larger question might be whether taking just a couple of classes over the course of the typical weeklong stay of a VISITING monger really an effective way to learn how to dance. I suspect this may actually be a much more viable option for the EXPAT mongers who can take the full series of classes over the course of a full month (or months).
Author:  JazzboCR [ Tue Nov 03, 2009 6:59 pm ]
Post subject: 
Nice find Brother Prolijo. While this may not be a way for visitors to master Latin dancing, it can take them out of the "total klutz" class, give them a better sense of Latin music rhythms, and sounds like a lot of innocent fun besides. One can always learn more, polish and refine at home...and come back for wizard master classes, thus bedazzling the Chicas (who says Gringos can't dance?).
Author:  Jf07120 [ Thu Nov 05, 2009 11:28 am ]
Post subject: 
thanks for the information guys..I will try out your suggestions..
Author:  Prolijo [ Thu Nov 05, 2009 12:03 pm ]
Post subject: 
Prolijo wrote:
Most of the spanish language schools offer free dance lessons in the afternoon after their regular classes. So that is yet another reason to consider signing up with one of them if learning to speak spanish were not already reason enough. ...
I was talking to someone recently about all the hot young female foreign students you often find at these schools and he was thinking about "crashing" the school at lunch time (when the classes break). He said the front gate guards normally let in any gringo who walks up (not really knowing if they're actually taking classes or not), the food is fairly cheap and not that bad and the scenery, well you know. The reason I mention it here is, if you have the balls to do that, it might also be possible to crash their free afternoon dance classes too. They nearly always have more women that stay for those classes than the do male partners, so they might not care even if they do figure out you're not enrolled for their language program. If anyone decides to try that, let me know how it works out :roll:
Author:  Ilv4play [ Sat Nov 07, 2009 2:02 am ]
Post subject: 
Prolijo wrote:
They nearly always have more women that stay for those classes than the do male partners, so they might not care even if they do figure out you're not enrolled for their language program. If anyone decides to try that, let me know how it works out :roll:


Good angle, I am going to run this one by my wingman. I would be up for the challange.
Author:  Prolijo [ Sun Nov 08, 2009 12:32 pm ]
Post subject: 
Please don't tell anyone I'm actually advocating this approach. I was just throwing it out as yet another wrinkle based on something similar that someone I was talking to was already talking about doing. I can picture these schools suddenly being inundated by a bunch of cheap gate-crashing dirty old men. I still advocate the BEST approach is to actually SIGN-UP for LANGUAGE classes which will be FAR more useful for you in the long-run than any dance class, but is ALSO a more PROPER way to go about things since those dance classes are met as a benefit for those school's actual students.
Author:  Icantstayaway [ Sun Nov 08, 2009 3:30 pm ]
Post subject: 
Prolijo wrote:
Prolijo wrote:
Most of the spanish language schools offer free dance lessons in the afternoon after their regular classes. So that is yet another reason to consider signing up with one of them if learning to speak spanish were not already reason enough. ...
I was talking to someone recently about all the hot young female foreign students you often find at these schools and he was thinking about "crashing" the school at lunch time (when the classes break). He said the front gate guards normally let in any gringo who walks up (not really knowing if they're actually taking classes or not), the food is fairly cheap and not that bad and the scenery, well you know. The reason I mention it here is, if you have the balls to do that, it might also be possible to crash their free afternoon dance classes too. They nearly always have more women that stay for those classes than the do male partners, so they might not care even if they do figure out you're not enrolled for their language program. If anyone decides to try that, let me know how it works out :roll:


Off topic but a little related. As a poor K*D in Georgia I used to show up at a funeral -wedding reception hall dressed in a cheap suit and eat for free. I never got noticed.
Author:  Prolijo [ Sun Nov 08, 2009 6:13 pm ]
Post subject: 
Icantstayaway wrote:
Prolijo wrote:
Prolijo wrote:
Most of the spanish language schools offer free dance lessons in the afternoon after their regular classes. So that is yet another reason to consider signing up with one of them if learning to speak spanish were not already reason enough. ...
I was talking to someone recently about all the hot young female foreign students you often find at these schools and he was thinking about "crashing" the school at lunch time (when the classes break). He said the front gate guards normally let in any gringo who walks up (not really knowing if they're actually taking classes or not), the food is fairly cheap and not that bad and the scenery, well you know. The reason I mention it here is, if you have the balls to do that, it might also be possible to crash their free afternoon dance classes too. They nearly always have more women that stay for those classes than the do male partners, so they might not care even if they do figure out you're not enrolled for their language program. If anyone decides to try that, let me know how it works out :roll:


Off topic but a little related. As a poor K*D in Georgia I used to show up at a funeral -wedding reception hall dressed in a cheap suit and eat for free. I never got noticed.
Yes but did you double-dip? :P Or get a copy of the death certificate from the funeral director to show to the airlines?

The difference here is that a poor K*D in a cheap suit in Georgia probably looks like everybody else at the funeral, but an older single gringo guy slipping into a roomful of young female foreign students is probably going to get noticed, particularly if no one has seen him in any of their classes.
Author:  PacoLoco [ Sun Nov 08, 2009 7:45 pm ]
Post subject: 
An old favorita was a dance instructor at a place in PaseoColon and remember her saying private lesons were about 6.00/hr. Sorry I can't remember the name of the place right now :?
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