| Interesting. I've done salsa for several years now and the way the scene works is second nature to me and even though I've only had any success with girls since I started PUA two months ago, it never really occurred to me that salsa clubs are a different ballgame, so it was really fascinating to read your post.
I'm especially intrigued by the idea of coming up with new routines specifically for this setting, partially out of sheer curiosity but largely because I don't think they'll work and don't think they're needed.
Consider this super-lengthy post ¡El Sabor!: A Simple Guide to Salsa Club Pickups. If you *do* still wanna try working out some unique routines, please do let me know how those work out--this system has worked many, many times for me, but maybe there's something cool I haven't stumbled onto yet. Also, do note there's a big section toward the end about a territorial flaw to which no one I know has ever found a solution. If you can figure a way around that, you're my new hero.
All you really need to know about salsa clubs is that things work in reverse. Dance first, talk later. That's really it. You don't even necessarily have to be able to dance (I've seen my share of bad amateurs gaming in spite of it) but if you can't dance you're gonna disqualify yourself from most of the hottest girls, if only because the competition will always outshine you where it counts--on the floor.
Doesn't hurt to get dance lessons, if you don't know what you're doing. Also, a lot of clubs have a free basic lesson at the beginning of the night, if you get there early. That's handy, and it's a good way to pick out a target and work on her before anyone else gets a chance. Watch the guys in the room who are the best, and figure out what quality makes them unique and try to emulate that on the floor. And most important with dancing salsa, just like in running game, ALWAYS look like you're having fun. I'm good, for sure, but there are guys MUCH better than me who don't get noticed. I get bunches of strangers coming up to me with compliments every night telling me how amazing I am--I'm not the best, but they think I am because I'm clearly having more fun than anyone else in the room, and it's infectious--they have fun watching me. Just like with gaming--be that guy everyone's watching and wants to know.
Salsa clubs are a MAJOR jackpot because attractive girls love them, and they get swept up in the music and SPAM and the movement and style of dress...it makes them feel very sexy and "on," and because of the partnered nature of salsa (unlike regular club dancing), girls come fully expecting to interact with guys and prepared to get physically close to them--that makes it a prime pickup spot, because a good bit of the hard work is already done for you just by them choosing to walk in the door.
Don't go up to a girl trying to hold a conversation. As you figured out, she came to dance. Now, there are some small exceptions--if you encounter a girl outside on the patio or something, she's obviously taking a break from the floor and it's easier to talk there. If you see her sitting at the bar with a drink looking like she's probably not intending to dance in the next few minutes, or if she walks up to the bar while you're there. Other than that, all you need to do with your approach is hold out your hand.
Some girls, amazingly enough, come to salsa clubs but don't like being approached by strangers to dance, and a few will even get rude even though they know that's how the place works. When I see a girl I wanna dance with but she looks like one who'll probably be hesitant, I walk up and tap her on the shoulder if she doesn't see me. When she turns around, I meet her gaze, give her a wide, very open and friendly but slightly cocky grin combined with a very small, quick, sympathetic nod that says, 'I know. You don't know me. But it's okay. You're safe. You're in good hands.' I don't say hi, I don't tell her my name, I don't ask hers, I don't compliment her--I just flash that smile and the little nod, jerk my head toward another spot on the floor, good-naturedly say, "C'mon," and hold out my hand.
In cases where A) I feel especially cocky, B) the girl is a 9 or above, or C) I've already seen her out on the floor and she's a real dynamo, I alter my approach to take her down a peg. I walk up, snap my finger, beckon sharply, and firmly announce, "C'mon." That's it, and if she hesitates for even a second, I turn and walk away (in which case she's usually intrigued and seeks me out later on). I know that sounds demeaning and cheesy written down, but 9 times out of ten it works. It has almost never failed me, and I get several partners a night with those two simple moves.
It makes a quick impression and puts her on the spot, but it's intriguing and comforting enough that she'll almost always say yes instead of taking time to mull it over (which is why you don't go through intros or a lengthy "Would you like to..."--she already knows what you want and she gets time to consider it more while you're talking, in which case the answer will usually become no). Often if she's with a group, I find the girl will take my hand and walk away with me while shooting a surprised, intrigued, sexy smile back at her friends like, 'OMG did you see what he just did? I can't believe I'm leaving my social net with a stranger, but it was kinda hot!'
If she finds she regrets it, she'll likely dance one song with you, thank you, and walk away...no big loss. Find another chick.
Don't worry about introductions or saying much of anything at all. What you want to convey in a split second is that you're strong, you're in control, but you're not pushy, and she can--should--trust you. If she wants to know anything past that, she can ask later on. It's all very subtle, but once you work it out it gets results.
Dance first, talk later. It's wonderful because you start off with the kino before you even have to speak to each other! I've danced as long as three songs with a girl some nights before either of us said a word or introduced ourselves, and the funny thing about it was that by then we were already very familiar with each other. If you can dance, salsa's a great way to very quickly build attraction and comfort over a short period with a minimum of verbal interaction. If I'm interested in a girl I'm dancing with, I usually throw a small bit of conversation in while we dance, but it's simple stuff and short words and quick responses because 1) it's hard to hear on the floor and 2) shit moves quickly, and there's no time to say much unless you stop moving. But it's cool, because you're establishing something infinitely stronger--you're making your first impression by connecting on a purely primal level, learning each other physically before anything else. There's little more intimate than learning in specific detail the way somebody moves.
As many times as not, the girl won't know how to dance. With that same good-natured smile, hold out your hand and tell her you'll show her. (Don't attempt this, obviously, until YOU know what the fuck you're doing lol. Never be afraid, though, to go to a girl and ask her to show YOU how to dance, or teach you a cool move you saw her do. There's nothing weak in that. I've met some of the best girls that way.) Sometimes, once you've made a spectacle of yourself on the floor, you'll get girls coming up and asking you to teach them. Life's good like that. And sometimes there'll be one who wants you to teach her but she's afraid to ask, and so she'll do one my favorite IOIs, the one where she comes over near you and just kinda hangs around very obviously. When you turn to her and ask if she'd like to dance, she will light up and giggle and blush and feign surprise and be very flattered, and she'll pretend to hesitate (because she *is* nervous) and warn you several times that she's an amateur. Of course, you will tell her that it's okay.
Approaching amateurs is how I get most of my girls. I'm a very good dancer, but there are many guys around who are REAL pros and I could never hold a candle to them. For the most part I stay away from the really experienced girls because I know they've danced with the best guys and even if I can game them off the floor, they'll quickly grow bored with me while dancing. No need to waste my time. Now, if there's a girl who's on my level or anywhere around my range, make no mistake, I'll definitely approach and open, but where I go it's most often the very experienced and the very inexperienced. I find a cute inexperienced girl and welcome the opportunity to teach her if she's never danced--this is the exception where you get to talk to each other a lot up front.
If she needs to be taught, don't take her out on the floor--intimidating as hell, too loud to speak to each other, and usually the music's too fast to start learning at that tempo. Take her to a clear spot somewhere off the dance floor, demonstrate, and walk her through things slowly. Now, I love girls who pick up quickly, because then I can take her and dash right out onto the floor, but I really love the ones who are slow to catch onto the moves because that allows for more kino and brazen flirting. For some reason almost everyone, when learning salsa for the first time, instinctively bobs up and down when they do the moves. There shouldn't be bouncing; it looks really odd. The girls always bounce at first. I always say the same thing: "Don't bounce. Everybody always bounces when they first start. ::Look squarely at her tits:: It's really entertaining (they ALWAYS laugh there), but you shouldn't do it." She'll try to take your advice and stop. Sometime in the next minute she'll ask if she's still bouncing. I look down at her tits again, and this time stare for a few long seconds. When I get the laugh, I tell her if she is or not. If she never figures out how to stop, then the third or fourth time she asks, I'll stare at them again and then say, "Oh, fuck it, it looks so good, just keep doing it."
If a girl has a lot of trouble figuring out which foot goes forward and which one goes back, and nothing seems to show her, I'll lightly tap each thigh, showing her that "This one goes up" and "This one goes back." I touch more firmly each time it needs to be repeated. After the third time, I put my hands on her hips, about halfway down, and physically guide her movements. (That's usually pretty effective in getting the girl to move properly, but you can't just start out grabbing her hips--you need to work up to it.) If even THAT fails (and eeeevery once in a while it will), I walk through it counting out the beats and slapping her lightly on the corresponding buttcheek when she needs to move. Though I consider this a big exception, one time last weekend I lost patience with a very flirty girl who was fairly rhythmless, and instead of the little spanks, I just full-out grabbed her ass with both palms, pulled her hips against mine, and manually pushed and pulled her through the moves. It was unusually brash for me, and a lot of jaws dropped, but amazingly enough, she actually understood it then. (And liked it a lot.) That's not something I make a practice of, though.
During all this, you can exchange names and ask how she found out about the place and what made her come tonight, etc. Small talk, and as much game as you can run while still giving her an on-the-spot lesson. This goes a LONG way toward building comfort, much more so than just taking an experienced girl right out to the floor, because in this scenario, you're teaching her, sharing something really cool with her very patiently, and the two of you are going through it together, literally hand in hand. By the time she's ready for the dance floor, she's really come to trust that she's in good hands and you won't steer her wrong--and that if she sticks with you, there's more to be learned (take that however you wish).
It won't take long to gauge if there's serious attraction there, and once you've figured out each other's movement styles and gotten comfortable, it won't take long to figure out if it's safe to escalate kino. More tactile dance moves, sliding your hand further down her back, pulling her closer, turning her back to you and pulling her against you (that move doesn't work with salsa but is great for merengue, bachata, and reggaeton--if it's a slow song, hold her hand while you do it; they love that), little things like stroking her cheek...even though you've barely spoken, it's surprisingly easy to pick on when those kinds of kino become acceptable. When I've really won the girl over and go full-throttle, there's a move I do that ends with me wrapping her arms around my neck, leaving my hands free to wander down to her hips (if you're VERY positive she REALLY likes you and would be cool with it, you can even go for the ass--you might be surprised), and I pull her right against me and, on the slow songs, let my lips brush lightly against her cheek, ear, and neck. Run with it. Enjoy it. WORK it. This kind of quick, intense physicality can't be achieved in ANY other setting and would get you arrested if you tried it.
The BIG caveat, of course, is this arena makes it very easy and even tempting to skip over the Comfort phase completely and try going straight from Attraction to Seduction--it's a BIIIIIG trap, and I've fallen into it pretty hard myself until I started reading MM and figured out what I was doing wrong. Halfway through the first dance, ask her name. (She may ask you first, but it's NOT an IOD if she doesn't.) Then tell her yours. That'll do for a good while. Sometime in the second or third song, if she's not obviously a rank amateur, ask where she learned to dance and/or how long she's been doing it.
After three or four songs (maybe less if they're really fast songs and you've gotten a big workout), suggest that you both take a break. Get off the floor and go back to the table--NOW you run game. You've already broken through so much ice and the groundwork's been firmly laid. If she came with friends, go back to her table, not yours--if she's not on the floor, she expects to be back with her social net for now. No need to open because she'll introduce you. You come in with the BEST kind of social proof--they saw you sweep their friend off her feet. If you were good on the floor, DHV's taken care of for the whole group, and the girl will probably amp it by telling them what a great dancer you are during the introduction.
From here you can work your routines as usual. Keep the good times going. Her girlfriends will ask you about your dancing--where you learned, etc. They'll probably compliment you too. After a little while, pick one of the girlfriends (ideally the one she seems to be closest with) and do her the favor of taking her out for a spin. One song, and don't get physically intense this time. Head back to the table after the song--the dance wasn't to pick her up, it was to charm the living hell out of her. Now you've got the main girl hot for you, and your ace in the hole is you've just won over the best friend.
Excuse yourself--tell them you promised someone else a dance, and you'll be back. Disappear. During this time, they'll of course be talking about you. The group will ask the main girl questions; she'll sing your praises, and the best friend will back her up. The group will encourage and increase her attraction to you, and the best friend will support it. Sometime within the next fifteen minutes, be sure they see you on the floor getting intense with another HB. "That girl's hot," she's thinking now. "Look how great they move together...I wonder if he's coming back. Does he even remember? Is he on every girl in here? Damn, did I go through all that for nothing?" She's getting herself worked up because you've already hooked her. Dance two or three songs with the new HB, then tell her you need to check in with your friends, and to save you a dance for later. (She'll likely say yes, then you're free to return to her at another point.)
Return to the main girl. Get her out on the floor ASAP. Dance as long as you feel is right, then leave the floor and move to close. If there's a patio outside, away from the music, now's the time to take her there.
Because there's a lot of dancing involved (which is fun but eats up a lot of time) and you'll sometimes (or often) have to spend a little more time on Comfort to counterbalance the intense physical heat right out of the gate, salsa pickups can take a good deal longer than the regular kind you run elsewhere, but you establish a lot up front and leave a really big impression, and you get to really infuse things with a lot of sexual tension. By the end of your time with her, if not long before, she'll likely be asking if you're coming back on X date, or when she'll get to dance with you again.
The thing I'm really interested in seeing among your results is the only thing I've never found a solution for: los tiburones. Guys who don't come to dance, but specifically to pick up women. You know who they are because they're there every week, standing around the fringes, expressionless, always watching the whole room. I call them sharks. They're often some of the most badass dancers in the joint, but they're not like the folks who are there for fun--any salsa regulars here know I'm primarily there because I love to dance, and it shows because 1) I'll dance with almost anybody, and 2) unlike a lot of people who seem to take salsa way too damn seriously, I always look like I'm having a BLAST. These guys are VERY serious about everything. They only dance (and they only smile or laugh, usually) when it's with an HB they've zeroed in on. They don't have have interest in nor time for anyone else. They didn't come to dance, they came to leave with someone. And 9 times out of 10, if you give them half a chance, they WILL try to steal your target.
Now, they're not completely bad. A shark doesn't bust up a Game In Progress--you don't ever have to worry about him cutting in on the dance floor or stopping by your table and trying to swipe your girl. Now, he may come by and open, but you mustn't try to blow him out or compete. Just put your arm around your girl--trust me, the shark observes everything and calculates before he acts; he already knows which one you're working, and he's come into the group to take one of the others off your hands. He's just tryin to get his, just like you, and you can appreciate that, right?
Welcome him and actively converse with him when he talks with the rest of the group. You seem like a good guy for being so friendly and not jealous, and also there's an interesting kind of cross-pollination factor that can kick in. Cinco de Mayo Weekend, I met a 3-set with a 5, an 8, and a 10. The 10 had been watching me dance all night and was coming onto me before I could even start gaming. We were together the rest of the night, and during the evening two sharks found their way to her friends (the 5 was taken toward the tail end of the night by a shark who is himself a 5). At the end of the night, all three girlfriends were holding a guy's hand and staring into his eyes, and when each of us #closed and the girls left together, they felt like they'd come in from the suburbs and had this magical fairytale night in the city because in a matter of hours all three of them found someone in the same place. That's a GREAT effect to have, and you cannot establish it alone. The best kind of shark interaction can get you something like this.
Also, this guy is a good connection to have. Now that you know each other, shake his hand and say hello every time you encounter him during future visits. This guy probably knows other sharks, and he'll tell them you're cool. This MAY engender the common-courtesy factor and make them less likely to poach future targets. A befriended shark can also point you to other good salsa joints. He knows you're running game, and he respects that; if he's one of the more decent ones, he may even help you out a little--demonstrate decency by helping him out early on. When you run into him in the future, without even really needing to talk much or learn a lot about each other, you can open sets together; he's kind of a potential wingman built into the location. And if a girl he's working has friends, he WILL introduce you.
But when you and the shark are still strangers, during that first stop-by when he opens your table (or if he's still across the room and hasn't come over), if at any point it looks as though you've moved on and abandoned your target, if she's the hottest one at the table, he WILL trade up and get her on the floor ASAP. And--this is why I call them sharks--once he has gotten hold of her, he WILL not let go until HE decides he's finished. Many, many nights I've seen sharks get hold of a girl and never leave her side--four, five hours. I've seen them down several drinks, sitting on the barstool surreptitiously bouncing their legs, refusing to break away for a bathroom run because they know the next shark is waiting. He will literally remain with her for the rest of the night, and he'll probably leave with her.
Only twice have I ever had an especially bold shark join the group and make shameless attempts to steal my girl, and both attempts were on the same night. Those three suburban girls were so taken with us that almost immediately plans were whipped together for us all to go dancing again two days later. It was a different setting this time, and the music was outside on the patio of a restaurant, and started before the sun had gone down. I took advantage of the more laid-back, less noisy situation to get to know the girls, so I could further win the friends over. Except every time I'd get deep into conversation with one of the friends, these two other guys would immediately grab my 10 and run off. Fortunately for me it was visibly clear that she wasn't into either of them and so she always came back pretty soon after, but it was aggravating nonetheless, especially when one of them (by trying to seem like he just wanted to be friends) asked for her number at the end of the night after not much interaction when he'd been clearly gaming her friend all evening. This is rare, though, from what I know.
But...during that important point where you ditch your target for a little while, or even during something as minor as a bathroom break to pee or wipe down from all the sweating, a shark may try to snatch your prey and cockblock you, and he comes on really strong, so in most cases it's only gonna fail if the girl is REALLY intent on being with you again.
If you can work something up in your routine that can function as shark repellent or can blow them out of the water mid-poach ('cause I've NEVER seen that successfully done), THEN you'll have really brought something new and useful to the table. But as it stands, really, there's nothing anybody needs to know except The Basic Rule of Salsa: Dance first, talk later. Most of the game is in the nonverbals.
ETA: Added in a section on teaching amateur girls on the spot.
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