I was in a club, and tried to dance with a Puerto Rican man that was visiting. We went to salsa, and I had no clue what he was doing. He went 6 steps to the right, then 6 to the left, etc. The steps were really quick, and I couldn't follow him at all. Does anyone know what "version" of the salsa this is? I never have a problem following- but this was a disaster.

theres really isnt a right way or wrong way he was just going with the flow in his own way theres lots of way to dance salsa i prefer the old scholl way nice and smple

I definetly have some confusions about variations of salsa. I have been going to a club that has alot of good dancers and partners. I have noticed that the some of the ladies that are good do dance very differently than I do. I'm pretty confident in the mambo technique I have learned so far - so I have been curious about what is the style they are dancing. One thing I noticed is that they seem to keep their legs bent almost the whole time and sometimes have their legs pretty far apart. They even do single foot turns on a bent leg. Does this style sound familiar to anyone?

missweetmarie, you may be seeing street style salsa that uses the mambo basic. Remember that most people dancing in the latin clubs have never had a ballroom dance lesson and so do not dance ballroom mambo. Street salsa has nearly an endless number of moves and the styling is more personalized and thus varies greatly from one person to another. Ballroom dance, which is actually expensive to learn, is well-defined and follows much more rigid school figures and styling.

So if it is street salsa you are seeing and liking, just jump right in and find a local independant latin/salsa studio to teach you, rather than a ballroom studio. Thats what I did (actually I take ballroom lessons from FA and street salsa lessons from a local indy). It is wonderful!

He does not likely know how to dance. Less than 1% of the population in Cuba and Puerto Rico really know how to dance. About 10% have some idea.
CW

This is a really old message but I'm going to answer anyways. For what you'r saying it sounds to me you were dancing Merengue.

For a second there I thought you were maybe describing Bachata. After thinking it over though, I think CubanGirl is right. He was probably dancing Merengue.

Tiny dancer. Its a bit hard to mix up a Salsa with a Merengue. The music should have told which dance it was.Although some people can try to do a Rumba to Polka music.

Well I do like what they are doing. However, I am a stickler for technique and I am a bit worried that I might get messy. Not that that is necessarily bad for doing street salsa. It sounds like a good idea to take lessons from both, but I think I am stretched thin with lessons for now. I suppose there is always time in the future though. For the moment I am having a great time at the club.