Saturday, February 9, 2008

Dancing the Night Away

In reality, that sounds much more impressive than it actually was.

About a year-and-a-half ago, I began taking Salsa lessons along with my roommates. I danced and took lessons for probably eight months and then petered out. I got pretty decent while I was going. So now it's been quite a while since I've set foot on the hardwood and I definitely can't shimmy like before. I've forgotten most of the moves I learned and what little self-confidence I had is shot.

Shortly after I arrived here in Rio, I went to Fabio's dance school where I watched their Samba and Salsa classes. In my head, I went over the few moves I remembered and watched my Salsa Crazy DVDs that I brought. I was thinking about trying the class, but they were way better than I currently am, so that would've simply been an embarrassment. Also, I had left my dance shoes—which I had just bought at Dance Collection, in Tacoma—back at the hostel and Fabio's extra pair was way too big for me—no surprise there.

So, determined to get back my dance chops, Fabio and I went to a local restaurant/bar which has a live Salsa band every Thursday night. A couple girls Fabio knows from the dance school were supposed to show up. Long story short, I danced one dance with one of the girls Fabio knows. I sucked. I think that particular song was about twenty minutes long and I danced the same move about three thousand times. That was it. Gotta start somewhere, right? The folks dancing at this club were really good dancers. I felt very intimidated, but it was fun to watch and the band was good.

The next night, we went to Fabio's dance school where there's a dance every Friday night from 10:00 to midnight, after classes finish. They dance Samba, Salsa, Forro, and maybe other styles—don't know. I ended up dancing several dances (including learning the basic few steps of Forro—pronounced foho), practiced a few of my long lost Salsa moves—which didn't go so well—and began to get the feel back. I also learned that I dance a style of Salsa (Los Angeles) that is different than what they dance here (Cuban).

Hopefully, by the time I get back to Washington, I'll be able to kick it. If I can just manage to keep up my nerve and get out on the dance floor, I should get there.

3 comments:

LT said...

Sounds like heaps of fun!!! So far, so good with the camera. I heard there are guys reading your blog, though, and putting bets on how long you survive! =) Losing any weight? =)

Jay Philip Williams said...

Hey, Loren!

Great to hear from you!

Sounds like heaps of fun!!! So far, so good with the camera. I heard there are guys reading your blog, though, and putting bets on how long you survive! =)

Indeed, there are. I love a good challenge...more motivation for me to keep my gear. I like winning. :)

>Losing any weight? =)

Are you calling me fat?!?!? Okay...still fat. Don't rush me. It's not healthful to lose weight too quickly. I'm pacing myself. :)

Thanks for writing.

Jay

Anonymous said...

La-la-la, la-la-la-la (such is life)