I am heartbroken. A special person died this morning and I....feel so empty.
I have written about my Familia de Cubano many times here. Salsa has become so much a part of my life that it is strange to look back and not have a good memory that does not include someone who dances with me.
I learned to dance Cuban style salsa from a wonderful couple. The man affectionately known as "The Papi" and his partner. A woman who has always laughed and opened her home and heart to me like I was indeed family. They adopted me, took me under their wings, opened their home for holidays and gatherings and lifted me up whenever I felt down.
In the past 8 years I have grown to know and love them both like family.
Today...this morning....one half of that couple has left this world....my heart is broken. As I type through tears I remember the good memories, her extremely bright blue (and sometimes green) eyes and the smile she shared with everyone. No one has a laugh as infectious as hers.
My life was/is better because of them both, because of her generosity. My Cuban family has suffered a tremendous loss. My heart breaks for The Papi and it is so very heavy today.
I take a little comfort that she is not in pain anymore. And I am extremely lucky to have known her and shared the years of her life. She touched so many....
...but I am heartbroken.
Our last words to each other...
I said, "Smooches hun, love you. Feel better!"
Her almost whispered response, "Smooches. Love you too!"
I have one. I originally blogged about them two years ago. They are a Timba Latin band and I have been a fan every since I found out they were behind one of my favorite songs. By the time they were rumored to be working on a second album they were being hailed as the hottest/best band to come out of Cuba. They had their first US tour last year but my city was unfortunately not on their itinerary. Cuban bands must have visas to come to the US and sometimes they are not approved so traveling to another city to see them may or may not work out.
I was very happy to see my city on their itinerary this go around.
The sound was great and I have not been star struck before but standing 3 feet from the people who make the music I adore is....priceless! One of my fellow salsa performers is as much of a fan as I am and we booth literally swooned when the band leader (and lead singer) walked on stage. Each member of the band is a brilliant musician in their right and we enjoyed that show from opening note to closing encore.
They had a few special guests (Cuban Conga players and Rumba Dancers) they were flat out absolutely fabu! Even the band members had looks of approval. The night was epic! My inner Salsera is fulfilled for a while.
My only regret on the concert is that the lead singer is also a brilliant trumpeter and I was highly disappointed that he did not play his trumpet during the concert. AT ALL! There was no trumpet stand on stage! That is the equivalent of seeing Prince sing at a concert and him never picking up a guitar. Still a great show but severely lacking the icing on the cake.
No literally, the man is hailed as the best trumpeter coming out of Cuba...and that is not easily done with the music programs there. Check out a solo from a previous performance:
What did make me giddy is actually meeting the man himself...in person! He is very gracious and speaks not one word of English. Damn, my Spanish must get better. We surprised him by asking him to sign our folding fans. Folding fans? Yes, those hand fans that are often seen with dancers fanning themselves? I have a few from Cuba and we have beautiful wooden ones that are now autographed by Alexander! (Yes, I stopped by the store and bought a sharpie) In hindsight we should have included the entire band but I was so star struck I forgot. He smiled as I think no one has ever asked him to do that. Maybe he will remember us next time when we ask for the rest of the band to add their signatures.
Such a fantastic night! The only time I have attended a dance night, danced for 2 songs and been totally fulfilled. I must do that again.
I said this to a blogger via email last week. It is not that I do not like dance anymore, but more so the "scene" was starting to turn me off from dancing socially. People are acting like they are still in high school. There are cliques who only dance among themselves and there are people whoring around on the 'down-low' while having spouses, children and significant others.
I suppose most of that will always happen but it is a bit disheartening when you treat an art form as such and only want to enjoy it. Because of everything going on I had pretty much stopped social dancing outside of supporting loved ones and good friends.
I still perform with my salsa group. We have received some amazing offers to perform. Without them and my adopted Cuban family I think I may have stopped dancing all together by now. I think both groups are the reason I may have found my dance mojo again.
We received an invite to share the spotlight with a great salsa group who were coming to the area. Before I was a member, the girls danced with this group the last time they came to the area a few years ago. I had no idea I was in for such a treat! The group of seven musicians combine Jazz, R&B, Classical and modern Cuban (known as Timba) to create a unique sound that literally makes you get out of your seat.
The lead singer introduced our group and we got a chance to share the spotlight with these truly incredible musicians. They are gracious and humble (we also met them backstage before the show) and even danced with the crowd after the show. (try getting an American "musical celebrity" to do that). The best thing after the show was having them tell US thank you!
Thank us?!? Nope, thank you! We danced, laughed, sang along with the songs and even beat on the stage along with the drummer. We had so much fun that every time a musician had a solo they would come straight to us at the edge of the stage. I guess we had too much fun with the band because while waiting for a photo-op after the show, a young college student called us groupies.
O_0
Groupies?!?
Who you calling groupies?!?
If dancing through a concert, having the band introduce you as "special guests" and having the lead singer dance in the middle of your group in the dance area and using your group to start the conga line makes us groupies, then yes young buck. I will take that title. I will take it proudly and you know why?
Because dancing with them made me realize why I fell in love with dance in the first place. THAT will make me a groupie any day!
The band ended their concert with a conga line lead by the singer through the crowd (while still singing, of course) and around the audience. We picked up people as we went and had an absolute blast. In fact the band director (piano player) was introducing the last song and one of my fellow dancers and myself were at the stage chanting "conga, conga" and he stopped his speech to say "Yes, ladies. We are going to conga."
I have come across many....interesting....situations since I have become a social salsa dancer. Salsa dancing allows me to meet people from many different walks of life that I may not have met in my regular routine. One situation that is really common in salsa dancing is people trying to make themselves more marketable to other sex. By any means necessary.
This goes beyond the men in three piece suits sweating likes hogs to look good and portray they have money and it goes beyond the women squeezing themselves into painted on dresses with their cottage cheese hanging out and ankles screaming from the 6 inch heels while trying to dance.
But hiding the fact that you have a child or children? Let that sink in for a moment.
I mean people are only posting photos of themselves in suggestive poses or photos with their 'peeps' while hanging out. Never a "Happy Birthday" post to the child or a mention that they are someone's parent. I am referring to people finding out their salsa friends are parents like 5 yearsafter knowing them. Why? Apparently it makes them more 'marketable' to the dating pool. Yes, I have actually heard someone say that. I have overheard people saying "XYZ has a child but doesn't want anyone to know." It makes them more marketable.
My question is does denying or hiding a child really make that person more marketable? I know my views on many relationship issues appear to be old-fashioned but at what point do they reveal they have offspring and/or a mini-me at home? After they have tricked someone lied to someone and eventually get caught what are their reasons? Anyone who lies (that is what hiding children is, right?) about their own flesh and blood will lie about anything. How can you build any kind of relationship with someone who can keep that kind of thing a secret? Maybe it is because of my own upbringing but lying about children is the lowest of low (in my opinion) and you don't deserve to be anyone's parent!
By now I know many of you reading this think I am bashing men, right? Well, surprise!
Many, if not all, of the people I am referring to are WOMEN!
Last year I had a horrific trip to San Francisco with my Salsa performance group. After that trip and catching the west coast crud I was less than enthused about returning to the west coast this year for the annual salsa festival. I agreed when we promised to make a list of 'things to do' and tackle a few everyday.
This trip was much, much better! The weather was good, the dancing was good and the bands were awesome! We arrived on Thursday morning (west coast time) and had time to grab lunch/dinner at Daddy O's, a soul food restaurant close to the hotel. A few of us had fried chicken and waffles but me, I tried to stay close to my Shut Up and Train routine and went with their version of Okra and Tomato. I was leery when I read it had potato, corn and a few other veggies but man, was it good! Demolished that and sat there like a gluttonous tick! Great way to start a trip.
After I dived in...YUM!
We rounded out our first day with a trip to one of the spots on the Beer Week tour. The Noc Noc bar was very eclectic and had great beer. We loved our visit until the smell of medicinal (or we think it was medicinal) weed made us flee, LOL!
A shot of the funky chairs at the bar.
After a brief encounter with the transit authority and almost each receiving a $100 fine, we continued our trip the next day with unlimited 3 day transit passes. After we remembered SF has Scout Mob, we scored a great breakfast for 50% a person and then continued on our way to Fisherman's Wharf and the infamous SF bridge! Yep! I can cross off my bucket list having my photo taken in front of the SF bridge. I was a happy camper after that and the sun was still shining.
That night (we were exhausted) but had a fantastic performance. The next day we heard from the director of the band who sings the song (awesomeness) and said what great things he heard about us. This is the song we performed to...great band and great people :-)
Followed that with another great breakfast and more touring the city. We hit up one of the 'best things I ever ate' Dynamo Donuts and learned the maple bacon donuts really are THAT good. I don't get down with the swine but that sticky bun is worth it's weight in gold.
When the lady at the register found out we were visiting and in town for a salsa festival she offered to give us free donuts if we danced. Did we take the offer? ABSOLUTELY!!! We danced for free donuts! The customers loved it and we have the video courtesy of one of the bakers. Our reward was another box of great gourmet donuts. Let me tell you, Sublime Donuts here ain't got NOTHING on Dynamo!!! They even gave us their made only twice a year breakfast donut. Made with cheese, bits of bacon and has an egg inside that runs when you break it open. Shaking my head at the memory.
That day we trekked through more of the city and took in the neighborhoods as they have more mom and pop shops and very little (if any) major restaurant chains. We stopped in the belly dance studio Fat Chance and one of my fellow dancers met her belly dance guru. Of course we also had to stop in next door since it was a Salsa studio and was elated as they practically screamed our group's name as we walked up the stairs! Telling us what a fabulous job we did and how much they loved our performance from the night before. *cheesy grin*
We ended that night at 21st-Amendment, another stop on the Beer Week tour where I had the BEST veggie burger of my life (or maybe it was the beer that helped) but we had a blast in that place! I had to take this photo as we were leaving. I read the first beer offering and was immediately reminded I was NOT in the south anymore!
With a name like that, it must be a heck of a beer!
I could go on and on as this was a very good trip (including how we ran into Candlestick park by mistake - SCORE!) but I think you get the point. This west coast trip was awesome! The random murals and great architecture of SF is something you have to see at least once. Oh yeah...there is also KRUA, a small Thai spot that had me drooling over their interior design. It was crisp, clean and modern with just the right touch of warmth. They used every inch of that place but it did not feel crowded at all. We found it on Scout Mob and man, we were so stuffed I forgot to take photos. The web site does not do it justice. Even the restroom was well put together!
I am so happy the weather co-operated with us this year. After spending five days together, our group was still laughing and enjoying each other's company on the plane ride back, which is rare with a group of 6 women. Will we return next year? Who knows...we may not want to tempt fate.
Here is the entire album from the band, it is definitely worth the download.
I'm in kind of a blah mood. Nothing is really wrong except for the usual things in life but I'm just feeling kind of blah.
I'm looking for another gig so if anyone knows of any fabu positions in Communications/Event Planning please send them my way. Maybe I just need a change
Life is chugging along and I really do not have much to talk about. Just checking in I guess. Still dancing, still planning events, still being caregiver to the fur baby.
The dance floor is still good to me. I need to stop wearing sneakers to dance during the week. The floors are not always the best and my knees are mad at me for a few days after. I know the wear and tear is causing damage. Even with compensating my dance style for a sticky floor with rubber soled shoes I still find myself dealing with aching joints.
If you watch this clip you can see me compensating for the lack of 'glide' on the sticky floor. If you listen around the 45 second mark, you can hear my partner declare he's tired and calm down our dance pace! This is after dancing that pace for most of the 5+ minute song. ROFL!
I love that someone is always taping you or taking photos of the dance floor. I also love the fact that I very rarely notice until they show me the footage after ;-)
Dance floor Therapy...it is cheaper than the gym and a psychologist.
I wrote in February about my trip to San Francisco and the more downs than ups experienced by my performance group. What I did not mention in that post was the meeting of a legend in the Salsa dance community.
I dragged into the hotel lobby with my performance group Director after our more than four hour flight delay and paying triple the cost of a cab ride because transit was closed. There were no smiles on our faces and everyone could tell we were exhausted. A smile found the way to my Director's face when this thin-framed man walked up to her and spoke softly in Spanish while hugging her with a bear hug of an old friend.
He turned to me and asked my name. She introduced me and he immediately took my hand, looked me in the eyes, said what a pleasure it was to meet me and kissed my hand. (All in Spanish, of course). I returned the kind greeting in English and he asked my friend/Director if I spoke Spanish. She assured him I could understand him and he continued our conversation in Spanish as I returned his answers in English. He said he would talk to us over the weekend as we dragged ourselves to our room.
I had many interactions with him over the weekend. Every time he saw me he kissed my hand and told me what a delight it was to see me (All in Spanish, to this day I never heard him speak English). As I mentioned in my previous post I was sick most of the weekend so I missed his class on Rumba but got a lesson in the roots of Salsa and how most instructors are not teaching it properly in the U.S. over breakfast that Saturday morning.
I am always told I have an old soul and my spirit connects with people. I wondered why he was drawn to me in my group of 6 ladies, many of which he had met years before. I can only say that old spirits connected like they had known each other for years. Maybe they have known each other way beyond anything we can comprehend in this lifetime.
I received the news through the Salsa connection that he recently died. I had no idea he was sick when I met him in San Francisco. I had no idea that chance meeting with him would be my one and only interaction with a man who touched the dance world way beyond the Rumba/Afro-Cuban/Salsa teacher I knew. My description of him in this tiny post in my small blog does not come close to touching the tip of what a gift he was the dance community.
I do believe that everything happens for a reason. Our spirits met again in this world and I am looking forward to being lucky enough to meet him again in the next. The dance world has suffered a great loss but I smile every time I think of him kissing my hand and saying what a pleasure it was to meet me.
It was a great pleasure to meet you as well, Pupy. Rest in Peace my friend.
The one place I am totally carefree is the dance floor. I love to perform but freestyle dancing on the Salsa dance floor with a good partner puts me in an indescribably great place of euphoria. Seriously, the smile that finds me on the dance floor is natural, it just happens. It simply finds me and stays there until the song is over. Especially when I have a great partner who I can trust on the floor, someone who protects me and allows me to give him total control.
This year, due to some drama and emotional stress, I took a hiatus from the dance floor. I usually dance at least twice a week but I stayed off the floor for two months. I was off kilter, something just was not right and I could not figure it out until I returned to the hard woods.
And I returned to Salsa with a vengeance...
I returned to the dance floor with my event in March. We brought in the only woman Salsa DJ in the country and she wore us out! The following week I helped to teach a beginner's class on Tuesday, hit up two places that Friday (yeah, you read it correctly) and hit the floor again hard on Saturday. If that was not enough I also had rehearsal with my performance group the next day on Sunday. I'm talking about getting home at four in the morning exhausted and happy every night. And you know what? It felt absolutely wonderful!
It was wonderful to see the friends I had not seen in months. I felt absolutely great to be led across the floor again by men who know how to lead. Fantastic to have great dances with new friends. I have never seen a video of myself dancing socially when I was not on stage. Until now...
Thanks to the outstanding photographer who captures my events in photos, I now know what I look like on the Salsa dance floor...and I must admit, I like it. This short clip features this group's version of Mi Musica. As you know they are one of my favorite groups so the Salsa Hubby (guy I'm dancing with) was jammin' with me :-)
BTW - The album on Amazon is NOT the new one. It says April 2011 as a release date but that is the US release date of that album. It is actually 2 years old, the new songs are available on itunes.
I mentioned my first performance with my Salsa group last year and how we were debuting a new routine at the 3-day Cuban Party in December. There was some gooooddddd dancing at that party!!!!!
I have NEVER experienced a party like that but I guarantee I will do my best to make my next event just as good. I met some new DJs that had some people literally dancing out their shoes, hats and bra straps. One of my Salseros changed his shirt and could almost wring the sweat out of it. Good times...good times!
I took some great classes, saw some old friends and made some new ones. There is a wonderful Latin DJ from New Mexico that I have on tap for an event later next year and I learned some great new moves, watch out hardwoods! But the best part of this past weekend was the performance. Last year I watched as these ladies performed and I thought how nice it would be to learn to dance like them. Little did I know I would receive an invite to join their group a few weeks later and be a part of their performance this year!
I am so proud to be a part of this wonderful group. These ladies are BAD and this performance was the absolute best performance I have ever had. It wasn't perfect but the energy and vibe during that performance was so good people were coming up to us for the rest of the weekend telling us how much they enjoyed watching us dance, how much energy we have on stage, what great chemistry we have in our group and how much they can tell we have fun being together. It is all true and something tells me it will only get better from here. We closed out the performances on the main night and the best compliment was the owner of the party coming up to us saying "THAT is how you close out the performances!" Video? Of course there is video ;-)
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The last night of the party we danced with the Salsa singer from earlier this year. He is a wonderful man with a warm spirit and I must say he rocked that crowd. We were once again his backup dancers. The dancing to his singing was beyond belief. We lost him in the crowd and as I looked up he was singing with the mic in his left hand and dancing with a lady in his right! I hope that opportunity leads to bigger and better things for him. He so deserves it.
It was back to work the following Monday and I was nursing a dance hangover but man, was I happy! I am truly blessed and highly favored. I am surrounded by a network of people who care for me and want what's best for me. Finally, I am rejoicing in a place where I am comfortable in who I am and I am enjoying life. I have met so many wonderful diverse people and I have hobbies that keep a smile on my face, that are great for my health and well-being and I am happy. Let me repeat that, I AM HAPPY!!!!
I am truly overwhelmed in my life and I am so happy to stand in this spot, at this moment and let the tears of joy roll down as I recall this year. The great memories, laughs, love, friendship, family, travel. I am excited to see what comes next.
I hope you enjoyed your holidays...I really enjoyed mine.
These past few weeks have been absolutely wonderful! My ladies Salsa group has performed a few times around town in the past week and they are an absolute riot to be around. I have so many wonderful memories with them. I am truly blessed to have been invited to join their group.
The original routine that I learned after joining this group was tough for me. I had to learn to lead and in doing so became responsible for memorizing the routine, the hits on beat and keeping time with the music. As a lead, if you mess up you also mess up the follower who is dancing with you. No pressure there!
I LOVE this routine, maybe because it is my original routine with the group. We danced to the Swedish group I mentioned here. We were missing 4 ladies (2 couples) but it was a fun night.
We also performed at a family friendly daytime event. There was a toddler there who 'bounced' on beat to the lesson. Absolutely adorable.
We have the debut of the new routine this weekend with the big three day conference and everyone is excited. Life is still good. I am enjoying each day and there is still a constant smile that seems to creep its way to my face. I am not sure how or when I got here but I am certainly enjoying the moment.
These past few weeks have been extremely busy and my body is mad at me. My weekend started on Friday night with my first official performance with my Salsa performance group. As first performances go, it went okay with two minor hiccups. Not a great performance but it was not bad either. C'est la vie.
After the performance we quickly changed clothes and walked down a few blocks to grab a bite to eat before dancing until my feet and legs said 'no mas!' I met a few new people and danced a wicked cha-cha with a white guy in cowboy boots. Yep, I said cowboy boots and he was jammin! My best dance of the night :)
Saturday I started all over again with a Tango/Salsa infusion class and a Puerto Rican on 2 class. Loved the Tango class and incorporated a few new moves in my freestyle Salsa. After class, I had a business meeting (still working on that business idea) and grabbed more food before going home to shower and return to dance the night away. Met a few more new people, danced with the ones from the night before and absorbed the atmosphere. You never know who you will bump into. Met people from Florida, Boston, New York, Texas and North Carolina. Gotta love the Salsa dance floor.
The weekend ended with a Telemundo event performance with a local Salsa singer at one of the malls. That was a lot of fun. I thought it was hilarious that the Venezuela born singer had three women of color as his background salsa dancers. Love that diversity. You can look him up here. His song 'Down' is really catchy and had me singing for the rest of the night. Check it out. Download it from iTunes.
If that was not enough, we left the performance and had a 3 hour dance rehearsal. As my body is very upset with me today I look back on the memories and photos from the weekend and smile to myself.
Thankful, happy and looking forward to the next Salsa congress weekend in December. Like a kid waiting on Christmas...
National Day of Dance has come and gone. Did you move? I DID!
Part of my movement was cut short when I had to meet a fellow performer to get my top to wear to the National Day of Dance Festival. But I more than made up for it later :)
I made my debut with my Salsa performance dance team. We participated at a festival in one of the more popular areas of town. It was sponsored by a local television station and they had many performances and dance schools present.
It was blazin' hot and by the time our time slot came around I was soaked! Since we did not have enough ladies to perform our routine, we had our Salsa dance school Director come out with us and conduct a Salsa lesson. The crowd seemed to love the first song but by song two...let's just say the 100 degrees in the shade was too much for them.
I don't know if you watch the show that started the MOVE movement but the guys who performed the robot pop lock routine went on stage after we did. Let's just say they were even more phenomenal in person than on television. As I stated before, the temperature was hovering around 100 in the shade and they had on complete gear and performed for the entire 15 minutes. My group wore tanks and shorts and my tank was soaked by the middle of our first song! I give them major props for that one! The crowd really enjoyed them.
After sweating off about 5 pounds of water weight I made it home in time to walk the furry one, relax a little and drive to my next engagement. It was the birthday party of one of my Salseros. Let me preface this by saying, their parties are good old fashioned house parties and they are invite only. I am not sure how I got on this coveted list but after attending my first party, these are a must!
They are invite only because they feed you, supply the adults 'spirits' and beverages and then move the tables out and party! When I say they feed you, they fire up the grill and put on steak, tortillas and shrimp kabobs. You wrap it up with this freshly made salsa, slap on some beans and eat until your heart is content! That is the BEST cook out I have been to and not only is the food flowing, but we could not help with anything! The Southern girl in me kept asking him to sit down and let us help, his response was "No, I like doing this. Did you have enough to eat? EAT! EAT!"
After the tables are moved out of the house, the lights are turned off, the disco ball is cranked up (yes, I said disco ball) and the DJ hits the tunes. My people of color may have invented the house party, but my Latino family perfected it! After the traditional Birthday rueda, there was a really large Tres Leches cake. Tres leches cake is the most delightfully rich and moist cake I have ever tried. After all of the eating at the beginning of the night, everyone has cake, more to drink and dances until....well, the last person drops! I have always called it quits early and never witnessed 'the end' myself. Their parties are better than any club I have stepped foot into.
In case you need proof, here is a short clip when the 'dance floor' was relatively empty. The dj was playing a merengue song (Salseros rest on merengue songs :) and the dance floor is considered empty at this point...
Yes, that is a Merengue version of In Da' Club and they were jammin to it! You know it's a good party when they give up on the air conditioning and just open the back door and hook up the fans. We danced, laughed, drank and sweat up a storm until the early hours of the day. I had wonderful Mojitos and on my way home I could not stop the smile that had found its place on my face as I celebrated with wonderful people on my National Day of Dance.
I mentioned earlier I was invited to join an all-women Salsa performance group. Practices have started and yours truly was picked to be a lead. HA! My friend and I both started at the same time which made it a little less intimidating to join a group of ladies (even though they are very friendly, warm and understanding) who already know the routine. We have a few practices under our belt now and let me tell you blog family leading is NOT easy!
Since learning to dance Salsa I have wanted to learn to lead because there are always an abundance of women at the dance venues. Before joining the performance group, my friends and I vowed to learn to lead because we thought it would be fun. It is fun but very different than following. Parallel life comparison, right?
When you learn to follow it is about leaving your arms loose for the man to...well...do what he wants to do with you! Your job as a follower is to keep your feet (left, right, left. right, left, right...at least in Casino style Salsa) and not stop dancing.
When you learn to lead it is all about timing. Knowing where your partner is in relation to other people on the floor. Keeping them safe so they will not bump into anyone or get stepped on. Have an idea of what you want your partner to do so the dance is not boring. It is your job to keep your partners steps smooth, know where she is and make her movements flow. Even in a choreographed routine it is about timing, steps and flair in the turns. Taking great care to make your partner look good. Sounds familiar doesn't it?
Similar to life off the dance floor hardwoods leading and following is a difficult challenge to master. It takes a very open-minded individual to go from being a follower to a leader and be able to successfully flip that from a leader to a follower in the next dance. Now that I am learning to lead, I have to make a conscience effort to follow. My instinct is to immediately take the guys hand instead of giving him my own.
I need to make sure in learning to lead I have not forgotten how (and when) to follow.
It is no secret that I absolutely love to dance. I started taking ballet, lyrical and jazz lessons a few years ago which led me to a wonderful Salsa group. Salsa has been my addiction for about 2 years now and I have submerged myself into the "Salsa Scene" enjoying every spin, dip and cross body lead.
Recently I have been asked to join one of the Salsa performance groups. Imagine my delight when I received my official invite to come out to a practice and see how I like it. I was honored to be asked to be a part of the invitation only group, especially since I have only been dancing in venues (outside of class) for about 7 months or so. All of the scolding from my teacher saying "you need to learn to follow" and "relax" paid off :)
The start of 2010 was difficult for me but this news more than makes up for it. I am like a kid waiting for Christmas as practice starts in February. My other performance group (like the sound of that) is gearing up with a few great choreographers that will take us to the next level. I am elated to take classes with a former Principal dancer from Ailey and Dance Theater of Harlem! This year will be filled with great music, great dancing and tons of fun.
In honor of my newest accomplishment, I have included some of my favorite Latin music. Enjoy!
I love Los Van Van. They have been granted special permission to briefly leave Cuba and perform in Miami. I wish I could go!
Heard this salsa song at a recent feliz campleanos party. Instantly loved it.
A little Bachatta by Aventura. Looking forward to the day when my SO is a dancer. Bachatta is a great Dominican dance but I can imagine how hot it is with someone you are dating.
Everyone has a vice. It is that thing that helps you through a bad day at work, a bad week or a bad situation. That one thing you look forward to at the end of the day when you start the journey home. For me it is dance...I call it my "therapy on hardwoods."
The past few weeks have been rough. My mother has been lying to me about several situations and work has me stretched really thin with no pay raise in sight. I was in desperate need to just lay it all down for a few hours. Luckily I have the perfect outlet.
A friend and I have a standard dance date during the week and we both needed each other to help us forget the woes of the world. About halfway through the night he commented that I "haven't thought about it all night, right?" He was right, I had not thought about my troubles until he asked about them. I danced myself into a happy stupor with Salsa, Meringue and Bachatta all night.
Some of my usual dance partners were there and I gained some new ones before the night was over. A couple of days later we did it all again at another location. This is my new therapy, I have a love and appreciation that makes me want to learn more and get better at it. If something can make you forget the rest of the world, why not keep doing it? It is a constructive vice...I think I may just keep it. Continue to get better at it. My therapy on hardwoods.
Dancing has taught me that I did not know how to let a man lead. Salsa is all about the woman learning to follow. If he steps back, you step forward, if he lifts his arm, you turn. Don't watch your feet, trust your partner to lead you. Relax your arms and let him lead you through a series of intricate arm movements and spins, just keep your steps with your feet. When in doubt, back rock. If you do not learn to follow it looks awkward and both people stop dancing. It does not flow, there is no rhythm and no grace.
I remember my first Salsa class, "Just relax your arms. Let me lead. Just follow" my instructor said to me in his strong Cuban accent. I couldn't get it at first. What did he mean relax? I am relaxed! I couldn't make it flow, I couldn't make it pretty and graceful like I had seen other couples do on the dance floor.
Salsa is a lot like life.
I first learned a type of Salsa style called Casino or Casino de Rueda where couples dance in a circle with a caller and you are constantly changing partners. Like real life you can fake anything in a group, the same is true for Salsa - following in a group is easy to fake because you know the steps and what the man is going to do. But the minute you step out of the group and start to dance freestyle with a partner is when the truth comes out. When people can see that you can not follow.
But when you surrender...the minute it clicks and you "Just relax and follow" it becomes a beautiful dance between two people. When you have a strong lead and a great follower people will stop to watch. They will admire the fluidity that comes through. It becomes a beautiful thing when you are letting him lead as you learn to follow...
I get it now. I...get...it! I was dancing recently to a great live salsa band and my partner and I was in a groove. My partner was enjoying the music so much he spun me out too far and I followed. He had to come and get me.
He looks up and says in a strong Cuban accent "Hey, where did you go?" My answer? "You spun me out there. I was just following!" We both laughed and continued to enjoy the music and dance to a live version of this song:
I learned to dance Cuban style salsa from a wonderful couple. The man affectionately known as "The Papi" and his partner. A woman who has always laughed and opened her home and heart to me like I was indeed family. They adopted me, took me under their wings, opened their home for holidays and gatherings and lifted me up whenever I felt down.
My life was/is better because of them both, because of her generosity. My Cuban family has suffered a tremendous loss. My heart breaks for The Papi and it is so very heavy today.
I learned to dance Cuban style salsa from a wonderful couple. The man affectionately known as "The Papi" and his partner. A woman who has always laughed and opened her home and heart to me like I was indeed family. They adopted me, took me under their wings, opened their home for holidays and gatherings and lifted me up whenever I felt down.
My life was/is better because of them both, because of her generosity. My Cuban family has suffered a tremendous loss. My heart breaks for The Papi and it is so very heavy today.
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