Salsa!

To learn a little bit of culture, I decided to take salsa lessons. The first thing I was told, was that salsa comes from Puerto Rico, so we would be learning Puerto Rican style salsa. So much for my attempt at learning about the Antillian culture... There are of course more salsa types, like the one from South America and of course Salsa Antiliana which one of my relatives came up with.
Nevertheless, I took the lessons and enjoy them to the fullest.

The best part of the class is basically being a woman! The man has to lead the lady, so he needs to remember al the moves and to learn how to give directions. Well, let me tell you, that must be really difficult. Of course, my salsa instructor is brilliant, with just one finger he makes me move around the dance floor. Afterwards, people start making compliments about how good of a dancer I am. I politely say thank you and hope that no one else asks me to dance. The truth is, when a dance partner is not so good at leading the lady, it's very hard to look good on the dance floor. There's toe stepping, spinning in the wrong direction, bumping into other couples. Right, embarrassing to say the least.

The interesting fact is however, is that some guys just use one finger (extremely advanced dancer), some use a hand (getting there) and others use two hands and even throw in their body to make the lady do what they would like them to do. As an extremely independent lady, I of course prefer the extremely advanced dancer. It's absolutely wonderful. With the last type, I can really get annoyed.Of course there is always the perogative to kindly reject the offer to dance.

And then there are of course men who can keep rhythem...and the once who can't. I could say that I find them courageous to go to dance class, but the truth is, they don't really have the slightest clue that they are dancing off beat and since they are really having a great time, I don't have the heart to tell them. Lucky me, there's always a dance teacher to give them a few suggestions. Which sound like 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 1, 2 etc.

Next Tuesday is my last lesson for this season. Then there is summer break. I've followed basic level 1, level 2 and level 3. Afterwards, I even received a certificate. I'm now finishing up with intermediate level 1. During the summer there are practice nights every Thursday! Then of course there are all the salsa bars like De Heeren, Asia da Cuba and De Boot.

The very best part of salsa lessons is that it's a great way to meet new people and make friends. Yesterday, we watched the match Netherlands-Brasil together at the Zanzibar. We had a great time and are of course looking forward to next Tuesday's match.