Two Left Feet!

So one of my goals when I moved home was to start dancing. I did a measly year of ballroom at Columbia, but it never got anywhere; I had no time to practice, what with the crazy BME workload and my club commitments, so I dropped ballroom after my freshman year. I kind of regret it a little, but luckily it's one of those regrets that don't have to stay regrets :) Fortunately, my best friend N also loves dancing, and so we signed up for an intro salsa course for the month of October.

The studio that we signed up at is an exclusively salsa school (with special workshops on other street latin dances, yay!). Classes are pretty awesome - a course is four weeks, two hours a week, which is just enough time to actually get into the dance and but not long enough that you get bored - though I always find myself wishing class would go on longer each week :) Three weeks ago, we had our first class, which was excruciatingly painful - we spent the first hour just learning to count the salsa beat, and the second hour getting used to the closed hold. Most people seemed really uncomfortable at first - which I understand, because closed hold is a lot more intimate than the regular salsa hold (basically just holding each other's hands). After that first class, N and I were a little...flabbergasted, I suppose is the word - we expected something completely different...

Our second lesson was so much better! Everyone had secretly practiced, I think, and so it was a lot easier to dance - the guys led better, the girls followed better, and everyone had the step we learned last class down. The next move we learned was the cross body lead, where the guys lead the girls across them (using a Push) to get to the other side. Our teachers were trying to teach us how important it was to properly lead and follow, and so they split us up by gender. Us girls were told about the importance of the Push - no Push should equate to no forward movement, regardless of all else. I wasn't paying that much attention - I was too busy watching the boys, who had gotten into this football like huddle around the guy teacher. After, we got back into our circle, and started practicing the cross body lead again. I was teasing my partner about the huddle, and he got really uncomfortable and changed the subject. I didn't think more of it, and started the steps again. But then! right in the middle of the lead, my partner didn't give the Push, and I was so confused...ha! it turns out that the boys had planned a test for us, to see whether we were moving on autopilot or actually following. Can you believe? I want to have a test for the boys next time - but I guess that pretty much every move is a test for the boys :)

Anyway, after class was the bi-weekly social night at our school - N and I were the only people from our class to go, and we were really nervous at first, since we knew all of three moves, two of which we learned that day. Can you say newbies? Everyone there was at least a couple of levels ahead of us, so the two of us sat meekly on a bench, oohing and ahhing at how awesome everyone was. Whenever we were asked to dance, we would give this little warning - um, sure, but we should warn you that we're only in 1a :). It was so much fun though! And dancing with boys who can lead? Heavenly! After a few hours, N and I decided to head home, and went to find our teacher to say bye...she told us of a street chacha workshop that was starting the next day, and we signed up on the spot...but that's a story for another time.