A leaf from my salsa diary

Okay, so here is a confession. I am a hopeless dancer. Not because I have two left feet, but because I can't follow! And being a lady I must be led ... sigh! I remember, years ago, at my aunt and uncles anniversary party, there was this guy who asked me to dance and while I thought I was doing pretty good, barely a few minutes later he asked me rather sarcastically “ Well, do you want to lead ?” Gosh! Since then, it’s always been like that. It’s something I have to be very conscious about. The slightest sign of weakness I sense in my partner drives this huge urge in me to twirl him around!

Right, so anyways, yesterday was day 2 at the salsa class. Now, I am not really doing this because I seriously want to learn anything. (I think) Am just doing it because 1. I'm jobless and 2. I need a break from the kids at home! (I love them, they're little darlings and I spend so much time with them. But that’s exactly what's worrying. I actually see myself as becoming a fulltime nanny sometimes! And... Pat - I blame you for putting that in my head now ;-))

So, yesterday we got a new guy who joined the beginner’s sessions. And that was good, because it meant we got a break from dancing with our instructor! It being his first time, we obviously had a slight advantage over him. So, our instructor started rotating us girls to dance with him and ‘help’ him out. Now, for some reason I found the way he danced to be weird. And every time he danced with me I just couldn’t stop giggling, well actually laughing. I know it’s really mean, but there was nothing I could do to control myself. There was something seriously strange in the way he moved his hips, and his footwork was also all to ‘jumpy’. Oh and yes, of course this was real easy prey for me and I guess my natural instincts took over, so I ended up dragging him around.

Well, but my joyride was short-lived as our instructor came in and told the guy “Don’t let the lady lead you, take control.” Arghhhh... it’s as if someone told him be a man ! Because I could see he was really pissed! So, he took off the silly bandage with which he had wrapped his hand (as if that would instantly transform him to a salsa king), gave an ‘i-mean-business’ look, and started over again. Well, I must say, there was some positive difference, but then Miss Control-Freak in me was getting anxious, and unknowingly the whole thing was turning out to be a struggle for power! After wrestling through a bit of routine, we ultimately ended up all tangled. The nail in the coffin was the instructor’s line “and that is exactly what you don’t want to do on the floor”. I almost wanted to yell out ‘yea right- tell that to this clown I'm dancing with!’

Our instructor has a way of teaching through demonstration, which she thinks is very effective. Well, it’s all good as long as you are not the specimen. And this time, that was exactly what I and Mr. Clown were. So, she started with her long feedback based on what we had done, while the rest of the beginners nodded and looked as if they were just presented with the bible on ‘how not to salsa’

Well, we ended the session with a warm-down. That’s when we beginners get to mix around with the others( improvers, experts) on the floor. This time it was to be ‘merengue’. Unfortunately, another dance form that needs a partner. And guess what - after going round in circles trying to find someone new, I end up with Mr. Clown. But I guess there was divine intervention, when one of the other instructors came and took me away saying two beginners together would be too clumsy! Haha – well he had no idea.

After class, the walk back home was time for a little retrospection. How did I do today? Was Mr. Clown really the ‘clown’, or was it someone else? After a brief tryst with the radical feminist organisation lodged in the left corner of my brain and the realists that occupy the right corner, I sort of concluded that – next time I’m going to have to put Miss. Control-Freak on a time-out, and let’s see how it goes from there!