I have always loved to watch people dance. I think it all began with my mother's love of watching all those musicals featuring the greats like Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Ginger Rogers, Eleanor Powell and The Nicholas Brothers. As a child, I was mesmerized by the carefreeness in which the dancers perform a complex routine. I was drawn to elegance that these people seem to carry about them. I was captivated by that small knowing smile of content upon the lips of dancers. I have often dreamt that someday I too will be able experience the euphoria of being able to move with such grace, to truly experience what it feels like to dance "Cheek to Cheek" with a girl, or at least "Make 'em Laugh". Unfortunately, I never quite dared to venture out onto the dance floor myself. Let's face it, I am a really awkward guy. My motor coordination skills were at best mediocre. Most of all, I can never quite imagine myself ever possessing the confidence to sustain me through the trial and error phase. I imagine I will have a hard time to "Pick myself Up" due to the embarrassment I would feel. I am at such a level of self-awareness, that I know I will paralyze the moment I step onto that hard wood floor, and have a girl in my arms.
Actually, before even getting close to the floor, there is the problem of finding a girl who can tolerate my clumsiness. If dancing is a game of avoiding to be stepped on by the guy, I think the girls will find that I am exceptionally gifted at finding toes. Having been educated in an all boy's school didn't help. If I don't trip over myself trying to ask a girl to a dance, I will definitely trip her all over the place. I would need an insurance sales representative standing at my side, requesting all who dared to dance with me to sign all these forms to ensure that their medical insurance covers all injuries incurred from a bout of dancing with me. Such was my deposition when I finally worked up the courage to go dancing salsa.
To say I can dance salsa would be an insult to all those who actually salsa (please note that salsa is both a noun and a verb. When the verb is done right, the noun will follow often accompanied by adjectives like caliente and passion). I guess the reason I was motivated to try salsa was because of all the dances I have seen, this was the one that seemed to be most down to earth. There is a playfulness in salsa, a luring passion that seems to entice me to join in its sensual rhythm. The music itself is alluring, an invitation to move freely and sway with ease. There is a subtle grace, but what I love most about it is the passion. Where most ballroom dances feature grace and class, salsa emphasize entertainment and passion. It is about enjoying oneself in the company of others. There is a childlike playfulness reflected in the mocking imitations of certain rigid European dances. As if the creator of salsa were making fun of how restricted the European dances were, and to show people how real dancing should be done.
I must confess I am addicted. My head is filled with the beat of salsa. When I allow myself to turn away from work., my thoughts become immediately filled with images of different moves in salsa. Looking back, I have come a long way from being the shy kid who loved dancing but never dared to try. My journey in salsa has just began, but its effect on me has been substantial. No longer am I as rigid, and conscious as I once was. I am beginning to inherit the playful nature of it, to learn to humor oneself, and to make light of the daily restraints that confines us. I am beginning to understand where that knowing smile on dancers originate from. It comes from allowing oneself to be free, it comes from losing oneself to the music. Salsa asks us to live passionately, to truly live. In order to live, we need to enjoy, to be playful, and to feel the closeness of others around us. It is a powerful and twirling embrace, one enriched with spicy flavors.
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