nutbehindwheel

Monday, December 18, 2006

Just one year?

Wow, I can't believe I've been dancing on a consistent basis for about a year now. Well, maybe lets not count my first 3-4 months of classes. Even though I greatly appreciate the fun and encouragement of my instructors during those times of classes, I kinda feel bad knowing I was being sheltered and held back.

If you read my post about Dancing with the Stars from last season, you'll know that I thought the show was great. I still do, but strangely, I no longer think too much of the professionals. Sure, they're great dancers and the put on a good show but I've realized I'm not much for performance. Though I do seem to agree a lot with Louis and his philosophy on dancing. It becomes a part of your life and translates back and forth between real life and dancing.

Even though I'm definitely at the level where I can be in showcase and performance specific classes, I really don't enjoy that. I'm not the type to show off or put myself on display purposely for the "benefit" of others. I really have continued to dance because of the music and freedom of the interaction when you dance. I want to be able to achieve a level of spontaneous creativity and self-expression unhindered by the shackles of a "routine." Besides, I think dancing should be social and I've gotten to know lots of great people thanks to this little "hobby" and continue to do so.

Currently, I've become a mostly a salsa/mambo dancer. I have the ability to lead merengue, bachata, and a little bit of cha-cha, but I'm not quite confident in my cha-cha lead. I honestly don't know too much bachata and finagling with it tends to end with disaster at best. One of my teachers once said... don't be a pioneer, because they tend to end up dead with arrows in their butts.

I've also started taking classes with Frankie Martinez at the advice of the "wiser" (yeah that's you Heidi) to dance New York style salsa (On2) in addition to taking classes in the more "traditional" salsa style of On1 in Jersey with Juan Calderone and the wonderful instructors and students of CX (Cultural Explosion). They've both opened my eyes when I attended various socials and the New York Salsa Congress. There's a big salsa community out there and there's some pretty incredible talent out there, not mention plenty of great instructors (Yeah, that includes you Lucy!) I recently asked one of my first salsa instructors what she thought of my departure from her studio for classes, she replied that she's happy that I'm happy. I guess that's truly the bottom line for all of this.

And yeah, that's Lucy leading Heidi.

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