31. Silly Me

Class ended at 8.00p.m today and a couple of friends wanted to try out the Salsa bar which was near Oxford Street.

Head on over to a busy club at night.... And Salsa lessons were in full swing... From beginners to advance, all in one dance floor.

So the lessons that were available were Salsa Beginners, Salsa Improvers, Salsa Intermediate to advance.

Haha.. so here is an account on how I scored an embarrassing moment in London (probably one of many to come)...

I sneaked into the Salsa beginners lesson and it was way too simple... like unbelievably simple. Back, Back, Left, Right, Girl turn, guy turn, back, front. Nuff said, it is Simple.

Getting ahead of myself, I went to look for the Improvers section but I couldnt find them! I found myself instead, at the intermediate to advance section. Oh gosh. But feeling empowered by the beer and wine I just doused down, I thought to myself, hey why not?! Since I'm here.

So my friend, Alex (who is even more noob than I) went to join in the class. We were BLOWN AWAY by the number of twists, twirls and moves that went into the first 8 beats! Your hands had to be flying up and sideways! You body needed to spin TWICE! And your leg work needs to be impeccable! We were taught 4 sets first and every 5 minutes, the teacher will introduce a new set to learn, which made the lesson extremely fast paced.

This is really crazy and everyone seem to get it. Well everyone except Alex and I, both of us looking like fumbling idiots with lost hands and confused looks. When it came to switching partners, I start off by apologizing to the guys that I have not mastered the whole routine and they gave me the sympathetic nod and most (thankfully) did not roll their eyes directly in front of me.

I must say, I learned much faster and better with these guys who were really advanced and they twirled me around with ease such that it was easy to salsa with them. So within the first 20 mins of the session, I finally nailed the first 5 sets. But by then, the teacher had already taught 8 sets and while my improvement (by my standards) were noteworthy, I was still a laggard in the full routine... The men were for the most part, forgiving but I knew that Alex would be ripped apart by the girls who expected him to be better. Within 30 mins, It was getting clear that I am not up to par for this class and when I rotated back to Alex, we both agreed to scamper off with our tails between our legs, in utter embarrassment. 

Hahahahah, but I had loads of fun, I got twirled around many times, I got to dance advance Salsa and at the end of the day.. I can still laugh at myself for being so silly. I got a kick out of it, so thats what matters.

I googled the move and it is something like this... But for every turn the girl makes in the video, we were asked to do double turns (so turn ultra fast and twice).

Alex and I went to grab a bite, Theodora and her friend joined us and we went back in for more salsa. This time, there were no more classes and it was free style dance. I danced with 2 guys, one a really really old man, like 60++ years old! But he was sweet and he danced really well, he said he was a salsa teacher and he taught me some moves and techniques. It was really nice! I must say, I did had a good night!

And I am even more convicted now to return to Salsa class for Improvers!