Salsa in the City

A night of dancing (and lots of stepping on my own feet)

 A few weeks ago, my sister Mary and I went salsa dancing at a local club to ring in her birthday. Around the time of night when I'm usually winding down for bed, we were out on the town. We clomped down the stairs in our high heels to the basement location, showed our IDs, and bought bottled water to split as we surveyed the low-ceilinged room occupied mostly by a well-polished dance floor. I'd been here before, but it had been a while. I laughed my way through the basic salsa and bachata lesson while tripping over my own feet, and Mary waited in the wings for the real dancing to begin.

Watching Mary dance salsa is a sublime experience. When she gets a good partner, the two of them transform in an instant from two strangers to one couple, dancing a complex, whirling, intense set of moves that seems too fluid to be impromptu. I watch them and think, When did you guys get a chance to rehearse?!

There were more girls than guys at the club, so I stood by the dance floor waiting to see if someone would pick me— I just didn't have the guts to ask someone to dance unless it was clear that he also was a beginner. And I did get picked, every few dances: guys awkwardly counting the steps and looking at their feet, guys who knew exactly one spin and did it over and over, guys way past my skill level who showed me different dance moves, guys who endured me spinning the wrong way or not paying attention to their cue or falling out of step. One guy insisted he was a beginner, but danced with a fluid grace that I'll never be able to match. One guy was twice my age and quite buzzed and didn't seem to care about following the steps. One guy laughed with me every time I messed up and gave me a big hug afterward. 

I've never liked clubs as a rule, since they're loud and overstimulating. But I do like dancing a dance with set steps, and focusing on the rhythm and the feel, and improving my footwork, and, most of all, watching Mary whirl through the dance crowd like a dream.

I should do this more often.

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