The Unbearable Lightness of Being Shitty

I’ve never been turned down.  I have a 100 wins-0 loss-1 draw slate.  Well, the draw resulted to a newbie refusing to dance with me because she was intimidated by the other dancers on the floor. But after I threatened her with impalement, she succumbed to my strong yet gentle arms.  And we danced to the foreplay of salsa, and the rest is dirty bed-sheet history.  And yes, she was gracefully “impaled.”  Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha! (*laughs a la Count Dracula of Sesame Street). 

Ok the above segue is bollocks.  Let me swing to my real topic which is why I am dancing salsa!

In the Philippines, salsa is still wrongfully perceived as one of the dances suited for the grannies with Aqua Net hair and be-sequined gowns; and the dance instructors (DIs) with super tight-fit shirts (complete with nipple-protrusion devices) and suffocating pants.  This is the main reason why my mother, upon learning that I’m taking up salsa lessons, nearly fainted in dismay and shock.  But she then sulked in pity when she realized that I’m doing the lessons to sideline as a DI eventually—-so I can remit more money to them. 

If my mother, who has known me inside-out for more than 28 years, can get a wrong perception of my salsa dancing, then what more of my friends and mere acquaintances?  One ex-colleague of mine blurted, “Hah, at last, you’ve come out of the closet!”  Another silly one exclaimed, “What’s the biggest tip you got?”  I dismissed their reactions by simply saying that salsa has given me the groove I’ve been looking for.

For the record, I was forced by my ex-girlfriend to take salsa lessons with her.  She wanted us to do something different together (not that we were lacking in variations, hehehe) so I gave in to her nagging.  The first time I entered the studio and completed my first basic salsa step, I knew that this dance is for me.  Out of the 12 students, only four of us are guys (and one, I believe is gay).  6 of the women are really pretty babes and the other 2 are decent aunties.  When I joined another salsa school, I was happy to find out that most of the students in my new school are almost the same age as me (late 20’s).  In the Latin clubs like Qba, Salsa Havana and Little Havana, majority of the people who dance salsa are within the 25-35 age-bracket and are mostly yuppies. 

Salsa has given the Latino itch to the younger generation here in KL that the few oldies who dance salsa look out of place and are left with no one to “scratch their itchy feet.”

Next: How salsa enriched my boring life in KL