Why Salsa, What do others say?
Posted January 24th, 2008 by Sharon
You know my story. Now, I' d like to hear from others regarding how & why they became interested in salsa. I'm sure you each have an interesting story.
Sharon
Changed my life
In March 2002 a group of us went to Aruba. The first night we walked around downtown, came across a club called Mambo Jambo. They were playing latin/tropical music. I had no idea if it was salsa or merengue. Later that evening a group of people came and all started dancing. Every one of us had our elbows on the tables, heads in our hands staring in awe, it was an unbelievable site to see. Let me mention also that Mambo Jambo is about the same size of Sky Club, perhaps smaller, but these dancers were just flying around the floor!
Still by the end of the week I had no idea the difference between salsa and merengue either by the dance or the music, all I remember is that week really put me on the Salsa path. I've been to Aruba a total of 4 times now, hopefully a 5th later this year! I invite you all to go to their website, Mambo Jambo's
What a fantastic ride it has been since that night...
Glenn H
Ditto
My experience was much more gradual. Even after my first month of dance lessons I had no idea that you could really go out and just dance. It wasn't until I saw an ad in MetroTimes and walked into Sangria on a Wednesday that I even had a clue. Even then, it was so difficult for me to learn that I barely danced with any for the first 6 months -- just took the lessons and watched. But even then I could see that this was something completely different and much more exciting.
I basically look at life as "before" and "after" starting to dance. Its funny to remember back to when I first saw all of the people, whom many I now call my friends, dancing and at the time wondering how they knew how to do all this stuff. Last Saturday night I went down to one of the Casinos and it brought back vivid memories. I remember years of going to the swanky stand around and drink clubs where you have to go through great pains to talk to anyone outside your group and it reminded of why I love the salsa dance scene so much. Even my worst night dancing is still much more fun than that and the atmosphere is a hundered times better.
Geo-
Copacabana in NYC
One day, while visiting NYC, my friend from Mexico turned to me and said, “I want to take you to a Latin Club!” My first reaction was “No Way!” My head was filled with images of tattooed Mexican gang members who would not take kindly to an outsider on their turf. I said to her, “You trying to get me killed or something??”. She said to me, “You’re an idiot…” Of course she was right. It is not like that at all she told me. I guess let all those action movies skew my perception of the world.
So when we got to the doorstep of the Copa, I already realized my mistake. I was severely under dressed. The ladies were all in heels and party dresses and the guys were all in sharp suits. We get to the guy working the door and he looks my up and down. I was afraid we would not let me in due to the jeans but since they were black jeans he gave me the nod. Then he says to me, “25 bucks…” I almost choked! But once inside it was easy to see that it was well worth the price. There was a live band playing incredible music and the dance floor was filled with sharply dressed couples dancing pulling out all these cool moves that seemed impossible. It looked awesome. It was the night that changed everything…
When I got back to Detroit a few days later I knew what I had to do. I needed to learn salsa. The timing was perfect. This new found pastime came at a point in my life where I was bored all the time and looking for something to do that I would be excited about. I had finally found it.
I didn’t dance much at the Copa that night simply because I couldn’t. Mostly I just watched in wide eyed amazement. Now that I am a little better I would have liked to go back and dance at the place that got me started. But alas no… the Copa is long gone now.
Nothing like it, huh?
Awesome stories. Keep them coming.
Sharon