Laura Geldys saves the day!

As always we would like to thank everyone for coming out to learn and dance salsa with us. About 300 people turned out for this one. The interesting thing is always the percentage of new faces that show up each month. Many times we on the YA team wonder: How all these first time visitors hear about this once a month event held in a unremarkable building that’s tucked away in a very quiet and non-descript suburb of metro Detroit?.

The answer is simple yet inspiring. It is you! As we have said before, YA Salsa is a completely volunteer effort. Each one of us has full time jobs and responsibilities that soak up 90% of our day. That does not leave a lot of time for us to get the word out as much as we would like to but thanks to you it seems to be happening and the proof is seen every month! Passing the word about the salsa not only keep the socials going strong, it also gives the YA team renewed strength to keep going.

This month in particular was more draining on our bodies than most -- especially for Laura Geldys. Laura stepped up in a big way this month and turned potential disaster into triumph! Lee Rios and Maria Falcon of the Semeneya Dance Company were scheduled to lead salsa workshops on Saturday and perform at the Sunday Social. But things didn’t work out as planed. This past weekend the airlines canceled over 1500 flights. The unprecedented cancelations and resulting delays left her at the aiport for hours and made it too risky for Maria to come to Detroit for the workshops and then make it back in time to meet her obligations at home. Enter Laura to save the day!

Laura really showed her tremendous skills as a teacher, performer and committed member of YA Salsa. She helped Lee teach 3 hours of salsa classes on Saturday and then took time out already busy weekend to learn an entire salsa routine to ensure the show would go on for everyone at the YA Salsa social. That is a serious contribution to Detroit salsa that deserves recognition.

And she did all this (for free) while still meeting her other teaching commitments at Dance Revolution in Ann Arbor. The way Laura came through for the workshop and the performance is a testament to her dedication and talent. We are very lucky to have her as a part of the YA team and the Detroit salsa community is lucky to have this exceptional talent living and working here among us. For those of you looking to sharpen your salsa skills, take advantage of her classes before she disappears!

But wait! There are others that deserve props!

• Darell Kerrington: For arranging the use of the FitnessWorks studio for the workshops. The room worked out great and Daryl was there every step of the way to make sure things ran smoothly. By the way, if you are wondering why we had the workshops in Downtown Detroit, it is because the American Legion was already reserved for Saturday so we needed a new place. The new location worked out much better then expected and it was cool to have salsa right in the center of downtown. Somehow it made salsa feel more connected to the city.
  
  
• Lashena Ballard: Despite living 2000 miles away for the past year and a half, she is the one responsible for booking the instructors and organizing each of our salsa workshops. That is no simple task. Sometimes it feels like she never left!
  
  
• George Gardiner: Not only did he create and distribute the YA Salsa promo packs, this guy was on the phone for 4 hours on Friday trying his best to work out a solution to get Maria here for the workshops and performance. Things didn’t work out but at least he gave it his all. What more can you ask??
  
  
• Heather Murray: This fine salsera sacrificed precious salsa dancing time to take video and the workshops and at the salsa social. She is also going to cut and edit the video captured for us. I can’t want to see it!
  
  
• Valerie Georges: She took a whopping 450 photos at the social… WOW. Trust me, that is no trivial task. The pictures are already online and there are still more to come! Click here to check them out
  
  

YA Salsa is without a doubt a team effort. By some miracle it seems to have gathered a group of selfless & egoless people who genuinely want to help see salsa dancing grow and thrive as a healthy pastime alternative for people of every demographic. It's a lot of work for little more than a the satisfaction of seeing it grow. But seeing all of the different people from every walk of life smiling and dancing together makes it all worth while.

At the May Social we are going to make a special effort to recognize the people who we didn't name here, but who's unwaivering support make this whole thing run smoothly month after month.

See you at the next YA Salsa Social!

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