Friday, June 11, 2010

Beginner Turned Amazing

I have written many times about being humble and dancing with beginners because at one point we were all there and someone danced with us. I’ve heard people add to that a threat that one day they’ll become amazing and won’t want to dance with YOU. Well, my Good Samaritan efforts that flowed out of those admonitions paid off in full yesterday when I finally had my first “beginner turned amazing” moment on the dance floor. What was funny about it is that I swear the guy planned it for months! But memorable it was nevertheless.

I met the gentleman when he was first starting off – maybe a couple weeks into his lessons. For the next month or so we’ve crossed paths at various practices and events and I made it a point to say yes to at least one dance a night with him. Luckily he wasn’t completely devoid of an ability to pick up on social cues and rarely ever asked for a second one. Barely anyone else who was remotely good ever danced with him (suckeeeers! You’re gonna miss out now!) After the first month we haven’t seen much of each other. Or maybe he just didn’t want to intrude and never asked again. Until yesterday.

Baldly approaching me at the spot where I stationed myself for the night, he proceeded with a “Hi. I haven’t seen you in a while. How have you been? Would you like to dance?” The smirk on his face just screamed “planned” to me, but of course I accepted, although it took a few moments to place the familiar face since I haven’t seen him for about five months. Once placed, I expected the old version of robotic moves and steps anywhere but on beat. But much to my surprise (and his satisfaction about my surprised expression) I found myself dancing with a solid lead who was on time, possessed a wide variety of moves in his arsenal, and was very comfortable to dance with!

Since I’ve only been dancing for a little over a year, this has never happened to me before. But now that it has, I’ll just have to reiterate over and over again. Dance with the beginners! Because one day they will turn into an amazing dancer and will want to dance with you because you were nice enough to dance with them when they were first starting off.

Friday, June 4, 2010

You've Been Dancing Salsa in Seattle for a While if...

1.“Century” in your mind is not associated with Century Square. CB doesn’t stand for “Call Back.”

2. You know that 13 Coins serves French Toast at 4:00a.m., even though it’s not on their menu.

3. Only a little while ago you couldn’t tell Spanish apart from any other foreign language. Now you’re fluent.

4. You eat breakfast on Saturdays at 3:00p.m. at the Cuban stand on Aurora and 90th and know every person that stops by to get theirs at the same time.

5. You know the significance of Jims.

6. You “regretfully decline” an invitation to your long-time friend’s wedding because it happens to fall on a Saturday of your birthday. You just spent your monthly salary on a perfect birthday dance dress.

7. You think nothing of it when the guy you were just sweetly talking to suddenly bolts in the opposite direction after a hot blond while screaming “Becka, Becka, Becka!”

8. You got to know a lot of your friends through someone named Anna.

9. You can tell which studio a person takes lessons from by dancing with them for only a couple minutes.

10. When they spin like a tornado you know exactly which team they’ve danced for.

11. Your “secret” getaway on a Tuesday is Waid’s for Blues Dancing.

12. One Friday while trying to “get away from the Salsa scene” you went out to a hip hop club and bumped into all your best friends from Salsa who had the same idea and all came there separately.

13. You constantly run out of Amante’s Pizza coupons, no matter how many they send you or how many you steal from your neighbors mailboxes.

14. You are likely to bump into a lot of familiar faces wherever you decide to eat at 2:00a.m. Fri-Sun.

15. You don’t start getting ready for a venue that starts at 8:00p.m.until 10:30.

16. “Beautiful Feet” is not a movie about penguins. Most likely you’ve been invited to church at least by one of the people from this dancer prayer group.

17. In real life you are either a consultant or an engineer.

18. You’ve been to or have been invited to an SSS Mixer. You know that SSS does not stand for “Seattle Secret Service.”

19. Memorial Day Weekend is one huge scheduling conflict.

20. You know that “Camp Gregory” does not involve tents.

21. You know which two DJ’s used to be married.

22. You know which DJ’s ARE married.

23. You know which DJ is trying to get married.

24. “Salsa around the world” is not just a random phrase for you.

25. Neither is “Are you kidding me?”

26. Halo is not a ring around the head of an angel.

27. You don’t think “El General” is a title for a military man.

28. “Let’s go grab some Dicks” is not a dirty innuendo (but rather a place to eat after Wednesday nights at Babalu).

29. “Milan” is not a city in Italy. “Israel” is not a country in the Middle East. “Asia” is not a continent. “September” is not a month.

30. When figuring out what day it is today you automatically associate it with where the Salsa is that night.

31. Abbreviations SSS, BF, CB, BBL, SSL, CH, DW, and BDS mean something to you.

32. In the summer you drive around town always on the lookout for recycle bins with huge cardboard boxes. And not because you don’t have anywhere to live.

33. Even though Friday is technically the day with the most venues available for dancing, in your mind it’s still a “Salsa off night” because there isn't just one "venue-to-be-at."

34. There’s on One. There’s on Two. And There’s on “Chow.” And they’re all equally good.

35. You know about the secret parking spot by Century Ballroom.

36. You know who writes this blog ;)