The Significance of the Last Song

In the world of Seattle Salsa (and I bet everywhere else as well, but I wouldn’t know…), no five minutes can reveal more information than “the last song of the night.” This is when affiliations are established, loyalties confirmed, and relationships broken or mended. By carefully observing what goes on during the last song (which nobody ever does because they’re too preoccupied with the logistics of their own last song…) a person can find out who the hot shots’ latest dance partner is, who the hottie in the corner is currently seeing, and whether a relationship is doomed or can be salvaged.

The last song is like an end of a long game of chess, the very end, the one after the game actually ended and all the pieces are put back in order on the board to wait for the next game to begin. All night the pieces are scattered on the dance floor – light mixed with dark, pawns mixed with knights, rooks alongside kings and queens. But at the end, order prevails, and the kings end up with their queens on “their” side of the ballroom. It doesn’t matter if they came together or separately. It doesn’t matter if they will leave together. Immediately after the last dance a new game begins, and all the pieces scatter again.

Intuitively, leads grab the person they are most loyal to (for the moment) for the last song. It’s no wonder – after all, the last song is the impression of the night that you’ll go home with. For this very reason, follows (unless they are in a really “I don’t give a rat’s ass” mood) are more likely to refuse someone they don’t absolutely love to dance with or someone they don’t know during the last song than during any other one. Some of them would rather sit out than risk the last dance of the night being a bad one. But the loyalties are crystal clear – within moments after the announcement those who are paired up in any way (dance partners, dating, in love, smitten by each others’ skills, best friends) will be locked in each others’ gazes. Those left wandering or sitting for a little longer are probably unattached.

Let’s observe an evolution of a relationship from the perspective of a last dance. The very first last song lets you know that they really DO like you as much as they say. When the person becomes “automatic,” the loyalty is locked in – it won’t even cross anyone else’s mind to ask him/her to dance the last song. No matter how mad at each other the couple is, if they are still dancing the last song, everything will be ok, and they both know it. Trouble starts when in a fit of jealousy or revenge one person disrespects that loyalty. It causes some subconscious psychological split (that I can’t explain), and pretty much sets the partners up for failure. When a couple stands on opposite sides of the ballroom and doesn’t dance with anyone or each other, you can tell the love is gone, and a break-up is not long in coming – it’s only a formality at this point, and both of them have enough patience to wait it out. After all, they will soon be free to declare loyalty to whoever else they wish to. When you see them dancing with other people, you can be certain that they are now officially not together anymore.

There’s a lot more that can be revealed by the last song, but this post is getting too long. You get the point though. Last song = loyalty. At least for a moment, before the next game scatters all the chess pieces again.