Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Selena's

A few of you might have wondered where the heck I disappeared to on Saturday nights. And the answer to that is “Selena’s” – the hotspot of Seattle’s rapidly expanding Cuban Salsa scene. (Is it just me, or did it go from just a handful of happy individuals doing Casino Rueda by Gasworks on Sundays to a packed weekly schedule of activities and events in just under a year?! But then again, I might have been oblivious while dealing with the drama on the L.A. side of things… I wish I stuck with that Rueda last summer!)

The first time I stepped into Selena’s it felt like being in another city. Heck. Another country! I knew almost no one except the girl that I came with, and everything felt different. The people were different. The music was different. The atmosphere was different. And of course, the dance itself was different as well. Knowing that it’s best to observe before you conquer, I proceeded to try and figure out who keeps the rhythm well. But smiling at my carefully selected victims didn’t help – Cuban salseros turned out to be a tight community in which you have to KNOW people. (Working on it!) So I ended up dancing with a couple of the familiar leads who have migrated over from Century for most of the night. Then the girl I came with got bored, so I felt it was my duty to find us both suitable leads to dance with. What ensued was an evening of giving the randomest people a chance and introducing them to one another if they happened to be decent dancers. Not too bad for a first time in an unfamiliar city. Oh wait. This was still Seattle.

Why do I keep going back? I’m not sure. Maybe it’s a challenge of adjusting to an unfamiliar situation. Maybe it’s the fact that I get to meet new people every time, which I love. It’s probably also the fact that I fell in love with Cuban style of Salsa. I know that most people who started dancing L.A. style don’t like Cuban. But at this point I’d have to say that I love both about the same! There’s something playful about the dance that this style brings out. It’s the way the movement flows with both dancers going off of each other’s inertia vs. a lead just spinning a follow around. It seems more natural somehow. Less formal. Easygoing. Rhythmical. Relaxed.

If I made you at least a little curious, feel free to join the fun on Saturday nights. Selena’s will be my spot for a while…

Monday, April 19, 2010

An Update on When I'll Be Back to Writing

I can’t get back to consistent writing because the thoughts occupying my mind have been all about love, heartbreak, etc. Actually let me rephrase that. I can’t get back to blogging. Because I’ve been writing consistently – every day there is a page or even two created that helps me sort through feelings and emotions. Through confusion and clarity. Through guilty happiness and liberating heartbreak. Through letting go and getting attached. But the contents of those pages just aren’t for everyone to see – I wish they were. Maybe one day they will. When all the events will pass and nobody will care anymore about those feelings and emotions. Or at least when I won’t care if people find out. I’m sure we’ve all been there… So hang in there my wonderful faithful blog-reading Salseras and Salseros patiently awaiting another post – I’m sure I’ll soon come up with an entertaining topic and relate all the hilarious details of it to the world.

(Please keep in mind that the dramatic elements added to this paragraph are solely for literary enhancement and I am not actually THAT heartbroken or in love. :)

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

What Does SSS Stand for?

If you're reading this blog, it is likely that you have recently received invitations from some entity called the SSS for mixers, game nights, and dinners. And you've probably wondered what the heck IS the SSS? Seattle's Secret Service? Super Smart Solutions?

The SSS is Seattle's Salsera's Sisterhood (often referred to as simply "The Sisterhood"). It exists to bring unity to the follows of Seattle's Salsa scene, and is therefore open to any follow dancing in Seattle. Since there is normally no reason for any of us follows to talk to each other off the dance floor, it's often difficult to connect. But we all know that friendship between women is as important as men's attention. After all, a guy will never readily hand you over some double sided tape when your top is unexpectedly falling off the places on your body where it hypothetically was supposed to stay through the night.

Although I haven't been able to make any of the events yet, the wall of the group is covered with positive responses, and the people I've talked to about this say nothing but good things about the Sisterhood. Being able to mingle in an open environment off the dance floor makes dancing so much more enjoyable on it. The Sisterhood will also periodically sponsor Mixers -- events where both follows AND leads are welcome. That, of course, leaves much room for confusion, so leads, beware! Make sure you read the descriptions for the open-for-everyone events carefully and don't show up to find yourself in a house full of girls! (Not that you wouldn't love that... :)

Friday, December 4, 2009

Salsa and Soccer

So the answer to a question posed to me on several occasions now, that I couldn't quite procure before, came to me suddenly today while I was browsing some Salsa videos on google. The question was "Why don't you like it when guys use their feet/legs to lead a girl into a move?" Many a time while sharing the most miscellaneous thoughts about leads with leads I had to bring up this dislike. But I could never really figure out a reason why. Well today it came screaming at me loud and clear!

One of the comments under a Salsa video with lots of foot leading read "The guy was playing soccer wit her!" Which is exactly how some of us girls feel when we are "lead" in such a way!!! We feel like a soccer ball. And it's not a good feeling. A soccer ball is kicked, passed around, and rolled on the ground. No girl EVER wants to feel like that! Granted my opinion might change as I learn how to do more advanced moves or simply get used to the idea that it's appropriate to lead this way on the floor. But for now, I would like to never be lead like this, and the answer to WHY i feel this way feels extremely good to finally find!

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Good Old Halo

After taking a week long break from dancing and narrowly escaping the temptation of the Seattle Salsa Congress, I stepped into good old Halo, where I was planning on staying for a couple of hours to get my exercise. I was shocked to see numerous leads who attended the congress back on Monday to dance with us, mere mortals, who did not participate in the magnificent ritual. I, myself, was hoping to catch the end of congress on Sunday night, after coming back from a weekend visit to Portland. But it was not to be. Delayed by holiday traffic, I arrived home to find that I am sick with something. Whether it was a flu, a cold, or plain old allergies, I do not know. What I do know is that I had zero energy for anything but getting into bed and passing out. Luckily, that did the trick, and on Monday morning I was miraculously back to good health. But unfortunately Salsa Congress was no more...

But good old Halo was still there. So there I went, determined to dance with all the beginners who came to practice. I don't know why or how, but there were no beginners there. From the beginning to the end (two hours my butt... I ended up staying until 10:30) every single lead that asked me was awesome. I did not have a SINGLE bad dance and I danced every song except one. So here's a well-kept secret that needs to come out: if you want to partake in some good dancing without being influenced by the drama of the scene, come to Halo! Distracted by the many newly discovered places to dance at, I've put Halo on the back burner for a while. But coming back to it after getting a taste for all other venues made it just so much sweeter. I'm never leaving again!

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

How Salsa Sucks You In

It seems that as soon as I made a Facebook page for my blog some sort of a commitment became required from me. This instantly shut off any natural desires to write that might have been harbored by my freedom-loving self. So now I face a dilemma: discontinue the page and thus eliminate any possibility of spreading the word about this blog other than word-of-mouth? Or keep the page and figure out a way to deal with this paralyzing fear? The first solution seems easy enough... but the second one would be way more beneficial for the long-term.

Now about the topic. In a few moments that I could steal all to myself in the past couple days it suddenly hit me that my promise to be objective when starting this blog has miserably failed. Objectivity is too far beyond my reach at this point to even try and get back to it. I now have a pretty complete set of favorites in the Seattle Salsa Scene -- from DJ's, to songs, to nights out to dance, to performance groups, to leads to dance with. But that list of opinions is just that: opinion. Because although I've lost my objectivity, I have not yet gained expert knowledge about Salsa to be able to suggest that others agree with what I think.

The question is, how the heck did this happen? How did I turn from being an objective outsider to being an opinionated insider in the matter of just a few months? (Or should I say from a nice follow to a snob (and back)). And how can people who don't wish to find themselves in my shoes protect themselves from this happening? Below, I've outlined several stages of this evolution. BEWARE. And have a laugh about it too.

1. Oblivious Unawareness

If you are like me, you weren't invited to dance Salsa. Rather, one of your acquaintances ranted and raved about the experience until you gave in to the powers of curiosity and signed up for lessons to check it out yourself. During lessons you tried your best to memorize everyone's name, learn the steps, and be nice and courteous.

2. Excitement of Discovery

At the beginning of your second class series you finally worked up the courage to go to Halo to "practice" with one of your newly developed acquaintances from class. He/she decided to leave after a few songs but it didn't matter, because you soon discovered that making eye contact and smiling at a person has an 100% success rate of scoring a dance with them. You couldn't believe that real dancers were asking you to dance/agreeing to dance with you, timidly let them know that you just started, and smiled every time a turn actually worked.

3. Happy Oblivion

After a while you progressed to memorizing just the names of interesting leads in your class, as well as coming to Thursday night dances at Century Ballroom. At first you could only stay for a couple hours at a time because your entire body, not used to this amount of activity, hurt the next day, as if from learning how to snowboard. You could not feel your feet (which did not stop you from wishing there was a place where you could dance every night of the week. You were not yet aware that there WERE places like that.) But the more exciting part of dancing for you was the realization that a bunch of very diverse people are doing the same thing in one place and getting along marvelously with each other. Everyone was friendly and respectful. Finally you've found a social circle with no drama!

4. Intermediate Disappointment

You've whirled through your Salsa 1's and 2's and have started the six month long series of Salsa 3. Suddenly an awareness dawned on you that you are not as great a dancer as you thought yourself to be when you first started. You learned that a spin doesn't just happen -- it's actually preceded by a prep. You realized that if you try to put that hand up just any random way that's comfortable for you, you'll end up smacking the lead in the face. You stopped memorizing any names in your class, and dreaded dancing with the leads who clearly needed to repeat Salsa 1. You also began to hear stories from familiar leads about there supposedly being a lot of drama in the salsa scene. But you didn't believe them.

5. Commitment Token

After completing one of the classes from Salsa 3 series you decided that Salsa IS something you will stick with for a while (based on the overwhelming pull you felt towards Century and Halo every Monday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.) To make it official you decided to finally invest in your very first and special pair of dance shoes. If a follow, this was preceded by a long observation of fellow follows feet, hours of fruitless trying on of pairs at local shops and finally narrowing down to and possessing the exact style, color and fit that you wanted. The first couple months of ownership were accompanied by a significant unplanned expense: band-aids. Now that you had shoes that were actually made for dancing you found yourself staying until the very end of an event one day, and to your amazement discovered that a small group of people you were somewhat familiar with stayed as well, and either kept dancing or went out to eat after the event. Not quite being in on it yet though you skipped the polite invitation to join.

6. Wishful Dancing

After watching several birthday dances and performances you have identified people that you wished you could dance like/with. Part of your time on the dance floor was now spent observing them and dreaming about how one day they would say hello to you and maybe even ask you for a dance. You have now realized that you officially suck at dancing and started taking all classes available to improve. The rumors you heard about there being a lot of drama in the scene started seeming more probable now, but you happily assured all who told you about them that you will NEVER have anything to do with any of it.

7. Social Discovery

Perhaps by chance. Perhaps by getting to know certain people more. Perhaps by a force of fate that will get everyone sooner or later, you got discovered by one of the many socialites of the scene. That socialite and you connected on facebook and they introduced you to all their closest friends in the ballroom. Suddenly you saw your friends list go from 27 to 270 in a matter of a week and your bedtime from 6pm to 6am. Work started becoming second priority. You now happily accepted all invitations to eating out and after parties.

8. Expansion of Social Comfort Zone

You got to know more and more people. And your new salsa best friend opened your eyes to the wonders of other venues to dance salsa at that you had no idea about before. To your utter amazement, some of these venues were free! Why people didn't go out to dance every single night remained a mystery to you. Your friends list on face book grew from 270 to 450.

9. Social Comfort Zone

The people you've only admired from afar before have now became your friends. The leads/follows that you only dreamed of dancing with were now the comfortable ones you grabbed at any moment you wished. You've traveled for Salsa, maybe even on more than one occasion, and became tightly acquainted with the map of who belongs to which studio and performance team. You enjoyed knowing a lot of people and got along great with everyone. The dance shoes were now worn in enough to wear without the band-aids, but the money you saved immediately went towards cover for attending the multitude of events in abundance available via facebook invitations every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

10. The Drama

As you got closer and closer to certain people you began to realize that the rumors you've heard about there being a lot of drama in the salsa scene were, in fact, true. Heart-to-heart conversations with now close friends revealed beef that went back decades and a variety of ghost characters that were nevertheless on everyone's mind. Too late to fix anything, it dawned on you that a lot of that drama involves conflict between two or more people that you are very close with. Thus, your determination to stay out of it didn't seem to be enough to truly stay out and you were suddenly smack in the middle of it all. You also found yourself not wanting to dance with half the room because you've danced with the best -- a disgusting habit you used to judge in others but now reluctantly admitted to having yourself.

11. The Resolve to Stay Away

Tired, in danger of losing your job because of long nights out, devoid of any social contact other than with the people from salsa, and determined to stay away from the drama draining you emotionally, you decided to back off and stop going out so much. This was immediately followed by a wave of peer pressure to go out, which felt good, but overwhelming. You didn't give in, and limited your going out to social events that couldn't be missed, such as performances and birthdays of your friends. You started missing Halo and Century and the times when salsa was nothing but a dance in which everyone was nice and respectful and where there was no drama... You got invited into Salsa 4.

12. The Come Back

Now balanced in your work life, salsa life, and life outside of salsa, you settled into a happy existence with Salsa being just one of the many parts of your life instead of it being your life. You are still close, but not co-dependent on your friends from the scene. You go out enough to keep up the skill but not enough to get sucked in again. Your job became much more pleasant because you now get to participate in a marvelous activity called "sleep." As part of your settled life one day you decided to visit the good old "Halo." It worked. The friendliness and laid-back atmosphere of the place made you wonder why the heck you didn't come back faster. You smiled and accepted every lead that asked because you realized that you are now the one who will make Salsa that magical place where everyone is nice and accepting and where there is no drama...

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Dance For A Cause

I'm sitting in my living room, soaking up everything that is being said around me. The conversation taking place is inspiring, if nothing less. The person in the center of it is a role model of a young professional woman doing good smack in the middle of a harsh business world. Myra is sharing the hopes and fears for the fundraiser that she's organizing for the non-profit, Adelante, on Saturday, November 21, 2009. The numbers that she's throwing out shock me to the core. "We're hoping to raise $10,000, does that seem like a lot?" No, it doesn't. "But there's SO much you can do with that money in Nicaragua!" She continues to share just how much can be done with so little money. $50 will provide a notebook, pencil, and pen for up to 100 students. $1000 sponsors a teacher for six months to a year. $5,000 raised last year fixed a roof, built a security fence around a school building that was robbed of its food and school supplies, fixed 3 outhouses with doors and new paint, and provided 480 students with all the school supplies they needed, including text books.

I tell her that her determination and business knowledge is impressive. Her response shows passionate humility. "You would do it too, if you went there. You can't come back and do nothing once you've seen the conditions that people live in." Still, the Herculean efforts the woman is putting into the fundraiser are noteworthy. Adelante is a non-profit that concentrates on building sustainable community programs in Nicaragua. Myra volunteers her time for it OUTSIDE a regular marketing job AND running Adelante's sister non-profit, Vecinos, with another friend. When she sleeps is a mystery to me.

Yes, there IS a reason why this story is on my Salsa blog. The aforementioned fundraiser is a Latin dance night, featuring performances of local talent, a silent auction, and an update from Nicaragua. It will take place on November 21, 2009 at the Sole Repair Shop at 1001 East Pike St., Seattle. Door open at 7:30 and the event is 21+. There is a suggested donation of $20.00.

We all love to dance. Many of us are known for spending a lot more money than $20.00 for tickets/hotels to various Salsa events around the country and even the world. But this time the money you spend will actually be used for something meaningful, so doesn't that make it so much more appealing? (Besides the fact that you don't even have to fly anywhere...) Come out and dance for a good cause. I rarely come out these days (hence the silence on the blog...) and even rarer do I COMMIT to attending an event. But I'm committed to attending this one. No mind-changing. I'm there :)

Fixing the Roof


Outhouses Vecinos repaired


Classroom before it was repaired



Passing out Supplies to Students


Kids playing soccer. With an orange. Because They cannot find a soccer ball.


Do her eyes really need a description?



Myra with some of the students