The instructors here begin completely different than instructors in the States. No basic step to start. Here, it's first things first: move your hips. Then your shoulders. Forget about the footwork.
Our instructor speaks very basic English. But somehow, she explained dance more clearly than any teacher I have ever had.
She said, mas o menos (more or less), "Dance is important to your entire life. You do not have to be a beautiful girl to hold yourself beautifully. It is about how your carry your body when you are walking down the street, your movements," and here she paused, searching for the words. "It is different for everyone. It is...your movement. Your light. You have time. Enjoy the steps."
And, for the first time dancing salsa, I truly did enjoy them. There are no mirrors in the studio; we face windows that open onto the street. Sometimes people stop and watch us. My footwork was off, I am quite sure. But like our teacher tells us, you always get a chance to do it again. The point is to enjoy it. I never had so much fun with salsa than I did not worrying about what my feet looked like. It is true, salsa looks different on everyone. That is simply because everyone has their own light.
Our teacher, she has a light I have never seen before. She has short dark hair, cropped and messy on her forehead; big eyes and a tall, skinny body. She wears baggy jeans and cargo pants that don't fit her and slide off her hips, wide belts with plenty of hardware weighing them down. But the most mind-boggling thing of all is that she dances in combat boots. Thick, plastic, lace-up-to-the-knee combat boots with the chunky black heels. I have taken a lot of dance classes. That is something I can safely say I have never seen before.
When she dances, her body takes over her clothes. They are no longer her style. Her body is her style. She has moments where I can tell the music simply moves her and she explodes into something spontaneous and stunning. She said at class tonight, once again in quite simple language: "I could dance with an English guy. I could dance with a Russian. I could dance with a Spanish. But it does not matter, because salsa is about having a conversation, but it is not verbal."
How funny that I learned salsa for 2 years in the States and plenty of times I have been told, "Feel the music. Listen to the music. One, two, three, four..."
I knew, all along, that Latin dancing was not really about the steps. But the first person to get it through my head and into my body was woman who salsas in combat boots.
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