OYE

of late, there've been an increasing number of people asking me why i took up salsa.

and i've done such a great job of convincing people it was because i love to dance.

heck...i've even managed to convince myself.

i just realized i've never really answered their question.

WHY SALSA IN PARTICULAR?

someone at a party told me it's usually such a progression...

1) Hip Hop

2) Jazz

3) Latin Jazz

4) Salsa

looking back, i suppose that's true to some extent.

when i started dancing, i started with hip hop and followed up through to latin jazz. and that's where my first taste of salsa came from. sure, latin jazz gave me a little merengue and cha cha cha, but it was salsa that really pulled me in.

but i procrastinated and only began lessons last about five months back...more than three years after i wanted to take classes.

my first brush with salsa post-latin jazz...pre-camp orientation in chicago. the columbians taught me how to shake my booty and the camp director spun and dipped me. though three months later, i was too emotionally traumatized to remember any of that fun. it all came back much later though.

the next brush came sometime in the first half of last year, i think. on a cruise ship. i took a one-hour learn-to-salsa class and man...the moment i got off that ship, i was already deciding on when and where to take classes.

okay fine. so it wasn't just the one-hour class. it really was the guy i danced with. the brazilian guy. i can't even remember his name.

ladies...one thing you outta know: you haven't danced salsa if you haven't danced it with a latin american.

i say this, bearing no discrimination for the local chaps. you can be the best dancer in singapore, but you're just different from those latin american fellas.

when i danced with that guy...i could just feel the heat emanating from within him. his touch was light, but man...was it sizzling hot!

to be fair to the men...you so HAVE TO dance with one of the laydees as well. trust me, you'll see the difference.

another thing about salsa i absolutely love is, with the right partner, you'll feel sexy when you dance.

now i am not "sexy". come on. i do not ooze sex appeal, neither do i dress it.

but when i'm on that dancefloor with the right fella, i feel it. =)

and that's probably the ONLY time i feel sexy.

SO WHY SALSA?

1) i believe i have a love-hate relationship with it. it requires a whole lot of femininity and sex appeal to be able to pull it off...and i don't have either. so it'll be a real challenge for me to dance it. well. i look forward to the day i can actually perform it without a hitch.

2) this i realized while watching Dirty Dancing 2: Havana Nights. cuba. i've always loved everything about cuba. sure, i've never been there but i've read so much about it. i refuse to focus on the state of the country. rather, i encourage people to listen to the country. listen to their love for the country.

i'm bowled over by the passion and drive these people have...for a future they can only aspire to attain. they push on, nevertheless.

doing salsa, i feel like i'm a part of that strange latin american passion and patriotism. i feel the music (even when i didn't know how to dance. at all). i sense the language (even when i knew not a single word of spanish).

salsa keeps me connected to a culture i want to know. in time.

it reminds me of how much i need to do to get there.

so there you have it.

WHY I LOVE SALSA.

ramblings.