Because Thumbs Just Aren't Sexy...

Otherwise known as Salsa Sans Security...

Lately my fun pal Linette has been my security blanket of sorts.  She is the person who got me to start training for Doc Lucky's Lake Swim, she has me drinking martinis with old friends on a Thursday evening, and using my Groupon at uber-cool restaurants in Dr. Phillips.  She is also the reason I started using yet another Groupon for lessons at a salsa studio in the Slightly Bigger Town Next to My Small Town.  We had gone to salsa lessons two weeks in a row:  first on a Tuesday night, and last week on Wednesday.  We both agreed that we liked the Tuesday night people better, but Wednesday worked out better for Linette's schedule.  Linette couldn't make it this week, so I decided to go to class on Tuesday.

I really needed to prove to myself that I could do it without my single security blanket.  We had been in the Beginners 1 class two weeks in a row, and I was ready to move up to Beginners 2.  Nervous, but wanting to do something more than what we'd been doing.  I could exhibe.  I could enchufla.  I could exhibe con enchufla.  When I signed in I said I'd like to test up, and the instructor told me to let him know when I was ready.  I put my purse in the cubbie, and I was re-to-go.  (Does anybody say that anymore?)  I demonstrated the steps listed above.  The instructor approved of my progression into Beginners 2.  Success!  I sat down to wait for class to begin, and a blonde woman about my age sat at the table next to me.  She was very nice, and in Beginners 2 as well.  I told her about dancing sans security and she said I'd be fine.

I'd love to tell you I was perfect and had no reservations at all about being in the 2 class... but it was definitely harder than 1... and dancing makes me nervous!  I love it, but my success definitely depends on the strength of my partner.  That's why I'm in class.  I still want that strong partner, but I'm looking to know the correct footwork myself.

What a great metaphor for life.

Last night I learned Dile que NO, Setenta, Chuleria, and Helicoptero.  It was a tremendous amount of fun, and an equally tremendous character-builder.  I loved dancing with all my wonderful partners.  There was one man, bearing the name tag Sammy, whose wife I had been chatting with before class started.  Sammy was my first dance partner of the evening, and I looked down at his arm and saw two symbols from katakana, the Japanese alphabet used for foreign words.  (There are three alphabets in Japan... I know two of them and a tiny bit of the third.)  The next time we partnered, I looked at him, gestured toward his arm and observed, That's your name.

How did you know that?

I used to live in Japan.  

It's my son's name too... that's why it's there.  

Cool.

Then the instructor interrupted our exchange and we began to practice the steps.  Dancing well is incredibly liberating and makes me laugh from how good it feels.  I love that feeling.  There is a social at the studio this Saturday night that I am contemplating attending.  It would be great practice.  I am very comfortable with the fact that I will be in Beginners 2 for a while, but I know that just like anything, if you don't use it, you lose it, and I don't want to forget everything I learned last night.  The social would be a wonderful opportunity for skill reinforcement.

Towards the end of the lesson the instructor told all of the men to make sure that when holding a woman's hand while dancing, to be sure not to hold her thumb, because this inhibits movement, and salsa is all about movement-- the marvelous twists and turns and wraps around the neck going into the next move... none of that can happen when the man is holding his dance partner's thumb.  When she explained this I thought to myself... Thumbs just aren't sexy.