I first went
along to a Salsa club when I had to tell my Dad I was pregnant - before my Mum
got to him. My Dad along with my Step Mum Debbie was
on his way to one of his Salsa lessons, so he picked me up and we spoke on the
way ( he took the news of his impending grandparenthood very well).
It never
dawned on me that was the beginning of something else new- not only the
baby.
I had no
intentions of ever taking up Salsa dancing. I mean come on - my Dad was doing it
so it rated below zero on the cool-o-meter for me before I even saw
it.
By a strange
twist of fate after having my beautiful son my Daddy ended up running a Salsa
club ( that's another story). Some people will still remember me in the
glamorous position of taking the money at the door.
My Sister Lauren
and I used to try to do the classes after the main rush at the
door at the beginning of the night. Deanne Chandler
was teaching us improver level salsa. My sister was really getting it
& I was really not.
I was really very
bad at it. But it was fun and I got one night a week away from
the nappies to hang with the family. I really believed that I was going to spend
my life in level 2 - & I was enjoying it all except the
frustration at times.
Lauren was
really good and was soon ready to move up to level 3, they took pity on me
and let me move up with her. Not that I wanted to - trust me!!
I was a
happy Improver and I was also becoming quite a good improver level
student.
Level 3 - Oh
dear!! My initial thoughts were "Please let me go back to level 2".
Just as
I thought I was getting good my illusions were quickly shattered as they moved
me to level 3. In level 3 there was no doubt I was getting better-
I just wasn't getting good!
Then one
night the unthinkable happened a level 4 dancer asked me to
dance .........and guess what ............... - it wasn't my
Dad.I remember it
vividly his name is Peter [Pete*]Wingfield (I knew this because I
took his details on the door). Throughout the dance my mind raced- trying to
remember what I had been taught, and I drew a complete blank- I couldn't
remember my left from my right let alone any steps. The dance ended and I
thought "Well it's official - I am really rubbish at this".
But at
least he smiled at me throughout.
A few
songs later he came and asked me for another dance - Poor guy, what a
glutton for punishment- I thought to myself "He is bound to want
discount entry for enduring this".
From
that night on he danced with Lauren and myself every
week.Always patient
and always making time to help me AND he never once asked for discount
entry.
I was getting
more confident in my dancing. Don't get me wrong 'confident' does not mean
good. I was just confident enough to know what I was doing wrong, not good
enough to fix it - but I was working towards that and I was enjoying
it.
Then the day I
had been dreading and the day Pete looked forward to
arrived. Lauren was
ready for level 4, so Muggings here got moved up also.No word of a lie,
I am not pulling your leg: With tears pricking my eyes and an overwhelming
feeling of horror and self doubt, I joined the level 4 taught by Sai Lee.
I spent
the entire class as we rotated round to the next partner saying " I am really
sorry, I am not supposed to be here". In my memory that was the longest class
in the history of Salsa.
For the month
that followed ( at least) I spent every week trying to sneak back
down to level 3. Lauren always followed me, as a result every week we
were moved back up to level 4 with words of encouragement that I just didn't
want to hear....
More and more
people danced with me after the classes, I was no longer spending my
entire night with the exception of my dances with Pete just
practicing my now huge repertoire of footwork/shines
From my introduction to Salsa - level 4 took me
over 3 years.
People look at me
now and say that I look very natural - now you know how it all
began.......