Getting to the Salsa Club Early

Tonight (Wed, Feb 5, 2014) was the first time in years I arrived at a Salsa Club as early as 9pm but it was well worth it- so many fun dances and DJ Lorenzo Haire was rocking the house at The New Zanzibar! But the absolute highlight that put me on a Salsa cloud 9 tonight was a dance that I had with an unknown entity til now, Jay from Dubai. He initially caught my eye as I was walking in the club and I immediately pegged him as a dancer with potential who I’ve never met and/or experienced before. But just as soon as I saw him, I seemed to have lost track of him until almost 2 hours later because a) I didn’t really see his face but only took note of his dance and so I didn’t remember what he looked like or what he was wearing, b) he made a home at the bar whereas I was stalking the dancefloor, and c) I was looking for a dancer with the style I thought I had peeped when I first saw him on the dancefloor and I couldn’t seem to find THAT dancer anywhere except the dancers I already knew.

When I finally rediscovered him on the dancefloor, he was dancing a very tame dance with little style and I kind of lost some enthusiasm for dancing with him. But the next song was a banger so I just intercepted him as he was escaping to the bar again and asked him for a dance. He asked me ON1 or ON2 and I said I’m comfortable with either although I prefer ON2. So he nodded and took a good long pause before starting the dance then he TURNED UP REAL QUICK. Woooooo, what a dance! There were multiple curve balls he threw at me with abandon yet pinpoint precision, stylish checks, unknown turn patterns he whipped out with abrupt clarity and a clear lead, along with a calm confidence that was quite beguiling. I was in Salsa love with this guy! I had one more dance that I owed someone else following Jay’s Complete domination of my Salsa soul but after that dance, I knew I was done for the night. No need to ruin the Salsa high I had achieved with anything approaching regular or the known.

It wasn’t that Jay was the best dancer I ever met or that we had the best connection. It was merely that he was different and his dance was very unexpected and yet very good- a jolt to my system and very thrilling. I didn’t even trust myself enough to have another dance with JAY because I was afraid that the first dance we shared may have been a fluke and I would be let down. As it stood at that point, all of my dances tonight proved satisfying and therefore there was no need for any more. The only thing left for me to do was to collect my things, say my goodbyes, and leave at a very early 11:00pm- another first. A good dance night which should make for good Salsa dreams for me tonight.

Written February 5, 2014