After a few years considering taking formal salsa lessons, I'm finally in an urban setting permanently enough to get involved.
Yesterday was my first of four intermediate salsa lessons in Indianapolis. While I've latin danced dozens of times before in clubs both here and abroad, I am not a technical dancer, so this class was definitely outside of my comfort zone.
In addition to the dancing itself, there are always a few major questions about a night out dancing that sometimes keep me from "just going for it." Tonight worked itself out in a way that I have a lot of questions answered, new tricks, and less barriers to feeling comfortable salsa-ing the night away.
Here are a few of the major road blocks I've come across in the past, and the corresponding solutions that presented themselves yesterday
Road Block #1: Shoes
A lot of experienced dancers wear heels. Since I have flat feet, heels hurt. Some flats work, but a lot have a too much traction to spin well. In the past, a lot of times I've resorted to wearing boots, but especially for summer dancing, they're so hot. Sandals would be okay if people didn't step on my feet so much....
Solution: I met a sweet woman named Linda yesterday. I introduced myself because I noticed she was wearing ballet flats. I had slipped a pair of ballet flats that I bought for Irish Step Dance in college into my purse on the way out the door because I wasn't convinced that the heels I had on wouldn't ruin my evening. She convinced me completely, I switched into the dance shoes out of uncomfortable shoes, and am now on my way to becoming a zero-drop salsa shoe enthusiast.
Road Block #2: Purse or no purse, that is the question.
Salsa people, generally speaking, are very good people. I would feel more comfortable leaving my purse unattended at a salsa club than almost any other club. That said, I don't feel comfortable leaving it sitting out.
On the positive side of the situation, trying to go purse-less in dance clothes leads to some creative alternatives for storing car keys, ID, and a credit card. On the less positive side, this leads to some awkward interactions involving pulling a sweaty credit card out of a boot to pay for a beer, tucking a car key back inside of your leggings after a quick turn, etc. etc. So I finally decided to talk with the bartender, a nice hipster boy, about my situation. He said it was no problem to keep my purse and extra shoes in a cupboard behind the bar.
Brilliant.
Road Block #3: Urban parking
Normal people don't worry about this one as much as I do, but being a person who, because of various life choices, hasn't driven a car consistently for 8 years, parking tends to turn itself into a major source of anxiety in my head.
Especially in Broad Ripple, the part of town where I'm now taking dance classes.
I could just learn to parallel park or go through some deep breathing exercises, but in the meantime, the problem remains of finding a parkable spot that definitely doesn't tow, without meters, and close enough to the salsa bar that it's not completely crazy to walk back after dark.
After going around in circles for 10 minutes, I ended up parked further away than I preferred, but I decided to deal with it rather than waste half a tank of gas looking for the "perfect" spot.
3 blocks into the walk, I passed a funny vintage store that I know in town just as two employees (or maybe owners) were closing up shop. I noticed a perfectly empty lot right behind the store and asked if it would be okay to park there.
They said absolutely, but that I should think about parking in front of the store instead because they don't tow, are never open at night, and there is a parking slot right under a street light. Furthermore, I should park there any time.
And it's about 3 blocks from dance class. No parallel parking or annoying loops around Broadripple looking for a place to park during the dinner rush in the foreseeable future.
Road Block #4: What to wear that's both cute and non-risky while spinning
I've been wearing jeans and dresses with unseasonably warm leggings to dance for ages. Unlike other times in life, in a salsa club you never know when you might be dipped, spun, picked up, or flipped over in some capacity. Especially if you're a 5'3", 115 lb girl.
Hello, bike shorts.
It's so nice to have found a way to safely wear dresses, especially with muggy Indiana summer weather.
Road Block #5: How to not seem creepy, pathetic, or both when showing up to a dance venue alone
My general approaches to this one have been pretending like I know exactly what's going on, making sure to dance as many songs as possible to cut down on standing-along-down-time while maximizing cardio, reading the label on my beer bottle as thoroughly as possible up to 5 times, talking with the bartender, or befriending nice old women.
Turns out going to a dance class ahead of time is a natural time to meet other people, gain some familiarity, and have at least 2 or 3 guaranteed dance partner options later in the evening.
Yesterday turned out to be even more of a windfall. My friend Katie came with me to the lesson! Real friends are less creepy than random bar friends any day.
And, to make things even more sustainable, I ended up meeting some really great people who are quickly becoming my dance friends. Going out with two of them again tonight.
I figure if I can get "in" with a few salseros in Indianapolis during my funemployed month, I'll be able to show up on a more hit-or-miss basis and be almost guaranteed to know someone once my job does start and I can't dedicate all my evenings to dancing, self-education, and "personal development" projects.
Road Block #6: How to get back to your car without thinking about getting jumped the whole time
Best technique I've found for this so far is making new friends and asking them to walk me to my car.
Doesn't matter what part of town I'm in, if it's dark, I've been socially conditioned to assume that being in a city walking by myself means that getting mugged, jumped, or otherwise pestered is not a risk but a certainty (or at least to have corisol levels reflecting it, for as much as I can try to talk myself out of it.)
As previously mentioned, salsa people are generally very good people, and in the past 2 years of going out salsa dancing about a dozen times, I've only had to walk myself to my car twice.
Having dance friends at the club already only makes this process easier. Plus it's nice to only make a judgment of character once or twice and have your go-to car walkers rather than looking for a new one every week.
And with that, I'm off to the Jazz Kitchen.
A BAILAR!
Yesterday was my first of four intermediate salsa lessons in Indianapolis. While I've latin danced dozens of times before in clubs both here and abroad, I am not a technical dancer, so this class was definitely outside of my comfort zone.
In addition to the dancing itself, there are always a few major questions about a night out dancing that sometimes keep me from "just going for it." Tonight worked itself out in a way that I have a lot of questions answered, new tricks, and less barriers to feeling comfortable salsa-ing the night away.
Here are a few of the major road blocks I've come across in the past, and the corresponding solutions that presented themselves yesterday
Road Block #1: Shoes
A lot of experienced dancers wear heels. Since I have flat feet, heels hurt. Some flats work, but a lot have a too much traction to spin well. In the past, a lot of times I've resorted to wearing boots, but especially for summer dancing, they're so hot. Sandals would be okay if people didn't step on my feet so much....
Solution: I met a sweet woman named Linda yesterday. I introduced myself because I noticed she was wearing ballet flats. I had slipped a pair of ballet flats that I bought for Irish Step Dance in college into my purse on the way out the door because I wasn't convinced that the heels I had on wouldn't ruin my evening. She convinced me completely, I switched into the dance shoes out of uncomfortable shoes, and am now on my way to becoming a zero-drop salsa shoe enthusiast.
Road Block #2: Purse or no purse, that is the question.
Salsa people, generally speaking, are very good people. I would feel more comfortable leaving my purse unattended at a salsa club than almost any other club. That said, I don't feel comfortable leaving it sitting out.
On the positive side of the situation, trying to go purse-less in dance clothes leads to some creative alternatives for storing car keys, ID, and a credit card. On the less positive side, this leads to some awkward interactions involving pulling a sweaty credit card out of a boot to pay for a beer, tucking a car key back inside of your leggings after a quick turn, etc. etc. So I finally decided to talk with the bartender, a nice hipster boy, about my situation. He said it was no problem to keep my purse and extra shoes in a cupboard behind the bar.
Brilliant.
Road Block #3: Urban parking
Normal people don't worry about this one as much as I do, but being a person who, because of various life choices, hasn't driven a car consistently for 8 years, parking tends to turn itself into a major source of anxiety in my head.
Especially in Broad Ripple, the part of town where I'm now taking dance classes.
I could just learn to parallel park or go through some deep breathing exercises, but in the meantime, the problem remains of finding a parkable spot that definitely doesn't tow, without meters, and close enough to the salsa bar that it's not completely crazy to walk back after dark.
After going around in circles for 10 minutes, I ended up parked further away than I preferred, but I decided to deal with it rather than waste half a tank of gas looking for the "perfect" spot.
3 blocks into the walk, I passed a funny vintage store that I know in town just as two employees (or maybe owners) were closing up shop. I noticed a perfectly empty lot right behind the store and asked if it would be okay to park there.
They said absolutely, but that I should think about parking in front of the store instead because they don't tow, are never open at night, and there is a parking slot right under a street light. Furthermore, I should park there any time.
And it's about 3 blocks from dance class. No parallel parking or annoying loops around Broadripple looking for a place to park during the dinner rush in the foreseeable future.
Road Block #4: What to wear that's both cute and non-risky while spinning
I've been wearing jeans and dresses with unseasonably warm leggings to dance for ages. Unlike other times in life, in a salsa club you never know when you might be dipped, spun, picked up, or flipped over in some capacity. Especially if you're a 5'3", 115 lb girl.
Hello, bike shorts.
It's so nice to have found a way to safely wear dresses, especially with muggy Indiana summer weather.
Road Block #5: How to not seem creepy, pathetic, or both when showing up to a dance venue alone
My general approaches to this one have been pretending like I know exactly what's going on, making sure to dance as many songs as possible to cut down on standing-along-down-time while maximizing cardio, reading the label on my beer bottle as thoroughly as possible up to 5 times, talking with the bartender, or befriending nice old women.
Turns out going to a dance class ahead of time is a natural time to meet other people, gain some familiarity, and have at least 2 or 3 guaranteed dance partner options later in the evening.
Yesterday turned out to be even more of a windfall. My friend Katie came with me to the lesson! Real friends are less creepy than random bar friends any day.
And, to make things even more sustainable, I ended up meeting some really great people who are quickly becoming my dance friends. Going out with two of them again tonight.
I figure if I can get "in" with a few salseros in Indianapolis during my funemployed month, I'll be able to show up on a more hit-or-miss basis and be almost guaranteed to know someone once my job does start and I can't dedicate all my evenings to dancing, self-education, and "personal development" projects.
Road Block #6: How to get back to your car without thinking about getting jumped the whole time
Best technique I've found for this so far is making new friends and asking them to walk me to my car.
Doesn't matter what part of town I'm in, if it's dark, I've been socially conditioned to assume that being in a city walking by myself means that getting mugged, jumped, or otherwise pestered is not a risk but a certainty (or at least to have corisol levels reflecting it, for as much as I can try to talk myself out of it.)
As previously mentioned, salsa people are generally very good people, and in the past 2 years of going out salsa dancing about a dozen times, I've only had to walk myself to my car twice.
Having dance friends at the club already only makes this process easier. Plus it's nice to only make a judgment of character once or twice and have your go-to car walkers rather than looking for a new one every week.
And with that, I'm off to the Jazz Kitchen.
A BAILAR!
1 comentario:
You're awesome, Kristen! Way to go for getting out there alone...something I've never really been able to do. :) Hey, and thanks for the post card! <3
xo
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