One of my personal goals while living in Ecuador is to become a better salsa dancer. Luckily for me, I’ve made some Ecuadorian friends who are into Latin dance. They’ve invited me to go out with them to a salsa club a couple times now. What I have since found out is that the club they’ve taken me to has the reputation of being THE place where the really really REALLY good salsa dancers go. So of course I fit right in – ha!
Inspired by the great dancers at said salsa club, my friend Cristina and I signed up for classes at a local dance school (where many of these great dancers take advanced classes). We watched the first lesson in level 1 and decided that was too easy. We returned the next day to join the level 2 class. However, that class STARTED with Rueda de Casino, which I have no idea how to do. If you’re not familiar, Ruedo de Casino is sort of like a combination of salsa and square dancing, where every pair is in sync and you rotate partners. Here’s a video example at the very same salsa club I go to in Quito (I recognize one of the male dancers as an instructor at my school). That is waaaay too advanced for me, so I moved back down to level 1. (Incidentally, I’m the only gringa in the class, but that should help me practice my Spanish while also working on my salsa steps – bonus!) Hopefully when I complete level 1, I too will be able to do some Rueda de Casino, and consequently advance to phase 2 of my grand plan. Mwahahahaha.
[...] a better salsa dancer. I’m proud of this one. HUUUUUGE win! I took classes at a dance school for 2 months, then hired a private instructor for my remaining 8 months. I usually went out [...]