A few weeks ago, my aunt told me she was going to take salsa classes and asked me if I wanted to join. She told me the classes were on Monday night, which sounded great because it didn’t interfere with running. Even though I had already taken salsa classes ages ago when I was in high school and thought I knew the basics, I thought it would be good to refresh my memory and maybe this time I’ll be better, I’m not that shy girl anymore.

The first class was last Monday at El Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico (Art Museum of Puerto Rico). I didn’t know how big the class was but I imagined there would be about 20 people, maybe 30. When we got to the museum there were a few people waiting, and I thought that might be it, but before I knew it, the museum atrium was full; I wasn’t sure how there would be space to move, but I figured we would find a way. 

After the teacher quickly introduced himself, as well as the rest of the staff that would be helping, he explained how the class would work and got started. We slowly learned the basic steps of salsa; he taught them slowly little by little, then gave us the chance to practice to the rhythm of We Will Rock You. Yes, we were learning to dance salsa with the help of Queen. I don’t think anyone expected that, but if it was very helpful because he just wanted us to get the steps and starting with a salsa song without even having the steps right would have been a mess.

As he started teaching us, little by little, I realized that I really needed that class, I had been doing it wrong for years. I learned that on a couple of steps, I don’t even remember the numbers right now but I learned that you don’t have to take a full step forward or back, your heel doesn’t even touch the ground and you place all your weight on your left foot. It’s as easy as touching the ground ground with your toes, keeping your heel lifter and moving your weight to your left leg. Doing this, rather than taking a full step front or back, makes it easier to keep up with the music.

After we learned the basic moves, which I thought was all we were going to learn that night, we moved on to moving to the side. That was pretty easy because it was the same thing but instead of moving our feet to the front and back, we moved them to the left and right.

Then he taught us the 90 degree turn, which was smart of a mix between those two and then we got to the difficult one, the full turn to the right. I could turn when I tried it on my own and when we practiced with partners at the end of the class, but I’m still not sure if I’m doing it correctly. When I go back to class on Monday I’ll ask one of the teacher’s helpers.

We were told the best way to learn is just go out there and dance and we were told of a lot of places you can go dance but I don’t know if I’m brave enough to do that yet. This is also a busy weekend, I have another 10k and it’s the World Cup Semifinal and Final on Saturday and Sunday.

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Published by mariacristinasanfeliu

I’m an aspiring writer still looking for exactly what I want to write about, with a lot of creativity, imagination and desire to write. I studied Writing and Rhetoric at Syracuse University where I explored many different sides of writing through my classes and extracurricular activities in order to narrow my search for an identity as a writer. I have written for Citrus TV Noticias and La Voz magazine, both of which gave me the chance to explore different mediums in which to write in. Through Citrus TV Noticias I also gained experience in translating from English to Spanish and vice versa, which is also something that I would be interested in working on since I am fluent in both of these languages. I was also an intern at Syracuse University Press where I got hands on experience in what goes into actually editing and publishing a book. Through out the last four years I have faced a lot of challenges, which helped chape the person I am today. After being in a tragic car accident, being in comma, having a Traumatic Brain Injury, and being in therapy for over a year, I am a new me, willing to face challenges and knowing how to deal with them. I want to write about my accident and life after it to help others, show them it can be done and help in any way I can.

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