FAME!!!! I wanna live forever….

No, I’m not talking about fame per se, or celebrity, or appearing in Take A Break for a week. No, I am actaully talking about the film. Do you remember the scene when all of the students of the NY Academy of Performing Arts spilled out into the street all exhuberant and young and vibrant and completely full of themselves and sang and danced and did whatever it was they did, and then overran a taxi and danced on that? Because they could…

And that has to do with salsa what?  Well, being a nosey kind of gal, i like to ask people what drew them to salsa in the first place, and for many they were reluctantly dragged to some salsa venue by a well-meaning friend, and were suddenly, completely and utterly and to their own surpise, hooked. Hooked, hooked, hooked, from that moment on.

They were hooked by the music, the dancing, the atmosphere, everything. for, lets face it, there is nothing like watching a room full of people who love dancing salsa, dancing salsa.  I mean, I do it all the time when I’m sitting out for a dance or two, and it is a wonderful sight – people connecting, laughing, smiling, styling, throwing shapes, flicking their hair, completely engrossed in the dance, or their partner, or the move they’re trying to perfect.

But what about if its the first time that someone catches sight of salsa, and what if it’s by accident!!

Do you remember the first time you walked into a crowded club and saw what dancing salsa could truly be like?

I say this, because, having done salsa for quite a few years now, I go out and about a lot, and more often than not have a marvellous time.  But, obviously, with the passing of the years, i have my favourite venues. And at two of these venues other functions take place at the same time, or in the case of one, its in a hotel, so startled guests can be found at the door, staring in wonder at what’s taking place.  So, this is salsa….

And it is then, my friend, that we become the Kids from Fame.  Our happy, sassy music spills out of the doors and hypnotises passers-by; they hear it, feel it, and wonder who it is that is having all this fun.  If you ever read The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, its like opening a door to another realm, but this one is sultry and sexy and vibrant, rather than covered in snow and ice.  Or, if Stars in Their Eyes is more to your taste, tonight Matthew I am going to be a SALSA DIVA!!!, and they walk through the spotlit doors and become a sparkly dancer for the night, or for the five minutes they watch for.

Were you once one of those people who paused at the entrance to our little world, in awe of what we, and now you, were doing?  Did our exhuberance and passion spill outside into the foyer or the entrance, or the road, like the Kids from Fame, and make you stop and smile, and maybe think, I want to do that….

Every time I go to a club, I just need to get a tiny beat of the music, a merest whiff of the melody, and my heart lifts, and my insides smile, and i know i am going to lose myself for a few hours somewhere happy.

I have, however, yet to try to climb on a taxi and dance on the roof.  Although, one can get carried away sometimes, obviously, so never say never…!