I went to the last beginner salsa class at the Pachanga, it wasn’t nearly as hard as the classes at the latino cafe, but I was still way out of my league. They have a new beginner class starting next week, and hopefully I can start to learn all the basics that I’ve been flubbing up.
The first part of the session seemed to focus on different kinds of basic steps. The teacher would call out “mambo”, “cha-cha-cha”, or other steps and the students would do them in that order. It proceded really quickly and the changes were incredibly rapid.
Next, the students paired off and formed rings, much like at the latino cafe, only this place was really packed so there were three to four rings at any one time. In this phase a particular couple would do a few repetitions of a particular move or sequence of moves and then he would call “hei” to change partners. I really like the change of partners, there is something different to learn from each one, and no one needs to get frustrated when I don’t understand.
They built on the moves relatively rapidly, and before long we were doing an interesting sequence. I didn’t really understand what the teacher was saying, each new subject is a language to learn in itself, so dance, like java or shopping for sheets, requires that I learn a new vocabulary. This actually helps a lot, if you don’t know what is coming next you really can’t try to lead.
I found that the dancers were slightly less skilled than the beginners at the Latino Cafe, and much less skilled than the advanced group. Its strange how my dancing ability really is determined by who I dance with. I don’t have any choices, I dance with someone good and it makes me look good. Alternatively, I dance with someone who doesn’t know what they are doing, and I don’t do anything. I don’t think that has anything to do with me.
For the first time, tonight I danced and entire song without losing the beat of the song, it was incredible. Of course, the man who asked me to dance was an amazing dancer.
You also get a free mohito with the price of admission, its not nearly as good as the mohitos at La Perla, near hotel de ville, but its not so bad either.
La Pachanga
8, Rue Vandamme
75014
Paris
Tel : 01 56 80 11 40
Fax : 01 56 80 11 41
Réservations : 01 56 80 11 40
Nouvelles cours qui commence cette semaine:
avec Alex
mercredi
19h15 Débutants 1
20h30 Débutants 2
Avec David
lundi
19h15 Inter1
20h30 Inter2
Jeudi
19h15 Débutants 1
20h30 Débutants 2
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