Advertisement
Published: January 22nd 2008
Well unlike the rest of the male population here I was born without the salsa gene....And I mean that nearly every male and female here knows how to dance, they may not know the steps but they do have the style! So i am attempting to force feed it into my system with lessons. And the man to do that is Wilson, my unbelievable teacher....hes been training for 16 years and competing for 10! He´s had the opportunity to go to the world championships in latin dance but his partner couldnt get a visa, he´s currently the best in Bolivia and I can say that he´s my teacher!
What can I say about our lessons....we start with a stretching warm up, thrusting our hips, shaking our shoulders and most of the time attempt to make our bodies´turn to jelly (you should see his....he turns to liquid and flows!). After this we focus on single steps, quite often its all of us gringos who need all the work and 6 explanations to get the idea and even then it looks unnatural...stodgy is a good word! However I have come up with an amazing solution and discovered it whilst on a weekend in Potosi....which ive just come back from and will explain at a later date, you meet a whole bunch of irish backpackers, play drinking games with them for a couple of hours (which for anyone who´s ever drunk bolivian beer will know its impossible as they are so gaseous, u have one drink and you inflate your stomach, literally) and then go dancing. Aparently and according to other people and pictures you get better! I even got 4 drinks bought for me by people who enjoyed watching me dance so much! Then again I cant say that it was genuine salsa...I made most of it up but it worked!!! Where was I.....
Oh yes we then work in couples where we start off paired up with our gringo friends, my dancing partner is isabel...we started at the same time and know we are both atrocious, but after 5 minutes we get switched and forced to pair up with bolivians..which is really interesting if your partner is A) good and B) wants to get better as you find yourself whisked around the room following wilson or some other better pair and repeating til you get it perfect. I enjoy it but its gruelling, and thats just trying to understand what on earth she or wilson is trying to tell you. However I am improving and it is coming more naturally as i get the steps after the first 25 minutes instead of after 45 minutes with only 15 to put them to good use!!
The lessons cost 15 Bs or under 1 pound if your working in the old country...and thats for an hour!! its crazy money over here....I have no idea how im going to cope when i get back!!
Well after our lessons we usually go out for supper, the other volunteers, wilson, ilich (a shy bolivian) and I, to a restaurant/bar get a bite to eat and have a drink...we are very civilised europeans!!! I must prance off now, shake my hips, twirl my partner and dance!!! When I get back I must find some latin clubs to dance in....any suggestions?
Advertisement
Tot: 0.13s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 9; qc: 48; dbt: 0.0738s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Adriana Mordente
non-member comment
Hello! I just bumped into your blog, while looking for salsa lessons here in Cochabamba. By the way, quite interesting stuff you write! Although I'm Cochabambinian, I've been unsuccessful in finding salsa lessons in town. Yellow pages in the local newspapers have not been helpful since it's so easy to get lost within that mixed variety of adds in the same page. And my friends rely on their salsa abilities after a couple of drinks and never have seem interested in some lessons. Could I have the direction, or number of the place you've been going please? Your teacher sounds so qualified! Thank you very much.