Andrea Schmidt

My life as a salsa junky started with "Very Important Salsa Lesson No. 1: Salsa and lots of Alcohol Do Not Mix". Intimidated by the 1/2 hour lesson offered before latin dance night at Fernando's Hideaway, a popular latin club in Portland, OR, my friend Paolo and I thought we might be more relaxed after, oh, say a couple shots and a drink or two. Needless to say, we left the club convinced that we were fantastic salsa dancers. In retrospect, however, I'm pretty sure we probably massacred even the merengue songs that night.

Fortunately, Paolo (whose real name is considerably less latino sounding, but who found that his smooth latin groove was easier to attain with the help of a spanish psuedonym) and I were hooked. We started out just going out and watching other people, trying to steal their moves. Then we ordered dvds whose salsa style was frighteningly similar to that of a classic waltz. We finally decided against do-it-yourself salsa and started taking lessons. During our first private lesson, the instructor asked us to "just dance" for her for awhile, after which she told us we had good chemistry, we just needed to look for the beat...ouch! (This, incidentally, is apparently something I continue to struggle with. Case in point, an indy salsero, who shall remain nameless, recently asked me if I was actually listening to the music...). After dancing for almost a year with Paolo in Portland, I picked up and moved to Indianapolis in September 2004.

Salsa suffered in the transition. I went out on weekends, but I didn't know anyone in the city and I didn't start actually meeting people in the salsa scene until about January when I started studying with Yang and Erin. Since then it seems like a whirlwind of salsa. I have learned more in the past several months than I did in the first year I danced. I'm thrilled that there is a group of folks in indianapolis whose fascination with salsa just borders on obsession. And Ryan. Ryan, who likes to tell people that he 'whipped me into shape'. I know you all think he's kidding when he says that, but he's dead serious. That's his opinion, of course, but I can't deny that dancing with someone as dedicated as Ryan is has been a great motivating factor.

So the salsa saga continues. The more I dance, the more I realize there is still to learn, and I'm having a fantastic time. And plus I always really did want to be 'Baby' in Dirty Dancing...