Ancil Marshall

Hey all! Since I know who will be reading this, let me just take a minute to say that the Salsa community here in Indy is alive with wonderful, vibrant and caring people, who I have been fortunate to meet and befriend. I will always cherish the wonderful relationships I have developed here. This is what I think dancing salsa should be about, that is, meeting great people with the same love and passion for dancing. Ok, ok, ok... enough propaganda. ha ha!

I first fell in love with Salsa and Latin music in 1998 during a summer internship at Cornell U. After visiting a local Ithaca club for their Latin nights and observing one of my friends demonstrate the intricate Salsa moves, I was hooked. As soon as I returned to Georgia Tech the next semester, I signed up for classes.

At that time, the Salsa scene in Atlanta had already been established, yet it was still growing. Thus there were many venues to practice, meet people and just dance. It was at one of the local Atlanta clubs that I met my first dance partner. She and I performed at our college international performance night for two consecutive years. It was because of our goal to perform at this event that we motivated each other to practice and learn as many moves as possible. I enjoyed many of the years dancing in Atlanta, until at last, I had to move on.

Now I'm here in Indy! It's been almost a year. As with most newcomers, the Jazz Kitchen is the traditional inauguration into the Indy Salsa scene. I was immediately impressed, and the JK is still one of my favorite spots. I took some lessons at Red Brick last year, and since this January, I have been a diligent student at INtoSalsa. I have enjoyed learning from Yang and Erin, who I think are doing a great job promoting Salsa. I especially enjoyed the trip to Chicago, and I hope that we take more trips to Chicago and other U.S. (and maybe international) locations soon.

For the future, I look forward to learning more dance patterns and meeting many more Salseros. I have never been to a Salsa Congress, so I hope to go to one soon, especially if it's with the Indy crowd. Oh, and as I just started teaching the Beginner 1 class at INtoSalsa with Ayben, I hope to become a more proficient teacher and also bring Salsa to the town of Columbus, where I work. With enough practice, maybe one day I can get good enough to appear in a Pepsi commercial. (I'm just kidding about the Pepsi commercial… I meant Coca Cola.. ha ha! )

One final word. I did go through a period of about 2 years in Atlanta, where I strayed away from the Salsa scene. Why? I believed that to be good, I had to know all the fancy moves as the other dancers. Fortunately after some advice from close friends, I realized that the number of moves is not the most important facet of this art form. Rather it is simply that you dance to the level of your partner, enjoy the music and lead gracefully. Following these simple rules, my enjoyment from, and my love for Salsa has never been greater.