Mike Dimascio

For most of my life, my passion was to play baseball and softball, and when I would go dancing it was simply nightclub dancing to pop music. When I was living in Chicago, a Cuban co-worker of mine kept asking me to go salsa dancing with her, but I never took her up on her offers. A few years ago I moved from Chicago to Indianapolis, and since I didn't know anyone here, I spent way too much time at work and not enough time going out and having fun. I began to realize that I needed something new and different in my life, but it had to be something that was both mentally and physically challenging, something that I could become passionate about. Well, one night in the spring of 2005 while attending an ISO concert at the Hilbert Theater, I noticed that a crowd had gathered in the center of the theater lobby. I walked up to see what everyone was watching, and discovered that it was a couple performing an amazing salsa demonstration. I watched with fascination as the couple performed many turns and spins, all the time keeping their precise patterns in sync with the music, and with such energy and styling! A few weeks later I went to the Jazz Kitchen and watched more salsa, and then I knew that I wanted to learn. So the next day I googled salsa, and it turned up....Arthur Murray?! Without looking further down the search results, I decided to just go to an Arthur Murray dance studio to learn salsa. I ended up taking lessons in several ballroom dances like cha cha, samba, rumba, swing, waltz, and foxtrot, but very little salsa. Then one night in late summer I went to the Blue Cactus for the first time, hoping to work up the courage to at least try some of the Latin dances that I had been learning. The first thing I noticed as I walked in was a girl in a red dress at the bar who looked familiar, but I couldn't place who she was. Then I noticed all the salsa dancers on the floor, and I sat at the bar to watch. I soon realized that despite all of my lessons at Arthur Murray, I still didn't have a clue how to dance salsa (which was the one dance I set out to learn originally!). That is when my friend Gary Walter walked in and sat down with me and we had a few drinks (okay, probably many drinks). We had a great conversation about salsa as he explained to me what I was seeing, and then he introduced me first to Yang, and then to Erin (who was the girl in the red dress!). I then realized that they were the couple I saw at the Hilbert Theater in the spring. Thanks to Gary, I was invited back to the studio that night, and I stumbled through one salsa dance and a cha cha with Cynthia. I didn't even know the basic salsa step. That night was fantastic and I made some new friends. Finally in October, I arranged to have lessons at the IntoSalsa studio, first from Cynthia and later from Yang and Erin. I struggled through the growing pains, which included a few times when I would pace back and forth in front of the Vault trying to work up the nerve just to walk in the door! Once in, I had to work up the courage to ask the girls to dance.

So it has now been about a year since I first started taking salsa lessons at IntoSalsa. I feel that I have learned so much from Yang and Erin, and my interest in salsa and other Latin dances has grown into a true passion. I continue to take lessons from Yang and Erin, and I want to thank them both so much for sharing their knowledge and passion for salsa with me. I also take ballroom lessons from the Fred Astaire dance studio (IBC) because I enjoy and appreciate both street and ballroom styles of dance. I hope to take some of what I learn in my ballroom dancing to improve my salsa dancing, and vice versa. I also want to sincerely thank all the girls who continue to be patient with me as I learn to lead properly. I'll be sure to return the favor to other up-and-coming dancers! See you all soon!.