Thursday, March 21, 2013

Salsa soulmate

Several weeks ago, for the first time since the month I got here, I went to the biweekly salsa social on campus. And realized that there's actually quite a few good leaders here (though nobody seemed to know the reverse cross body, alas). Why on earth have I been missing these events?! 

Dancing is like a high for me. If I'm dancing something I enjoy, the effect is like alcohol - loosened inhibitions, living in the moment, lots of dopamine reward. So I have no problem asking guys to dance. This has nothing to do with my skill level. I may be a fairly decent follower now, but even when I was first learning swing by going to the occasional Lindy at Night in Berkeley, I didn't care who I asked so long as I got to dance. 

So with this attitude, at some point during the evening, I went up to a guy standing near the door and asked if he wanted to dance before I realized that he had his jacket on and was probably about to leave. But he said sure, so I was happy to dance.

I don't think I've ever danced with someone so...effortlessly. I lost track of everything but where he was, where I was, and what his movements were telling me to do next. Without a basic in sight, he spun me through a variety of figures. And at the end, when we stopped, he just kind of quietly said, "Wow." And I was still kind of in shock, so all I could think of to say was "Thank you," like you say after any dance, and then he said thank you and we both walked away. Oops. 

I still don't really know what I should've said, besides telling him that I enjoyed that dance as much as he did, but I want to go back to the next salsa thing (which unfortunately will have to be 3 Saturdays from now because I'm going to Tahoe this weekend) and see if I can find him again. I wonder if he'll be there, or if he looked for me at the last social that I wasn't in town for. I'm hoping I can recognize him - I think he was handsome, but it was dark, and remember how I mentioned that dancing was like alcohol for me? Even if I can't recognize him by his face though, I think I can definitely recognize him by his dancing.