Dance Dance Rueda Resolution

Our rueda de casino class at ODC Dance in San Francisco culminated with a performance on December 7. The intermediate class choreography, which I learned, was challenging and upbeat. The advanced choreography was not only challenging and filled with time changes, it was sexy as hell. "Where's my sexy moment?" I complained after our show. I asked my friend Vince, who came with his dancer wife Heike, what he thought of my group's performance. "How did YOU feel?" he diplomatically replied. Still, I thought we did a good job. I learned alot from Sidney and Ryan, our instructors, in terms of the detailed way they listen to a salsa song and interpret it via choreography. And the crazy energy backstage before the show, with all the different groups in their costumes (ranging from grass skirts to clogs to skimpy samba garb), was so fun. "Wow, you really can go back to high school!" I said to one of my fellow dancers.

It was a lot of work, which I hadn't anticipated (there were multiple rehearsals per week, but I managed one extra on Tuesday nights at Dance Mission in addtion to the Sunday class). I also learned about some Oakland rueda classes which I want to explore. And I reconnected with some friends I had made several years ago when Emilio and I were going to a regular rueda class in the Fruitvale district in Oakland. Of course, all of them are now in the advanced class because, unlike us, they didn't stop dancing when that class ended! Anyway, I plan on taking other classes with Sidney and Ryan (I want to try the salsa workout at Dance Mission) and dancing more more more!

I am an enthusiastic dancer, which compensates somewhat for my lack of training, but I love the motto of ODC, which is that everyone is a dancer. There are so many styles taught there, including release, a new form of modern dance, multiple Brazilian styles, several West African styles, Afro Haitian... the list goes on. I'm glad I finally found a way to fit more dance in my life. Maybe my husband and I can even hire a babysitter and dance together? A girl can dream...