Chinese Salsa

You wouldn't guess it, but there are a handful of great salsa clubs in Beijing, hidden away in the various bar streets around town. You also wouldn't guess it, but I can dance salsa. Ok, I'm getting there. I'm taking lessons from a fellow classmate, Gabriel, who can salsa dance like no other guy I have ever known. The advantage to living alone in a big apartment with no furniture is that you have all the room you need to practice dancing.

It was last Friday and I was determined not to go out after my big Thursday night out on the town. Not quite what one would think of a big night out, but a couple of waiters at a very local restaurant befriended us and wanted to take us out and show us a good time in Beijing, so we went out Chinese discoing. We were the only lao wai* there, which turned a few heads. Anyway, after a social dinner put on by my school, I blew off my friends and headed towards my apartment for a peaceful night of sleeping. But it was that time when I hadn't quite made enough friends to feel at home in the city, and the novelty of Beijing and living alone had worn off, and I was still completely exhausted from the night before, and a bit of loneliness set in. So I called around to a couple of friends to see what was going on that involved the least amount of drinking and salsa dancing it was. In fact, salsa dancing requires no drinking, at least in my case, if I am to have half a chance of performing at all well. I went with my friend and classmate Michelle from Malaysia (or Australia or England depending on your definition of "from") who is also an amazing salsa dancer, as well as Leyth from Morocco and Gabriel from Panama. It's a very international crew here. And so we went and danced the night away. I learned how on the fly, as did Leyth I'd imagine but he's a good enough dancer to fake his way through it unnoticed, bruising only the occasional unfortunate. The salsa club was fantastic. Mostly made of wood, two floors, a live band, just enough light. And the dancers were amazing. I was so intimidated I almost didn't go onto the floor at all. It was a mixed crowd, maybe half were lao wai, half were Chinese. The bar/cafe scene isn't a very Chinese idea and you'll only find them in bigger cities with a foreigner population. Pretty soon I was flying all over the floor, loosing the rhythm constantly and running into people only slightly less often, but generally having a great time. And so started my hopefully long relationship with salsa dancing. I've been learning from Gabriel and am going out with a bunch of people tonight for a test run before a big salsa event that is happening on Friday. Wish me luck!