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Blogs She Said But I Thought All Black Girls Could Dance? by Monique Brantly | But I Thought All Black Girls Could Dance? by Monique Brantly |
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| Written by Foresight | |
| Tuesday, 25 September 2007 | |
My salsa partner tries so hard to be patient with me. Each time we dance it's the same story. He counts "And 2, 3, 4 (pause) 6, 7, 8," asks me if I've got it and after replying "I think I've got it," I proceed to dance on "1, 2, 3 (pause) 5, 6, 7" :::sigh::: I simply can't catch the beat.
On our first day of official group salsa lessons, I knew immediately that i was in over my head. My partner was working late and said that he would meet me in class, so I braved my entry into the dance studio alone that day. You would have sworn that I had just stepped onto the set of Fame: Latin America. These people have on official ballroom dancing shoes and "Salsa 4 Life" t-shirts doing all sorts of limber dance stretches and warming up with complex mini salsa routines. And of course, half of my class had some sort of ethnic or cultural tie to a Spanish speaking nation, so naturally I am ignorantly inferring that I must be amongst a dance troupe of salsa naturals. So, there I was, dressed in little yellow sweat pants, a white beater, and my bulky Addidas running shoes looking like a step aerobics instructor and feeling like I might just want to keel over and die.
"is this the beginners class??" I asked one of the dancers, "no, this is advanced beginners." :::heart threatening to give out::: Comments
(7)
Salsa is just a different beast. Once you get the basics down it becomes simple and you can once again flaunt your innate black rhythm.
Funny story...Dancers are always "intense" I know exactly how you felt with the tennis shoes and sweatpants. That's one thing I don't miss about dance class, lol.
....sigh....
yes, i am busy. but no worries...i can make some time to give u some lessons. i think i can sacrifice an hour on monday nights. (my charity work begins today)
Well this is an interesting perspective. Its funny to think how much we take for granted as intuitive to ourselves as a culture, but when branching out to other things, we shockingly find roadblocks in our way. The beauty of this situation is that the challenge inherent in not hearing the beat is one that can push you to grow into a better, faster and stronger version of your prior self. Something like the evolution of a Super Saiyan (shout out to my anime geeks). All too often people tend to shy away from things that arent natural to them, never realizing how the tougher challenges can actually be the most rewarding. So I wonder, will you be wearing a salsa dress and sexyfly shoes in June, or still rocking the same wife beater and Run DMC's Addidas?
The white girl in the club reference - priceless
hahahahhaha.. I love it.. Momo you can do it. Im sure just give you like 6-7months and youll be all over it
It is shocking to the trained ballerina that she cannot grasp a line dance or shake her formality long enough to get down and funky at a club without looking like an ostrich. It's disturbing to a gifted street dancer that they are actually clumsy when trying to learn a basic choreagraphed routine. But with the combination of natural talent, patience and desire I have not doubt that you will soon be stepping out in those sexyfly shoes mentioned by the talented tenth above as the new salsa queen. If not...the myth can work for you as it did a friend of mine (black actress) who truly couldnot dance, and when she would blow the dance part of an audition, it was chocked up as just an off day and she would get the part. The casting directors would say " well we know you can dance" (hidden text) "All black girls can dance"
Copyright 2007. All Rights Reserved.       |
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But you ought to be ashamed that you can't dance. Just kidding again.