GREAT NEWS! Last night (Wednesday April 1) I received an exciting call from Robert (and it WASN'T an April fool's prank, thank goodness). The female instructor at Capital Ballroom has recently fallen ill, and he asked me if I could help him teach some of her students. I was so ecstatic to be asked this! I thought my lesson had gone well, but not that well! I was very flattered to find out that Robert considers me good enough to demonstrate for his paying customers. I guess I am learning a lot!

So, today at 10:15 I met Robert at the studio. We warmed up for 15 minutes until the pupil got there; Cedric. Cedric had never salsa danced before, but he had always found it interesting so he decided to learn. He's a slightly older man, probably late 30's or early 40's, and although he didn't know the basics yet, he had excellent rhythm and style. We taught him the basic forward and back (from the man's perspective, of course) and then it was my job to help him practice leading a female partner. He also learned an under-arm turn and how to switch positions. Cedric was a great pupil for it being his first lesson. You could tell he was nervous and all I wanted to say was, "You're doing amazing!! Don't stress!!" At the end of the lesson Robert and I danced to our full ability for about 3 minutes to show Cedric what was to come and motivate him to want to learn.

This lesson was very beneficial to me because I got to see salsa from the man's perspective. A lot of it is about being confident about your movements and showing your partner which direction to go by moving your entire body, especially your torso, in the direction you wish to go. Every time Cedric hesitated or only moved his feet, I had no idea what move was about to take place. The lesson was also a great example of how it might be to run my own studio. Ability varies greatly, from competition level to pure beginners, and you must have the know-how to help the best become better as well as have the patience to teach the basics you probably haven't worked on in years.