My Vegas Experience

 (taken with my iphone, that's me on the far right during practice)

This was my first ever salsa congress.  Never did I imagine that I would be PERFORMING at the first congress I ever attended!  With only a month's notice, our instructor confirmed that we were on for a Saturday afternoon performance.

We practiced intensely the weeks that followed, but nothing like the week right before Vegas where we met almost every day of the week.  We even met at 8:30 in the morning on the 4th of July (after having ended an 11:30 p.m. rehearsal the night before) to practice.  Mind you, there are dancers that do this ALL the time and way more vigorously than us.  But it's challenging when you're not doing this professionally -- more so for fun.  Still, we wanted to attain a level advanced enough to feel like we belonged in that spot.

Soon enough, Friday came and we hit the road, four chatty girls.  Let me tell you, EVERY female needs to take at least one road trip in her life with a group of women.  This leads to some of the most hilarious, gross, insightful, challenging, and TMI moments you will experience.  I loved every bit of it :)

I'm thrilled to finally... FINALLY share with you a video of our performance!  So thankful that my roomie Magda recorded us on her iphone! You'll have to forgive the poor quality, but hey, at least I got something to show you! :)

I come in on the left side (in yellow) and end up in the front row on the left.  Three in front (L to R: me, Dani, and Marietta) and three in back (L to R: Yen, Yanais, and Cyndi)

Aaaand, that was exhilirating!! One of my favorite parts was backstage.  The waiting room was FREEZING and I don't know about you, but when I get nervous I get cold.  The last thing we wanted was for our muscles to be cold and stiff.  So the girls and I started dancing for fun.  Then the minute right before we went on stage, we let loose and were doing a dance off!  Too much :)  It helped so much with our energy and keeping our muscles warm!

And the social dancing? OH MY LORD.  I told Jose about this when I got home, re-telling the dancing with my arms and legs.  There have been 2 moments in my life where I have danced with someone that I felt like we had been dancing for 10 years together.  Salsa is about partner work.  There have been many great dancers I've been able to share a dance with.  HOWEVER.  There have only been 2 moments in my life when the connection between my partner and I (a complete stranger) has been SO riveting, that I felt like I was PERFORMING for the entire audience.  The music completely took over and we danced to every beat of the song.  I was flying in the air, I spun, our movements synchronized beautifully and it MADE me a better dancer.

It happened once in Atlanta, and it happened again in Vegas.  I will NEVER forget those 2 dances in my life! And soon I realized that I had been dancing the entire night with a bad shoe.  My heel cap decided to jump ship and left me with a screw sticking out of one heel.

But after that dance, there was no way I was going to stop :)  I took 2 workshops the next morning before heading back to Vegas where I learned about Tango and Salsa fusion.  Oh, I'm in love.  How desperately I want to dance tango.  Back in the car we went on Sunday, the craziest conversations took place yet again, and we made it home safely.  I wrapped myself around Jose, and the story telling began...

And that?  Well, that was my Vegas experience.