Learn Salsa Dancing

Salsa dancing 

When I imagine salsa dancing my mind goes to the vibrantly dressed celebrity couples on the British TV show, Strictly Come Dancing, who are sequinned and feathered up to the max and shimmying it up to the max. 

No matter how much I loved the show growing up, I couldn’t imagine anything worse. There’d  be no way in 1million years I’d have the confidence to try that! 

Yet here we are. 

Confidence is a strange thing. Growing up I saw it as binary, either something you were born with or weren’t. As an exceptionally shy and incredibly nervous child, who’d even had an entrie ‘public speaking’ class set up for her, confidence was just one of those things I never thought I’d have. 

As I’ve gotten older I now believe it is more of a habit than a personality trait.

 By putting yourself in uncomfortable situations you can intentionally grow your sphere of confidence, get more accustomed to that particular discomfort allowing you bounce back from “failures” quicker.

 I’ve found that it’s often the environment in which you allow yourself to try that is the biggest differentiator of outcome. There’s no such thing as no confidence, everyone has a little. But like a muscle the more you work at it the bigger it gets.

This project was going to be a real test for me and once I could confidently (excuse the pun) say was outside of my comfort zone.

So how did it begin? 

It was New Years eve and like most good stories I’d had quite a few to drink. I’d met this guy on the dance floor, Tigs, and we got onto the topic of resolutions. 

Not much of a believer in resolutions (I know- Ironic for someone who runs an accountability groups) each year I always commit to the same intention, say yes to more things that scare me.

I was telling him abut Project 50 and how I’d recently read a book by Diana Chapman which described a “full body yes”. A concert whereby your body can identify a fun but slightly scary idea, through this nervous energy where you feel you both want to run towards and away from the experience. 

It just so happened that Tigs’ New year resolution that year was to try salsa dancing and he invited me to go along. 

There was no way, I could back out now, despite thinking this being an absolutely crazy idea. However, always a sucker for a good story I agreed to try it with him and we exchanged numbers. 

I’m not going to lie a small part of me thought (and maybe hoped)  he might forget or somehow “loose my number”.

Luckily that was not the case and as I soon discovered past Claire had drunkenly saved herself  as ‘Claire Salsa partner” in his phone, so there was really no way future Claire could play it off haha

After a bit of research we came across Salsa Souls, a beginner friendly group in Bristol which was very open to first timers. After agreeing to meet for a few drinks before we arrived at the first session. 

It was nothing like I thought it would be. For one aside from our instructor Stelin having some very fabulous and shiny red shoes there wasn’t a sequin in sight (such a relief) and everyone wore trainers, another huge win! 

After learning the 4 main steps in and what rhythm to listen to in the music we were broken out into two circles and paired up. You didn’t need a partner to join and as a group you traded spaces every 5 minutes or so, so you actually go to meet quite a few new people. Many of which were equally as apprehensive as you. 

The vibe was much more Spanish and relaxed than the high energy centre of attention strictly dancing I’d been expecting. With around 60 of us, so 30 couples, the time moved quickly and the 2 hours flew by.

Overall we both really enjoyed it and continued to go consistently for the following 3 months until life got the way. Nowadays we drop in for the odd salsa party and roped in a few other friends to join. Now we're looking at trying swing dancing! (more on that soon)

If you’ve ever considered salsa or like me couldn’t think of anything worse, I’d really recommend you give it a try. It was so much fun, I made life long friends and felt so much better after each session.