Fuego y Pasion

I didn’t have anything going on this weekend, so I signed up for a 2-​day Advanced Beginners salsa workshop. Fr. 100 for 6 hours seemed like a pretty good deal, and it beats sitting around at home alone.
The studio is conveniently located near Bahnhof Wiedikon and is painted a bright and cheery yellow with a mirrored wall and large windows on both sides that let in a lot of natural light. The dance instructors Beni Castro and Veronica Di Leo were quite personable and energetic, and the class was taught in a mixture of English, Spanish, and German.
They focused on Cuban-​style salsa, which is different from the L.A. style on 1 that I’m used to. But with a little bit of rehearsing, it was fairly easy to pick up, and I felt that this was the correct level for me.
Beni takes his dancing seriously and had us do stretches and warm-​up and cool-​down exercises both days. They broke down each step, had us practice until we felt comfortable, and then we tried the moves with slower music, and then faster music. Counting out loud really helped keep us on track. 1−2−3! 5−6−7! 1−2−3! 5−6−7!
The second day, we did casino rueda, which is always really fun. I was amazed at how fast the group picked it up, and we were a fairly large group of about 30 people. Of course, we did mess up a few times, and it’s always hilarious when suddenly you end up with 2 or 3 girls standing next to each other without partners, and then you look across the circle to see where the extra guys are grouped together and somehow missed getting to the correct place.
I don’t know if I can remember all the moves we learned, but I’ll try to list them here: Basic step (Guapea), Cubano, Cucaracha, Enchufle, Enchufle Doble, Dile Que No, Prima, Setenta, Dame, Dame Dos, Sombrero, al Medio, Para Ti, Para Mi (abajo y arriba), Fly, Mambo.
At the end, we also did a bit of Bachata – which I absolutely hate because you have to be so close to your partner and shake your hips. I gritted my teeth and struggled through it, starting to get back pain from trying not to touch my dance partner too much. Thankfully that was a very small part of the class.
All-​in-​all, I would say this was a very good course and I had a great workout and a lot of fun. Unfortunately, I’m not sure if I will keep this up without a steady dance partner, because I don’t enjoy having strange men touch me. But it was definitely a fun way to exercise, and we sweated a lot for 2 afternoons.