Thing 317 Salsa Class

This isn't the first time I've taken a dance class for The Project. I took the world's most embarrassing solo Set-Dancing class there a few months ago. But salsa, now this is a little more up my street. Mostly because there's more hip-gyrating and I've been impersonating Elvis for several years now. Not like a real impersonator, just that I like swinging the old hips when an Elvis track comes on.

The other plus side here is that you didn't have to bring a partner to Salsa class. The crowd is big enough, and mixed enough, and you're forced to change partners all the time anyway, so I think it's unlikely that anyone realised that I was the weirdo who came all on his own. Like a weirdo. Who does that, seriously? Goes to a salsa dancing class on their own. It's a good thing I've such a high tolerance for personal shaming.

Now it's safe to say I'm not the clumsiest of my mates, not by a good distance. The Ginger Gem once went from standing to falling with no intervening steps. He didn't trip on anything, or get interfered with in any way, he's just so clumsy that he fell over straight from standing. I'm not exactly co-ordinated though. I'm an okay dancer, way too self-conscious about it for some reason, but I think that's because I'm so aware that it's not my strong suit.

Surprisingly, I actually picked this up quite fast. It's not hard in the beginners stages, and it's a surprising amount of fun for something that actually had me sweating buckets. I paint the picture of an ideal dance partner right? First off, I came in on my own, which is a little odd. Next I dance from partner to partner sweating and smiling like a lunatic. Who doesn't want to dance with that eh?

The funny bit was the level of competence from the other dancers. Some were excellent and danced the instructed steps perfectly, others were struggling badly, and tripped over themselves when they weren't being robot-stiff. My favourites though, were the ones who didn't give a rats ass. They heard the first three instructions about swinging hips and that was more than enough. They looked like they were having fun: To hell with the actual dance steps, why bother when you can swing your hips like some kind of demented lunatic. There were three of those. As I say, my favourites.

I think it would make a cool date for a couple. Nothing else to do on a Thursday night, work the next morning. Pop off to a salsa class, get some exercise, have a banter and there's no point in denying it, done well, salsa is sexy as hell. Mind you, I don't think it's just for couples, there were plenty of ladies and gents who'd arrived in groups for lessons and the salsa club afterwards.

Done like me and it's a comedy. But probably worth watching anyway. I may be a tad hard on myself, I was better than mediocre, which is just about all I ask of myself. If you're knocking around Limerick and fancy giving it a go, here's a link for facebook page that'll show you what's what...

SALSA (Not the dip).

A fun night, with a salsa club afterwards for those interested... If I can do it, you're probably a shoe in.

P.S. For reasons that should be obvious, I didn't take photos. I thought the arriving on my own and sweating profusely were more than creepy enough, so I gave taking photos of strangers a miss for this night. Probably for the best eh?