Social Dance Moments

    7 Dance moments any social dancer 

will remember for ever

 Life may not be the party we hope for, but while we are here, we sould definately dance. Dance is a wonderful way of expressing your feelings, connecting to people and be part of a global society, no matter what language you speak. Dance is full of moments: Happy moments, desperate moments, awkward moments, intensive moments, moments of dissapointment & pain, moments of pride & smiles. Undoubtedly ,we all have our special moments as dancers, but we all have some common moments we will never forget..

1. First Social Dance Class

Yeah. You will never forget this, neither will I. First time that you walk into a dance studio, knowing nothing, feeling completely lost & sometimes maybe stupid. This person called ''Dance teacher'' starts to move & ask you to follow his/her steps as if it's something easy and totally natural. He/She keeps on counting for an hour 1,2,3-5,6,7 (which -obviously- doesn't make any sense to you yet) and you are so frustrated that you didn't even find time to ask yourself why 4 & 8 missing.

2. Your First Social Dance Party 

After a month of class, maybe more, FINALLY you are convinced that you are ready to step on the Dancefloor -even though you only know the basic & Lady's underarm and the rhythm is not clear yet. So, you take this big decision & you always take your best friend for support or your dance classmates, so you encourage each other. And there you go.. Stepping on the dancefloor and feeling the essence of all this. The connection with random partners, the stress if you can make it for a double turn & the feeling of happiness while your body - and so  others bodies- moves to Salsa rhythm. Yeah I know it's soo exciting!

3. Your first dance ''flirt''

You all know what I mean. First time you dance 3 songs non-stop with the same person. First you couldn't stop looking at your partner directly into the eyes.First time you feel a different kind of connection & you realise that maybe you gave an extra intimate touch in this bachata dance without meaning to. First time you don't want the song to be over..etc etc... It will happen again, it always does. Not every time you dance but, at some times, with some people (random & non-random), it happens. And we love it.

4. Your first Dance Show.

Well this is big. I know. I don't really remember mine, cause I was 3 years old , wearing pαmpers,  with my cat-costume, pretending dancing ballet -somehow. BUT I remember my first Rumba-Chacha show. I clearly remember, I wasn't ready for this. No one has ever felt ready in his first dance presentation. But I was & you were ready. And you know the feeling. The time you step on the dancefloor and all these pairs of eyes stare at you & you feel nervous & start shuddering & then you realise you shudder and then you shudder even more. The exact momment before your music start, you think ''this is the end'' because your mind has COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN THE CHOREOGRAPHY. But your body remembers every single move and proves you wrong. And the song you 've heard a million times seems different and these 3 minutes last for 15 seconds. And the smile in your face & your partner's face while hearing the audience applause... You will never forget this.

5. Your first Dance Instructor

Dance instructors are ordinary people, who get paid to torture their students in any possible way & after -when they see the result of this torture- say '' Well, that's nice!'' and fill you with happiness and smiles with these words. Personally, I will always be extremely thankful for my first Latin dance teacher (& for anyone who has taught me anything in general). But the first teacher is the one you will remember for 2 reasons: 1) Made you feel so stupid & incapable. By the experince I have now, I can honestly say it wasn't his/her fault, it's just the nature of dance this way (something you find out later).

2) He/She taught you the basics and you will always remember his perspective in techique, style & basic steps.

6. First time you tried acrobatics, turn & splits.

Beginners are crazy about this stuff. I can tell from myself (as a beginner) and from my students. When you first try something like this for the first time you feel sooo awsome, so professional, so dancer. First time you try a funny dip & you don't fall, First time you made 3 continuous turns. You were like ''Bitches, I AM SUCH A DANCER RIGHT NOW''. Unfortunately, after a while you realise this is fancy & fun & truly amusing but it's all about the basic in the end. And you go back practicing the basic again, as your instructor said in the first place.

7. First time you caught yourself trying to figure out if the song playing on the radio can be counted as chacha or samba or has a salsa rhythm.

Don't lie, you know the momment. You drive to your office & you start counting ''the way you make me feel'' from Michael Jackson as chacha and actually you are picturing yourself dancing your routine with this. You hear a salsa song and recognize the clave rhythm immeditely. You even make short choreos in your mind. Yeah, this is the beginning of the end of your ''I go to social-dance classes'' and from now on, you can call yourself a ''Social Dancer''..!

- Ellie Spyropoulou