I Wanna Dance!

So there is this golf course called Whisper Rock Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona. Lots somebodies are members there. They claim to have an aggregate handicap of 7 – lowest in the country. Wayne Gretzky is a member there. So is Freddy Couples, Geoff Ogilvy, and Paul Konerko. Lots of pro or aspiring pro golfers are members there. So are people that have done well enough in business to have the time to play a lot of golf or people that have played enough golf to do well in business.

It’s invite only and they only have single memberships so there is no pool for the kids or spa for the wives. Whisper Rock is about golf and business for some of the best at each in the country.

Zoe, the salsa club I dance at, is kind of like this. Except Zoe is not invite only so shmucks like me occasionally find their way in. Zoe has the best salsa dancers I have seen in my two months here and Saturday night (when I go) members from the national team were there. Now, before you chuckle at Ecuador having a salsa team, remember we Americans have a televised national competition for cheerleading.

They did this awesome routine with two couples that easily could have been featured in the professional-dancers-only portion of Dancing With the Stars (I heard that they do that…). They were swapping partners back and forth and twisting and shaking in perfect harmony with flare and technique that led to applause at the end. They even had a part where the two guys spun the girls away and the guys grabbed each other and danced together.

It was one of those “No homo, but we just wanted to prove we are good enough to do this and we know it” moves. You know the move? No?

Yeah, me neither but it seemed like that’s what it was. And it worked. Every girl had their eyes on them and to be honest… so did I.

Now, determined not to be shown up in his own club (more or less), Maricio (my man crush from previous salsa updates) came out and grabbed one of the girls that was dancing with the national people. Now normally I would be patriotic – technically the people on the national team are from Ecuador while Maricio is from Colombia – but I take salsa lessons from the studio where Maricio works and I think he recognized me once.

Maricio hopped out there for the next song and was on top of it. It was incredible. His legs actually move faster than my eyes. Most mortals will do one move or throw in some flare between beats (Di) or try their hardest to figure out the beat (me), but Maricio was throwing in like six or seven. His legs looked like the wheel of a car going 60 mph. The national team had technique and basically a game plan that was executed perfectly. The national team was like Tim Duncan (He is not boring if you like basketball.). Maricio is like a younger Kobe Bryant – he has the technique and but he also has exceptional flare and is more entertaining.

So after Maricio was done and I picked my jaw up off the ground I mustered up enough courage (or were those mojitos?) to hop on the dance floor after him. If I am in the mood I don’t need many drinks to get out there. Earlier a Cuencana girl actually asked me to dance. That was a first for me. Normally I would think she had lost a bet but her self-described “friend” didn’t look too friendly when I was dancing with her. I would have described the dangers of the “friend zone” to him but he didn’t seem too interested in speaking with me.

My dance with Maria (the bold but disappointed girl) wasn’t a train wreck but it didn’t go well. I can kind of bullshit my way through a dance – spin here and there and shake here and there and spend very little time doing anything technical. The slow songs are my cue for the bathroom or the bar. This song wasn’t slow but this girl was good and I felt like an idiot pretty quickly, but a good laugh or smile anytime you screw up can get you out of a lot (and not just on the dance floor).

The salsa came and went. It’s not often I actually do the steps right but I can mix and match different stuff to get by. I suspect I will have to learn more if any other Cuencanas are to have any interest in me as a dance partner (not with Maricio on the same planet).

Later, American music came on. It wasn’t Lady Gaga but I could dance to it. Did I just admit to having danced to Lady Gaga? Geez. This sounds like my coming out blog post. Did I mention I am invited for soccer this week, watched football for four hours Sunday and I played golf on Saturday? Although I don’t know if the golf counts.

I was playing with, my friend, Rafaela’s father and her cousin. I had an 11 on the first hole and a twelve before I was done. We only played nine holes but you wouldn’t have known it by the scorecard. Won’t be expecting a call from Whisper Rock anytime soon. I’ll stick to salsa for now.