My tribute to Janette Valenzuela. www.JanetteValenzuela.com
By Edie, The Salsa FREAK!!
I have told the following story to women all over the world. Now I’d like to share it here, at Dancer Hangout with all of you.
I had just started to learn this “Salsa dance” and was taking private lessons twice a week with Luis Vazquez. He told me that I was ready to start dancing with the better dancers now, and that I should kick it up a notch and challenge myself.
So I did just that. I was determined to “only dance with the better dancers” now, and that was “it”. Ms. Cocky Edie was “on her way to the top”.
hm.
So that night, I went to Orchids Salsa Nightclub in Orange County, California, and danced with MANY men – the “good” ones, so-to-speak. I remembered in particular dancing with a guy that I thought was terrible and could not lead. He was a beginner, and was just very soft, all over the place, and it REALLY showed in my face that he was bad, and I swore I wouldn’t want to dance with him again. A couple of hours later, I saw my friend Janette Valenzuela (a professional jazz/Salsa dancer) dancing to a song with a guy that was absolutely incredible. He showed her off, turned her beautifully, dipped her, spun her, styled with her……all that. I thought to myself, “Holy Smokes! That guy is awesome! I’d like to ask him to dance.” When I got closer to them after the song, I ran up to ask him to dance, and as the words were rolling off my lips… I REALIZED IT WAS THE SAME GUY I THOUGHT SUCKED EARLIER.
omg.
What a wake-up call for “me”. HOW EMBARRASSING!!!! AAAAaaaaahhhh!!!!!!
How could this horrible guy make Janette look so AMAZING???
… then I realized… it wasn’t HIM… IT WAS HER!!!
That woman effortlessly SURPASSED ALL “THE GUY SUCKS” BARRIERS and MADE HIM INTO THE MAN HE WAS MEANT TO BE, RIGHT THERE, RIGHT THERE ON THAT DANCE FLOOR WITHIN MINUTES OF “ME” BLAMING “HIM” FOR ALL MY ISSUES.
All she did was LOOK DAMN GOOD on HER OWN. That’s it. Simple as that.
Right then and there, I realized that “I” had to “always” bloom where I am planted NO MATTER WHAT or WHO I am WITH – ANYWHERE, AND EVERYWHERE, AND ALL OF THE TIME. I learned a valuable LIFE lesson that night. I learned that ANY WOMAN can make ANY MAN look awesome out there – all she has to do is RELAX, be the BEST she can be… and SMILE.
Needless to say, I went up to him later on, apologized and asked him to dance.
He said “No”.
.. Well.
I certainly deserved that “No”. And he said it in a “No Way in Hell – Ever” fashion.
Wow… I guess he could feel my negative vibes and long droopy face when we danced earlier that night.
I felt so bad I left the club… only to ponder the entire evening for my hour drive home.
That night at Orchids was an ENORMOUS life lesson for me that I have passed on to thousands of women no all over the world.
Just because a woman has a hard time with a man, does NOT mean “SHE” should look bad.

Learn to DEAL with the CARDS that have been dealt to you.
Be THANKFUL for what you have, and consider ALL CHALLENGES as OPPORTUNITIES to blow people’s minds – as WELL AS your own!
Make him look good.
From that story, Janette inspired me to create the following quote:
“It is the man’s responsibility to make the woman feel good…
It is the woman’s responsibility to make the man LOOK good!!”
You’ve got to BLOOM where you’re planted!!
Janette has no idea how much she has influenced my life, and continues to do so to this day.
I wrote this tribute to her, so if you want, you can go ahead and let her know.
Janette’s website: www.JanetteValenzuela.com
Happy Dancing!
– Edie, The Salsa FREAK!!
Edie The Salsa FREAK!! Website
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