By Edie, The Salsa FREAK!!You’re on the dance floor… a KILLER SONG comes on and you’re looking for ANYONE to grab and dance…. damn, everyone’s taken.
Suddenly you see a Beginner/Intermediate walk slowly up to you and YOU JUST KNOW what is going to happen. Inside, you feel like running’ you’re dreading every second of it’ you take a huge breath, and hold it in, hoping to GOD Almighty they keep walking past you to the bar’ suddenly they stop right in front of you. You give a pathetic fake smile while still holding your breath. They ask you to dance. You let your breath out while you say ‘OK’ with that fake smile now covering gritted teeth.
FOLKS, “THIS” is where you need to go deep within, and dig out that HUMBLE PIE.
For the Advanced dancer, this is called your “Sacrifice Dance” for the evening.
You “MUST” do it – for the sake of the dance, the legacy, and the Beginner. Your ultimate Sacrifice by submitting to their ‘Request for a dance’ will only encourage them to “get with the program”, and get BETTER. You know as well as I do, that Beginners don’t get better very fast in cl***es – that is where they LEARN stumble and dink around.
Where the rubber meets the road is ON THE ACTUAL DANCE FLOOR with people better than them to push them to new limits – exceeding their own expectations and CHALLENGING them to STEP UP to the plate, put their “courage armor” on and LEARN FAST with a “Live” Advanced person who doesn’t mess around and will challenge their very inner core – digging deep into their soul and PULLING OUT THE AWESOME DANCER INSIDE OF THEM JUST BURNING TO GET OUT!!!
Advanced Dancers: REMEMBER WHEN YOU WERE IN THEIR SHOES?
C’mon… YOU remember.
You weren’t born out of your mother’s womb “Advanced” you know.
YOU paid the price…DEARLY… REMEMBER?
Remember the humiliation? The absolute FRUSTRATION?
Remember when you almost quit?
Remember the blood, sweat and tears it took to get to where you are now?
It is YOUR SOLE RESPONSIBILITY AND DUE DILIGENCE as an Advanced dancer to give a Sacrifice Dance to a Beginner/Improver AT LEAST once per night. Remember, Beginners “talk” and will REMEMBER you and THAT DANCE FOREVER. They also write in blogs, bathroom walls, and in Facebook about their experiences so you’d BETTER give them a GOOD dance, with a SMILE ON YOUR FACE the ENTIRE TIME. Even if you have to FAKE a SMILE… JUST DO IT for your own sake and legacy.
Of course, if you denied them that dance, I’m here to tell you… THEY WILL REMEMBER THAT TOO. .
And do I need to remind you that they TOO will get better as the weeks and months roll along, and WHEN (not “if’) they eventually SURP*** your skill level, and become AMAZING DANCERS… you will find yourself asking THEM to dance later on… and it will be THEIR RIGHT TO TURN YOU DOWN!!
YOU make your bed, YOU sleep in it.
How do YOU want to be remembered?
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Edie, The Salsa FREAK!! is one of the most recognized and respected Salsa Writers/Instructor/Performers in the world. In the past twenty years, she has traveled to 63 countries teaching the world to dance, and has been the first American to teach in 18 of those countries.
She now lives in the high mountains of beautiful Colorado with her wonderful husband, Nick. You may contact her at www.SalsaFreak.com
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