(10) Salsa Dance Date

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[Chapter 10: Salsa Dance Date]

She was on the brown “L” shaped couch beside me. We had just finished watching “Happy Accidents” streamed through Netflix on the television mounted on the wall.

I took the empty popcorn bowl to the kitchen. When I came back to the room she was standing provocatively and said, “Let’s dance!” She began to dance and motion with her fingers for me to come towards her like she was reeling in a fish. I took the remote and turned the television to a salsa music station. I then dimmed the lights slightly to give it a night club feel. She kicked off her shoes and I did the same so that it was just our socks against the hardwood floor. I did a short sprint followed by a slide. There was just enough friction for me not to slip and I ended up right beside her. I took her in closed position with my right hand on her back and my left hand in hers held up.
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We began to dance back and forth along an imaginary line or slot doing a “basic step”. I was counting to myself in my head “1, 2, 3, pause, 5, 6, 7, pause” and repeating until I got in sync with the music. I started with my feet together before the 1. I put my left foot forward and transferred my weight to it on the 1. I transferred my weight back to my right foot on the 2. I moved my left foot back to the center until my feet were together again with my left knee still slightly bent on the 3. I shifted my weight from my right foot to my left foot on the “pause” by straightening my left leg and bending my right knee. I moved my right foot back and transferred my weight to it on the 5. I transferred my weight back to my left foot on 6. I moved my right foot back to the center until my feet were together again with my right knee still slightly bent on the 7. I shifted my weight from my left foot to my right foot on the “pause” by straightening my right leg and bending my left knee. I then repeated this for each cycle of the basic salsa step. She was doing the same steps shifted 180 degrees out of phase. When I was going forward with my left foot, she was going backwards with her right foot. When I was going backwards with my right foot, she was going forward with her left foot.

I was continuing to count to myself in my head “1, 2, 3, pause, 5, 6, 7, pause” as we danced. After a few basic steps, I wanted to face the opposite direction by doing a “cross body lead”.

In order to face the other direction on the 3, instead of putting my feet together, I pivoted on my right foot and put my put my left foot parallel along the same line as my right foot so that my feet were along the same line pointing in opposite directions. I shifted my weight to my left foot on the 4. On the 5 I stepped back with my right foot as I turned my upper body counterclockwise to put her into the spot where I originally was. On the 6 I shifted my weight back to my left foot. On the 7 I moved my right foot back to the center with my feet together so that I was back in the slot facing the opposite direction from when I started. On the “pause” I shifted my weight from my left foot to my right foot. I then continued to do a few more basic steps.
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I wanted to get into “open parallel” position. I changed from closed position to open parallel position my sliding my right hand off her back until I was holding both her hands with mine in front of me. We continued to dance a few more basic steps in open parallel position.

I wanted to lead her to do a clockwise “basic turn”. I only needed my right hand to do a turn so I let go of her hand in my left hand. I was only holding one of her hands in my right hand. On the 1, I moved my right hand slightly to the left on the 1 and slightly to the right on the 2 as a cue that we were going to do a turn. On the 3, I moved my right hand up to my eye level. I was doing my steps the same as the basic up to the pause on 4. On 5, I pushed my right foot to the right without transferring my weight fully to it so the majority of my weight was still on my left foot. As I pushed my right foot to the side, I moved my right hand in a clockwise horizon circle to lead her in a turn as she was stepping forward on the 5 and completing the turn on the 7 or 8. On the 5, I partially pushed with my right foot keeping most of the weight on my left foot. On the 6, all the weight was back on my left foot. On the 8, I moved my right foot back to the center with my left knee still slightly bent. On the 8, I transferred my weight back to my right foot. We continued doing more basics steps.

I wanted to lead myself in a clockwise “basic right hand turn”. On the 1, I moved my right hand to my eye level, stepped forward with my left foot transferring my weight to it while turning 180 degrees going under my arm while keeping my feet in the same places. My right foot turned in place so it was facing the opposite direction. On the 2, I transferred my weight back to my left foot. On the 3, I pushed off my left foot and pivoted on my right foot clockwise all the back to my starting position. on the “pause”, I regained my balanced from turning. I then continued by doing the last half of the basic step. We continued doing more basic steps.

We continued each doing clockwise basic right hand turns with basic steps in between them.
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I wanted to do a cross body lead in open parallel position. I raised my left hand to indicate for her to take it. Once she took my left hand, we were back in open parallel position. I then did the same steps and upper body movements as a normal cross body lead. We continued doing more basic steps.

I wanted to do a “cross body lead with a left hand turn”. It was just like the cross body lead except that on 3, I pulled her across the slot more strongly. On 4, I let go of her hand in my right hand and turned my left hand firmly in a counterclockwise horizontal circle.

Her steps were a little tricky. She stepped forward on 4 with her left foot and transferred her weight to it. On 5, she pivoted counterclockwise 180 degrees on her left foot while keeping her thighs squeezed tightly together. On 6, she transferred her weight to her right foot to pivot 180 degrees keeping her thighs squeezed tightly together. On 7 she transfers her weight back to her left foot to pivot the remaining 180 degrees keeping her thighs squeezed tightly together. On 8, regions her balance putting her weight on her left foot. She is then ready to got back on her right foot on 1 for the next basic step. Remember her basic step is out of phase from mine. I go forward with my left foot on 1 while she is going back on the right foot on 1.

We continued dancing salsa doing a mixture of steps. We changed things up by switching between the different positions. We did “closed position”, “open parallel position”, “open position with one hand (my right hand)”, “crossed hand position with my right hand on top”, and “crossed hand position my left hand on top”.

We also did some hand flicks where I would flick her hand up for her to brush down her head and neck on the way down. The hand flicks and some turns were a smooth way of changing positions without it seeming obvious and awkward.
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We got hot and sweaty dancing and had to take occasional water breaks. We would also spray on more perfume or body spray while we were getting water. We eventually both lost our shirts. I was wearing my undershirt and she was wearing a sporty bra. That was until she pulled off my undershirt and threw it to the side. It seemed like we danced for hours.

I eventually led her into a cross body lead with a left hand turn into a dip. For the dip I with step away with my left foot lunging while keeping my right foot straight behind. I would have my left hand on her back and reach my right hand around to the other side. When I caught the other side with my right hand I would lunge more into my left leg while tilting her slightly in that direction. The trick was to keep her center of mass on the inside of the lunged leg so as not to fall over.

As she spun counterclockwise and was caught in the dip, she laughed. I slowly tilted her a little further into the dip and gave her a long kiss on the lips. I eventually pulled her back to her feet but then she pulled me horizontally to with both her arms. She was on the couch facing me and pulled me on top of her. Without letting go I moved both arms over her head so she was trapped with her arms behind her head. I climbed on top of her and began to kiss her more firmly and deeply. I was careful to put my weight on the couch and not her so as to not crush her. I let go of her hand to free them from behind her head. She lay horizontally along the inside length of the long side of the couch. I lay on top of her slightly to the outside of the side so I could put most of my weight on the couch. We continued to kiss passionately while grasping each other’s bodies with our hands and stroking each other’s faces with our fingers. She put on some flavored chapstick and I used a dissolving mint strip and flavored gum. Eventually we stopped and just stared into each other’s eyes while stoking each other’s hair. She climbed on top of me, over me and off the couch. She said “I am going to take a shower first”. She went into the bathroom and closed the door. I turned the tv back on and watched it for like a minute. I then went over to the door and put my ear against it. I listened to the white sound of the shower water falling and could hear a faint echoing sound of her singing. Eventually I heard the shower stop and I rushed back to the couch pretending to be watching the television. She opened the door coming out in a white towel around her body with long wet hair. She shook her head to move her hair to the side. “We’re you listening to me sing?”, she asked. “Maybe. I said with a sheepish grin. “Ops”, she said as her towel fell to the ground as if it were an accident. She just stood there erect unflinching for two seconds staring right at me. I was stunned speechless staring at the shape of her beautiful form. She then smiled with a spark in her eyes and bent her knees going vertically down and then back up to pick up the towel put it back on as if nothing happened. “What are you waiting for? It’s your turn to take a shower.” She said jokingly in a bossy voice followed by a laugh. She kept the bathroom door open as walked towards the bedroom glancing back to see me gazing at her. She entered the bedroom, peeked back out one time laughing and then closed the door.
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