Going Dancing

 

One of the things on my todo list at all my Snowbird spots is to "Go Dancing." I love to dance, but this is definitely a stretch goal when I'm in a new place and don't know anyone.  I'm also much more comfortable with swing dance than latin dances, but, hey, I can do Zumba, and I've wanted to learn the bachata.

When this ad was posted on a Playa del Carmen group that included dance lessons, I thought.. this is it! I bravely walked to the Palm Hotel ready to shake my latin booty and found out that they had changed the event's time and location due to rain.  

The new location was further away and meant I'd have to risk getting lost at night in Mexico, but I'd already mustered the courage to do this, so I didn't want to back out. 

Once I got to the new location, Buzos, I found one of the dance instructors and she welcomed me.  Many more people showed up, most of them young, attractive and ready to dance. 

The instructors gave us a demo of the dance we would be doing:

Wait. What?

I'm supposed to do that sexy dance? As if it wasn't awkward enough that I was the only old, white lady who was a complete newbie..  and I'm supposed to dance like that with a stranger?

Well, believe it or not, there were more men than women in this dance class (that never happens back home at the Avalon).  Also, no one was paired up, so women rotated every minute or so throughout the class. Despite my awkwardness, each dance partner was very friendly and accepting.  By the end of the lesson, I was dancing just like the woman in this video!  (OK, maybe not exactly like her, but close!)