(4)
15th Jan2010
I had decided to join SALSA. All determined, all set to go ahead. I reached the place 30 minutes before the time, although the class was scheduled from 09:30PM to 10:30PM. I was having goose bumps, don't know why. I met Mr Taral, and had a small chat regarding why I wanted to join the class. He explained me how do they operate and what have they done till date. Every information passed on was getting me in. I wanted to start the class as soon as I can.
"Since you are early and you have missed the previous two sessions, I would suggest you go to the next room, where BABITA is revising previous two classes." said TARAL.
"OK, I'll do that." and I moved towards the room.
I knocked at the door as it was closed.
"YES?".
"May I come in?"
"Oh yes, please come in."
I entered the room, it was almost empty. They were three.
"Mr. Taral has asked me to meet Babita."
"Hey, Hi I am BABITA, and you are?", she asked.
"Jay." I replied. Suddenly I recognized her as one of the instructor who came to our office two years back. I was still remembering the previous session at our office when...
"Are you dancing for the first time?"
"No.. I mean Yes. I have joined a dance class for the first time."
"Oh. So just small moves here and there in the parties right?"
"Yeah. Sort of"
"Alright, come, join the class."
I stood besides the other two in the class, who also seemed to have missed the previous two sessions like me.
"Listen. Since Jay has just joined us we'll revise a bit of basics, ok? When your legs are apart, it is known as Jazz 2, when they are near, it is known as Jazz 1 and when both the legs are kept parallel, it is known as Convenient Jazz. Alright?
"Yes, I got it"
And we moved along with the steps. The counting of steps was the same as 2 years back. Every bar was divided into set of 8 steps and then the next.
"Alright lets get into the class. Its almost 9:30"
We moved to the next room where few others were present.
(5)
"Alright everyone, lets get along with the exercise. We'll stretch a bit and then we'll dance", said Babita.
I was a bit curious. I had seen many exercises, right from stretching to aerobics. How on earth these people will have a different set of exercise. Why would they need to exercise before dancing? Dancing itself is a form of exercise. I guess I was wrong. The exercise which I did was entirely different. Never in my life I had been through one which I experienced. The music started and we went ahead with the exercise.
The exercise consisted dance steps that would loosen up the muscles. It would stretch our muscles to a level where body would feel the flexibility.
"Ok, so now we'll get down on the floor and join our legs in a V shape."
"Everyone, hold your ankles and lean towards it. Try and touch your forehead to the ankle. I guess it would be stiff for few of us but, we'll get used to it."
The music started again and did few more pulling and pushing. Finally we were asked to lie down flat on the floor, as we were supposed to do the crunches. Cruching exercise is good for those who have a jelly belly. I was one of those jelly bellies.
"It is going to get hard on me. But nevertheless i'll have to give it a shot." I thought.
"Remember few basics while doing crunches.
1. Make sure that you are lying straight and your back is touching the ground.
2. Look up towards the ceiling and feel as if you are trying to kiss it. In this way your neck will remain straight.
3. Do not pull your neck when going up. Instead, pull your body from the torso. This will create a better impact on the body and not the neck.
4. Also when we are going up for a crunch, we'll go 50% to 100% and not from 0% to 100%.
5. Finally, do not look through your crotch, as it will create a load on your neck, which is wrong.
So remember these five rules, OK?"
"OK"
The music started again and we did 2 sets of 20 counts with a pause of 10 between each set. The first set went very well. But when the second one started, we felt the stiffness in our stomach and it was getting harder to go ahead with the counts. But the music helped us to get through those tiring counts.
"Alright everyone, roll from any one side and get up. We'll start dancing."
(6)
"Since there are few new joinees here, we'll start with the basics." and then Babita narrated the same Jazz positions which I got introduced few minutes back.
"Today, we'll start with Latin American Moves and... ..........."
My mind didn't go blank. I recalled the same words which I heard two years back. LATIN AMERICAN MOVES.
"So lets do it"
"Lets go ahead with the counts first.. 5 , 6 , 7 YOU GO ! 1, 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8........"
We moved ahead with the 1st BAR, and then repeated it till we all got it right. Well, you would have known by now that it didn't take me long to catch up with the steps. LATIN AMERICAN MOVES. I had done it before, two years back, the same steps. Gradually, we moved on to 3 more Bars and and repeated all over again. Things were looking quite easy to me. Even I was able to include my hip movement.
"Waah, maja aave chhe", I thought.
Till that time we were doing our steps on counts. It was time for the music. And guess what, the song that was played was quite fresh n peppy. ZOOBI DOOBI (Remix) from 3 IDIOTS. The beats made us tap our feet before we actually started our bars.
"Balram! aage aajao and do it with us", said Babita. Balaram, is also one of the instructor at SPIN. Later on I discovered that he too was working with my organization few years back.
"5, 6, -- 5, 6, 7 you Go......Zoobi doobi, Zoobi doobi, pampaara, Zoobi doobi, param paaa.....
We did all 4 Bars on the music and repeated it twice. I followed Balaram whenever I lost the track of the steps. But, I was thrilled at the flow which we were going.
"Lets do it one more time and then we'll split for a break 5, 6, -- 5, 6, 7 you Go...."
We took a water break. We needed one. Almost everyone of us was sweating in spite of AC and fans.
"You are doing nice, Jay. You have it in you", said Babita during the break. I don't know whether it was the girl or the complement, but I decided to finish what I had started.
"I'll complete this batch. All remaining 13 sessions." I thought. I was determined.
We moved ahead with 3 more bars, taking the total to 7 bars. I had Balaram in front of me who kept on instructing our side of the batch. Finally, we did the entire set for the last time. We were tired completely and I could feel it in my joints.
My first day of SALSA, infact first day ever when I had joined a dance class. By the end of the session I was anticipating more thrilling experience for the days to come.
I was all set for "5, 6, -- 5, 6, 7 you Go...."
Contd...
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