Ay, Carrumba!

Chen was able to wrangle a few friends together to go to El Coyote, a place just off Sanjo last Friday to go salsa dancing.

Salsa dancing? In Kyoto? Yep, things such as that do exist here in Geisha-land. Too bad the international scene is overrun with French cafe's/boulageries, Italian restuarants, Korean BBQ and Thai, Indian and Mexican. Still no Greek to be had. The salsa teacher was Cuban, spoke fluent Japanese, can really move and had a hat that reminded me of the Jazz playing boyfriend with ADD that Carrie once dated who lived in Queens (yeah!) on SATC.

Unfortunately, I discovered a few things about myself when it comes to salsa dancing:

I cannot move. I have no rhythm, and I have two left feet. Especially when I wear heels - I don't wear heels that often. I am a student, why should I? But girls in Japan do wear heels alot, so I might wear my pretty Lucia J.Crew sandals more often, but it's kinda hard to ride a bike whilst wearing heels because your feet slip off the pedals (I learned that the hard way), and I don't think I can handle that for a 45 minute ride to Rits. Plus, on the occasions when I do ride the bus to school it will either be a) raining or b) hot so my feet will either swell. Oh well.

So the salsa lesson began (it was free for the evening, otherwise it would be 1000yen + 1 drink) and the teacher was going quite fast. I wasn't moving fast enough so I was caught by surprise, tripped on my heels and almost fell, and somewhat shocked my left ankle. So I sat down for a bit and missed out on the part where you pair up with people to dance. I did dance with the girls though later on and it was quite fun.

The music was a mix of salsa and rhumba, and later they hit on the reggaeton and actually played "Lamada" by Kona (I actually have that song for sentimental purposes: when I was 5, I took dance classes and the advanced students danced to that song for a recital and did the famous Dirty Dancing lift, since apparently, the "Lambada" was all the rage in 1989. Imagine my delight when I used Wikipedia to find the exact song that they used in the recital.) When the reggaeton and the other Spanish/Hispanic music started, I felt like I was back in NYC - most of the music I was sort of familiar with since when I do go out to clubs/cafes/bars this is what they play about 50% of the time.

The dancing was good - some of the Japanese can really move! Totally different from the time I went to Metro (600yen and you get 2 drinks and a cd, plus it's near my apartment, 5 minute bike ride). There was this one couple - the guy looked like he came straight out of the South Bronx or Washington Heights and the girl was I believe Eastern European/Russian - and they were awesome: fast steps, total coordination and lifts as well. The floor eventually cleared to make room for them. It was amazing to watch. El Coyote wasn't seedy, the music was good, the drinks were cheap and strong so all in all, despite my fall, it was a good evening.