Last night I danced my kind of dancing. Fast. Rhythm. Joy. Flavor. Can you guess what it is? Considering I'm from Colombia, it must hardly be difficult to guess. That's right - salsa. I'm not talking about the hot sauce that is so typically associated with all of Latin America. By the way, I feel I must clarify that not all of Latin American cuisine includes spicy food. In fact, with the exception of a few spice aficionados, Colombians tend to ward off hot sauce. They do not, however, shy away from hot dancing. Cali, Colombia is considered the mecca of salsa dancing. I'm telling you, people there can MOVE. The rhythm spreads to Cartagena, the Caribbean coastal city where I'm from, and to Barranquilla, where the spice of Caribbean Colombia makes the city vibrate once a year at Carnaval.
I used to be a salsa instructor in London back in the day when I was in graduate school. People used to ask me how I learned to dance, and I didn't know how to respond. I would simply say that as a child, I watched my parents, sister, cousins, friends, and the whole country, move. I listened to the music and grew up with the rhythm of Afro-Caribbean drums marking the beat of a joyful life.
So last night Le Cordon Bleu Paris hosted a student party at a chic Parisian club called WAGG. It is located in trendy Odeon and in the basement of a building. It seemed to me where the old wine cellar of the establishment used to be.
Happy were we, the Latinos of the group, when Euro techno BOOM BOOM BOOM turned into salsa music. Venezuelans and Colombians took to the dance floor - bringing gringos, Indians, Irish, and Malaysians with them. All thoughts of impending practical exams escaped our minds and for a few colorful hours, we were free...free and transported away from Paris and onto the beaches of Cartagena, the streets of Caracas, and the beats of our homes.
I used to be a salsa instructor in London back in the day when I was in graduate school. People used to ask me how I learned to dance, and I didn't know how to respond. I would simply say that as a child, I watched my parents, sister, cousins, friends, and the whole country, move. I listened to the music and grew up with the rhythm of Afro-Caribbean drums marking the beat of a joyful life.
So last night Le Cordon Bleu Paris hosted a student party at a chic Parisian club called WAGG. It is located in trendy Odeon and in the basement of a building. It seemed to me where the old wine cellar of the establishment used to be.
Happy were we, the Latinos of the group, when Euro techno BOOM BOOM BOOM turned into salsa music. Venezuelans and Colombians took to the dance floor - bringing gringos, Indians, Irish, and Malaysians with them. All thoughts of impending practical exams escaped our minds and for a few colorful hours, we were free...free and transported away from Paris and onto the beaches of Cartagena, the streets of Caracas, and the beats of our homes.
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