How the Quarantine Exposed Us to Some Awesome Online Possibilities

So the quarantine really started it all, but in the end we discovered a simple solution to our problem which left us feeling like dummies. Like, “Why weren’t we doing that all along?”

Alex and I still wanted to practice our salsa steps we’d been learning over the past six months. We worried that we would forget them. So we danced at home, initially in a limited space. We called our situation “practice for a club”; our salsa teacher Honza was always saying that you can barely move in a salsa club. Alex spinned me right round like a record, baby, and sometimes I spinned right into a piece of furniture. Honza was right; it’s a jungle out there in the real salsa world.

Two weeks into our practice, Alex turned off the music after just one song; “Enough for today?” I nodded. We were sooo very bored. We felt stuck with the few moves we could perform. If only we knew more! But how could we learn more when our dance classes were canceled?

Bohemian Salseros’ Challenge

The next morning, a Facebook notification binged on my phone. It was Honza, with an event invitation. The message was simple: “Watch this video of a salsa routine, record yourself doing the same, and if you get lucky, you can win a free salsa course”

“Learn from a video?” I thought, “That feels like cheating on our salsa course. And who’s gonna yell at us that we’re doing it wrong?” 

“Hmmm, I don’t think so; that’s pretty advanced,” I hesitated after we watched the challenge routine for the first time. Alex didn’t want to give up. “Let’s try the opening combo and take it from there?” Just in case, I hit the video recorder everytime we went to practice – to get all the mess-ups on tape.

Self-Taught Dummies

Alex’s occasional attempts to decapitate me were paid for with the appropriate number of kisses, and each time we survived the practice, we celebrated it with a proud high-five. On the fourth day of training, I started to believe that we could get there. “I think we could manage to do the whole routine!”

Yes, we were far from dancing it perfectly, but the deadline started to push us. We needed a plan to wrap up the challenge. After thinking about it for ages, I told Alex, “Ok, I got it!” We put on our favorite song, “El Manisero”, and danced to it over the next two days in every room of our apartment and in any ridiculous outfit we could get our hands on.

“I swear that if I hear that song one more time, my head will explode,” I laughed, after I finished the final cut for the salsa challenge video. Luckily, ruining “El Manisero” for life was the only sacrifice I had to make; otherwise, the final video managed to crack us up every time.

Don’t Stop Moving

After publishing it on social media, I felt a void. “So… what now?” I asked Alex. Learning something new was definitely addicting, but I also felt that the past week was quite intense. “I’m up for checking out some new salsa moves on YouTube. You know, for inspiration. But maybe we can go back to doing some basics again.” Alex had read my mind, so I just laughed, “Yeah, let’s do that!”

Unipony’s tips:

• Check out Bohemian Salseros’s website for news about upcoming parties
• For free online dance lessons, follow the DanceDifferent’s events schedule

Czech Unicorner:

Nudim se. – I’m bored.

Co budeme dělat? – What will we do?

Půjdem do parku? – Shall we go to a park?

To je nebezpečný! – That’s dangerous!

Zůstaneme doma a budeme tančit. – We’ll stay home and we’ll dance.