Salsa Queen

Oh I had the most wonderful evening at the San Francisco Internationakl Art Festival's salsa dance party! I took a mini dance lesson at the start and then watched the fantastic couples dance up a storm to the live music.

There was one man in particular, Mario, who had a harem of three fantastic dancers. Later in the evening, as I stood on the sidelines practicing the moves, one of the women in the harem, who had the sexiest dress, shoes and moves, pulled me onto the floor to dance with her in Mario's group. I was so surprised and flattered. I love dancing and have the moves, if not the steps. Soon I was dancing along with them and having my spins with Mario. What fun! They took a photo with me and hopefully it will arrive by email. If so, I'll post it here.

Once off the floor my friends told me how impressed they were with my moves and that I looked so happy. They also said that I was clearly not telling the truth when I said I didn't know how to salsa. Reminds me of when I went skiing with Simone in Tahoe. We took a lesson and I said I wasn't good. Turns out I was great! I seem to be getting more coordinated as I mature.

One of my goals for this coming year is to take more salsa lessons and get really good. I'm sure there must be a place in Oakland where I can get in a monthly dance.

Photo of Mario on the dance floor.

What Men Want

Naomi and I went to see a dance performance this evening of Scott Wells and Dancers as part of the San Francisco International Arts Festival. The title of this sold out show was What Men Want and our grand conclusion was "each other."

The pieces ranged from delicately choreographed to agressive homoerotic wrestling. Very San Francisco in terms of pushing the gender boundaries. There is something so wonderful about the male form in dance. Often I find modern dance difficult to watch with the tendancy to use a jagged dance vocabulary. With this work I was enthralled by the fluidity of movement.

Curious (Be)Longing

Tonight I made a foray into the alternative arts scene with San Francisco International Arts Festival's Andrew Wood who is in London for a visit. He took me to a placed called artsadmin in East London explaining that the performance would speak to me. And so it did.

Leslie Hill and Helen Paris, a performing duo called Curious, presented (Be)Longing. Essentially there were two monologues and each touched on something that is happening in my life.

Leslie (pictured with neon sign that cleverly changes from Lodging to Longing during the show) presented her portion while doing yoga poses in an effort to keep her mind off "that other thing." How much clutter have I also created to keep myself distracted from those voices of the inner Amy - sometimes doubt or fear and other times the inner creative eager to express herself.

Helen (pictured with guitar) is an American in London. She's lived her 20 years and last summer, when she turned 40, Helen decided to learn to play the guitar and also go back to the US Southwest to find her routes. But unlike the yuka plant she sees in the dessert her roots no longer run deep in the US. Where is her home? Where does she belong? The longer I'm in the UK the harder this question becomes.

I loved that these two women have found their voice, taken a risk and ask the hard questions of themselves and their audience. My interest is midcareer leadership development but at the same time I think it is a pre-midlife personal development question?

I am becoming more curious about my (be)longing.