Salsa...with chips?

Tonight I embark on a new activity. I'm taking a salsa class. I don't mean that I'm going to learn how to make picante sauce. I mean that I'm going to (in theory) learn how to dance a sexy, Latin dance.

I'd like to think I can learn how to do this dance and look good doing it. I'm paying someone to spend 5 weeks teaching me. But I'm not really gifted in the dance arena. I can country dance, though I've been maybe twice in the last 10 years, so I'm a tad rusty, but that's kind of the extent of my structured dancing prowess. I don't think I "move well" (that's the term I've heard from performing types). When I was in high school and college choirs, and we had shows, there would inevitably be dancing numbers. They put me well back from the front of stage on those, despite my somewhat stunted height of 5'3". If there was a spot where you didn't have to move at all, that was where you'd find me. Look for the statue. Oh look, it's not a piece of scenery - it's singing.

But I'm no Elaine Bennis. I don't embarrass myself in clubs or anything. So, there's hope. And that's why you take a dance class, right? To learn how to dance? I mean, I've learned a few basic steps from Denise Austin workout shows. I refuse to take a public, organized aerobic class of any kind, since I generally look like I'm broken when I try to do the steps, and I can't keep up. But I do her televised workout show at home sometimes, and my cat says I do just fine. So, I'm going to stand up straight, pretend to be confident, and give it a shot!

I'm taking the class with two of my friends, so not only should it be educational, but it should be social and hopefully fun. None of us has a partner for the class, so we could potentially end up dancing with each other. I promise to try not step on your toes, girls!