Stephan's Story...

My girlfriend and I had been talking about getting dance lessons for quite some time but never really made the decision until that cold winter night in Montreal. While at a regular dance club (techno), we saw a demonstration of merengue and samba by a local dance team. We were hooked without even having danced
once. The following summer, while in Ottawa, we enrolled at a dance school where we were tought ballroom stuff and salsa. Nobody else was taking salsa lesson. It was not part of their regular program but one of the instructors had lived in Central America and could therefore teach us. She was extremely
patient, and she needed to be. It took me a while to get the basic rythmn down. And then I had to lead!!! It is so much tougher for guys. You have to learn how to lead at the same time as you are counting not to lose step.
After a dozen classes, we were on our own (no more money to spend). She gave us names of clubs in Montreal where we could go. It was so different ! The dancing was much less formalized that I had thought. We were painfully underqualified for the crowd at Cactus. We cursed at each other for not being able to do the moves. But by watching the good dancers, we picked up
tips and moves and eventually became pretty decent. It is at that point that we started to really feel the music. Our dancing improved dramatically. We are now living in Phoenix and still dance weekly. I would go every night if I could. We never had much formal instruction but we must still be good as people stare and compliment us on our abilities everytime we dance (or maybe
it is because my girlfriend is really pretty). Anyway, that makes us feel amazingly good. I think we have own own unique style, very energetic and yet sexy and passionate. Everywhere we travel, that is the first thing that we look for: salsa clubs. We still practice and try to learn something everytime we are out. Salsa needs to be felt and lived. I still get shivers dancing to my favorite tunes and I tend to get over-excited. Oh well...

Stephan can be reached at Stephane.Villeneuve@CAS.honeywell.com