Letter from Boston Salsa Practice By MASAKO YAMADA	フレームで見る  英文をプリントする  脚注をプリントする
サルサダンス練習会 雅子さんは、冬の運動不足解消のために、2週間ほど前からサルサのダンス教室に通い始めました。習い始めたばかりなのにやる気満々で、アパートのキッチンでもダンスの練習をするくらい。練習のついでに、友人にも声をかけて小さなパーティーを催すことになりました。

My friends and I started salsa dancing lessons only a couple of weeks ago, but it seems that we've all caught the bug already.

Three of my friends went to a record store immediately after their first lesson to buy salsa CDs. One of my roommates and I have started practicing together in the kitchen. He practices by himself in his room as well. I like to rehearse the turns while my lunch is heating up in the microwave since it makes those few minutes go by faster.

I was telling another friend about the little practice sessions that my roommate and I were having, and he told me that he wanted to join us. We agreed to meet on Sunday evening to practice our moves. Since we were meeting around dinnertime, I decided that I'd cook dinner for my friends. And since I was cooking dinner anyway, we decided to invite more people to turn our practice session into a small party.

This planning was rather ad hoc — our evening plans were still not settled even late into the afternoon, and some of the people who had agreed to come canceled at the last minute — but the gathering turned out to be a lot of fun.

I was reading in my office when the plans were finally set. My roommate had done all the footwork in trying to get people together. I decided to go home early — it was a Sunday, anyway — to shop for food and prepare dinner.

I didn't want to make anything time-consuming or extravagant, since this was essentially an average dinner that I would be sharing with my friends. Instead, I made home-style dishes of the sort that I usually make, only in larger quantities. I kept the food warm on the stove while we danced. We decided to practice first and eat later, since we didn't want to lug around full stomachs. We did have some mixed drinks while we danced, though. It helped loosen things up.

The five of us took turns partnering with each other. One of my friends brought her video camera and took some documentary-style footage. I wielded my disposable camera as well.

During our dancing lessons at the studio, we are told to switch partners every few minutes so we can get used to dancing with anybody. Thanks to this communal practice session, we were able to partner with more than one person even away from the studio.

I could tell that the guys had improved since our first lesson. I felt a much stronger sense of leadership from them than I had before. One of the women in my class said after dancing with the instructor: "He makes me feel like I'm a good dancer." I think that's the mark of an excellent male dancer.

After we practiced dancing for awhile, one of my friends bluntly said, "Is the food ready?" That was our cue to stop dancing and start eating. The food was already done, so all we had to do was bring out the plates and silverware. I was happy that my friends wolfed down the food since I like to cook for other people (the quality of the meals that I make goes down dramatically when I cook just for myself).

We talked about all sorts of things while sitting around the table, eating food and sipping wine and tea. I actually didn't know two of the people there very well, so it was a good opportunity for me to get to know them better.

I suppose the most interesting topic for young, unmarried friends to talk about is human relationships, and we had our share of gossip. However, it was also an opportunity to talk about ourselves, and this is one of the reasons why I appreciated the small scale of the gathering.

I liked the fact that we could all sit around one small table and share the same conversation. Even at dinner parties with as few as eight people, people often start separating into subgroups. Parties with 50 or 100 people have great energy and a wide selection of people, but it's almost impossible to have a decent conversation with anybody in that kind of atmosphere.

I find that I prefer the small-group setting more and more these days. It has the features that I like about communal living, like companionship and warmth, but very little of the competitiveness and impersonality that come with being one among many.

Shukan ST: Feb. 5, 1999

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