October 2017
Alberto originates from Cuba, but I’d met him a few times at the Hong Kong Salsa Festival and once in Paris, and when I visited the city again I contacted him to arrange a private dance class in Cuban salsa, son and rumba.
I love Cuban dances! They have a real feeling of connectivity: with the whole body in flow, the synchrony with a partner, and the feeling of groundedness. Part of this comes from Cuban salsa’s circularity, not just in the curved flowing movements of the body, but in the way couples move around each other when they dance, which is different from American versions of salsa in which the couple pass each other in a linear fashion. In addition to this, Cuban salsa is danced with a low centre of gravity, often with knees bent and moves seeming to sink or press into the ground, which comes from other Afro-Cuban dances like rumba and son and creates that grounded feeling of connection to the earth beneath your feet.
Alberto picked me up on his scooter at around 7pm in the Latin Quarter and we took a magical, hair raising ride through the city across the Seine to Notre Dame Cathedral, then along Rue Rivoli, past the Louvre Palace to the Place de la Concorde, then up the Champs Elysee and around the Arc de Triomphe before heading north out of the city to the studio. Zipping past these sights at night was like a magical mini tour, although around the Arc de Triomphe there were moments when I thought I might lose my kneecaps! The vehicles were so close, but Alberto and the other scooter and motorcycle riders had a special technique of sticking their feet out against surrounding cars, and so doing they somehow seemed to push and wiggle their way through.
Alberto was teaching a beginner’s salsa “On 1” class before our private session, and though I’m not an advanced salsa dancer, I believe in the spirit of maxim attributed to Richard Drum “Advanced dancer: dances everything. Especially with beginners.” I enjoyed getting back to basics and the feeling of familiarity in the body’s muscle memory.
After the group class I had 2 hours of private class with Alberto, and the one-on-one was intense! We began with Cuban salsa, and it’s spiralling infinite fractal curves, like a rollercoaster designed by Esher. Following the music and Alberto as he explained and lead the dance that he knows so well that it’s a part of him, every time I caught sight of myself in the mirror I saw a huge grin on my face.
After around an hour of Cuban salsa weswitched to son, which I had tried briefly before just twice. Alberto played some music and helped me feel its heartbeat, the tumbao, and it’s rhythmic structure, the clave. We began with basic step: a sideways travelling step, followed by two quick steps in place, then worked through some turn patterns, always keeping time with the clave. When Alberto led I felt I could follow and feel the music, but when I asked me to find the clave on my own, I was lost. I felt as though this is not the kind of learning you can master with your mind, but one you must master with your instinct.
Finally we tried Rumba guaguanco, which was the most physically challenging, and though I thought I could move my hips, as Alberto was telling me to do so when I was already at my maximum, I realised I was nowhere near flexible in the way the dance requires. I couldn’t follow the rhythmic patterns, and the phrasing was lost on me, but it was fun and energetic, and after half an hour of this at the end of a two hour session I was exhausted, a little frustrated, but absolutely elated.
Dancing with Alberto in Paris involves a peculiar mix of Spanish for counting and dance terms, and French and English for conversation, but mostly it involves the language of music and movement, and when dancing with someone for whom Cuban dance is their mother tongue, I realise am far from fluent. Though we have no truly common language, as we dance we exchange stories of our families, of mutual friends, of travels and of dance, our shared love of the latter providing context for our connection with each other and with those we have both met along the path. This flow between languages of communication feels so much like the dance itself, and is a form of connection in and of itself.
I have met up with Alberto in Paris twice since to dance and reconnect; once in his apartment in the Marais, and once at a studio near Montparnasse. Each time I explore a new part of the city on my way, and get to see it from a new light; I get to reconnect with the rhythms and movement of Cuba; and to resume a friendship based on dance.