Sunset Salsa in New York City

Every Thursday during the summer people from all nations and all cultures got together to share a common bond and passion for dance. At the Chelsea Triangle in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City (Manhattan - W14th Street & 9th Avenue) at 6:30 pm everyone united for a night of dance under the stars - Sunset Salsa. For an hour people learned various salsa moves and then found a partner (if they didn't have one) and put those moves to use. After the free dance lesson was over the dance party began. A DJ played some amazing Latin music and people danced the night away. Some people only incorporated the dance moves they had learned earlier while others came up with their own choreography. Everyone was having such a great time dancing outdoors and mingling with other people that shared their love and passion for dance.

A few years ago I joined a Latin Dance class at the Open Center and at the end of my last class on August 22nd I found out about Sunset Salsa. I love to dance and it is a passion of mine so when some girls from my Latin dance class told me about it I was very excited. We agreed that the three of us would go for the free Salsa dance lesson. We didn't plan on staying there after that but it was so much fun that we didn't want to leave. It was about nine pm when we finally decided to call it a night. Wish we could have stayed longer...but it was late and we had a long commute ahead of us to get back home.

When we got to the Sunset Salsa event we never expected that we would get partners to dance with us, but as soon as the host and dance teacher announced that it was time to find a partner, three guys came up to us and asked us to dance - that is one guy for each of us. And we danced with them the whole night.

It was a challenge for me to dance with a partner because I am used to dancing solo. Sometimes I messed up with the steps or the beat, which threw the guy off rhythm too but all that didn't matter. I was enjoying every minute of dancing and so was the guy I was dancing with. Neither of us was perfect and neither of us cared about that. We were into each other and into the music and the dancing and that was all that mattered.

Dancing with my partner I felt so alive, so full of energy. I let myself go and didn't care what anyone thought of me and my dancing. I was in a world of my own, in a world where nothing else existed but this moment, this music, this dancing, and this partner whose eyes locked with mine.

I had a handbag with me, and because it's uncomfortable to dance with it hanging over my shoulder, I decided to leave it near the table next to my friend's bag. While it made the dancing easier I was always worried that someone might steal it so kept looking to make sure it was there still. (If you go to this event try and leave the handbag at home and place whatever you need in your pocket. It will make your dancing so much easier and you won't have to worry about your bag getting stolen.)

At one point when a song came to an end, I quickly went to check on my bag. Upon returning to the dance floor I noticed that my dance partner was gone. I looked this way and that but couldn't spot him. At that point I felt like Cinderella looking for her prince charming but he was nowhere to be found. I thought he had left and that got me down a bit.

With no dance partner I still continued dancing. At first I danced solo, then with one of the girls from my class, whose partner had left for the night, then with another guy who whisked me away to the dance floor, all the while hoping my prince charming would reappear. It was when the new guy left me and I got back to dancing with the girl that I spotted my prince charming dance partner. He was standing to the side talking to one of his friends. I looked his way, our eyes locked and both of us smiled but he didn't approach me. At first I felt as if he didn't want to dance with me anymore so didn't make a move toward him. But then the girl suggested I be the one to ask him to dance again, so I did and he took my hand and led me to the dance floor. I had found my prince charming at last and we danced away the night until it was time to head on home.

Coming to Sunset Salsa was one of the best nights of my life...and I will never forget it! I wish I had known about Sunset Salsa a long time ago. I would have gone there every Thursday this summer. I hope they have this again next summer.