Barenaked Moments

For someone who was born a shy person, it had taken me many years (decades to be exact) to break out of my shell. Dancing helps....I was still pretty self-conscious during the latin days & at the earlier stages of the salsa days but as soon as I hit the clubs I learnt that (due to my petite-ness) I'll always have to put in extra effort to get the equal amount of attention that the taller girls can easily get.

So you can imagine how petrified I was when Cikgu Sam put me at the front row (albeit at the side) in a shines performance at 1Utama, in front of 300-odd shoppers & a small section of the salsa community. I'm sure he had his reasons for doing so....or it could just be one of his sadistic moments when he puts his students to the test. After 10 weeks of hard work he sent the 17 of us on stage with the message "Dance for yourselves". And I realised then....what's there to be shy about when you're doing it for yourself?

Up we went, flushed with adrenaline. And we gained mixed reactions - from the quiet polite applause of the non-salsa majority to the hoots, screams & whistles of the small salsa group. All these for baring our souls & letting our true selves shine through.

Same performance tomorrow nite....in front of an audience who knows how to dance. That equals higher expectations. I'm still at the front row, but moved to the centre. Why has a cili padi been put there, only Cikgu Sam knows.

Bring it on.