Dancing and it´s many joys

I know I already talked about dancing, but I want to say more because it really is one of my favorite parts about life in Cuba, and most likely what I´ll miss most back in the states. It´s just that dancing is such an integral part of ¨fun¨, from the day one´s legs start working until the day they stop. One explanation is that dancing is always fun and requires no money, perfect for Cuba. Almost every party I´ve been to has involved some sort of impromtu dance party, usually with a mixture of salsa and reggaeton. Everyone can dance to both because they´ve learned practically at birth. Also, were as in the US it can be seen as ¨uncool¨ to dance (especially for men), there is an utter lack of embarrassment. For instance, some of these dance parties have involved only 2 people starting to dance while everyone else watches, and many have not involved much alcohol. It´s a beautiful thing to see. I mean, to me dancing is the perfect expression of freedom and a surefire road to temporary happiness, so I hate it when people feel they can´t dance, and therefore shouldn´t. It´s like denying part of one´s inner human nature. I also love salsa because it is structural and traditional while at the same time innovative and surprising. Plus, there are all sorts of games you can do with salsa. For instance, there´s a dance called a ¨rueda¨. A group of partners stand in a circle, boy girl boy girl, and they are all dancing salsa with the same foot, same rhythm. As you know, the male is normally the leader while dancing salsa, so during a ronda, a male leader will call out different directions and the men will follow them, doing a particular dance with his partner or with someone else. It´s kindof like a latin version of square dancing, but way more fun (in my opinion), and way more popular with the youth in general. Also, there is a red-light, green-light version of salsa. In this one, there´s a group of dancers and one odd man out. The leftover person can call green, red, or yellow. Green means continue dancing, red means stop immediately, and yellow means switch partners. Since there´s an odd person, switching partners can get a little violent. What´s amazing to me, concerning this game, is that a pair can stop in the middle of a turn or something, and then naturally continue it whenever. It´s not easy, trust me. I´m actually not 100% sure this is a typical game, because I´ve only played it once, so don´t take my word for it.

Completely unrelated, I discovered a really excellent version of ¨telephone¨. It´s the same as usual except with every person you change the language. For instance, tonight we played it so that we switched English and Spanish for every other person. But you could do what ever language I suppose. Miss-translations happen way more frequently, let me tell you. Once we started out with ¨If you have a cold, eat a box of matches and rub your butt on the wall¨ and ended with ¨If you have the flu, put your ass on the toilet.¨