As we travel around the world, I enjoy the opportunity to meet dancers of many experiences and backgrounds. In a Salsa nightclub you will find doctors, schoolteachers, bus drivers, plumbers, college students, computer programers and more, ranging in age from 8 years old to 80+. What is it about dancing that gives such a common pleasure to so many different types of people? It's because dance is the universal equivocator. Rich or poor, young or older, if you can dance, you have the advantage over someone who does not. My passion for dance, like many men, was ignited by...a woman.

I remember like it was yesterday, Tallahassee, Florida, where I was studying Computer Information Systems at Florida A&M University. She worked at Gordos Cuban Restaurant, and had green eyes which always made me forget what I was supposed to order. All I knew was that I liked spending my time at Gordos, and while I was a vegetarian and the menu was 90% meat, I still spent most of my free time there. One day she asked me if I was going to come to the end of the year party at Gordos. Free party, all you can eat roast pork, free beer on tap and partying all night. I don't eat pork. I don't drink beer. But there was no way that I would be anywhere else but the Gordos Pig Roast on that day. I went with friends who were convinced by the FREE food, FREE drinks, FREE entrance (Hey, we were college students). There was Salsa and Merengue music playing, and people were eating, dancing and enjoying a beautiful day. That's when it happened, the day I'll never forget, she walked over to me, green eyes and a beautiful smile, grabbed my hands and said "Shaka, dance with me."

(This is the part that we went out into the middle of the floor and danced until the sun rose. All the world could see that we were meant to be together. But that's not quite what happened.)

My stomach dropped. My head went light. I had been dancing for years, I wasn't afraid to go before thousands of people and dance with the FAMU Marching 100 band. I had taught dance in high school. But I had never done any type of partner dancing. What were the rules? How do they know when to turn? Where do you put your hands? So I looked her in the eyes, smiled and said "um...no." I was hoping that she would say "OK, then lets stand here and talk while everyone else dances", but that's not what happened. Instead one of my friends said "I'll dance with you" and they went off and danced, leaving me behind like the quarterback who's thrown an intercepted pass. I was no longer a part of the equation. The game had left me behind. That was the day I decided that I was going to learn how to dance to this music.

I didn't know the difference between Salsa, Merengue, Cha-Cha-Cha, or Bachata, but that was all going to change. I went to the mall the next day, and purchased a video that taught "Salsa, Merengue, and the Macarena", in 43 minutes of instruction. I attempted to watch the whole video to figure things out, and quickly realized that in order to do partner dance...you kinda need a partner. As I had none, I did the next best thing. I rented "Dance With Me" and "Salsa" and watched them both in the same night. I had no interest in story line, I only wanted to watch the dance scenes and try to figure out some of the moves, so that I would be able to dance with my Green-eyed waitress. I practiced with friends, and figured that I pretty much had it down and was ready to go back to the club.

Gordos had a weekly latin night, and I headed over there with my arsenal, my friends, and didn't really know what to expect. As I went to the dance floor to watch people, I knew that I wasn't quite ready. Someone asked me to dance and I turned them down. Slowly I found a place on the wall that looked like it needed support and I lent my back to it. Afterwards I headed home and watched the instructional video again. "Maybe this is something you have to grow up doing" I thought to myself. Was 22 years old too late to start growing up dancing Salsa? The next week I went with a friend again who liked to dance, and actually managed to shuffle through a Merengue. I was starting to feel it...kinda. I mean, the songs felt like they lasted an eternity, and I didn't know how to do anything but a right turn. Or maybe it was a left turn. I eventually started to be more comfortable dancing...Merengue, and each time one came on my friend and I would dance. She asked me to dance Salsa with her when it came on, but there were just too many steps, and I hadn't gotten through enough of the video, so that wasn't going to happen.

Next week I was back at Gordos. This was getting to be a routine, I felt like I had to be there, and begged my friends to go with me again, even offerign to pay the cover for them. I was turnign into an addict. that was the night that I danced for the first time with a complete stranger. A Merengue came up and a woman came up and asked me to dance. I started my shuffle step and she took over the rest, holding onto me and spinning herself around, singing the song. I remember seeing the room spin and her face was the only thing I could focus on. "Algo en tu cara me facina...algo en to cara me da vida" was the song, and in retrospect it was so appropriate (Something in your face fascinates me, something in your face gives me life). The song ended and, for the first time, it felt like it was way too short. She thanked me and walked away to dance with someone else. I went home that night in a complete trance. There was no turning back now, I was hooked. I graduated from FAMU and my grandfather told me that my graduation trip would be a trip anywhere I wanted to go. There was only 1 choice...Puerto Rico!

I landed on La Isla Del Encanto, for the first time in 1999. We spent 2 weeks touring the island, driving everywhere, staying in hotels and listening to Salsa music on the radio. Ending up back in San Juan on the last night, I wandered into a small club that had people dancing inside and I watched them for a while. I told the bartender that I really enjoyed Salsa, and he told me that I was there 2 weeks to early, because at the end of the month, thre was going to be the Puerto Rico Salsa Congress, where thousands of Salsa dancers from around the world would be there. I laughed, telling him I wasn't quite into it THAT much. Little did I know that for the next 6 years (and running), I would find myself dancing, performing and teaching at that same event. I returned to DC and found the first Salsa club that had lessons. My first partner was my mother, who was the only person willing to go out Salsa dancing with me (Thanks Mom!). Over the years I've partnered with some wonderful women, danced and performed from Brazil to Japan, India to Amsterdam, but I'll never forget the green-eyed waitress that changed my life.