Salsa Night with the Ethiopians
Posted August 6, 2006 by Malina
Last week I took Yosef and Dereje Salsa dancing. I’ve been dancing my whole life so when I heard Scott got visas for some Ethiopians I got all excited thinking that they’d be great dancers. I know that sounds like a ridiculous assumption to make, but Scott tells all these stories about the night clubs he visited in Ethiopia and how cool the dancing was. His renditions of the traditional dances aren’t very, uh, authentic—or even really evocative of dancing at all (People, this man is talented through and through but he’s just not a dancer, ok?); still, I was intrigued. He said they did nothing but move their shoulders and heads and that it was amazing. I kept thinking it would have to be either amazing or really boring, because that’s not much to work with! Now, having seen them dance in my kitchen and at the salsa night, I can report that Scott was right—they are amazing. I don’t know how to describe it but they dance with their shoulders!
So if you raft the South Fork of the American on a Thursday night this summer, come on over and check out Salsa Night at the Sierra Nevada House. If you don’t know your Salsa from your Merengue don’t fret–there’s a free lesson at 8 pm with Fahad of Salsa Sacramento. He’s one of the best dancers I know and he’s a great teacher. Plus, you just might pick up a move or two from the nightclubs of Addis Ababa as well.