On Pearl Boy

A fellow dancer regularly comes out with pearls on salsa. Let’s call him “Pearl Boy” in case he comes out with any more and we need to refer to him again.

For context, Pearl Boy has been dancing for approximately two and a half years. He’s completely hooked on LA style salsa and has never danced any other style to date, nor does he yet seem interested in doing so. He is currently going through a rather lengthy phase in which he goes out dancing as often as he can. He is especially satisfied if he succeeds in dancing more than six nights in a row. Whenever possible, Pearl Boy attends local classes and is routinely sweaty and out of breath by the time some of the more relaxed dancers walk into the club. Most importantly, Pearl Boy is proud of his salsa obsession.

When I last saw Pearl Boy at a congress, he was in the midst of a crazy salsa workshop and party binge. Unfortunately since he is a man of extremes, Pearl Boy was rather tired after this particular experience. Indeed, he loved the congress and wishes to attend many more. However, he does not wish to miss out on the festivities of future congresses on account of being tired. He has thus declared that he will never again be attending classes at congresses. It’s a shame that he’ll be missing out on the excellent tuition available at these events, but that’s how it is.

At the same congress, Pearl Boy shared with me his strategy for getting better dances. Never ask a girl to dance at the beginning of the song, says Pearl Boy. No, you see, it is far more intelligent to ask the girl to dance in the middle of the song. Why, I ask? Well, says Pearl Boy, if you ask a girl to dance mid-song, and she turns out to be terrible, then you only have to dance with her for half the dance. If however, she turns out to be a great dancer, then you can ask her for another one as soon as the first one ends, thus granting yourself a dance and a half with said fabulous dance partner!

That is definitely a strategy I hadn’t heard before. Normally dancers are happy to sit back and watch for a song, absorb their surroundings, appreciate the music and seek to better understand the geography of the dance floor. Not so for Pearl Boy. He loves to dance so much (and thinks he's so brilliant) that he can’t stand the idea of watching a whole song go by without being on the dance floor for at least half of it!