{"id":598,"date":"2011-11-15T02:15:13","date_gmt":"2011-11-15T00:15:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.danielebesana.com\/blog\/?p=598"},"modified":"2011-11-15T02:20:17","modified_gmt":"2011-11-15T00:20:17","slug":"what-salsa-is-for-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/danielebesana.com\/blog\/life\/what-salsa-is-for-me","title":{"rendered":"What Salsa is for me"},"content":{"rendered":"

One autumnal Sunday morning in Lecco, on the shores of the beautiful Como Lake, few years ago.
\nAs many Sunday morning, I was there with my friends, our motorbikes parked on a long line of hundred motorbikes, standing in leather suites and helmets religiously under the arm, talking with other riders about – guess what – motorbikes.<\/p>\n

\"Vasco<\/a>
Vasco Rossi, the damn rocker<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A man came out of the blue shouting:
\n“Listen to me guys!<\/em>
\nI want to do a great concert! <\/em>
\nI want to invite Vasco Rossi here in Lecco<\/em>
\nand I want all the\u00a0riders to enjoy this concert!”<\/em><\/p>\n

Me and my friends looked at each other in the eyes, no word spoken, but clearly thinking\u00a0“who’s this madman!?”<\/em>.<\/p>\n

He continued:
\n“I’m telling you guys this because I love riders. <\/em>
\nAnd do you know why I love motorbike riders?<\/em>
\nBecause they are ALIVE! They have PASSION!”<\/em><\/p>\n

What a beautiful declaration – he wasn’t a madman at all!<\/p>\n

Few years have passed, and I still love motorbikes. But what moves me the most is something else.<\/p>\n

This time is Salsa, or to be more correct Latin music.
\nBut the sensations are the same:\u00a0I feel ALIVE<\/strong>, I feel PASSION<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

This is Salsa for me: PASSION<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

It could have been football, photography, news, techno music, cooking, TV series, astrology, reading, running, movies, shopping, knitting, ballet, travelling, science,\u00a0whatever.<\/p>\n

While I like some of those things, Salsa music is what moves me the most.<\/p>\n

I dance, I play, I listen and I live it. Yes, I live it.<\/p>\n

And the news is that I’m tired of some people reacting without respect when I say “I’m really passionate about Latin music” or “I really like Salsa” or simply “I dance Salsa”.<\/p>\n

I won’t respect anyone that react giggling and laughing when I say it.
\nNot because they don’t respect me, but because they don’t respect my passion.<\/p>\n

Do they have something that moves them, anyway?
\nDo they know how it feels?
\nDo I want to share my time with them?
\nMaybe they associate Salsa with some classes they took for fun, and quit because felt too uncomfortable to move their body?
\nMaybe because they spend their life studying something “because there are many jobs in that sector”, topics that may help them to make money, cultivating hobbies to know the right people, and doing things only to be accepted?
\nCan they genuinely say what they love without being uncomfortable?<\/p>\n

I’m not going to step back and avoid talking about it – like I used to do – hiding myself behind a false image. I urge to be genuine.
\nSo it’s my Salsa outing:\u00a0I want to tell anyone I’m mad about listening Latin music, playing my congas or dance Salsa… just in case you didn’t know yet \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

I’ll keep around me whoever is living with\u00a0fervor, whoever is genuine, whoever is not afraid to say what he\/she loves.
\nWhoever respects what someone loves because knows how it feels, and relate to it, and connect to it, and identify himself in it.<\/p>\n

I stay with the millions of Latinos (and not) that go crazy for the Salsa music, deeply impregnated with their culture.<\/p>\n

I stay with Cheo Feliciano, Ruben Blades, Herman Olivera, Eddie Palmieri, Jose’ Lebron<\/a>, Ray Perez, Wayne Gorbea<\/strong> and the others artists I had honor and luck to see in those years, singing and genuinely saying “Que viva la Salsa!” (long life to Salsa).<\/p>\n

And the cool thing is that I don’t even need to write why I like Salsa so much.
\nFirst because the title of this post is not “why I love Salsa” but rather “what Salsa is for me”, and second because “no reason is needed for loving” Coelho wrote on The\u00a0Alchemist<\/a>\u00a0and I agree with him – it’s nice sometimes not to question the mind about the feelings.<\/p>\n

Salsa is the music I like the most, the one I’m never tired of listen (“in the 8 hours drive back from Berlin we never listen the same song twice”<\/em>, the good Ron observed).
\nThe one I can’t stand still when it’s in the air.<\/p>\n

Salsa allowed me to meet fantastic people and great friends, and to have a lot of fun – also that<\/em> kind of fun.<\/p>\n

Salsa is the culture I went to explore in Colombia, learning Spanish and discovering lyrics that have values, that give hopes, that are talking about life.<\/p>\n

Talking about life, exactly like Vasco Rossi, the singer that the crazy guy wanted to invite to Lecco that Sunday morning.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"eStilo<\/a>
eStilo at Limburg Salsa Congress<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Performing with eStilo at Limburg Salsa Congress, sharing the stage with international dancers coming from all over the World.
\nAs you can see from the facial expression, I was at the peak of my dancing career.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n