My Passion With Steve Parsley

WATCHING Casualty star Tom Chambers’ and Camilla Delarup’s effortless performance in the final of Strictly Coming Dancing in 2008, I muttered more to myself than anyone else: “I wish I could do that...”

Perhaps I should’ve realised that would provoke a response from my partner, an avid salsa devotee who had been nagging me for years to join her on the dance floor.

So far, I’d resisted; for me, dancing was about weddings or parties when you’d had a few drinks not about sterile, well-lit church halls or gym studios where the nearest drink was perhaps half a mile away.

So I was as surprised as anyone to hear myself agree to attend a class – and just a few days later, I was in front of an instructor, arms up like a camp gunslinger, counting frantically in my head to music as I stepped forwards and backwards to Latin music.

Yes, it felt odd and I was excruciatingly self-conscious.

It was also difficult to get hands and arms to do one thing while my feet did another. But, although I hadn’t quite managed to replicate that easy, fluid movement just yet, I realised I wanted to have another go. And that was where it all started...

Five years later, under our alter egos of Salsa Ritmica, we’re sometimes booked to lead salsa nights for charity and teach occasional evening classes at a school in Harrogate. It’s not really for money – it’s more to unlock that infectious and atavistic love of dancing which is latent in all of us. And, of course, it’s fun!

Salsa is a social and inclusive dance. You don’t need a partner as it’s all about dancing with as many people as possible not a single individual – and, once you step into the scene, you’ll quickly discover you can dance every night of the week without having to travel more than 40 miles.

Not only that, there’s a good chance that, whatever event or lesson you attend, you’ll be among friends.

Once you’ve been dancing a little while, you will find you will probably already know someone on the dance floor but, if not, you won’t be standing on your own for long. A new face is a new dancer – and there will be plenty of people who want to ask you join them on the floor for a track or two.

Some worry salsa is a hunting ground for predatory Lotharios but the reality is they’re weeded out pretty quickly. Girls talk – and any guy who makes their partner uncomfortable will quickly find themselves isolated with no one to dance with. It’s all about dancing for fun – no matter what standard you’ve reached.

But just one word of warning: once you start dancing, you may find it’s hard to stop. The right track comes on your iPod or a PA system and you just can’t help it.

That couple dancing at the bus stop or at the market? It might have been us. Sorry about that...