My friend Richard Chen-See, suggested that title and how it is fitting for Beijing, and me.
I do a lot of salsa dancing.
There are clubs that have sprouted up in the last few years that support Cuban style salsa dancing.
In fact, one of my local Beijing friends, Yao Fei Huo, has lived in Cuba and won compeitionts there. Like many of the Chinese I meet, he also has an English name and goes by David.
I saw his video years ago and knew I wanted to meet him as I’d never seen someone from China dance so well and with such grace.
This video is from 2005 when David was in Cuba and on the national Sunday tv program.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBQGoSShv54
Mission accomplished.
I met David at the San Francisco Rueda Festival about 4 years ago. He was friendly, open and we had a few short conversations. I had no idea I’d be meeting him again in Beijing until he came back last year and we discussed me moving there because of my job and what the dance scene was like in Beijing. David had me excited and invigorated to check it out and do a little dancing with the locals.