When Kurt and I lived in Winnipeg and took salsa lessons, part of the advanced course was to learn a bit of rueda (wheel) salsa. Think of it as Latin square dancing: several couples form a circle and a caller is selected to shout out the different patterns to execute. It’s fast-paced and very exciting to be a part of. Unfortunately, rueda is not common on the salsa scene in Vancouver.

That being said, it was my privilege to be dragged into a couple of rueda dances at the Robson Sqaure dance on Sunday. It was the same set of kids from New West that had been taught by Peter (you may recall the video I took of them earlier). Not having done this for a few years, the first few minutes of the first song were very confusing. Obstacle #1: the calls are always in Spanish. Obstacle #2: the calls they were yelling out were mostly unfamiliar, like jumping in the air clapping and yelling, or squatting to the floor and slapping it with your hand. Obstacle #3: some of the leads didn’t know a few of the calls either!

Thank goodness for Spanish lessons! I eventually figured out the new moves and began to really enjoy the dance. For any of you salsaseros that haven’t tried rueda yet, you should totally try getting into the circle next Sunday.

Below is Peter’s rueda dance from a few weeks back: