Irish Salsa Congress

 It was a little bit like this but maybe next time!

Dance shoes in hand

It all started with emergency gardening around midnight on Friday – On closer inspection of Becky’s spiky outline, in the straw, I found she had pulled out 8 of the 10 significant branches of my favourite winter scented jasmine and added them to their bed. 

Becky and Wish today with no conscience or memory of the incident

My first reaction was slightly ‘sod you and the horse you rode in on’ but then I said to myself, I hope to God this is the right time of year for taking cuttings to start new shrubs, as I prepared about 200 with the secateurs. Where we differ on approach, Becky and I are similar in determination! I had to dig up soil by moonlight, from a perimeter bank and fill pots, cut each branch to 6 inch lengths, trim leaves to leave only two and then scrape and expose the cambium layer to stimulate root growth!

Working hands? No problem with bright vegan nail varnish to hand

I was to be up at 6am as I’d bought a Day Pass for the infamous Irish Salsa Congress in Kildare. Thankfully, my gardening hands and nails could be rectified by a splash of nail varnish. I did back-to-back classes with international teachers in Cha Cha Footwork, Dominican Bachata, Salsa Partnerwork with Footwork and Styling, Partnerwork with Body Movement (with my favourite couple to watch and learn from, Gil & Shelley), then Salsa Con Rumba and finally International Bachata. I met the Kilkenny gang for a brief but entertaining al fresco lunch halfway through. Was it wrong to bring my own mini pizza and lemon and chocolate dessert? It felt so right and yet cheap and cheerful too!

Lunch with Triona and Catalina

I was just about to jump in my car at 6pm, contented with a great day on all accounts, with no bleak moments, when someone said ‘see you at the party, yeah?’ That was when I found out that my wristband covered me for the social dancing last night too. After causing a slight scene at a local restaurant, where I thought I was going to be sent home after all, a few glasses of wine later and danced again until 3.30am! I didn’t mean to even fade then but I went to the car for refreshments and found myself there a couple of hours later, tucked in for a little music and shut eye! I love the car environment, instantly warm, comfortable, with one’s own CDs and a view of one’s own choice!

Retrieved jasmine debri

Did I mention, dancing is the way forward? If you do it enough, your whole interaction with life changes. Instead of pushing to get ahead or lagging behind, in nearly every instance you find you can follow the subtle cues, of direction and pace. This gives time to notice all the beautiful moments of synergy and coordination as they happen. And lends an un-embarrassed ability to share a good laugh about all the maneuvers that don’t go so well too.

Some jasmine cuttings prepared

A few of the countless cuttings in pots