Hello Everyone,
Hope you are enjoying the sunshine.
Rocky has been practicing clave this morning.
A Leg Kick Story.
On my first Saturday night out dancing after returning from Nicaragua, I bumped into a student and friend named Neil.
We greeted each other in the lobby, he welcomed me back from Nicaragua, then he said that he has been practicing The Leg Kick!
I smiled and busted out laughing. I told him to be careful, I only do The Leg Kick with my wife.
He said he is practicing with his girlfriend. I said “that’s fine jajaja, be careful.”
I know Neil reads my Substack about bringing back The Leg Kick because when I mentioned I had written 2 stories about it, he commented and asked if I would share one. I said I would someday.
Neil, here is a story about The Leg Kick, it is story number 8 (out of 45) so there is some context missing, but I think it stands alone.
8. The Leg Kick
There was this signature bad ass dance move Alex did called "The Leg Kick".
With a handshake hold, (right to right) Alex would turn away from his partner and kick his right leg up in the air.
Then he would donkey kick his leg over him and his partner’s hand and switch hands while spinning back to face his partner.
Ok, I know it is difficult to visualize the leg kick from my description, but the main point is that when Alex would do The Leg Kick, it would blow people's minds.
Of course when I saw Alex’s dance magic trick, me still being in high school and possessing the agility of one’s teen years, I said to myself “WOW! I want to do that damn smooth leg kick and blow people’s minds too.”
I learned that Alex stole the leg kick from the Movie "Salsa." When you bought the VHS of the movie it came with a bonus Salsa instructional tape. On the video there was an 80's dressed dude in a double-breasted suit with pointy lapels doing the Leg Kick.
The Leg Kick was a difficult and potentially dangerous move for me to perfect. I am eternally grateful to my mom and sister for helping me practice it. At the beginning I bruised up my Mom’s and Sister's forearms whenever my donkey kick aim was off and kicked them in the arm.
The Leg Kick as a trusty move has always been pretty damn good to me on stage. I did it on Sabado Gigante 7 weeks, I did it at the Hollywood Bowl in front of 13,000 people standing next to Celia Cruz, I never had mishaps with it, but I was still slightly cautious every time I attempted The Leg Kick.
Think of the Dance Risk/Reward Ratio; A) You pull off a super cool move, or (B) You kick your dance partner in the forearm.
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Once my Salsa Partner Isabel and I got hired for a gig to perform at a backyard home wedding reception. We did a move called The Fly Around, and Isabel never checked how securely her red high heeled pumps were fastened. The flying centrifugal force slingshot her red shoe off her foot like a rocket.
Her shoe slingshot directly over the Bride and Groom's head. Ultimately her Red High Heeled Pump came to rest in the neighbor’s backyard. Needless to say, it was an embarrassing and hilarious dance snafu.
Moves like The Fly Around, with high centrifugal force were the worst accident offenders for me, but The Leg Kick has always been good to me.
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All this to set up a story so here goes ….
Thursday at my group class.
After the Mayan competition, before Y2K, I faded out of doing Salsa Battles, and Salsa Performances. I faded into a phase of searching for how Garry dances.
After being brainwashed into thinking I had to do The Leg Kick every dance, I faded into never doing The LEG KICK except on rare nostalgic occasions.
One late Thursday night after class in the mid-2000s, The Leg Kick came up in conversation.
I wasn’t teaching it, I was just demonstrating the Leg Kick to students that stuck around after the class, and reminiscing about how Alex used to blow minds with it.
I noticed an affable student named Aaron was doing more than listening to my Leg Kick sermon. Aaron was in the back actually doing some monkey see monkey do practicing of The Leg Kick.
Friday- IL Pirata party happened. I did not go.
Saturday- Saturday morning class at Allegro
I was at my 11:00 AM class ready to start teaching when I catch a glimpse of my dear friend Sarah as she opens the front door of Allegro.
Anyone that knows Sarah knows that she is a beautiful light of a human. Sarah is so sweet, has a great sense of humor, and she brings her effervescent qualities into her dancing.
This is precisely why I was so confused when Sarah opened the front door of Allegro with way more force than necessary, and immediately fired penetrating laser beam eyes at me.
Sarah’s steps per minute cadence was much faster than her usual walking tempos and with each step she took, I became more convinced that somehow I was the source of her extra momentum. What the heck did I do?
She was charging at me almost. As she was about to break into my personal space her right arm went up in the air. Sarah was ready to employ hand movements to enhance her vocals…
With big hand movements and forte volume she said and I quote…..
….."Garry You motherfucker! You showed Aaron THE LEG KICK and he tried it at Il Pirata last night and kicked me hella fuckin hard in my vagina!”
As soon as I read be careful, I immediately thought of my arm being bruised. You are most welcome BTW 😊 Great story!!
I have absolutely no idea who you are discussing here. No idea at all. LOLOLOLOL.