"Dear Edie..."    Page Thirty Eight

Edie, I hope you remember "Bust my Ass with Class" Mary. You were too kind to print my article about my competition a couple of years ago. During which you were laboring under a double groin pull which I do soooo hope is healed by now!

Okay, what follows below is a wonderful letter from a new friend of mine. Oh, as far as publishing this one, maybe no, not without editing (the boyfriend thing) & not without asking her permission but I know you & you would do these things without me having said anything.

What I had in mind instead was simply (if you could) to let me know the next time you are in Sacramento visiting your, well, Al's folks, maybe like you did that one time where you visited Del Campos, & Al conducted a little workshop. (After you had judged that competition in San Francisco.) I would LOVE to surprise my friend Blanca, she is sooooo beautiful, both on the inside & out although she doesn't know it, by taking her there & introducing you to her & OF COURSE, we'd both attend the workshop. ARE YOU KIDDING? I'D SURPRISE HER WITH THIS AS A LITTLE GIFT TO HER. I don't think her life will EVER be the same again. I know mine hasn't. I now help her boyfriend instruct on Wednesday nights at the Double Tree in Modesto. They have "boyfriend / girlfriend" problems from time to time.

Well, anyways, this is just an idle wish, don't really expect nothing, it's just that, I could see the look on her face when she realizes who was standing in front of her, smiling, reaching out her hand, & saying "Hi, my name is Edie! So, you read my story, yes?"

(Oh, BTW, we have watched your "Ladies Styling Video" together on more than one occasion, I think that's why she would have mentioned the TV.)

Take Good Care & may God bless, Oh, wait, give a hug & kiss to "Al"!!!!!!! (well, the one you give him on the cheek, the others would be from you!) :-) :-) :-)

- Mary Jane

From Blanca...

Good morning Mary:

I just thought I would email you and tell you about the strangest dream I had last night. Okay, I went online yesterday to check out Edie the Salsa Freaks website and I began reading into her biography and really got into her story. I read how she accidentally bumped into Salsa one night and how she met Luis and Joby Rodriguez, all her adventures with Salseros and how she sucked at her basic etc. Well, it is a very interesting story. I was really into reading it yesterday that it left an impact on me. Well, as I was dreaming, Edie befriended me and was at my house, it seemed we became very close friends, we watched TV together, she would tell me how she was going to teach me everything there was to know about ladies styling and she told me that when she first started she did not know what she was doing and was going to help me in any way she could. It was so strange. Her story makes me want to be the best dancer in Modesto.&nbs! p; Notice I said "Modesto" b/c I don't know of anyone here in this town, lady wise, that can dance as good as Edie. I don't know where to begin though. She had the advantage of bumping into that couple, Luis & Joby, Professional instructors, that helped her become the best dancer she is and in her story she mentions it. Where do I start Mary? I can relate to Edie in a way. I accidentally bumped into Salsa too. If it weren't for Sonia asking me one boring summer day, "Heh, I heard they give lessons at the Double Tree for $5 bucks every Friday, let's go check it out!" I would have never knew about it. I will NEVER forget my first day of class w/Gus. I was not too excited about going to a class until Sonia and me walked in, Gus looked at us, right away asked us our names, grabbed us a partner there to start our basics. After his lessons were over, I started to practice my basic, I liked it from th! e get go, the music, the steps, Gus came up to me and started to dance with me. He licked his finger and made that sizzling sound as he touched me. Insinuating I was hot. I practiced and practiced my basic for 2 hrs. straight there, so much I got a bad blister, on the bottom of my big toe, by the time I was done practicing. I went home and noticed my blister had popped. It got infected throughout the week, so bad I could not walk straight for 2 weeks so I did not go to Gus class. Then, about a month went by and Sonia and I returned again, I will NEVER forget, Gus' eyes shinned as we walked in again.  He looked so excited we were back. He said to us, as he kissed us on our cheeks, I never thought you two would ever come back and that day he got our numbers and the rest was history. Those were the good ole days. How I miss them. I had never gotten so much attention from a guy as Gus gave me. I ! miss those days and how he was with me. I guess I am in love with those days and that Gus. I really hope we are not pretending.

Sorry if I bored you with my story. I just had to tell someone.

Luv ya!
- Blanca

"Dear and Al & Edie,
Thanks Al for talking to me about getting started in Salsa. I wish there were more people like you and your wife that really promoted the positive side of salsa.

What I have to say is a little commentary about where I see salsa going. It is very interesting to just study the social scene of salsa and in particular why oddly enough when I chose a place to live in the next 5 years it will have to be around a place where salsa is very positive. Before I moved to Colorado, I was in Korea and Arizona before that The salsa scene in both Tucson, Arizona and Korea is such a treat to be around because there are no cliques and if there are they do not preclude people from dancing from one another. In order for salsa to grow you almost have to have a community of dancers who are willing to dance with everybody. I will be the first one to admit that I have had my share of people who I did not want to dance with and some for good reasons but for others were for not good reasons. Talking with Al I noticed that in some places the dancers look at themselves as exclusive and not part of a community. That is where we as dancers need to stop that negative trend.

I am so glad that you guys are really bringing out the importance of salsa as being fun and not excluding everyone. Edie and Al you are in my prayers and I look forward to you bringing salsa not only to a technical dance level but also the importance of maintaining the positive social level which is what salsa is all about. When I first started dancing I would always brag to my friends how I never saw a fight or a dispute at a salsa club because of the positive atmosphere that is inherent to salsa dancers.

God Bless You Edie and Al

A Devoted Fan.... "