| "OH my God, Paco I have missed you so much!!"
These where the first words I heard from Edie
when we meet in Ben-Gurion airport in Israel. She just came out from the incoming gate
along with Gal from salsa lovers
dance studios in Miami.
It was just a few months ago, that we had meet
at the World Salsa Congress in Puerto Rico and just prior, with my visit to
Los-Angeles. Now, finally, Edie had come to Israel. Edie and Gal went to his
place to get settled, as we had a full week of activity starting with that evening:
The first ever, L.A. style workshop done by Edie in Israel.
The workshop that night was held at Club Maxim where we had
make sure all was prepared for Edie. With only two weeks notice, we announced that
Edie was coming.
We were uncertain about the turn out until the last moment. I was worried that only a
small number of people would show up, as the exposure to the Internet in Israel is not
that big. Prior to Edie's arrival, not many people had heard about Salsaweb nor
about Edie the Salsa Freak. The workshop was
supposed to start at 20:30 and at about 20:00 we opened the doors of the club.
I was surprised at the amount of people that showed up. It was amazing.
Over 100 people showed up to learn and to meet Edie.
I went outside, and waited for Edie and Gal.
When they arrived we all went inside together. It was refreshing to see how well Edie
connected with the people she met on our way into the club. She stopped to say
"hello" to each and every one we met on the short way inside. Her warmth
and truthfulness was something we Israelis, known for our aggressiveness and lack of
manners, are not used to.
When we entered the club Edie did not
stop. She greeted every person that came to say hello and welcome. I guess that
her warmth was part of the success we had that night. All the people just fell in
love with her personality (not to mention the way she dances). We started the workshop
with a usual Israeli delay of one hour, and I presented Edie to the crowd. Edie then
got the DJ microphone, and started to talk about Salsa and the class, giving warm welcomes
and thanks for being there. If there was someone in the room who did not notice her
when she arrived, the second she started talking, the entire place was paying 100%
attention to everything she had to say. Edie started her L.A. Style workshop and as
you may have guessed, it was a huge success.
We spent the entire week checking out the
Salsa scene of Israel. Wherever we went Edie was the main attraction. Everyone wanted
to dance with her, and she granted that wish to each and everyone of them who asked.
When she had to say good-bye to us, Edie left
in all of our hearts the wish that she will come back and spend more time with us. I do
hope that her impression of the Salsa scene in Israel was what she expected and maybe
more.
Edie we love you and looking
forward to your next visit in Israel.
Please do not let us wait long to meet you again.
With all our love the
Israeli Salseros and Salseras.
Ronen (Paco) Biran
Here
is what some salseros from Israel wrote about Edie visit in Israel |
