Aliana always loved dance.
Latin music, in particular, set her soul and body ablaze with an unabashed fire she never knew how to cool.
Merengue, reggaeton, salsa, you name it; all brimming with a cultural significance she has tried to rediscover due...
(A/N: double update due to how long it took me write some more🤭 routine above is performed by Aliana and her mystery man in this chapter...)
Aliana felt a shock to her system momentarily at the last bit of that sentence. She never really liked dancing in a crowd, unless incognito in some way, as she did once.
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It was some special event that took place in the Dominican Republic a couple years back. She went travelling with Sade after winning a writing competition on "The Cultural Significance of the Dances of the World" and she got the chance to go to an elite event for latin dancing. Everyone wore masks and their finest latin gowns. Aliana matched her shoes, as she always did, with an embellished mask and a knee length, tassled, deep purple dress that would enable her to move as much as she wanted and needed, whilst remaining relatively undercover, just on the off chance she tried to go professional later on after embarrassing herself in front of the so called elites.
No face, no case, she thought, confidently.
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Sade told her she had a date, so she didn't end up coming with her. Even in a relatively new place people were immediately enthralled by her; Aliana wasn't surprised and was just thankful she came with her to the Dominican Republic in the first place, as she was scared to travel on her own with all the risks out there. She made sure Sade sent her the date address and luck seemed to be on their side, as she was at a nearby restaurant enjoying some tostones and it seemed to be going well.
As she walked through the main entrance of the large, aged building, afger giving the password to the guard, she was taken forward into a room bursting at the seams with an energy she hoped to submerge herself in.
People were already dancing, some more comfortable with their partners than others, and Aliana felt awkward all of a sudden. She loved dance but not the spotlight, and the event made it clear that people would most likely end up dancing with multiple partners to get a taste of the true Latino experience on a night out for dancing. She was trying to overcome that fear by coming here.
Not quite ready to do so, she quickly went to a dark corner of the room and watched.
She actually recognised a few dancers, mainly because they chose to wear more transparent masks or none at all, whilst basking in the decadence of the almost hedonistic atmosphere. Many experts, famous bachata youtubers and internet sensations were meant to attend, and she was able to see a few. She felt out of place for someone considered a beginner, but she had been taught by her Domincan cousins she got in contact with when she was younger, so she would like to think she danced authentically, in a way that truly appreciated the movements incorporated in the dance and wasn't as showy as many of the modern outtakes online.
