Quarantine Blues Danced Away

One, two, three, HIP, five, six, seven, HIP! 

I counted to myself while trying to copy Alisa Bowens-Mercado’s bachata moves over Facebook Live.

One of my goals when I moved back to New Haven in February was to find regular dance classes. I had not accomplished that goal yet when the Covid-19 public health emergency threw a wrench into everyone’s plans.

As small businesses, operators of dance studios know the impacts of the shutdown meant to slow the spread of the pandemic. Some studios have ended all classes temporarily, while others have shifted their schedule entirely to Zoom.

Bowens-Mercado runs two small businesses, Alisa’s House of Salsa and Rhythm Beer. Both have suffered as bars close, venues cancel performances and couples postpone wedding-focused salsa instruction.

“This is hitting us really, really hard. We don’t make millions of dollars anyway. When gigs are canceled, it really hits our pockets,” Bowens-Mercado said.

So Bowens-Mercado is using Facebook Live lessons to both find some income and uplift the spirits of those stuck inside. The lessons are free and she asks for $5-$10 donations from each dancer watching.

I joined her virtual class on Thursday. I was ready to exercise out my quarantine blues, as psychologists have suggested.

I found the class to be more about learning steps than a follow-the-leader sweat session on YouTube. This, it turns out, is Bowens-Mercado’s goal with the 14-day Facebook Live series she is planning.

“You will have the fundamentals of both salsa and bachata. When this ban is lifted, you would literally be able to go out and hold your own on the dance floor,” she said.

The class started with a review of basic salsa steps. We stepped forward and backward on beat, then side to side. I knew this part. My knowledge of salsa is just enough to follow a good salsa partner without stepping on their feet… too frequently.

The challenge came after a mid-workout water break, when Bowens-Mercado began introducing me and the 15 to 25 other live viewers to bachata. My knees started to hurt as I concentrated and clenched my body in the wrong places.

I learned that the hip movement in bachata is the opposite from salsa, and it does not feel right to me yet.

Luckily, I have plenty of time to practice. Bowens-Mercado plans to livestream bachata lessons on Monday and Wednesday at 11 a.m. next week, while Tuesday and Thursday will be salsa.

“We’re going kind of with how long people are going to be quarantined. If we have to extend these classes further out, we will,” she said.

The classes will gradually add more turn patterns and style options. Bowens-Mercado is using music by local artists; Edwin Rivera donated the songs used in Thursday’s session.

Throughout the lessons, Bowens-Mercado offered words of encouragement to her invisible online viewers: Great job! You’re getting it!

When we spoke afterwards, I learned that Bowens-Mercado’s cheerfulness belies the loss of her in-person classes and the stories of her students’ jobs and families.

“I am big on human interaction and feeling the energy in my dance class and my space. Taking that piece out of it, it’s been a little emotionally … I have to get used to what’s going on,” she said.

“People were coming here as a kind of refuge to find some happiness through dancing. This is the House of Salsa but it’s also the house of people coming in and being happy. That’s what I’m missing.”

Alisa’s former coworker Dominique La Rose misses her too. When the notification of Alisa’s online class popped up on her Facebook, the dance instructor and real estate agent decided the classes would be the perfect ​“gym time” for her sons.

Her sons, Oliver, Judah and Matthew, all go to different high schools in New Haven that have closed down to slow the spread of Covid-19. La Rose said that they got the basic steps down quickly during their homeschooling and especially love the turns.

“They’ve always been exposed to the dance and to music, but I was not really focusing on their learning and their skills. I realized that I have three new dance partners. And they’re good,” she said.

She’s particularly excited that Alisa is teaching bachata. The style is much rarer at Latin dance nights and makes it difficult for bachata-lovers to find a partner.

La Rose said that she hopes people are donating to thank Bowens-Mercado for the free classes. She recalled an earlier period when Bowens-Mercado held an after-school program for teens.

“She has always given back to the community,” she said.

Former Independent journalist Markeshia Ricks was another virtual attendee and supporter of Bowens-Mercado’s class. She usually works from home and was struck by the panic she saw as others tried to start teleworking.

“I think people were trying to turn their panic into productivity,” Ricks said.

“When you’re working from home, you can wake up and literally roll out of bed and start work — or not! You can work from your bed. If you want to feel like your day ends at a reasonable time, you have to set some boundaries.”

To prevent herself from overworking and becoming miserable, Markeshia scheduled fun activities to look forward to every day this week. That might mean taking virtual strength training and yoga classes from the Jewish Community Center of Greater New Haven. Or virtual happy hours with friends. Or a physically distant walk with a neighbor.

“I’m an introvert and an only child, so I’ve literally been training for this my entire life,” she joked.

She’s friends with Bowens-Mercado and has been meaning to take one of her classes for years. Bowens-Mercado’s studio is not far from her home in Westville, she said.

“It was so much fun. I’m one of the people in the comments. I’m in my house messing up these turns that she was teaching,” she said.

I have a similar story. I met Bowens-Mercado on one of my first assignments back in town. Nearly every Thursday since then, I have considered joining her salsa class at Te Amo Tequila. Then I get home and am almost too tired to make dinner, let alone go back outside and meet new people.

The Covid-19 pandemic has offered me the chance to finally try out the class, with no one watching.

Like Markeshia and Dominique said to me in their separate phone calls, Alisa is helping to make something beautiful out of this dark time. It makes me grateful to be alive.

I’m hoping to watch every day Bowens-Mercado streams. If I can convince my partner to join me, maybe we’ll finally make it down to Te Amo on Thursdays and Saturdays to show off our new moves when it is safe to mingle again.