After the deluge - classes cancelled

September 9, 2005

Apparently it rained.

I was deep in the cocoon-like TC room at my workplace when the heavy rain came. The only thing that made an impression as I was driving home before going to salsa was that the road was wet and that the traffic was slow. I had no idea that we had been hit with a torrential storm.

That is until I arrived at Club Salsa around 8:45 PM and found the place drenched with water. Apparently when Vishal arrived at the scene about an hour or so previously, water was ankle-deep on some parts of the floor (actually I don't know how deep it was but ankle-deep sounds good and I'm sure it wasn't knee-deep).

I let Vishal and three other to mop up the floor and headed over to the Sauce for some drinks where I met with other regular students using the place as a refuge. I mostly chatted with Sean and few others talking shop (salsa, not work) including possibility of involving more people in one of the SOS trips.

This next part is rather embarrasing. From being a complete beginner less than a year ago, I'm now at a point where I have a fairly large number of people who enjoys dancing with me. But in addition to that, it seems to me that I might be getting something like a fan club (gasp!) among a small number of beginners. Now, even discounting teachers, there are other male dancers in Cambridge who are more experienced and have more extensive repertoire (and in London, I'd be nothing more than a run-of-the-mill salsa dancer). I suspect that a major factor in this development is that I do more to get out of my way to spend time dancing with beginners. I'm now wondering a little whether this is going to come back to haunt me (not unlike my usual fear about contents of this blog causing damage to whatever reputation I have).

Today for example was spent almost exclusively dancing with beginners in part because the floor never dried properly and spinning was problematic. I changed into my dance shoes well over two hours after I started but kept them on only for about an hour during which I danced maybe twice. I didn't even bother asking best followers present for a dance because of poor conditions. Sean probably had the right idea when he left within 15 minutes. My most complicated and controlled dance (not really complicated and far from mistake-free) at its conclusion elicited what appeared to be an applause and hooting from ... a fan (?!) (a first! scary thought! maybe it was just my imagination?).

I asked Sally about whereabouts of Ivan. Apparently Ivan is currently in Madagascar (and have been for couple of months) and is expected to return in January(!). It really makes me wonder about Vishal's announcement earlier this week. When Sally first arrived, she considered not staying because of the conditions at the club, but she ended up staying for couple of hours and giving us some lovely dancing demonstration with couple of more experienced guys (one of whom I don't recall seeing before).

Even by the time I left (I kept delaying my departure for no good reason when I really should have left after no more than an hour or so), the floor looked horrible. This was unusually poor night (as opposed to a unusually good night I had on Wednesday), but reflecting on many of the more experienced male salsa dancers standing around and not dancing for extended amount of time (because of "lack" of "decent" followers), I could see what she's talking about. As for me, I've long come to expect good nights only once in a while in Cambridge (which when it happens is so surprising that it can be breathtaking) and I try to supplement by going to SOS to get a more reliably good night of dancing.