September 23, 2005
open hold is okay
1,2,3 similar to start of standard cross body except R-L is raised early on 3 to lead follower to about quarter counterclockwise twist/turn
5,6,7 lead follower to what amounts to 2 1/2 traveling counterclockwise turn to get back into open
1,2,3,5,6,7 basic to give follower a rest
1,2,3 forward on 1, step behind follower on 2 and move as unit to turn around (180 degrees) on 3 ending in another standard cross body position
5,6,7 standard cross body finish with changing hands to R-R
1,2,3 standard Copa start ending with both arms extended
5,6,7 lead follower to swing to R on 5, back to L on 6, then lead her to step backwards to R on 7 (R-R goes over her head from her backside and thus ending with crossed hold with R-R on top)
1,2,3 switch holds so that L-L goes on top of the crossed hold (probably better to disconnect and reconnect with L-L) while getting into another cross body position
5,6,7 lead follower to a full counterclockwise traveling turn ending in Titanic position
1,2,3 hands are lowered then raised (standard prep step … L foot behind R foot on 1 works also)
5,6,7 lead follower to a stationary 1 1/2 turn with R-R only starting low, then ending with follower’s R hand released onto my R shoulder
1,2,3 open break on 1 then step around to R and behind follower with holds on both of follower’s arm to prevent any turns
5,6,7 go underneath follower’s L arm to get in front with weight on L foot
1,2,3 slide to R with R foot on 1, L with L foot while R goes back on 2, R with R foot while L goes back on 3 – this is choreographed so its value for dancing with non-regular partner is probably not high … offer R hand
5,6,7 catch follower’s R hand and lead her to a traveling 1 1/2 counterclockwise turn
As noted above, latter part of the routine probably is not very useful. There were only two women taking the class while there were six men. Serap apparently was scheduled to arrive very late in the evening, not during the day as I originally expected. I think I might have stayed away had I realized this. Johnny played follower and he recruited another woman and Jay to play follower as well. As it turned out, Johnny and Jay ended up being the best practice partner for the class. Yikes! Actually, it was more amusing than stomach turning. It's almost needless to say that there was zero opportunity to practice the routine afterwards. Probably the most useful part is the beginning (which is often the case anyway because they usually get most amount of practice during the class). Although there was no one worth testing 2 1/2 traveling turn with tonight, I suspect that opportunity to practice will occur one day or another. Something like 2 1/2 traveling turn might be kind of show-off thing Mariella may want (or I could be completely wrong about this - after all, she doesn't speak English). Much of Johnny's classes end up having much material where the follower does very little, presumably because of disproportionate number of good male leaders who show up regularly compared to good female followers. I speculate that some of the more reliable followers are more likely to go to Wednesday's lessons instead because those lessons are easier for the leaders and therefore there are fewer debacles (yes, these definitely happen in Johnny's class more often and are more spectacular) Also, Johnny's classes lack quality control; there are many not-so-solid leaders in class (who would not be admitted into Cristian's "intermediate" class) - sometimes these even outnumber "solid" leaders and create much mayhem and confusion (for less solid, less confident followers) and annoyance (for better followers). Another possible reason for dearth of good followers in Johnny's class may be that the routine for men is considerably more demanding compared to Cristian's while the routine for women is on average is same as Cristian's (with more difficult spurts cancelled by a lot of very simple involving styling (an unpopular concept in Cambridge except for a select tiny elite minority)). As for the rest of the routine, up to Titanic on the whole is generally okay. I think this might be third Friday lesson in a row that I "got" but didn’t get to practice to perfection.
I also bought a ticket for Johnny & Serap’s salsa party. I hope this is much better than CDC’s Latin night earlier this year. I also hope it’s better than Peter’s party from a while ago (by Peter’s description, there were not many good dancers at that party). In any case, I was assured that I wasn't the first one to purchase a ticket. Later on, I wondered if this party had anything to do with upcoming performances of Lady Salsa at Cambridge Arts Theatre, but this did not seem to be the case as the Lady Salsa performances starts more than a full week after this party. I had heard (probably from the brochure the theatre sent me by mail) that a salsa-themed party will happen during the week of Lady Salsa. CDC's Salsa Night on Nov 3 fits this schedule better - no surprise since Helen & Rhona probably are involved in organization of both.
As for the club part of the evening, it was … brutal, much worse than expected. I ended up discussing with Vishal about who’s at the Congress and who was not here because of the UK Congress. of the names led me to exclaim “Oi me!” in my head. I am not exactly regretting my decision (or lack of one) to not attend the UK Congress given there being so many people from Cambridge there (which may lead to too much temptation to dance with the same people). I think Sean was quite underwhelmed by tonight, and he asked me about London. I replied that this week is probably not the weekend to go because of the Congress – probably next weekend. In any case, I can’t say Club Salsa was empty tonight because there were plenty of so-so dancers, even more non-dancers to keep the club and the dance floor surprisingly crowded. This evening thus was spent mostly impressing beginners and improvers – more with style (at least I like to think so) rather than moves-moves-moves - at least until I ran out of beginners and improvers. There was no real chance to get into the zone and there was nothing that came close to eureka moment (of course, both of these are pretty rare – maybe twice a month).
An amusing aside. There is a regular fixture in Cambridge Salsa scene who amuses me all the time because he would tell any new beginner/improver I ask for a dance that I'm an excellent dancer - the best! I don't know whether he says this for every other good male salseros, but I should add that he did this once in March or April when I clearly was still struggling and I took his comment as a joke - the woman I danced with that night was mostly amused and probably slightly annoyed afterwards. I waited until I got much better before asking this woman for a dance again, and I don't think she has any qualm about dancing with me now.
By the way, there was no fan club tonight. It was certainly flattering but a little frightening as well. So, if there is to be no more cheers, hooting, screaming, etc (whatever that would qualify as rock-star treatment), I’m absolutely fine with it. Even so, they would have made it two more dance partners (who cares if they're beginners on exceedingly slim-picking type of night as this?)
Perhaps the most interesting development of the evening happened just as I was about to leave. I got into a conversation with this dude who spent a lot of time dancing with taller of a pair of the good followers I wanted to dance with more often – the bastard! This happened because I decided to ask taller (and I thought better based on single dance each with them) of the pair in a final ditch attempt for a last dance before leaving (I had given up on the other because she excused herself a few times already on account of being very tired – believable enough since they hadn’t done this for a while). It was no big surprise that she declined (I fully expected this) – in fact, she declined one guy before me and another guy after me. These two were in such high demand tonight that I was mildly surprised that shorter of the pair agreed to a dance with Johnny around 1 AM. Anyhow, getting off these tangents, this guy was sitting next to the pair and conversing with them when I stopped by to ask my question and also to pick up my coat and backpack if the answer was negative. After I got my refusal (as already alluded, I would have been surprised if she had said yes), I sat down next to them to change my shoes. One thing led to another (i.e. the taller one of the pair being asked for a dance, and a song that the pair liked coming on leading the pair to go back to the floor to dance with each other), and the guy and I ended up sitting next to each other without any others around. Then we started talking (I think he started it but I don’t remember how) and ended up talking about dancing in Cambridge, dancing in London, Nelson Batista (and there being a long history of salsa in UK before Nelson), SOS, and Ronnie Scott’s (primarily a Jazz club but also apparently the first salsa venue in London - he recommended the place highly especially on Fridays). He thought I danced well, especially for someone who has been dancing for only a year (by the way, this so-called anniversary was a real letdown! - then again, nothing ever happens on my birthdays either), and talked about maybe getting together for some London outing. -- Are you going to be at Po Na Na this Monday? I said probably not because of the Congress, but I probably will be back at Club Salsa next Friday. Maybe next time we meet, we could talk more about it? Sure! -- Wow. I don’t recall seeing this guy much less speak to him before 5 minute before this; he told me that he hasn’t come to Club Salsa (or any other salsa dancing spot in Cambridge) for about 6 months - in part because of having to wait for good dances unlike in London. I was also introduced to his friend – I think he danced mostly with shorter of the pair – the bastard! Anyhow, this conversation turned out to really nice - regardless of whether anything more comes out of it.
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