A rare class attended, good karma and salsa politics – Cristian and Dee

September 7, 2005

basic followed by cross body lead ending with open hold
1,2,3 prepare follower
5,6,7 lead follower to a stationary full clockwise turn with L-R high and follow with clockwise turn of my own switching to R-R hold
1,2,3 establish L-L connection over R-R while getting into cross body lead position
5,6,7 lead follower to a traveling double counterclockwise turn with both hands up on 6 and keeping all connection
1,2,3 do a 3/4 clockwise turn to get into open cross body lead position
5,6,7 lead follower to a 1 1/2 counterclockwise turn to get into Titanic position
1,2,3 lower both hands and re-raise (no turn for follower)
5,6,7 lead follower to a 1 1/2 stationary clockwise turn to face each other with R-R high
1,2,3 R-R goes over follower’s head and to her right shoulder – it’s probably ideal to get follower to move forward on 3
5,6,7 use R-R to pull follower on 5, straighten out follower with L-L on 6, then R-L again so that follower turns (only about 1/4 clockwise) to face each other
1,2,3 open break on 1 and overtake on 3 (shoulder-to-shoulder)
5,6,7 lead follower to turn half clockwise and follow with a half counterclockwise to face each other again

I made a last minute decision to attend the class, and I was about 20 min late to the class. Fortunately this did not cause any major problems and led to an unusual and interesting evening. I enjoyed this class and came away thinking that it probably would be helpful if I attend this class more often. The trouble is that it starts too early for it to be convenient for me to attend regularly. Jay was away on a holiday, and another guy (whom I hadn’t really paid much attention to previously) ran the beginners class during the second hour. On a whim, I decided to join this beginners class. Vishal gave me a funny look when he saw me in this beginners class but the substitute guy seemed to take my presence in good stride and even appreciative. This led me to dancing with complete beginners (three of them?) during the first hour. I was thinking that I might do this most of the night, but then a series of things happened to make this evening quite fabulous. First, our new teacher-to-be Mariella at my workplace showed up with her hosts. I ended up dancing with her several times and thus received more practice dancing with someone who stylizes regularly and does not stick to the most basic steps at all times. It took me a while but by our last dance, I thought I was finding pretty good comfort level with her. I had a dance with Sally (of Sally and Ivan) and thought that it is probably a very good sign that she uses fair bit of styling when dancing with me; it probably means that she feels some level of comfort level dancing with me (and the fact that I’m likely one of the least experienced among people she usually dances with probably is perfectly okay with her). I noticed that Sally seemed rather tentative to do much of anything on her next dance with a visitor from Holland, who later told me that he has never taken any salsa lessons but enjoys salsa dancing. On a different and amusing note, while Sally was dancing with the guy who substituted for Jay tonight, she struck me sharply in the chest with her elbow and also stepped on my ankle. It seemed like good solid salsa dancing continued on to 12:30 AM when I left, which is somewhat unusual. On another news, it sounded like it was just a matter of time before Cristian and co. expand and start another class, probably at Club Salsa Vishal made an announcement about starting classes on another day of the week, which I apparently mistook to mean that Cristian and co. will be doing more classes. The only confusing thing was that I thought I heard that these classes will be held Thursday from someone after Vishal’s announcement (in a noisy environment), but Cristian thought it was going to be on Mondays when I asked him just before I left. In any case, it sounded like it will start in near future (in couple of weeks or so). If the class (and club) were to happen on Mondays, this might be the thing that finally propels Club Salsa to dominance on Mondays over Po Na Na. Of course, how is this going to mesh with Vishal’s DJ gig at Soul Tree on Mondays?

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