A poor SOS outing for me – Special Tee and other topics and rants

December 11, 2005

Driving to SOS is getting Traffic in general has been generally bad especially between exit 9 and exit 8 when we drive SOS, but it seems to be getting worse every time. There was yet another accident in M11 – there was an accident last time I tried to go to SOS also. Driving conditions are getting worse with windowpanes getting fogged up. It seems impossible to keep a comfortable temperature in the car with four people riding in the car in winter. I don’t know what is the best solution – use A/C powered defogger or use heated defogger with windows slightly open; all other options tried thus far resulted in dangerous driving conditions. I also missed one of my exits thus causing additional delay, which made us miss the shine portion of the class once again.

The topic of conversation during the drive to SOS that interested me most was about a Salsa instructor in London who calls himself Special Tee. I had first heard of Special Tee around June in Cambridge. Since then, I had made some minor efforts to find out more information about this instructor with almost zero success. I found no advertising about his classes in the web, and the only reference of him I found early on might have been from Edie the Salsa Freak, who in passing mentioned him within context of one of her visits to London [note added later: I can't even find this reference anymore, and there are a little more things you can find about Special Tee now using Google or MSN search.]. When londonsalsa.co.uk came into existence with its extensive listing of classes, teachers and promoters, I again tried finding Special Tee again without success (I don’t think I was very thorough in this search by this time though). Also about this time, I saw another mention of Special Tee in about of how he refused to teach someone who was posting on the Salsa Mafia forum (down at the moment). At that time, because of the topic of the discussion (learning to dance on time), I led myself to believe that Special Tee refused to teach this poster how to dance on time, which I found patently ridiculous and which made me wonder if he was a very good teacher. By contrast, a recent post in londonsalsa.co.uk names Special Tee (along with Manhanttan Mambo) as the only worthwhile teacher for on-2 dancing in London. So for some time, Special Tee has been a man of mystery for me. Anyhow, our talk about dancing on-2 led to Johnny talking about Special Tee, which explained why I had such difficulty. Apparently, Special Tee’s classes are by invitation only. Someone has to recommend you to Special Tee in order for a prospective student to have a chance of learning from him. Once you start taking his classes, it is badly frowned upon if you miss classes. So his classes are a bit like a secret society with strict regimen – a cult within the cult of Salsa. If his classes are by invitation only, there is absolutely no reason why his classes would be advertised even in generally for-everyone website like londonsalsa.co.uk. I can’t imagine that Special Tee is a better teacher for on-2 compared to New Yorkers like Eddie Torres, Nelson Flores or Frankie Martinez, but I would imagine that there should be pretty strict quality control in his classes. While I find it satisfying that a longstanding mystery has been solved, and I also find the whole thing both amusing and absurd.

Quickly with the lesson of the day...

closed hold (started with 2 basics)
1,2,3,5,6,7 cross body lead
1,2,3,5,6,7 prepare and lead follower to stationary double turn (clockwise) and switch to R-R
1,2,3,5,6,7 cross body lead and lead follower to traveling 1 1/2 counterclockwise turn with R-R
1,2,3,5,6,7 disconnect R-R with outside of L hand/wrist – roll it around (counterclockwise) during 2,3 and flick on 5 as leader turns 1/2 counterclockwise – reconnect R-R at leader’s R waist – leader is facing away from follower on 8
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break on 1, R-R goes over follower’s head as follower is pulled forward and L-L connection is made in front on 2,3 and lead follower to full counterclockwise turn with both connections intact with R-R high and L-L low (so L-L ends up across followers front R waist) – follower is facing away from leader on 8
1,2,3,5,6,7 prepare (forward L step on 1 for leader) and back so that follower is facing leader by 3 and lead follower to a stationary clockwise double turn with all connections high and intact throughout – R-R after the first turn makes a thrusting-like motion and leader turns counterclockwise (1/2) during follower’s last turn – open reverse cross body position on 8 with crossed hold with L-L on top
1,2,3 open break and bring follower forward into Titanic
5,6,7 bring follower back to leader’s R side with R-R on her shoulder – open cross body position on 8
1,2,3 twist on 1 and back on 3 (essentially stylized start of cross body lead)
5,6,7 bring follower forward on 5 and turn follower 1/2 clockwise into open (crossed hold) position
1,2,3 flick L-L (counterclockwise motion) and leader turns 1/2 clockwise and reconnect R-L by leader’s R waist in open cross body position
5,6,7 lead follower to a free 1 1/2 counterclockwise turn ending with a dip

I’m now finding the level III routine in SOS to be very easy to pick up. Practicing is somewhat more difficult because most people in the class seem to find the material very difficult. I’m getting to a point where I’m not getting very much out of these classes – not because the material is not new but because there are so precious few people I could practice these new moves with. I feel that I am probably doing a credible job of leading the most difficult routines I am being taught while I’m still in class (as well as doing it immediately afterwards), but better practice during the lessons would be really nice. Sometimes I think I'm just picking up bad habits trying to lead moves most followers in the class finds extremely challenging.

By the way, Mary Ward Hall was closed (apparently for at least second week in a row) today, so SOS was held at a nearby hotel in a room that was used in my July trip to SOS. Apparently yet another room with slightly bigger wood floor was used last week.

Dancing today started out promising but was horrible overall. About the worst dancing I had in recent memory in terms of me being bad rather (as opposed to me faulting everyone else). It started off nice – I liked my first dance well enough and my second felt really good and enjoyable. Thereafter, things went downhill with a series of followers I found unimpressive. It took a gigantic nosedive with a follower who seemed to get very bored with me very quickly. I was already in poor spirits by this point so by the time she broke off to do shines, my face must have been an awful mix of resignation, indignation, boredom, helplessness and general unhappiness. So the dance ended prematurely with what seemed to be a mutual agreement. This dance was followed by a dance with another follower, who could not keep herself balanced – I tried hard but there wasn’t very much I could do without resorting to doing very little outside of doing mostly basics (I might add that this does not fly well at SOS in my experience – maybe I should have anyway – my confidence was so shot by then that I didn’t know what to think anymore). So this dance ended with her elbowing another couple, followed by another prematurely ended dance. I never recovered from these series of dances. Everything else thereafter was either with yet another follower who couldn’t follower cross body lead properly and consistently or with a follower with strange tic or two which I found disruptive or with more followers, who I felt was getting bored and/or frustrated with me (sometimes all of the above). What a nightmare! At one point, I came to decide that some new routines I apparently made up spontaneously in last couple of weeks were quite trite. Worse I began to question my style of leading in general – quite a few of the followers seemed not to like slow-flowing type of lead I have been favoring generally recently and seemed to want something more staccato. On other days, I may have had more luck adjusting but this wasn’t the day. Near the end, I resorted to dancing couple of familiar faces (including my first dance partner of the night) in hopes of straightening myself up, but both attempts were futile. I had felt really good last Sunday and Friday, so this crash down to earth (and beyond into a deep chasm) was unexpected and bewildering; it was a bubble-bursting occasion. Sigh. Everyone else in my group seemed to have had a good time dancing tonight, so that much is good.

The drive back ended with me mostly moaning and groaning about everything I find difficult about Salsa. I’m thinking that I’m getting near a point where rate of improving is flattening out with current method of learning (which is to take drop-in classes with followers of many different levels of ability and practice at social level where I am generally dancing with a particular partner once or twice (or at best three times) often with not much of an opportunity to practice any new things (learned in class or invented on my own). Johnny suggested getting a regular practice partner, but this is not an easy proposition in Cambridge. The topic of the Cambridge Salsa Team came up in this context because it would have been a very convenient place to get a regular partner. I had seriously considered trying out for the team back in September until this blog controversy blew up on my face and led me to give up on the idea based upon what now seem like mistaken assumptions. While having this blog probably helped with my Salsa dancing (by nothing else making me think about it a lot more than I might have otherwise), it has also caused some setbacks. After all, talking about complaining about Salsa beyond a certain point will be considerably less productive than practicing it.

Because I’m rather frustrated, I’m rant about a topic, which may prove controversial and may get me in trouble. During the drive back to Cambridge, I argued that there are more competent leaders than followers in Cambridge at Club Salsa at hour-by-hour basis. By this, I do not mean that there are more good leaders than followers in absolute number. Rather I mean that for every one good follower who is present at Club Salsa at a given time, there is more than one good leader to dance with her more often than not. I think one reason for this is that a good follower is a lot more likely to bring with her a good leader to the club (another way to put it is that a good follower is less likely to come alone compared to a good leader alone). Also, good followers are much more likely to leave early compared to good leaders. Moreover, a good follower in Cambridge is very likely to be inundated with offers of dance – so much so that she is much more likely to decline to dance unlike in other places like London, Washington DC or Portland, Oregon (the other three places where I have tried Salsa dancing). I think there are exceptions – some of the very best followers (somewhat ironically) are less likely to be inundated with offers of dance compared to followers of slightly less ability. I think the most likely reason for this is because intermediate-to-advanced level leaders are often intimidated by followers who they consider above their level and thus would only ask the best followers sparingly and only when they feel especially confident. This is based upon a often (but ot always) mistaken assumption that best followers will be bored dancing with anyone who’s not at their level. The best leaders will have no compunctions about asking followers of any level to dance with them and will not limit himself to dancing with the very best. By the end of the drive, I think I convinced others of my argument, but others may have simply decided to give up on the topic because I sounded so sure about it (and the way I talked – ranting vociferously and tirelessly – may have discouraged counterarguments after a while).

Club Salsa apparently is hosting a private party this Friday. In lieu of Club Salsa this Friday, tonight’s gang will try to explore another London Salsa venue - maybe Ealing Town Hall.