Follow Me Bachata Party

April 3, 2006

It has been a while since anything but Salsa was played on Mondays, but that changed tonight. First a little back story…

Vishal had been one of the people who had been asking me about Lamento Boliviano by Toque D’ Keda. He tried to find a way to download the song from internet and he wasn’t able to do so (I wasn’t surprised by this). He asked me whether I would be willing make him a copy of the song. Recently I had been giving fair amount of thought about piracy, especially of songs written and performed by struggling musicians, and I have come to a conclusion that I didn’t really want to be part of the piracy culture. In any case, I generally enjoy listening to music I feel I “own” rightfully much more than music I borrowed from others or music someone else thrust upon me. My solution therefore was to give my original CD of Picante Alador by Toque D’ Keda to Vishal as a gift while buying myself another copy. This way, the band is not losing any money and I get to have more Bachata played at Club Salsa.

Ladies and Gentlemen: Expect to hear Lamento Boliviano at Club Salsa pretty much every night from now on until everyone gets sick of it.

My gift had an immediate effect tonight – when Vishal took over DJ duty from Joe, he immediately used the Toque D’ Keda CD. One thing led to another, and with a very small crowd still remaining, a small Bachata party materialized where about half dozen Bachata songs were played in course of about half an hour, including a stretch of 4 songs in a row at the end. I’m not going to give any details but it became a bit of spectacle towards the end and my jaw dropped a few times in amazement as I observed some of the performance, including some demonstrations that seemed to me a pretty darn good imitation of Tony Lara.

Anyway, to the lessons…

Intermediate – Joe Davids of Latin Collective (with Dawn tonight)
1,2,3,5,6,7 Mambo basic
1,2,3,5,6,7 CBL with cross pass with L-R at waist level (leader turns 1/2 clockwise to face away from the line) – L-R ends behind leader’s back R waist
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break on 1 and bring follower forward on 2 and turn her 1/4 counterclockwise on 3 with L-R going over (leader turns 1/2 counterclockwise on 2/3) for Copa – follower is lead back into 1 1/2 counterclockwise Copa turn on 5,6,7 as leader walk around 1/2 counterclockwise into CBL position with R hand getting a good hold across follower’s back waist (R hand is placed essentially on follower’s back R waist for good leverage (leaning)
1,2,3,5,6,7 walk backwards (leaning) to have the couple rotate together counterclockwise (follower is walking forward in circles)
1,2,3,5,6,7 Dile que no finish is okay – or follower could be led out of rotating circle without preparatory Dile que no step (on 1,2,3) on 5,6,7

Improvers – Joe Davids
1,2,3,5,6,7 Mambo basic
1,2,3,5,6,7 CBL into open position
1,2,3,5,6,7 simple preparation and lead follower for a single clockwise stationary turn ending with drop catch on R side for R-R connection at leader’s R waist
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break and lead follower forward with R-R going above and L hand showing early for L-L connection by 3 – lead follower forward and into a simple 1/2 turn clockwise with L-L leading follower forward on 5 and turning on 6
1,2,3,5,6,7 broken left turn for leader (with R-R lowered and L-L high) and L-L hat for leader on 7
1,2,3,5,6,7 CBL (in order let go L-L behind leader’s neck, L hand goes to follower’s shoulder/arm, R hand goes to follower’s back as L hand slides down follower’s arm to make L-R connection during 1,2,3)

Decent sized class. For some reason, the number of leaders for the class and club was considerably smaller than the number of followers. Otherwise, it would have been really lively. It still was a very good night of dancing for me. It feels as if I’m getting something akin to a home field advantage on Mondays at Club Salsa.

It used to be that there were more men at Club Salsa compared to women on most nights. This still happens now and then, but the opposite feels true more often than not. What’s going on? A small part of the equation may be that I seemingly have a sterling reputation as being a good and fun lead (even if I’m far from perfect), but I don’t think this explains all. I’m doing my best to keep as many women occupied and dancing but I can only dance with one person at a time! (I don’t think I am or will ever be ready for 3-some.)

More on the Tony & Claudia workshop. I really need to work on recruiting more men for the workshops. It’s getting to a point where I’m almost afraid to talk women into taking the classes. Because I have had so much trouble with getting the “old guard” to sign up, my best bet (aside from people who already took classes with Tony & Claudia in the past) might be to search among new bloods.

On a slightly different topic, I wonder if I would benefit more from having a regular practice partner for Bachata more than I would from having a regular practice partner for Salsa. At current rate, I’ll never find out – I might enjoy being a “dance slut” too much (I suppose gigolo might be a better fit technically but the word slut fits really well too and is more amusing). Also it’s quite amusing to me that body contact and body leads are coming into equation a lot more with my Salsa dancing compared to my Bachata dancing, especially considering the popular (and largely accurate) perception of these two dances regarding sensual nature, eroticism and such. Perhaps I can’t handle embracing relentlessly intimate part of Bachata needed in order to dance it to its full capacity.