It's not an addiction but it might as well be one

April 23, 2006

Johnny wrote, "Hello. Are you going to SOS?"

When I received this short e-mail, my brain started scrambling to accommodate this new and previously unconsidered option. Even though I have been thinking that this Salsa hobby is becoming too much of an obsession, I was thinking that I would probably go to Cristian's Bachata/Merengue class Sunday night. However, it has been over two months since I last visited SOS. Next week is no good because of London Heathrow Salsa Congress AND ScalaLatina - even though I'm guessing that I will go to neither. For the Sunday after that, I have been trying to convince myself to try going to Cristian's Peterborough party - in large part because he has made repeated effort to get me to come and also because it seems like we are now in pretty good terms with each other and also because idea of the dance and the DJ competition at Peterborough seems like a hoot. Going without SOS for three months seems like a long time. Also going to SOS means one less day spent at Club Salsa, which is becoming too much of a regular haunt. Also it has been a while since I hung around with Johnny & Serap except for brief moments on Fridays. Also, I'm finding myself thinking about various people - old and new people, "new" acquaintances as well as people I haven't seen in a while - in Cambridge Salsa scene way too much and could use a break or at least trade them with people in London Salsa scene for a short time. Oh no. There's no escape, no? I initially wrote back to say that I will think about it, but my mind was pretty much made up by then and it didn't take long for me to confirm that I will indeed go to SOS. This trip may do something that the Scala trip failed to do, which was to give me a better idea of where I am by London standards.

As we approached Mary Ward Hall on foot, I asked Johnny whether it would be useful for me to try level 4, in particular the shines class. His thought was that I would probably learn more useful things in level 3 because he considered level 4 to be more of an exercise in extremely difficult to nearly impossible moves. He also added that a nice thing about taking level 4 class was that you get to meet some of the better students. This was not a compelling reason for me because I have danced with many level 4 students, and many of them were perfectly happy to dance with me – some level 4 students are pretty decent while others are no better than some level 3 students. I have also danced with people who are considerably better than anyone taking level 4 classes while keeping them happy and interested. My main reason for trying level 4 would have been to try something much more difficult than I am used to simply to increase my threshold for difficult lessons. Johnny also mentioned that sometimes people crash the class, but sometimes some people would be kicked off the class at the start of the class so it would be a good idea to ask first; I had intended to ask in the first place so this didn’t faze me.

I saw that Tamambo was there today when I entered the hall, saw I decided to approach him and ask whether I could try level 4 class – at least the shines part. For some reason, he looked a little alarmed when I asked my question. He said, “You scared me there for a moment. I thought you were going to ask something a lot more serious.” I have no idea why but he was apparently intimidated by me. Weird. He thought about it for a second or two more and said, “Sure. Feel free.”

Because we arrived fairly early, I had a pretty good look at Mauro and Eva practice a partner routine, which I assumed was for the level 3 class – this routine seemed fairly challenging. I also had a pretty good look at the shine by Mauro, and I thought it looked quite nice. So I was wavering a bit about taking the level 4 class. By the way, I have seen some SOS level 3 class routines and shines, which I found somewhat dull – this was a reason why I thought I might want to try level 4. Having watched Mauro and Eva’s material, I was thinking that I might have chosen a wrong time to try to jump up a class. When I saw Tamambo and Miriam’s routine, I decided that I’ll just try the shines for level 4. Unfortunately, the shine for level 4 also seemed bloody difficult as well (only 2 bars long) so I quickly decided to abandon this as well and jump right back into the safety of level 3 shine. By the way, Tamambo came by later to ask what happened – to which I replied that I didn’t feel ready for today’s class. Tamambo said that they were trying something a bit different today thus he was a little hesitant about saying yes to me earlier. No harm done. Johnny confirmed to me later that today’s level 4 class was especially difficult compared to last several classed he attended.

Shine – SOS Level 3 with Mauro

8 L foot cross behind R foot
1 L foot slightly to L
2,3 kick to L (hand to L and look L as well) and back cross behind R foot
5,6,7 R foot slide wide to R, then cross in front of L foot, then slide wide to R (syncopated?)
8 R foot cross behind L foot
1 L foot side to L
3 L foot back cross in front of R foot
5,6,7 suzy Q
1 L foot forward
2 slide back long landing on R foot
3 L foot in front of R foot
5 R foot cross in front of L foot (syncopated?)
6 L foot cross in front of R foot
7 R foot cross in front of L foot

Partner work – SOS Level 3 with Maura & Eva

open hold
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break and bring follower in like CBL position with L-R high and R-L low (level in position on 3) – use R-L to turn follower 1/2 clockwise on 5 (R-L is on follower’s R waist/hip momentarily and is let go after 6) and bring her back on 6,7 turning back 1/2 counterclockwise while leader gets back to original position with counterclockwise turn (keep fairly close with arms not extended)
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break and L-R goes over follower’s head like Copa (keep L arm straight) – lead follower back like Copa (but I’m completely unsure why this would lead to follower simply walking back into open position without a Copa-like turn) – leader does a clockwise turn to get back to open and reconnect R-R (An awkward part is that leader ends up to R of follower and next move involves getting follower to leader’s L side. This is a little weird because follower ends up not staying to her line so the lead for the next bar would have to be different.)
1,2,3,5,6,7 This is somewhat similar to the first bar but not really. Open break and bring follower in slightly on leader’s L side with L hand on follower’s L shoulder – step back on 5 while follower is brought to turn 1/2 clockwise and bring her back on 6,7 turning back 1/2 counterclockwise
1,2,3,5,6,7 leader walks 1/2 clockwise with L-R high to get back to open CBL position – lead follower forward on 5 and start of windmill turn lead to get follower to turn free clockwise 1 1/2 traveling turn – leader does clockwise turn starting on 6 maybe to get back to open position

Mauro was on some people's case (without saying who he was referring to) about not doing simple basic footwork during the routine. I know I often don't do all the steps - it's not automatic for me. I don't know how others were doing because I was concentrating on doing my part. I have seen that some people can get pretty lazy with their feet in the past though.

Dancing afterwards was pretty good and interesting. Three hours of solid social dancing made my feet a little sore by the end. I danced with two people who I felt was somewhat above my level – although in both cases, I don’t think they were in any way displeased about dancing with me. In addition, I danced with two or three people who I thought was very close to my level and was without deficiencies I could find from a single dance. It's possible that I might have considered them better than me had I not known them for quite some time. In most cases though, it felt like my partners were not quite on spot with their pace or timing or technique or had some odd tic, which I found distracting – then again, I’m stumbling all the time too. A few were no better than improvers. My assessment was that I might be considered above average by SOS standard now assuming that this was a typical SOS night.

What does it mean? UK Salsa scene has its superstars, top instructors, good quality instructors and performers, semi-professionals, and social dancers who would be considered on par with some of the professionals. I’m none of those, and I only dance with these types seldom - these dances are really nice as long as I don't get too intimidated and my brain locks up. Dancing with people who follows everything I lead is becoming infrequent so I end up trying to savor the moment more than using them as more practice material. It's a bit of a paradox - trying something difficult with really good followers is more likely to work, but I often would be more hesitant to try leading many difficult moves with them because I don't want to make too many mistakes, which may make them more reluctant to dance with me in the future. In the end, I end up trying about the same number of difficult or experimental moves regardless of my partner's abilities (assuming that they meet certain standards). I suppose this explains partly why I usually don't bother asking "stars" often for a dance.

We gained one more person for the drive back to Cambridge. The Cambridge contingent was fairly light (5 in all) - perhaps in part because of railroad works making travel from and to Cambridge a major hassle. Joe was there (presumably to take a light break between two Scala weekends), but he doesn't really count. Main topic on the way back was music - in part inspired by listening to a new CD containing large number of Salsa and Bachata hits made for our fourth. A big topic going into London was teacher/proprietor business models.