A private party at Club Salsa

April 18, 2006

Bachata class with Tony & Daniela

Shoulder body movement (L up, R up, L up, R up quickly followed by L up on 1,2,3,4, etc) and chest body movement (something like a throwing up motion – back and forward) was discussed.

Leader’s extra movement at the end of normal side-to-side turn (turning extra 90 degrees and get back to basic) was also demonstrated.

slide-step
1,2,3,4 side-to-side basic end with R toe cross behind L foot (lean towards R)
5,6,7,8 slide to R on 5,6 and L toe tap twice behind R foot
1,2,3,4 slide to L on 1,2, and R toe tap twice behind L foot
5,6,7,8 side-to-side basic
[this one is more of a choreographed move although it could work okay with a follower who is adept at mirroring.]

four corners
tight closed hold for solid frame and turn around full clockwise as a couple in a single measure
1 L foot “forward” (seemed more like 30 degrees to L than a strict forward – let’s call it 11 o’clock)
2 R foot together and tap and start turning as a unit clockwise (keep weight on L foot and push into the ground to help turning)
3 R foot “back” (5 o’clock)
4 L foot together and tap and start turning
5 L foot “forward” (2 o’clock)
6 R foot together and tap and start turning
7 R foot ‘back” (8 o’clock)
8 L foot together and tap and finish turn to face 12 o’clock (or original position) for 1
[for follower, steps on 1,3,5,7 are more like back, forward, back, forward]

fishing version 1
1,2,3,4 basic side-to-side and L-R is raised (R-L is let go)
5,6,7,8 leader is doing stationary basic while follower is doing side-to-side basic with possibly start of a turn (parading around the leader clockwise)
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 follower walks around leader clockwise – possibly ending with L-R arm lock – leader is doing stationary basic
one option afterwards is to go down and up stationary – side-to-side basic works too

fishing version 2
1,2,3,4 basic side-to-side and L-R is raised (R-L is let go)
5,6,7,8 follower is led into normal traveling side-to-side turn (body lead using R hand with R hand ending behind follower’s back)
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 initiate follower to parade around leader in clockwise direction using R hand on follower’s back to initiate the walk – leader does a forward basic (borrowing Salsa steps) on 1,2,3 and back basic on 5,6,7 – after follower gets around once, L-R could be placed on front of leader’s neck
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 continue follower to parade around leader in clockwise direction – forward basic on 1,2,3 for leader and stationary basic on 5,6,7,8 – on 8, L-R is let go and both L and R hand holds follower on her back
one option afterwards is a dip – other basic options are available too

butterfly
come apart on 5,6,7,8
1,2,3,4 side-to-side basic with R-L going over follower’s head
5,6,7,8 use L-R to lead follower into (traveling side-to-side?) turn (1/2 clockwise? – I’ll have to check this with someone in the class later – I think one of the connections (R-L) end up under follower’s R arm) – leader is behind follower
1,2,3,4 follower is led to R for traveling side-to-side turn with hand switch during the turn and R hand on follower’s R shoulder to stop excessive turn – leader should move with her and switch to L-L
5,6,7,8 leader is doing follower’s steps as follower is led to a side-to-side traveling turn – this time use L hand on follower’s L shoulder for stopping the turn and connect R-R at follower’s waist (follower should keep free hand at waist level)
1,2,3,4 leader is still doing follower’s steps as follower is led to a side-to-side traveling turn again … similar mechanics as before
5,6,7,8 to get back to facing each other, lead a side-to-side traveling turn with extra 1/2 turn thrown in and get R hand on follower back to bring follower in very close

These are quite good. I don’t think it would take much to teach follower what needs to be done so that it can be lead easily.

Since you-know-who wasn’t here, I’m guessing some of these moves may not see the light of day unless I make a stronger effort to use these. However, I might be underestimating some people; someone or two might surprise me.

Salsa class with Tony & Daniela

Shine

I didn’t ask for the hardest shines, but these are not easy. I would consider these more difficult than SOS level 3 shines. I don’t know how they would compare to SOS level 4 shines since I never tried them.

1,2,3,5,6,7 basic end with R foot cross over in front of L foot
1 L foot side heel
2 R foot more or less in place heel
3 L foot cross behind R foot
5 R foot together
6 L foot heel
7 R foot heel
8 L foot normal
1 R foot cross in front of L foot
2 L foot side (somewhat wide) L
3 R foot toe cross behind L foot
4 R foot to R
5 L foot cross behind R foot
6 R foot slightly to R
7 L foot forward (somewhat bigger step)
8,1,2,3 R foot kick (8), swing back (over in front of L knee) (1), kick again (2), back to original position (3)
I’m less sure about the next part because I never quite understood the next part except that it was supposed to be very much like the beginning. Below would make some sense, but I’m not at all sure that there was a pause on 4.
5 L foot side heel
6 R foot more or less in place heel
7 L foot normal
8 R foot cross over in front of L foot maybe and get ready for normal basic

Partner work – I think this might have been called Napoleon. It’s R-R only sequence.
1,2,3,5,6,7 CBL end with R-R
1,2,3,5,6,7 lead follower to a double stationary clockwise turn – leader turns half counterclockwise when follower is done with her turn with R-R going down and up
1,2,3,5,6,7 over leader’s head to his R side and back while turning 1/2 on 1,2,3 – lead follower to a single clockwise turn while leader does a walking clockwise turn of his own to get into CBL position by 8
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break on 1, bring follower forward under R-R arm – traveling turn for follower with windmill motion keeping R-R closer to leader’s side – end with both leader and follower arms pointing upwards but not crossing over
1,2,3,5,6,7 Copa (a new variation I haven’t seen before) with R-R going over follower’s head and lead follower to 1 1/2 counterclockwise turn while leader get to CBL position with R-R behind follower’s neck
1,2,3,5,6,7 stylized CBL start (like Mambo Jazz) if there’s time and lead follower forward into 1 1/2 clockwise traveling turn

We didn’t get to the next bit, but I think it must have been another Copa-like start (switching to L-L going over follower’s head) but ending with leader moving forward and making a 1/2 or 1 1/2 counterclockwise turn around follower’s L arm.

Again, I really like this routine, especially after having written it down. It’s not exactly easy, and I don’t think I would be able to lead it for everyone – at least not in the beginning. This may end up being one of those longer classic sequences (useful in parts and also as a whole) for me; I haven’t had one of those since the class with Tamambo last December.

Was it good value for the money? If I paid 10 pounds for these two classes, I would have considered it money very well spent. I can’t speak for anyone else of course, especially since I had some input in level of difficulty of the material used today. In a sense, it was pretty close to being a private lesson but not quite. Otherwise, I guess I now have friends (or at least very good acquaintances with people) in South Italy if I ever find a time to make it over there – probably better sooner than later if ever.

Music played was of fun party type – somewhat unfamiliar yet quite likable. Vishal would have loved them. A few of the dances tonight were considerably more enjoyable than any of the dances at Scala (mostly because conditions there was so cramped) – and more than half of these fun dances were with people not named Daniela. I think I tired to dance with everyone, but I might have missed one or two who decided to call it a night early on.

One amusing tidbit I learned about Tony over tapas. He’s an Olympian; he represented Great Britain for Barcelona Summer Olympics for Taekwondo. I knew that he did martial arts, but this additional detail about him being an England champion was news to me. Apparently, one of Taekwondo participant at the Barcelona Olympics was an Englishman representing Spain. Pretty neat…

Tony, Daniela and members of their team will be performing a Pink Panther routine at the London Heathrow Congress on Saturday evening. There will be no Bachata performance – Claudia is still dealing with some personal matters. The second Bachata DVD is still in plans for the summer – apparently they did one shooting but did not like the quality of the shoot. It seemed like their next tour will not happen until October, so I would have a long break at the very least.

If I were to do this again in a month or two, I probably would do two Bachata classes and perhaps charge 4 pounds for the beginner class with larger limit for class size and 6 pounds for a smaller intermediate class. As much as I liked their Salsa class, I get a feeling that Cambridge might have reached saturation point with number of Salsa classes.