Curiosity got the cat

May 30, 2006

Well… I did say I was tempted to try out the taster classes at the Latin Dance Academy if nothing else to assess my level. I left work at 5 PM to drive to the Cambridge train station (in part to figure out parking and ticket purchase logistics). I took the 5:45 PM non-stop train to Kings Cross, and Northern line to Camden Town. I arrived at Cecil Sharp House at 6:55 PM. Not bad, but I don’t think I would be too thrilled about doing this regularly. I paid for the 3.2 and the 3.3 taster class saying that I’ll see what happens after that. My expectation based on course description only was that I had 99% chance for finding 3.2 within my level, 51% chance for finding 3.3 within my level, and <5% chance for finding 4 within my level.

I recognized SuperMario and Susana Montero – I have seen them before at Brit Salsafest, at SOS (for Susana Montero) and at Scala (for SuperMario). The third founder Shaan was new to me. Some of the students in attendance were recognized from various London venues and were of wide variety of levels in ability.

3.2 minimum requirement – Shaan and Helen

1,2,3,5,6,7 CBL with 1 1/2 traveling counterclockwise turn for follower
1,2,3,5,6,7 leader’s pivot clockwise turn and lead follower for a double stationary clockwise turn ending with leader turning 1/2 counterclockwise for drop catch to connect R-R by leader’s R waist
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break and bring follower forward with R-R going over follower’s head and connect L-L in front of follower and lead follower into 1 1/2 counterclockwise (or was it clockwise? – I suppose it doesn’t matter too much) traveling turn

3.2 end point
1,2,3,5,6,7 L-L hat for leader and simple CBL ending with open hold
1,2,3,5,6,7 Copa start (but not NY style – L-R going over follower’s head and positioned in front of follower and R-L then R on follower’s leading R hip/waist for Copa lead) more of reverse CBL position on 4) and lead follower into Copa 1 1/2 turn with L-R low so that L-R ends behind follower’s L waist and leader is positioned to R of follower
1,2,3,5,6,7 offer R in front of follower’s face to reconnect R-L while getting into CBL position and lead follower into traveling 1 1/2 clockwise turn with both hands coming together eventually
1,2,3,5,6,7 Copa start like last time but with R hand ending on follower’s leading R shoulder this time – lead follower into traveling 1 1/2 counterclockwise Copa turn with L-R high (lead is with R hand once again)

Pretty easy. I suspect that I wasn’t always spot on with my footwork but I would imagine that I would not be challenged greatly by the 3.2 level class. Taking the class would not be completely useless but only for fairly minor adjustments. On to the level 3.3 taster class…

3.3 minimum requirement - Susana and Mario
Essentially identical to all of 3.2 with minor adjustments

Okay. I think I could do 3.3. At one point, leaders were asked to lead the routine blindfolded. This was fun – I sometimes do this for fun during club dancing at Club Salsa – only when it’s not crowded of course – so this did not faze me very much. I am not 100% certain that they would take me (more like 90% sure about it because of possible faultfinding with my footwork).

3.3 end point
1,2,3,5,6,7 CBL and 2 1/2 traveling clockwise turn for follower (lead for turns come on 5.5 and 6.5) and leader gets ready for clockwise turn early
1,2,3,5,6,7 leader’s pivot turn followed by double stationary turn for follower ending with leader turning 1/2 counterclockwise with L-R positioned for drop catch but not dropped (in all cases, leader is turning while follower is not quite done turning to borrow time)
1,2,3,5,6,7 leader steps to L (cross behind R) on 1 with L-R lowered below hip level, on 2 and 3 leader steps across to L to get to open CBL position while L-R is switched to R-R and then R-R goes over follower’s head as was done for 3.2 minimum requirement end and connecting L-L in front of follower and lead follower into 1 1/2 traveling turn (probably counterclockwise)

Hmm. That was interesting. The first two bars were a little awkward but I could fudge it more or less. The third bar was very foreign, and I would need some practice to get this right. This pretty much rules out trying for level 4. Incidentally, they apparently are not taking any students for level 4 at this time (except for some people at performer level?? - this wasn't completely clear to me). Several couples from their regular classes were apparently deemed okay, but apparently SuperMario, Susanna Montero, Shaan and co. decided that they wanted a larger pool of people to catch up first.

At the end of the class, Susana Montero watched students in the level 3.3 taster class dance the minimum requirement part. Afterwards I stood around while she was giving assessment to everyone else. When my turn came, the assessment I received was pretty much as expected – some comment about footwork but otherwise fine for 3.3. Supposedly they are completely honest to people about their current capabilities and what they can expect to get out of the course. They are apparently keeping a cap of 15 couples for the class, and it’s not full at this point.

Couple of people from the level 3.3 class (some of whom had taken 3.1 and 3.2) opted to do the level 4 taster class as well, and one newcomer joined them for the taster. I only watched the beginning bit for minimum requirement. I only watched the beginning bit.

4 minimum (incomplete as I left early)
1,2,3,5,6,7 CBL and 2 1/2 traveling clockwise turn for follower (lead for turns come on 5.5 and 6.5)
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break and bring L-R across body far to right (so that leader and follower are almost back-to-back) and lead follower into 1 1/2 counterclockwise traveling turn (as if this is normal CBL with 1 1/2 turn) with L-R ending in neck wrap for follower and leader getting into CBL position (open is okay) and connect R-L in front of follower
1,2,3 lead follower forward turning 1/2 clockwise [this was followed by bringing follower back … leader would do a turn as well but I left before I was able to figure out exactly what was happening]

Around this point, some of the other spectators decided to head back to the tube station, and I decided to join them. Some of the people were from outside London although not quite as far away from London as Cambridge. One person was in Cambridge prior to the time when Salsa became “big” (i.e. before Club Salsa opened – an interesting definition of Salsa becoming “big” – then again, I don’t have any experience of way things were before Club Salsa).

Pros:
#1 - This class will be with fairly large number of committed people of good ability.
#2 - This class represents a new trend for UK and it might be fun to be part of the vanguard. (with apologies to T and his exclusive group and other similar outfits)
#3 - Teaching should be good - they are considered as good as any in the UK.

Cons:
#1 - Travel time. This is by far the worst problem (see below).
#2 - Cost. The lessons here cost more than at Cambridge or at SOS, and travel costs even more than the lessons.
#3 - Six weeks probably will not be the end of the story (and isn't this blog supposedly about learning Salsa in Cambridge?).

I suppose 15 couples do not constitute a small class, but it should be better than most available. For a while Joe’s classes on Mondays were smaller, but it has grown quite a bit since. Thinking about it more, the thought of having 15 good followers to practice with sounds great - that never happens in Cambridge or even at SOS for that matter. The starting time of 8:15 PM for 3.3 is more convenient than say 7 PM for 3.2 as far as my work is concerned. It would also mean another late dinner and a need for heavy-duty snack. Is 6 weeks enough time to make a big difference? I suppose I will have several days to mull over about taking this course.

Travel back to Cambridge was fine until I arrived at Kings Cross whereupon I learned of schedule changes due to engineering work. It looked like I would need to take a bus between Stevenage and Royston. What actually happened was worse – the train was full, and there was insufficient bus space in Stevenage. Thus I stood in cold for over 10 min in Stevenage waiting for another bus. Upon arrival at Royston, we learned that there was no train to Cambridge. I waited another 20-30 min for another bus. It was 12:55 AM when my bus arrived in Cambridge – over 2 hours after departing from Kings Cross.