Guildhall redux

May 20, 2006

I checked the time – 7 PM. My landlady had just come down to ask me if I was heading downtown and if she could hitch a ride with me. She was meeting some friends who lived off Mill Road. I said, “Sure. Give me 5 minutes.” I was running a little late, but I wasn’t too worried – If I miss part of the lessons, it’s no big deal, and there is a very good chance that the classes will start late. Remembering what had happened last time, I became even more relaxed once I got into my car, and I ended up dropping off my landlady on Mill Road instead of closer to town center as she originally asked. On the way, she talked about how nice it is to live in Cambridge as well as about various “rough parts” of Cambridge. Whatever – I’ve seen worse.

I arrived at Guildhall around 7:20 PM. The classes had not started yet, so I went over to a friendly looking corner with new kids like Cyrille and Wayan and old hands like Rajiv and people in between for a friendly chat. Some choice excerpts…

As soon as Agnes saw me, she demanded, “Do you remember my name now?” Yes, of course. I even remember her telling me her name – somehow my mind changed her name soon afterwards to Grace (the two names do have some similarities), and then I started referring to her as Grace to other people like Johnny & Serap. Interestingly after I told her this story, someone else chimed in, “That makes a lot of sense now. I remember long time ago you telling me that your name is Agnes, and I thought ‘That doesn’t sound right.’” High comedy. I had no idea that I had such a high credibility that I would be considered a bigger expert in remembering Agnes’s name than Agnes herself. I took the opportunity to learn names of other people in the group – unfortunately I forgot some of them within couple of minutes.

X – “So I’ve been hearing a lot of this guy Sergio. Who is he?”

Me (rolling my eyes and looking at Rajiv before turning to X) – “Sergio was at Club Salsa last Friday so you should have seen him.”

X – “What does he look like?”

I started to describe Sergio’s appearance. Z chimes in with more physical details and his tendencies as a dancer and leader.

Me – “I think you danced with him last Friday.”

X – “Ohhhhhhh! I think I know now. Was he wearing white?”

Me – “I don’t remember. He often wears white. I think he might show up tonight. I tried to talk him into coming. I’ll introduce you two.”

This leads to a small debate about leading within our subgroup.

After a while, class started. I glanced at the instructors and turned to Rajiv, “Hey. Isn’t that Tiz?” Rajiv nodded to confirm. Hmm. Déjà vu. Where's Osbanis? The very first part of the class is a short body movement exercise. Hands on waist and move shoulders without moving elbows. I turned to Rajiv again to indicate ‘We’ve seen this before’. Chest next, followed by hips, whole body while crouching and neck last. A bit pointless except as an introduction with possibly a follow-up in mind…

Men and women were separated. Tiz demonstrated spinning exercise level 1 and 2. I briefly glanced to see what the women were doing – shines. I thought about giving myself a challenge of learning both men and women’s shine at the same time. However, Nikki was already half-way into the footwork and then my phone rang. By the time I returned, Tiz had begun his shine while Nikki was incorporating arm movements. Oh well. There goes my short-lived idea…

men’s shine - Tiz
1,2,3 basic
5,6,7 back on 5 and slide forward on 6,7 turning 1/4 clockwise
1,3,5,7 pushing off against the ground while the other foot slides off the ground – this was one of the latest exercise Sergio was trying to get me to practice… L foot pushes into ground as R foot is led to slide back and pushed off the ground … effect is R foot off the ground on 1/2, L foot on 3/4, R foot on 5/6 and L foot on 7/8
1 L foot cross over in front of R foot
3 R foot cross over behind L foot to normal standing position
5,6,7 turn 3/4 clockwise (weight on R foot?)
1,2 basic
3 R foot like bunny hop except off the ground (bringing R foot crossed over in front of L at about knee level) – and back on ground on 4
5,7 pachanga with a small hop
1,2,3 basic ending with L foot back
5 R foot kick to L
7,8 slide slightly forward
1 in place – catch a football with chest
2 seat down
3 hips back
5,6,7 down and up

This went on for a while in order to accommodate most people.

Partner work – Tiz and Nikki

1,2,3,5,6,7 CBL with 1 1/2 counterclockwise traveling turn for follower
1,2,3,5,6,7 basic
1,2,3,5,6,7 CBL
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break – exchange places with high cross pass L-R
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break – L-R around high for Copa – R hand on follower’s trailing L shoulder – free 1 1/2 counterclockwise Copa turn for follower (not much of a lead but more of a signal so fair bit of Copa familiarity is needed for this move)
1,2,3,5,6,7 basic
1,2,3,5,6,7 CBL
1,2,3,5,6,7 I think this qualifies as a Copa fake – an interesting one – open break followed by L-R high as a Copa start but continue on with the turn – on 5, L-R is down to shoulder level pointing forward along follower’s line – on 6, L-R is going up and around as follower and leader initiates the turn simultaneously (follower counterclockwise and leader clockwise) – finish turn on 7 and into something of CBL position by 8 – finish with CBL next

In the middle of the Copa sequence, I turned to Mark and said, “It’s a Copa. This is getting really predictable. I guess having done hundreds of lessons has its benefits. Hmm. I bet I could count the number of lessons I had thus far.” Mark replied, “Yeah, I know. Just don’t try to think about how much money was spent on those lessons.”

Cool down exercise happened around 9:45 PM. Sergio and Natalie arrived around this time just in time to hear Natalie’s favorite (Acid) and to reminisce about the old CDC days.

No Rueda lessons. Oh well. Apparently Osbanis and Iris had to postpone at the last minute. They’ll be here in July maybe?

Dancing was uneven for me. With some people, it was much more enjoyable than usual – in some cases thanks to some adjustments. It was a very up and down kind of night for me. For much of the night, inspiration was lacking (or to put it another way, I felt bankrupt of ideas). I even started one dance with Mambo basic for the first 20-30 bars – although this turned out a lot more amusing with comments like “I bet you won’t be able to beat me in this game” and “That was cruel!” To make up for the torture, I gave her an idea for ‘revenge’; it turned out much better than I had any right to.

The evening ended with some people milling around a bit – making plans for the future, etc. while some wanting to leave while others lingered. Among others, I learned that Emmanuel College is nicknamed Emma (gender reversal?) and that my landlady is not alone in thinking of Cambridge as a "dangerous" place.