Scooped

May 4, 2006

Intermediate with Sally & Chris

1,2,3,5,6,7 CBL ending with 1 1/2 counterclockwise traveling turn for follower with both hands high
1,2,3,5,6,7 CBL ending with 1 1/2 clockwise traveling turn for follower with both hands high
1,2,3,5,6,7 leader turns 1/2 counterclockwise into open reverse CBL position – lead follower forward on 5 with both hands, R-L goes down while L-R is high and lead follower into 1/2 clockwise turn with R-L ending behind follower’s R waist
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break (more of pull but a proper open break should suffice) and step in front of follower and to left to get into open CBL position with both hands high and together – lead follower into 1 1/2 traveling clockwise turn
1,2,3,5,6,7 leader does 3/4 turn counterclockwise turn (letting go L-R) and switching to R-R – lead follower forward along her line (behind leader) and into 1 1/2 clockwise traveling turn with leader following and switching back to L-R so that L-R ends behind follower’s L side neck
1,2,3,5,6,7 like Mambo jazz (but in reverse CBL position – more or less closed) and lead follower into 1 1/2 counterclockwise traveling turn

After all the hoopla, Sally scoops me by playing Contigo for the warm-up and cool-down for the first class. Later, she played it again during the club hours. Ivan arrived later to reminisce about the time he heard the song in the Spanish Ballroom, and he was there to dance when the song was played for the third time. Nina wasn’t there though. Apparently the song came with a compilation CD Sally and Chris obtained last week. Chris also noted the funny lyrics in the song – both of us agreed that it had to be intentional. Vishal by the way loved the song. He again picked a moment where a Reggaeton fusion was being played to talk about wanting more variety – R & B stuff. I think he’s going to enjoy the first part tomorrow night but probably not so much the second half. Introducing new and different music seems to be in vogue. Perhaps this has been going on all the time without me noticing it, but my impression is that everyone (me, Vishal, Sally, Cristian, etc) is making more effort to expand repertoire of songs in Club Salsa playlist.

Apparently, this was Ivan’s last night of Salsa dancing in Cambridge before he goes away again for not quite 3 months. I guess I won’t have to envy him for having a better weather where he’s going this time around. I’m going to miss having the little guy around always complaining of his advanced age and decreasing stamina – it’s only going to get worse with another 3 months of a break away from serious dancing. Heh. Seriously I don’t think there’s much to worry – he’ll still be Ivan and he’ll still be good if not better. Cambridge Salsa scene will be less vibrant without him around though and the Ivan effect will be missed. Also I’ll miss having my favorite fan (or supporter or patron of whatever he thinks of himself) or having one less person in the small mutual admiration society of Salsa dancers in Cambridge I seemed to have joined.

For the second hour, I helped with Beyond Beginners class ran by Chris. I was struck again by how much hurdles beginners have to jump over to be able to social dance. There’s timing. learning to step properly for simple cross body lead and simple pivot turn, tension (not so bad today), learning not to make dancing difficult for the partner (by weighing down on my shoulder or hands while I’m turning), etc. It makes me wonder how I got passed all that to get to wherever I am (still far from a perfect place). Oh I know. It did take me a very long time and whole lot of practice – I mentioned many times that it took me more than 3 months to get cross body lead more or less right.