Where in the world is Serap Bravo?

July 14, 2006

The lessons were still unfinished when I arrived at 10 PM. One of the first thought I had was, “Where’s Serap?” I had forgotten about her four women dance show – apparently in Norwich (not Birmingham as I originally thought). I had thought that I would get at least one or two dances with her if all else fails, so my already low expectations were seemingly getting crushed to bits.

Through the first few songs, I simply sat around next to Rajiv and Zhenzhi drifting in and out of their conversation if any – I think they must have been talking now and then at least because I recall hearing the word Singapore. Vishal started with maybe 6 Salsa songs including El Pito (Isidro Infante version) and Me Libere (El Gran Combo). This slumber was broken finally when Gordon came around to ask Zhenzhi for a dance. When I finally got up, I realized that I had been leaning on my left arm awkwardly, and I had to shake it off to ease the pain and to loosen up.

I finally started dancing as I tried to warm up and make best of the evening. I was about to try for my second or third dance of the evening, but at that point Cristian took over as DJ and promptly started with a Merengue and a Bachata. Some of the people I considered asking for dance left shortly thereafter.

After another dance or two and coming to thinking that this night could be a lost cause, some more familiar faces started showing up – first Cyrille followed by Sergio. Unfortunately neither is among my favorite dance partners even though I do enjoy their company. Sergio asked me if I would like a drink (beer in this case), and I accepted the offer while telling him that I had half expected to resort to drinking alcohol tonight even before arriving (despite my recent rant about alcohol and dancing).

I brightened up a little when Serap walked into our group somewhat later (around 11 PM?). Apparently her dance show had to be rearranged at last minute because only half of the troupe showed up – only Serap and Jane. The show apparently went well enough otherwise. Jane showed up even later (near midnight?), which led to Serap and Jane dancing together in what may have been a repeat of their performance in Norwich.

Arguably the biggest highlight of the evening occurred when Laura surprised Sergio by asking him for a dance when Cristian put on another Merengue. The reaction from everyone in the group (which included Rajiv) was priceless. I would bet that Laura had fun inciting reaction from all of us (perhaps more so than by actually dancing Merengue with Sergio – who knows for sure?). During the same song, Johnny and Serap danced Merengue with each other – I don’t recall seeing them dance Merengue together for a very long time – at least a year if not longer.

As for the rest of the evening, it never got going for me. I stayed until 1 AM but only managed to have eight dances altogether. I am not counting the 30 seconds or so of my dancing with Serap before Richard interrupted us because he ostensibly had to talk to Serap at that moment. Incidentally the song being played at that moment was El Pito (Isidro Infante version) again. Some other Salsa songs I recall Cristian playing included La Rueda – Frankie Ruiz, El Preso – Fruko Y Sus Tesos, Sonea Mi Son – Tabaco Y Ron. Just before I left (along with Sergio and Cyrille), Vishal had briefly taken over and played likes of Playa No More – Crystal Sierra, Me Libere – El Gran Combo (for the second time), and Contigo – Cache. Over the course of the evening, Sergio made comment “This is a good song” two or three times (I recognized the songs but I don’t know their names), which made me look around in vain looking for potential dance partners. It looked like there was going to be another DJ switch and presumably more Merengue, Reggaeton and/or Bachata shortly after my departure. Getting back to my original strand of topic, I also am not counting about a minute or so when I had Serap lead me among my eight dances (inspired by Serap and Jane’s dance where they alternated lead and follow position). I repeat – none of the eight dances were with Serap. Hmm. I guess I must be quite annoyed about not having a dance with Serap tonight. Oh well. As my old friend Noodles might say, “Sometimes that’s the way cookie crumbles.”

Exceptional dancing on a Friday night seem to have become something like an endangered species for me - this is not a knock on anyone but merely my perception of Fridays in general over the past several months including times when I was DJing as well as final few months of Enrique as DJ. In fact, I was so willing to DJ on Fridays because it was becoming increasingly clear that I wasn't having as good night of dancing on Fridays compared to other weeknights at Club Salsa. I think it is difficult to string together good dances for me unless I am dancing at least half of the time. Also unless I am dancing with followers with whom I have very good connection or am in exceptionally good form, I usually need to have at least 2-3 dances in a row to get warmed up and get into a good mindset. I suspect that I must have gotten too accustomed to hearing Salsa with few if any interruptions on other nights.

I learned that a Salsa night is going to be held at my workplace on Friday the 18th of August. Because I had heard no follow-up after the initial announcement in May, I had imagined that this event was cancelled. I guess it could be interesting except I suspect that there may be very few people there to dance with.

Some people were talking about going to a show at Parker’s Piece this Sunday. Apparently Afro-Cuban All Stars is to play at 6 PM or so. I don’t think serious dancing will be in the cards at Parker’s Piece.

Quote of the day – “It was all I expected and more.”

[Note added July 18, 2006 - Many odd incidents are recorded here. Many of these were caused because of a car accident suffered by Sally and Lindsey. More details here.]