A party at Newmarket

September 16, 2006

When I checked my e-mail in the middle of the afternoon, I was surprised to find a message from Sam. Sam said she and Zhenzhi were getting a group together to go to a Salsa party in Newmarket; I had not known details about this party. I was highly flattered that she asked me so I replied to say that I was interested. I imagined that I must be being asked as a substitute for Rajiv - although I don't think anyone can truly replace Raj (Incidentally, I learned later that Rajiv was in London tonight). However, as hours ticked by with no further word from Sam I thought I might have a quiet evening resting my ankle while also declining an invitation to go out for drinks from a neighbor.

Finally shortly before 9, I received a call from Zhenzhi via Cyrille's phone as I was preparing dinner. The final group included Sam, Zhenzhi, Euvian and Cyrille. After finishing and gulping down my dinner (which took 20 minutes as opposed to 15 minutes as I said to Zhenzhi), I drove down to Sam's house to meet the other four (while ignoring a text from Sam all ready to go and wondering what's taking me so long). Departure time from Sam's place was 9:30 PM, and we took my car because it was by far the largest.

As we drove towards Newmarket Cyrille commented, "Girls. You are really quiet. What's going on?" I suggested that they were feeling shy because of me. Zhenzhi said, "It's so dark. I'm glad I'm not the one driving." Indeed the road was devoid of lights and we passed through some misty spots. We only saw a handful of cars going the other way on the country road aside from the time we were in Cambridge and until we arrived at Newmarket.

I was a little worried about being able to spot Memorial Hall (the place where the party was being held), and I found it only by spotting a familiar figure - Steve (whom Samantha mentioned was involved in organizing the party - I had not known his name before tonight). Downtown Newmarket (or jockeytown) was bustling, and it took me about 5 minutes and a couple of U-turns to find a place to park (or leave) my car. We arrived around 10:07 PM.

The dance floor was quite dark. Its varnish made it sticky when wearing rubber-soled shoes, but I thought it was fine with suede-soled dancing shoes. I recognized several people from Club Salsa scene including Sean. Also I recognized some people I had seen for the first time at Club Salsa last Thursday; presumably they are the core group involved with tonight's party (and the new Club Salsa Tuesdays coming in October). I estimate there were 60-80 people, which meant that there was plenty of space for dancing.

The number of girls outnumbers guys by a fair margin - something Cyrille commented upon later. In conversation return home, I said that I would have felt compelled to dance with as many strangers there as possible except I also felt an obligation towards the girls we went to the dance party with. In any case between them all, Cyrille and I both had danced until we were drenched with sweat. On the whole we had fun although both of us (fairly or unfairly) felt a little sorry for the girls not getting many dances.

Both Euvian and Sam found people they knew (and perhaps felt a little tired) so they were out socializing fair bit. Arguably the star of the evening was Zhenzhi, who demonstrated a lot of flair and joy not evident even a month ago. In particular, a semi-open shine she did while dancing with Cyrille had onlookers like me and Sam dropping our jaws in shock. As we were complimenting Zhenzhi on her recent improvements, Cyrille suggested that she can do the said shine with him but that she should not do it with Latin men - from Columbia, Dominican Repulic, etc. I added in jest, "Not with Sergio either. He's from Peru."

Perhaps the funniest moment came about because of one of my later dances with Zhenzhi. As she was spinning, she raised her left arm for a flare and accidentally poked my right eye. My contact lens fell out of my eyes, but I was lucky in that I was able to catch it in the middle of the air. I staggered toward the toilet to put the lens back on. No big harm done, I thought. I returned to the darkened dance hall and took a seat. A moment later, Zhenzhi said to me, "Do you know that you went into girl's restroom?" Lo and behold, she was right! Oops. My only excuse? I was half blind.

Another highlight Zhenzhi seemed to enjoy a great deal was a little Rueda Cyrille and I did with her and Euvian. Neither of the girls had done Rueda before, and Cyrille and I were rusty. We stuck to simple ones like Dame, Enchufe, Adios, Sombrero, Setenta.

Not many people stayed until closing time - 1 AM, but we did - if not always dancing Salsa (more for Cyrille than me). My last dance was with Sam, which reminded me of the first time she made a lasting impression on me at Johnny & Serap's Big Salsa Party about 11 months ago. After some leisurely conversation as we waited for Sam, we drove back (taking a scenic route as I took a wrong turn) to Sam's place where we split up with Zhenzhi taking Cyrille in her car and me taking and dropping off Euvian (who lacked and needed sleep for her early morning lesson) at her college. There was a brief talk of stopping by Club Salsa but I doubt it happened. An unexpected and amusing night.