Pair of reunions

October 13, 2006

When I arrived around 10:20 PM, I saw that Mimi was there. My instant thought was that it's a great evening already. When was the last time I saw her? Two months ago? [note added later: It was a little over 5 weeks ago.] For the past two weeks, I was tempted to call her to say I missed her or to ask when I would get to see her again. I thanked Cyrille for waking her from her slumber and talking her into coming tonight – I probably would have broke down at some point but possibly not for another week. Funny thing is that she told me that she never sees me at Club Salsa anymore – this is because we inconveniently have picked different nights of the week as our regular Salsa night(s).

A little later in the evening, an even bigger surprise sprung up on me in the form of Tamaryn. Have I ever seen her at Club Salsa before? I’m not sure. How long has it been? Almost a year?! [note added later: It was in early November last year at the Grad Pad.] I tried get in touch with Sergio to let him know – but it didn’t work. In any case, I was thrilled to see her again and danced with her as often as possible – although I also somehow ended up talking myself out of a dance at one point (what was I thinking??). She talked about coming out dancing another time in near future – maybe it won’t take another 11+ months this time.

While I also danced with several others (as well as failing to ask several others I often dance with), my reunion with Mimi and Tamaryn kept me very occupied. I am unsure how I would have dealt with the evening if there were any more pleasant surprises. Who am I kidding? I probably would have coped just fine - probably.

I imagine Richard was happy to see Tamaryn also - we know each other all the way back from the CDC days, and presumably Richard and Tamaryn knew each other before I started attending the CDC Salsa classes in the Lent term 2005. In Mimi's case, Cyrille is always happy to see her; he probably danced with Mimi even more than I did (and I danced with Mimi more than usual tonight - possibly a record number with her).

Cristian tried to talk me into attending his Salsa competition. It's only 2 days away, and I don't have a dance partner. Hmm. If I were to do it, whom would I ask? I probably would not ask one of the Salsa team members (as they are or soon should be paired up). It would make sense to ask someone who would be here all three weekends - this probably rules out few more people. Heck, I'm not sure if I would want to stick around for 3 weekends rather than skipping over to London for SOS (although this weekend is looking increasingly impossible). I could also think of it in terms of how many people I can try to contact before the event (maybe 10 people, and half are with the team). Urgh. This is already more work than I'd like.

On a related topic, Cyrille mentioned that he's dropping out of the Salsa dance competition because he would not be here for the final third weekend. I tried to rankle him by saying something like, "So you were assuming that you will make the finals?" Kidding aside sifting through possible entrants, Cyrille would have been as good a candidate as anyone to make it to the finals.

I didn't dance any Merengue - possibly disappointing Cyrille by not doing so. I was dancing with Mimi when a token Reggaeton came on, and I invited Cyrille to the floor as I have even less idea of how to dance to Reggaeton. This somehow led to a small limbo session - perhaps done with slightly more enthusiasm than one or two others times I saw this being tried. Mimi tried to teach some line dance (which she learned in Mexico?) with limited success.

By the end of the evening, Mimi was too tired to ride her bicycle. Cyrille seemed pensive and talked about going to Spain for a day tomorrow - I'm guessing at least half in jest. I on my part was happy to have another pleasant Friday - no more Merengue/Bachata/Reggaeton than expected (and perhaps less than usual) and Salsa music seemed fine enough if not superlative.

Mishaps of the day - I shook hands with Cyrille - too firmly - twice. I squirmed in embarrassment as Cyrille cried out in pain.

Exchange of the day - "He always dances with good-looking girls." "It's probably good for business."