Tony Lara IV cancelled?

November 21, 2006

Over a phone call around noon, Tony and I agreed to meet for a bite to eat at Sauce at 6 before the start of the class. I arrived at 5:58 according to the clock in my car. After a brief runaround to find a working ATM (the first one was out of service), I hurried back to the Sauce.

Odd. There was no sign of Tony. Last three times, he was almost exactly on time. After 5-10 minutes, I decided to go into Sauce by myself and have a drink – probably J2O Orange Cranberry. At 6:40, there was still no sign of Tony and Daniela. Around 6:30, I tried calling the number Tony used to call me earlier in the day. This number led to someone who was involved with BritSalsafest – obviously not Tony’s personal number. Tony’s Italian phone number was not in service. Ditto for the mobile phone Tony used during his last visit. Having finished my drink for a while now, I decided not to stay for another drink by myself (although I did notice that there were couple of people dining by himself at the Sauce).

Instead of freezing myself, I decided to hang out at Tandoori Station Restaurant and chat a little with Bulbul (no idea if I have his name spelled correctly). There was a customer doing a takeaway, and I sat down in the chair she was using when she left with her order. A little later, Vishal apparently got in contact with people at the restaurant to let me know that he was running a little late as well. My thoughts included – (1) This was not a type of disaster I had expected (I was more prepared for very small number of people showing up for the class) and (2) Serious car accidents happen and can very easily explain why Tony had not contacted me (cases in point – Sally and Lindsey this summer and Piers in a fatal crash last fall) and (3) It would be easy to avoid getting roped into hosting another major Salsa/Bachata event if this one turned disastrous. I twiddled my thumbs as three groups of customers walked in – a pair of women with reservations arrived first, followed by a walk-in couple and finally an elderly trio.

Around 7:10, I stepped out of Tandoori Station Restaurant. Almost immediately, Sergio and Natalie arrived, and I let them know of the situation. While they went to get a snack, Vishal opened Club Salsa. Same talk again. One of the first to arrive was Lindsey and the same talk happened again with predictable “I know about that” when I mentioned my car accident theory. As more and more people filed in, I had them wait downstairs without collecting money (after all, it was looking as if a cancellation was a distinct possibility).

At 7:25, my phone rang. It’s Tony. His car is in Cambridge. There was a massive traffic jam, and it took him 4 hours to get to Cambridge (from London presumably). He’ll be arriving in 5-10 minutes tops. Apparently, Tony had sent a text earlie but to a wrong number. I breathed a sigh of relief, and then scrambled to collect money, etc.

Surprisingly large number of people was there for the first hour of lesson advertised as intermediate level already, and it looked like I wasn’t going to lose serious amount of money. I couldn’t recognize quite a large number of people, which lead me to wonder, “Where did these people come from?” Of four people I ended up speaking to verbally about the Bachata class, two (Sergio and Cyrille) came – I did not see Sean around for past several days so he’s not one of the four. Everyone else either heard about the event via internet (this blog, Club Salsa website and Cambridge Latin Dance website) or via posters and fliers at Club Salsa (distributed by Vishal mostly) or methods unknown to me (mostly word-of-mouth presumably). In the end, I did break even after giving what might have been amounted to a 10 pound profit to Vishal.

Tony & Daniela Improver/Intermediate Bachata

zig zag step (more for women – given in men’s timing here)
1 twist to L with L foot pointing to L (but turning momentum apparently comes in part from R foot)
2 twist to R with R foot pointing to R
3 twist to L with L foot pointing to L
4 pause or Bachata hip movement
5 twist to R with R foot pointing to R
6 twist to L with L foot pointing to L
7 twist to R with R foot pointing to R
8 pause or Bachata hip movement

syncopated step (more for men) – this was covered once before
1,2,3 basic movement to L
4 R foot behind L and R foot slightly forward on 4 1/2
5,6,7 basic movement to R
8 L foot behind R and L foot slightly forward on 8 1/2

reverse turn (traveling)
the turn timing is the same as normal turning step but it is more like a long hook step (using R or L foot depending on timing …. turn starts on 2 by the way)

turn pattern
1,2,3,4 basic to L
5,6,7,8 lead normal traveling turn for follower
1,2,3,4 leader opens up to start with and do a fake turn (only turning about 1/4) with L-R going over leader’s head for what is essentially a drop-catch or slam dunk (using Joe’s terminology) – after the fake turn leader is essentially stepping forward facing the direction he (and his partner) is moving towards – ends with R-R hold
5,6,7,8 lead follower into traveling turn with R-R – finish with R-R extended high and catch L-L low
1,2,3,4 lead follower into traveling turn with both connections intact (but not keeping hands together as often is the case in Salsa turn patterns) – end with L-L behind leader’s head (like a hat)
5,6,7,8 leader’s normal traveling turn letting go L-L briefly to get L-L behind leader’s back R waist
1,2,3,4 something Joe would have called the Matrix movement to swing follower’s arms in alternating circular movement with L-R ending high
5,6,7,8 lead normal traveling turn for follower with L-R and end with follower positioned to L of leader
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 lead follower to walk around leader in a counterclockwise walk (with pauses on 4 and 8 of course)
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 dip (swerving)

Total number of people taking part in the classes was around 36. Perhaps another dozen and half people showed up after the class for a dance.

A good number of people were impressed enough to inquire when they will be teaching again. Natalie for one was disappointed to learn that they won’t be back next week and that this would not be a regular ongoing class. Cyrille seemed satisfied too – his assessment was that it was a little slow at first but an enjoyable turn pattern for the second half or so. Sam on the other hand seemed mildly disappointed about it being a little too easy; although my thought was that the turn pattern for the second half was just as intricate as any of the previous Bachata classes given by Tony. I can't imagine that Sergio was enthralled although he might have gotten something out in terms of trying some simple but different basic footwork for Bachata (e.g. syncopated basic). Perhaps she was remembering the Salsa classes given last two times, which made the classes last 2 whole hours for those who were taking both Bachata and Salsa classes (as opposed to there being little point in taking 2 hours of classes given tonight’s format). It probably didn't help that Tony called the class improver level. Because of shortage of men for the second class, some men from the first hour’s class took part in it as well (and presumably received varying degree of useful practice).

I had a very good night of dancing. Somehow I ended up getting away with mixing up my turn patterns with large number of people. Perhaps the afterglow of SOS somehow survived last night largely unscathed. Even though I had a pair of very nice dances with Daniela (one Salsa and one Bachata), they did not stand out as being “totally out there” compared to many other dances I had tonight. One of the more amusing moment included having Daniela remembering Tony’s Salsa class material from last time in the middle of the dance – I guess the pattern in question is something that sticks out in Daniela’s mind as something fairly unique (or perhaps one of favorite patterns) of Tony’s.

Tony tried to talk me into going to another Salsa event involving a Banquet in Kent this Saturday but I had to decline because of another engagement (Barn dancing!). It's rather far away (south of London), but it could have been interesting to see a new place, share a dinner table with the featured guests, etc. So the next time I’ll see him would be on the night of the Scala (with the LDA social as a possible complicating factor).

Among other things, I purchased a new Toque D' Keda (or Toke D Keda) CD. Vish declined to get a copy claiming that he already had one. Tony seemed a little surprised as he commented, "They just came out." I certainly don't remember Vishal playing a new song by the band, but he does have a slow trigger. I don't know how or where I would have gone about buying this CD. It does have 3 songs from their first album, so that could be a possible source of confusion. In any case expect something new this Friday. I might write something about the album in another post too. Perhaps something on his DVD vols 2 and 3 too.

Trends in music. While chatting with Tony, Vishal said that he was tired of too much Mambo. Too much Mambo at Congresses. Too much Mambo at all-nighters like Scala. Mambo nothing but Mambo. Tony nodded and said that it gets to be too much sometimes. He also said that everyone wants more and more Mambo in Europe too. I chimed in towards the end saying, "I like Mambo."

Apparently Danielle is doing a student dance performance at her school - possibly using Mambo Mongo (among other songs). This led to me and Tony talking about songs from 70's and remakes of the same songs in 90s and 00s (with key question of whether the new covers add something or not).

Tony's music collection. As I remembered from last couple of times, Tony has his CDs organized into various categories. There would be some 8 or so CDs containing Bachata songs. Perhaps a dozen CDs labeled Cubana. Dozen or so CDs labeled SalsaBrava (these would include artists like Joe Cuba). While briefly manning the DJ booth, I noticed that he also was carrying both CD releases by Grupo Latin Vibe, so I played La Llave (I thought it matched the sound quality of what was being played at the time). When Tony asked me whether it was my CD (it stopped inexplicably for a second or two at about 10 second after starting), I said I had both CDs in my collection but that I was using his CD. Tony decided to play another Grupo Latin Vibe song later in the evening. When I was at the DJ booth, I was simply playing whatever song was on cue next. The only other time I made a musical choice was using La Quiero (by Dominic Marte). Much of what was played was from Tony's Cubana collection - with smooth sounds. One song I remember being played towards the end was a mellow sounding cover of Manos Duras (original artist is Ray Barretto).

When asked about possible recommendations for Bachata CDs, Tony said that the same problem of there being only one good song in each album existed in Bachata - just like it usually is in Salsa. Toke D Keda (or Toque De Keda or whatever) CD he brought with him was recommended. He also talked about an R&B Bachata fusion song to be released as a part of another Salsa.IT compilation to be released in about a month.

So will there be Tony Lara V? Thus far I more or less broke even on even numbered events and lost a lot of money on odd numbered ones - this reminds me of Star Trek movies. For better or worse, tonight's event did not give me an easy out; many loved it according to Vishal. In addition to ones I mentioned earlier, people like Rajiv always shows appreciation for me doing this sort of thing and presumably would want me to continue. Well. Whatever happens will happen, and I did get away with spending fairly small amount of time organizing Tony Lara IV.

Quote of the day - "Does he like dancing??? Just look at his dancing shoes! They are shoes of someone who loves dancing!" - Daniela speaking to Tony

I knew I wasn't the only person checking out kind of shoes people wear. I swear I never did this before I took up Salsa dancing.