Last SOS of 2006

December 17, 2006

Another trip to SOS alone – at least on the way to London. This time I tried to talk Sergio into going but he bowed out citing a cold. I took two books with me because I was nearly finished with one. I finished “Running With Scissors” by Augusten Burroughs on the way to London and started “Saturday” by Ian McEwen. I listened to Mongo Santamaria (Mambo Mongo) and Joe Cuba Sextet (Diggin’ The Most) on the way to London and Perez Prado (Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White) on the way back.

When I arrived around 8:15 PM, SOS was in the middle of the big mixer in a circle again. La Llave was used as the second song – not sure who chose it. The DJ was Amir. Among songs played during the social hours, Alabanciosa by Manny Oquendo, Esto Es Guaguanco by Cheo Feliciano and La Pelota by Ray Barretto were the only ones in my collection. Alabanciosa for me started out fantastic for me (I was dancing with Helen), but I ran out of steam by 2/3 way through the song. Esto Es Guaguanco was awful especially towards the end - I was struggling to stay in time and wondered why I played the song so often in the past. My partner struggled with pace of La Pelota (the fact that this song came on heels of a Cha Cha followed by Bachata didn't help matters). There were other songs I recognized as a different version of song I know (e.g. Avisale A Mi Contrario and a distant cousin of Ran Kan Kan) or have or I have heard previously without knowing the name or the artist. Two Cha Cha were played as well as one Bachata (the Bachata song came immediate after a Cha Cha around 10:15).

There was a performance by Tamambo and Miriam. It was essentially all shines with good deal of body isolations; Jane said on the train ride back that there was one cross body lead. The song used was Donde Estabas Tu, and my guess was that it was a version by Tito Rodriguez (at least the voice sounded like him – but I could be way off). I guess I didn’t mind too much about it taking time away from social dancing.

As for dancing, it was okay overall but I felt as if I was hitting another lull. Sometimes I would get bored doing the same things over and over again, then I would think of trying something different but usually end up not using them. I would reject some of these moves sometimes because I didn’t feel like giving my partner an unnecessary challenge or sometimes because it didn’t feel appropriate with the music (doing a move simply because I hadn’t used it already rather than have it come out spontaneously) or sometimes I just couldn’t be bothered period.

It’s rather sad and foolish that I build up expectations for one reason or another only to end up having a bland night because of sudden loss of inspiration when the evening starts off. While it was a fine night of dancing, mostly I felt bright moments only when I seemingly surprised my partner in a good way, which did happen sporadically with several partners over the course of the evening. Of course, surprising followers at SOS, especially the regulars, is a big challenge because there are tons of good leads there and not a small number of followers are used to dancing with pros and semi-pros. Heck, surprising people at Cambridge is a challenge especially if they get used to you – the only way out is to continually and rapidly improve. [Incidentally, adding more turn patterns to ones repertoire is overrated – improvements in technique, tension, musicality, improvisation, shines, isolations and developing a personal style are as important. Maybe there are other factors I am forgetting or have not recognized yet.] Wow – that’s some digression. Back to the start – I need to keep my expectations low – rock bottom.

There will be no SOS for next two weeks. So there won’t be very much to do in London aside from the Scala on the 23rd – I am far from convinced that there’s anything worthwhile between X-mas and New Year’s Day. Maybe I’ll get some work done that week.