Reckoning

January 11, 2007

The car park was filled to capacity early. Maybe it's all those new year resolutions.

Intermediate with Sally

1,2,3,5,6,7 R-R hold and Copa start with late L-L connection and with leader overtaking by quite a bit on 3 – leader turns clockwise (single or double – if single with keep all connections intact during the turn, but if double turn then bring R-R low and briefly disconnect during the second turn)
1,2,3,5,6,7 Copa start again with R-R to hip and maintaining R-R connection, then lead follower into full counterclockwise turn with leader positioned to R of follower – R-R ends behind follower’s L waist
1,2,3,5,6,7 prepare (hint of counterclockwise twist on 1) with L-L to L of follower’s forehead and with L forearm on follower’s shoulders – lead follower into traveling clockwise turn keeping R-R behind follower’s L waist (this involves letting go before reconnecting ever so briefly)
1,2,3,5,6,7 leader turns clockwise (about 3/4) into CBL position on 1,2,3 and reconnecting R-R behind follower’s L waist – then lead follower forward on 5 (and 6?) and into 1/2 clockwise turn with leader turning on 7 (not 5!) counterclockwise to bring R-R behind leader’s L waist
1,2,3,5,6,7 L-L hat (I thought L-L hat for follower was more convenient) while getting into CBL position again and use R-R (behind leader’s L waist) to lead follower into doing her normal CBL finish with leader turning counterclockwise (~3/4) after the lead to get back to open position
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break and bring follower forward on 2,3 (to leader’s R side) with L-R initially across leader’s waist and lead follower into free clockwise (1 1/2) traveling turn with leader turning counterclockwise to get back to closed position

A quote from Vishal – “Amazing - all the best dancers are here.”

Not quite everyone, but pretty impressive nevertheless. It usually takes a special occasion to bring together half of the top 40 Cambridge Salsa dancers, and I think we had more than half of the top 40 tonight. By the way, don't bother asking me who would be in top 40 - I wouldn't want to make such a list, which would be way too subjective and fluid anyway.

Quote going into a dance - "Into the frying pan you go."

This was used with Zhenzhi, who said she was 6 (?) weeks out of practice.

I think I peaked early tonight – the best song and dance combination for me was Porque Adore (Mark Dimond and Frankie Dante) and it was the second song played tonight. While certainly there were other nice song and dance combinations (e.g. My Favorite Things by New Swing Sextet at many levels – cheesy or not… as well as some song(s) that I don’t know but sounded more or less classic Mambo-like), I couldn’t replicate the same high. Other songs played and recognized included Merecumbe (Johnny Colon - good), Fragile (Massimo Scalici - only in some circumstances… like if someone really wants me to dance to it), Ahora Quien (ditto), Salsa Con Coco (only if I feel energetic - so not tonight) as well as standbys like Micaela (I wonder if not hearing it for 6 months will make the song sound okay again - I seemingly have avoided dancing to this song for few months at least) and Otra Oportunidad (overplayed also but still passable) when DJ went on autopilot. Ivan found at least one new song he liked, and Sergio heard another song he liked and heard for the second time - I don't know what they are.

Me – “How’s it going?”

Sergio – “I can’t seem to get into it tonight.”

Me – “Why not?”

Sergio – “It’s complicated.”

I guess I wasn’t as into it as I would or could have been. Yeah, it’s complicated too. There were many nice dances. There were many good people to dance with - more than I was inspired to dance. I wasn't inspired to take any photographs either. Maybe tomorrow.

Susie made a surprise appearance. Apparently she didn't dance while she was in the north.

More quote amusing to me – “You’re not a cliché.”

Yet another quote of interest – “You don’t smile. You don’t laugh. You don’t sing.”

There are too many quotes – “I don’t know what I want to do. I know what I don’t want to do.”

Answering a question that leads to a revelation – it’s like a staple in movies or literature. So what do you call being asked a question of such quality (or a question that was perhaps meant to provoke a revelation) when it is asked mere hours after a resolution has been made unbeknownst to the questioner? Compound it with a situation where the questioner is kept in the dark about the resolution indefinitely thereafter? Absurd.

A Milton Cobo routine

1,2,3,5,6,7 R-R hold and lead final turn for follower (clockwise) with both fingers pointing up - leader turns about 3/4 counterclockwise and gets R-R across his chest and over his L shoulder (or perhaps closer to top of his L chest) - leader's position is like reverse CBL (slightly more complicated version would involve starting from crucifix like position and possibly with all connections intact to start with initially)
1,2,3,5,6,7 leader turns further 1/23/4 counterclockwise or so to get into CBL positionface away from follower (note: this allows an easier forward step with R foot on 5 before leader turns around full counterclockwise to face follower during 6,7) with follower's R hand being moved to top of leader's L chest and leader's R arm having gone around his head like a haircomb with the hand moving across his neck to reconnect with follower's hand on his L chest by 3 or so (perhaps another possibility would be to have the hand going around his head with fingers starting from L shoulder to L ear to top of head to R ear to R collarbone and down to chest and moving back to L chest where follower's R hand was left behind - in any case, it's pretty important to keep leader's elbow pointing down rather than pointing towards follower and dangerously close to hitting follower's face) - then lead follower into a CBL finish while leader turns full counterclockwise on his L foot (making sure to leave room for follower to move along her line)
1,2,3,5,6,7 (etc) follow up with more rotating turn type maneuver…
(corrections made based upon further discussion on Friday with Sergio - the other hand movement might be okay but I don't think it's any easier or better than a simple combover type movement)

Sergio taught this routine or something very similar to it at CDC about 1 3/4 years ago. The above is transcription of the routine as shown again by Sergio tonight – with help from Stephanie, Lindsey and Nicola. Stephanie being indulgent despite me coming close to endangering her face was integral to get me to inquire about this move. I add that I found this move difficult 1 3/4 years ago and I still find it quite tricky - at least with the amount of demonstration and practice I managed to get.

Quote out of blue (though not a strange topic) – “She seems a lot younger (than I originally thought).”

More shenanigans after the club closing included sign language. A, E, I, O, U. And H.

Question of the day - "Is there anything that's keeping you here?"

There appears to be a few cancellations for Brit Salsafest tickets. Three cheap tickets are available - talk to Sally (or alternatively Sam). Presumably everyone who visits this site knows about it already.

Parting comment from Cyrille - "I don't believe you."

I seem to recall him saying that before. Or is it a case of déjà vu? I think sleep could become a concern.