Brit Salsafest II

February 2, 2007 to February 5, 2007

This entry is dedicated to Sam and Ivan, neither of whom made it to Blackpool for different reasons. Your loss! Ha!

Prologue

“Hand me the map,” I said for the second time in about 10 minutes. After getting to Blackpool after a bit over 4 hours of driving after leaving Cambridge around 1:15, I was now navigating through a series of one-way streets in the city center. All because of a road block less than 50 meters away from my hotel after battling through slow traffic caused – it seemed like all the road works were affecting the direction we were taking.

How I came to drive to Blackpool (or how Ed lost his virginity)

At first flying seemed like a good idea. By taking the Friday evening and Monday morning flight, I would lose least amount of time. It would have been cheaper than taking the train although not as cheap as sharing a car. However by dithering for too long, both of those advantages were whittled away. Next I talked myself into taking the train. The train station at Blackpool is very close to the hotel, so I wouldn’t have to worry about taking a taxi from the airport. Also it would allow for more sightseeing in transit. I could relax, read a book, reflect and think, etc. By Wednesday, I had planned out how exactly to do the train trip. Then a series of phone calls led to scrapping everything.

As I was about to start lunch, my mobile phone beeped. It said I missed a call. It was Liam. I thought that it was curious, but I thought it could simply be a misdial. After I returned from lunch, my work phone rang. I picked it up. It was Liam again. He says he is looking into going to Blackpool and wanted to know whether I would be driving and if he could come along in my car if so. I replied that I wasn’t completely sure how I was getting to Blackpool and that I was considering taking a train. Because Liam had not even booked a hotel, etc at this point, we ended the call and agreed to discuss it more later.

I then remembered that Ed the blog virgin was driving to Blackpool. I e-mailed him to inquire about his travel plans and carshare arrangement. Ed told me that Steve thus far was the only other person in his car and that Liam and I were welcome to ride in his car. I relayed the information to Liam. Liam replied that he wanted to bring a guitar to entertain himself during the day (because he wasn’t going to attend the workshops). I then learned that Ed’s car was quite small and that it would be difficult to accommodate 4 people, their luggage and a guitar. So I e-mailed Liam with several options including (1) Liam goes with Ed and Steve while I take the train and (2) Liam comes along in my car (which would be more expensive for Liam). This was how things were by Thursday noon – I was going to let Liam decide my fate (sounds scary).

As I was finishing my lunch Thursday, my mobile phone rang again. Unknown number. I answered. It was Tony. He asked me whether I could give a lift for Daniella after the Brit Fest to Stansted airport. She needed to be there by 3 PM. I replied that I wasn’t sure because I wasn’t even sure about driving to Blackpool. Tony said he would call back again next day.

Liam wrote back and called me while I was replying to say that he would prefer to come with me. So I wrote to Ed inform him of this. Liam also raised a point about the ride back and me possibly giving a lift back to Stansted. Is it a 3 PM flight – because it would mean a very early start after a series of late nighters. I agreed – 3 PM flight would be a dealbreaker.

Later at Club Salsa Thursday evening, Ed informed me that Steve found an alternative transportation and that it seemed pointless for him to drive by himself to Blackpool. I offered Ed a space in my car.

Just before lunch Friday, Tony called back. After a quick check, I offered a lift for Daniella. Thus presumably she’ll ride with us unless she finds a better option during the Brit Fest. And that is how I got roped into driving again to Blackpool. What a bloody long story about nothing, no?

We picked the worst table

The choice seemed innocuous enough at first. It was nearly empty upstairs at the Bella Italia further away from the Winter Gardens. The table was essentially at the middle of the floor. Shortly after we ordered our food, a big group of Salsa people arrived to occupy a large table next to us (apparently reserved in advance). No surprise – Bella Italia was a popular destination for food last year. Rajiv and Ed noticed that some people from that table turned around to face us – but only so that they can read the special items on the menu written on the blackboard on the wall next to our table. I said, “I think we picked the wrong table.” As other guests arrived and restaurant became full, the same ritual repeated itself. By the time people at Marchant Birch’s table started doing the same, Susie had become self-conscious to the point of leaning back way over to avoid blocking their view of the special. Rajiv repeated the sentiment, “We picked the worst table.”

Back at M6

We agreed to meet at the lobby to leave for the social at 10 PM. When I walked downstairs I found only Ed waiting. As we waited for Rajiv and Susie, I saw that Richard and Phyllis were parked outside. I opened the door for them as Richard walked in carrying among other things a printer. I said, “I thought I was bad for bringing it a laptop. I don’t feel so bad anymore.” I’m not sure what the printer is for, but apparently Richard needs to find and buy a paper for it. During this hubbub, Rajiv came down and informed us that Jane was involved in a car crash. No one was hurt, and everyone in the car (including Agnes, Zhenzhi and Melania) would be taking the train to Blackpool. Later I learned from Jane that the accident happened on M6 – probably about an hour ahead of my car.

Friday social and showcase

I went ahead with Ed in tow. The floor was about one third full. Apparently Tony’s first DJ session lasted from about 8:30 to 10, meaning I missed all of it. I started dancing after about 2-3 songs – generally dancing one dance then skipping the next. As I went through about ten partners, I started wondering if the caliber of dancers this year was higher or if I had an unfairly low opinion of people from last year (despite the fact that I had a great time last year). I suspect that the truth might reside somewhere in the middle – possibly I was being more selective about whom I picked to dance with too.

Over the course of the evening, I had approximately 30 dances almost all singletons – 4 with Cambridge folks (Agnes, Zhenzhi, Stephanie, Anastasia), about 10 with people I know from SOS including Marianne, Martina and Tracy, about 10 people I picked without having seen them before, about 6 to accommodate people who asked me for a dance, and some people I know for miscellaneous reasons including Edie the Salsa Freak (to Mujer Erotica), Susana Montero (she was about to leave for the evening), Helen Savery, Daniella De Francesco (the song was by Afro-Cuban All-Stars but I don't remember the title - Tony was DJing) and one of the girls from the Ireland Salsa group, which performed at Scala several months ago. While I certainly enjoyed the dances with the professionals, I didn’t think that they were any more enjoyable than many of my better dances this evening.

The shows were alright. Paul Young didn’t seem as long-winded as he did last year. It probably helped that he did not walk to the center of the stage every time to announce the acts while giving plugs during every single break. Some announcements included Johnny Vazquez being turned back at the airport because he lost his passport. Juan Matos is delayed because he missed his flight. The worst part of watching the show was that I was sitting or lying down on a hard wood floor - very uncomfortable. This was offset by having a good company next to me.

Knocking on the door at wee hours

I was one of the last people from Cambridge to leave Friday night – maybe around 3:30 AM. I was getting ready to go to bed when I heard - knock knock. Not on my door but for the room next door. Knock knock. I finished undressing. Knock knock - a little louder. I went into my bed. Knock knock – louder. Again and again and progressively getting louder. This went on for at least a minute before I heard a door being unlocked. A voice. It sounded like Rajiv. I couldn’t tell for sure who the other person was except that it was a girl. Knock knock. I got up and started putting on more clothes. I started for my door as I heard another door. When I peered out, there was no one so I went back to my bed. Despite lack of further disturbance, I had trouble falling asleep.

So what happened? The mystery was revealed at breakfast next morning. Stephanie left the ballroom even later than I did, and when she arrived she couldn’t find her keys. She knocked on the door to wake her roommate to no avail. It was indeed Rajiv who opened the door and talked with Stephanie (and her roommate) – Rajiv’s room was on the other side of Stephanie’s room. The punchline? After all that disturbance, it turned out that Stephanie had the keys all along – just in a pocket which she did not check.

Saturday workshops

Instead of trying to attend as many workshops as possible, I decided to relax more this year. After the break (I sat at the same table as Jane, Phyllis and Richard), I decided to go back to sleep. Then I checked out the Ladies styling Intermediate on2 given by Jessica Ortiz and Lori Perez – both are in Frankie Martinez’s Abakua Dance Company. It seemed like most of the experienced followers I know chose this class. The only negative was that I didn’t particularly liked the look of half dozen or so men checking out the class because I was paranoid that I might look the same to other people. I skipped the first afternoon workshop as well. After another break, I attended Laith Sami’s advanced shine on1 – or tried to. After perhaps under 2/3 of the way through, I became too tired and gave up. The killers included a triple turn (I was doing doubles for a while but increasingly inconsistenly). I was spared another double turn by skipping the last few bars. There were some other challenges, which I couldn’t work out. It didn’t help that I had not taken a serious shines class for over half year. By comparison, SuperMario’s advanced turn pattern on1 class was a piece of cake.

Advanced partner work on1 with SuperMario assisted by Lee

1,2,3,5,6,7 CBL end with R-L
1,2,3,5,6,7 leader turns 1/4 to face away from follower’s line on 1,2,3 – lead follower forward on 4 with R-L pointing forward for follower, then bring R-L back around to lead follower into traveling full counterclockwise turn into a wrap (R-L across follower’s stomach on her R side) with leader turning 3/4 counterclockwise to face follower
1,2,3,5,6,7 step forward on 1 and step back on 3 and open up follower on 2,3 – lead follower into a traveling turn on right side of leader (multiple clockwise turn for her) – position to end in closed hold
1,2,3,5,6,7 CBL end with crossed hold R-R on top
1,2,3,5,6,7 lead follower into a touch-and-go double stationary clockwise turn
1,2,3,5,6,7 reverse CBL start (small open break start with switch to bring L-L on top) – lead follower into traveling clockwise turn with R-R high and L-L low to bring L-L behind follower’s R waist and R-R at top of follower’s head and leader’s palm facing follower
1,2,3,5,6,7 lead follower back with R-R going over on 1, R-R comes back to behind follower’s neck on 3, allow follower to step forward on 5 keeping R-R where it is and use L-L to lead follower back into counterclockwise unwrapping turn – leader ends with clockwise turn (L-L ends behind leader’s back R waist)
1,2,3,5,6,7 leader turns full clockwise stationary on 1,2,3 (let go L-L) then lead follower into full stationary double (?) clockwise turn
1,2,3,5,6,7 leader turns half clockwise (?) with double switch from R-R to L-R then R-R coming down low on 1,2,3 – toss to outside (on 3?) to get to R-L (by wrist) – lead follower forward and into 1 1/2 free counterclockwise turn for follower (with leader optionally doing some turns to catch up with the follower)

Jack and Jill Open competition

The format was to have 30 couples compete (first come first served). In reality, there were 31. The field would be narrowed to 20, then 12, and then finally 6. In the end, they had a final dead heat with 3. Four people from Cambridge were part of the 31; every one of them was knocked out in the first stage.

For much of the competition, people around me were rooting for couple number 1. I didn’t have a favorite for a while – I knew rather large number of the people in the competition, and it was difficult to see through the crowd of people. By semi-finals (final 12) and certainly by finals (final 6), I started rooting for Quentin, whom I have known and were friendly at SOS (as much as I would with any guy I knew strictly within London only meaning I talked with him a few times and greet him with a smile or such when warranted) for well over a year – we took several level 3 classes together. He has moved on to level 4 (if he still takes classes), while I stopped without trying level 4. He’s also on the LDA e-mail list, which I am still a part of. I stated some of my reason (not just personal) for picking Quentin to them, which seemed to persuade somewhat.

The obvious star between the pair thus was Quentin – which led the girls I was sitting next to me to debate between rooting for the hot girl and the hot guy (Quentin) when the dead heat for the final 3 was announced and their previous favorite couple #1 had been eliminated (way too many shines). Quentin’s random partner was a little on stocky side; out of 31 girls in the competition, I doubt she would have been any more than #15 on the popularity list based on looks (or even visible skill level).

Quentin and his partner won. The LDA and SOS friends of Quentin went to congratulate him – me among them.

As for me in the competition, I tried to enter. I was all lined up, counted among one of the leads in the competition and was ready to go. However, I was one of three guys who turned out to be partnerless when we went to choose a random girl as a part of initial picking process (there were further randomizing factors). The organizers were so worried about having the correct number of women (while they blithely assumed that the number of men were correct), they allowed some latecomers to push out early birds like me.

How would I have done? I don’t know. Quentin and I are or were probably at about same level. I think he’s okay. I think he thinks I’m pretty good. I also think Quentin did a very good job of working with his partner, who seemed solid enough but not spectacular. There were other guys and girls (some of whom were coupled together) who would be considered at same level as Quentin (and possibly better or more experienced, etc) and definitely many who would have been considered better than his partner. But in the end, it’s how the couple works together.

Given that I dance on1 (on2 people are at a disadvantage because they are in the minority) and that I am used to dancing with many different people, I suspect I could have given Quentin a good competition. But I’ll never know.

Saturday show and social

I had somewhere between 30 and 40 dances – 4 with Cambridge-affiliated folks (Nina, Serap, Vera and Stephanie), half dozen or so with acquaintances from SOS (Tracy, Marianne, etc), very large number of random previously unseen people including half dozen or so requests. I also danced with Lori Perez and Emma Moore. The dance with Lori Perez was nice but I suspect she was not where she is most comfortable – on2. By the time I danced with Emma Moore (I didn’t know who I asked until after the fact), I was quite tired (past 3:30 AM or so) and so I wasn’t able to do a lot – not that I would have done much more. I would also say that the dances with either would have ranked among top 5 tonight. In fact, none of the dances with professionals thus far would rank among top 5 for this weekend to date.

Some of the better song/dance combinations for tonight – Trombon Criollo, Y Eso Duele, Descarga La Moderna. Overall I liked DJ Lubi’s segment best by far. As for the shows, most failed to make an impression. A show by 8 children brought the house down to start the evening. Iris and Osbanis were more interesting to watch last night. Lori Perez and Jessica Ortiz did a routine to Push, Push, Push (Joe Cuba Sextet), a song lasting less than 3 minutes. The Spanish couple from their version of Strictly Come Dancing had the flashiest routine – as well as the silliest start with the woman starting upside down with what could qualify as synchronized swimming routine except without a second woman. Swing Guys were worth several laughs – starting with the human bicycle and singing I am the champion (a la “We are the champions” by Queen). I was struck more by the size of Santo Rico - uniformly big burly men and petite girls – than by their dancing.

Worst mistake of the weekend

By 4:30 AM, I was more than ready to go. Stephanie was still around so I had a dance with her. She talked about walking back to hotel together. Meanwhile she was asked for a dance. She thought about whether to accept when I said, “I could wait a little.” While she danced, I went to say good night to some people. However after I returned to the table, Stephanie was asked for another dance. Then another one. Then yet another one. Finally they announced that the next song is the last one. She was asked again and she accepted.

I decided that I had enough. I left. I walked to halfway to the exit from Winter Gardens when I remembered her talking about being harassed on her way back from Winter Gardens the night before. Groan. I slowed down. I then decided that I would wait by the exit – I couldn’t be bothered to walk back.

As I stood and started watching first group of people exiting, I realized that I made a mistake. Because I was no longer in the ballroom waiting patiently, Stephanie would have little incentive to hurry. Heck. For all I know, she might get into a conversation and be one of the last to come out. Groan. It wasn’t quite so bad, but she did take a little to emerge – with a fruit drink and Craig (?) in tow. Oh well. I wasn’t even needed as an escort. Maybe I get some points for not leaving altogether, but I was more annoyed than anything else – if you’re going to do something you should try to do it well and this in my opinion was half-baked at best. Oh well. Live and learn.

Jack and Jill Masters Competition

Two things stood out. Antics from Edie the Salsafreak. This drew some loud (too loud?) jeers from some seated near me. The lead of the winning couple (apparently one of Big Spenders from France) attended Laith Sami’s advanced shine on1 class yesterday. I thought that the Big Spender guy looked better than Laith doing the same shine. Laith supposedly has an extenuating excuse – a bad foot. Incidentally, there were so many of people from Laith’s company at his advanced shine class that the class by the end looked like a group practice rather than a typical Congress workshop. The follower of the winning couple might have been Lil Liz from Australia - I'm not sure.

Advanced partner work on1 with Marchant Birch assisted by Davina

1,2,3,5,6,7 from open hold, lead follower to a single stationary clockwise turn with R-L high and L-R low (L-R end behind follower’s L waist)
1,2,3,5,6,7 drape R-L over follower (R-L goes behind follower’s head and with R hand on follower’s L side) and in a reverse CBL move, lead follower into 1 1/2 traveling counterclockwise turn with leader turning 1/2 counterclockwise and getting connections over and to leader’s shoulders with follower’s hands crossed behind leader’s neck
1,2,3,5,6,7 leader turns 1/2 clockwise while L-R goes over leader’s head to his R cheek with follower’s palms facing (gracing) leader’s face – R-L is brought down to waist level at the same time – leader walks around follower while letting go L-R while keeping R-L to bring R-L across follower’s stomach and on her R waist
1,2,3,5,6,7 continue walking (now as a unit) in clockwise motion, then lead follower to 1 1/2 stationary clockwise turn (start the lead with a downward movement and then going up and over leader’s head and to L side of leader
1,2,3,5,6,7 lead follower forward and on 3 bring R-L high and over with leader turning full counterclockwise and bring R-L down to get R-L across follower’s stomach and on her R side – lead follower straight backwards on 5,6,7 (leader is more or less straight behind follower)
1,2,3,5,6,7 bring both of follower’s arms up like Titanic (not quite) and up and lead her into touch-and-go 1 1/2 clockwise turn
1,2,3,5,6,7 Copa start but instead bring L-R like a windmill (downward first) to lead follower into a continuous 1 1/2 counterclockwise turn with leader turning counterclockwise (while placing follower’s L hand behind her R waist before letting go) with L-R going behind leader’s head to place follower’s R hand into closed hold position – CBL position finish is fine
1,2,3,5,6,7 L hand goes between follower’s L arm and her body to bring her L arm/hand out (hopefully it will go to leader’s L shoulder) – dip on 5 and then straighten her out of dip (follow with CBL)

Curry before dancing?

After taking myself out of the second shine class (Tony Lara and Daniella De Francesco - Advanced on1) this weekend about 2/3 of the way through because of tiredness, I spent next hour lying down and listening to Irene Miguel give instructions on music and timing. Vishal was taking part in the class and seemed to enjoy it a great deal. He heard the doo-doom by conga drums on 4 and 4.5 and 8 and 8.5 for the first time – in this class, they used the phrase coo-coo rather than doo-doom. Pah was used for 2 and 6. He came out of the class saying that he’s sure he would enjoy dancing on2. Perhaps that won’t prove true but now that he’s heard doo-doom (or coo-coo) and pah, he should be able to hear them all the time – I imagine this could come into play in his DJing if not dancing.

At the end of the class, a group of us came together and started talking about dinner. I joined this group, which included Vishal, Danie and Gordon. After picking up Melania on the way to look for restaurant, the group grew to 6. Danie led the way taking charge of the navigation (not all girls are without sense of direction). The original plan was to go to a Chinese restaurant, but the one we looked for was closed. Thus the group instead decided to go to an Indian restaurant, which Vishal and others went to for past 2 nights.

Vishal finagled a discount from the restaurant – he’s always looking for better deals. Poppadoms for all. Kingfisher or two for boys. Wine or mixed drinks for girls. Some sort of curry for all except fried chicken and chips for Melania. A rather large appetizer drew some laughter too. Vishal said good things about the Jalfrezi several times so I opted for the same. A Saag dish arrived compliment of the house. And of course Vishal made sure about the discount at the end of the evening when he saw no signs of it in the bill.

Fairly lively and loose conversation - not everything will be mentioned, but I did get my first “Don’t you DARE put that on your blog” from Vish. Salsa-related topics included Vishal bragging about getting some 100 pounds worth of CD. I don’t remember his quote but it was something like, “I’m going to give you a run for your money DJing.” I hadn’t realized there was a competition. Another topic involved bringing more guest instructors (from London and elsewhere) to Cambridge (Club Salsa). I quipped, “First Tony. Then Joe. Now you’re trying to branch out.” Vishal also talked about the quality of Salsa dancing in Cambridge (from high of Nelson and of Catholic church days before my time to standards dropping way low before reaching what he considers a new high now – better than ever in Vishal’s opinion).

Perhaps curry is usually too heavy for dancing afterwards, but it was nice enough at the time. No idea if it affected my dancing afterwards, but I was so tired to begin with so it’s difficult to say.

Sunday showcases

I didn’t feel enthusiastic about standing for over an hour to watch the shows. Or for that matter sitting on the floor. Or sitting in a chair with poor views. I would have liked to catch Swing Guys (always good for some laughs), Lori Perez and Jessica Ortiz (although their show Saturday was only okay). Also I learned during dinner that Serap was a part of the Mambo Lifestyle group performing tonight – that would have been nice to check out. In the end, I stayed at the hotel until nearly 11 – too tired and felt a need to conserve as much energy as possible. The second to last act, Juan Matos and Fogarte, started immediately after I arrived. I changed my shoes during most of the show. I suppose I could have done this during one of Paul Young announcements. Oh well. The view from where I was sitting was poor – no wonder no one was using it. Last up was Santo Rico. Nothing but talking for well over a minute (perhaps close to 2 minutes). The dance segment was … okay at best.

Dancing on fumes or less

During the first two nights, I tried to dance with as many different people as possible – sometimes not asking the same person again next day even though it would have been a perfectly good thing to do. I took a different approach. I also danced a lot more with Cambridge people – about one third to one half of the dances were with Cambridge-affiliated people (including Nicola, Natalie, Charlotte, Anastasia, Agnes, Zhenzhi). More than anything else, I tried to dance with people I dance often in Cambridge but I thought I have ignored a little this weekend. The only non-Cambridge, non-SOS familiar face dance (aside from people I met and danced with this weekend) was with an Irish Scarlett Johansson-lookalike from one of the Scala performance because I was absolutely uninspired to ask any professionals tonight.

I was dancing with dead legs. It never felt great to start with. Some of the DJs were poor – I especially disliked the DJ from Holland (unnecessary cutting of start and end of songs on top of generally poor song choices). One thing I noticed was that there was a lot more styling (often excessive) going on tonight than past two nights. I am guessing I danced more than 20 but less than 30. I suspect I did not reach 100 for the weekend. About 4-5 dances were by random request – generally requests came from people who seemed less experienced and a bit heavier on their feet thus requiring more effort from me. Especially towards the end of the evening, I was hardly moving my feet while I led my partner around in mostly uninspired fashion.

My feet hurt. My neck was feeling strained. Shortly before 2 AM, I told myself that I will have one last dance – this time with someone new. That achieved, I trudged back to the table reserved for Pure Salsa (where I parked my coat and bag). Here I was greeted with a suddenly chipper Zhenzhi who asked me for a dance. I’m unsure what led to the change (she seemed quite uninspired earlier and she “agreed” to dance with me only after getting frustrated with not being able to understand each other easily in our conversation). She even used some words I said to her right back at me, such as “You don’t have to dance if you’re really tired.” I have no idea what the motivation was (aside from the fact that she changed into a new pair of shoes), but I was somehow touched by the gesture whatever the meaning. And that was my last dance at Brit Fest II.

Return trip and a side trip to Stansted

[added February 6, 2007]

I told everyone that we will try to leave at 9 AM. After a little over 5.5 hours of sleep, I got up at 8 - I thought my right ankle felt a little strained. I packed everything, charged my iPod, showered and dressed. I talked with the hotel owner previous evening so that I could have breakfast at 8:30 (or 15 minutes earlier than their usual time). I telephoned Liam at 8:45 after finishing breakfast to make sure he was awake. The only people up at this hour was Jane and Drew - Drew was about to go to the train station to make sure that he would be able to make it to Heathrow for a 5 PM flight to Cairo.

On the way to my car, I phoned Ed and told him to get his breakfast. After a 10 minute walk to the car park (recommended Friday night by Susie), I found that I would need to scrape ice off the windows. Finally, I got out of the parking lot at 9 AM. I went to the Metropole Hotel to pick up Daniella, who was waiting at the lobby. Next was Liam at the Lawton Hotel - not surprisingly he took another few minutes to come down despite a second phone call made at the Metropole Hotel. Last up was Ed and my luggage at the Portland Hotel. We left the Portland Hotel shortly before 9:30 AM. My hope was to leave closer to 9 AM rather than 10 AM, so the aim was more or less achieved.

Poor Ed returned from Sunday social late at night. His roommate Sean returned to the Hotel even later. Apparently Sean said, "Ed, keep talking to me." Sean had to catch a Ryanair flight leaving at 8:15 and didn't want to fall asleep and miss the flight. So even though Ed had packed the evening before and had over 30 minutes between my call and my return to the Portland Hotel, he had not managed to eat much of his breakfast. I suppose I could have suggested that he order his breakfast before taking a shower or something. Thus he thought it was very good that I stopped at the first rest area on M6 for petrol. Ed said he did a lot more dancing on Sunday night compared to the first two nights - good for him.

Daniella also took the opportunity to get something for breakfast the rest area. She had chicken. She likes chicken. She said she likes to have food when she's tired. She talked about having chicken yesterday afternoon after teaching a Bachata class followed by a shine class. She was so tired that she fell asleep after Tony left for DJing after 8 PM and did not wake up until midnight. So she missed the Sunday's shows - like me (except I was there for the last two showcases).

Liam also purchased two sandwiches from Burger King. He said his knees hurt from so much dancing. He also said he had a great time and that he should consider stop going to SOS to save money to go to good Congresses instead. It sounded like Sunday night might have been his best night as well. He said he was also hung over from having five beers Sunday night. Apparently it did not adversely affect his dancing too much (rest of us were a little surprised). His favorite follower this weekend apparently was Burju of Hacha Y Machete. I think Liam will be returning to Blackpool next year.

As for me the only alcoholic drinks I had this weekend was a shot of Jack Daniels with Vishal late Saturday night (or Sunday morning). Vishal told me that he was surprised and pleased to have downed those shots with me over dinner on Sunday evening as I drank Kingfisher beer - apparently it was something he had never envisioned doing. Unlike Ed and Liam, my dancing on Sunday was the worst of three nights - the only good thing to be said was that I seem to have kept pretty much everyone I was dancing with happy. One of the dances earlier in the evening (A Man's World - or was this Saturday night?) seemed to leave my partner spellbound. However, most of the better dances were with Cambridge people. Some of these dances seemed fairly effective in achieving some aims outside the dance at the moment. Sometimes my partner was aware of the intention (e.g. Agnes), sometimes not.

One of the bigger topics of conversation in the car was about Congresses Daniella has visited over the years. Liam was keen to hear her assessments. Knowing him, I tried to move the emphasis to quality of dancing to the foremost - although other factors such as the atmosphere, convenience, organization presumably were of interest to varying degrees. I was a little worried about Liam's mouth and his elitist attitude, but he seemed to behave reasonably most of the time and Daniella did not seem to flinch at all - even when he joked (?) about Tony losing his job as DJ because of me.

The conversation moved music between Manchester and Birmingham mostly between me and Daniella. Salsa music played in the car were Mambo Mongo (Chesky recording), Viva Cepeda, Alonzo, Tres Dias De Carnaval, La Sopa En Botella, Avisale A Mi Contrario (Roberto Roena), Cuando Te Vea (Bobby Valentin), Mi Ritmo Es Bueno, Sonando, Descarga La Moderna, Mambo (Cachao), and Campanero (Jose Mangual Jr. - this song but by a different artist was played Saturday night as recalled by both Liam and Daniella - Daniella mentioned a possible artist's name but I don't remember it now). About what is Mambo - practically everything that Salsa dancers dance to including most of the 70's Fania recording. As Lubi said, not many people dance to other forms like Bomba or Plena. Probably not Charanga either. Guaguanco maybe. Souped up boogaloo (like Micaela) sure. Among other things, Daniella expressed her liking for Columbian Salsa (happy music) and describing long piano parts as "nothing much happening." I think we categorized everything I played on my iPod as Mambo, Latin Jazz or Cha Cha. It might have been informative to see how she would label some of the newer songs I obtained, but I didn't get the chance.

After stopping at another rest area shortly after exiting M6 Toll bypass to relieve Liam's bladder (he had a lot to discharge), Liam changed the music to Ella Fitzerald (first with Louie Armstrong). After about 20 minutes of Ella Fitzerald songbooks, which I found soporific, I switched over to slightly more lively songs from her Verve Compact Jazz compilation for the home stretch. Time of arrival for Cambridge was a little before 1:30 PM - Ed in particularly seemed impressed by the feat.

After some more Ella, I switched over to Descarga Lebron and a Bachata (Apretoncito) for the final stretch. We arrived at Stansted at 2:10 PM, so Daniella would have nearly 3 hours before the takeoff. One of the final topics (probably touched earlier in the trip as well) was about the Italian Salsa holiday in May. It could be fun. Get a small group together. Have a local host in Tony and Daniella showing us around for a day or two before the Salsa holiday - it would be a different kind of trip than going to main tourist stops like Rome, Tuscany/Florence, Venice, etc.

Odds and ends

One person seemed astonished when I said I did not buy any music CD this weekend. There was nothing especially tempting. Maybe 2 or 3 albums I saw were something I might get in the future. Overall the selections were disappointingly small.

I ended up with a room at the Portland Hotel by myself because my originally assigned roommate (by Sam) dropped out Wednesday. £10 extra for more privacy - not bad.

Liam was impressed with the Miles Davis recording of Porgy and Bess - enough to play it briefly on the drive back.

Apologies to Ivan and Sam for rubbing it in.