Man of the moment

June 19, 2007

I was mildly surprised to find the door locked little past 7:30. Wasn't this supposed to start at 7:45? I was only slightly less surprised by the fact that I was first to arrive - with the second and third arriving within a minute after me. Before anyone else arrived, signs of people milling about inside was evident and we were downstairs after a moment. There was another guy besides Vishal, Danie, Tony and Daniella so technically I wasn't the first. After initial greeting, Tony said they were wondering if I would show up. Why wouldn't I? I also told Vish last night (I meant to tell him earlier but I forgot) that I would be here.

Vishal announced that this was the fourth time Tony came to Cambridge (meaning Club Salsa) - actually it's the fifth time. There has been a lot of turnover since the first time. I think Rajiv and Vishal and maybe Caroline are the only other constants for all five visits. Only two other people (Danie and Mark) have been here for at least four of five visits. Almost 30 people were there for the first class (Bachata level 2) including Gordon, William, Louise, Laura, Andrea, Melania. For the second hour, another 20+ people showed up including Kate and her friends.

The first hour of Bachata class covered materials such as -

Body movement exercises involving shoulders, chest, hip … also body rolls.

Modified basic steps including side-to-side basic with up-and-down movement (I found this one more confusing for some reason - down on even numbered steps), side-to-side basic with chest rolls (I found out near the end of the evening that this is a lot more interesting when done during close contact - chest forward on odd numbered steps), minimizing side-to-side movement during turns by going backwards on 2 (and on 6) instead of moving to side throughout, zig-zag type of forward-and-back basic, interrupted spot turn (turning on 1,2,3 and pausing on 5,6,7 while only moving (or swaying?) knees (?) from side-to-side.

Towards the end of the class, a couple of short easy-to-do turn patterns were thrown in. The first one was called feel-her-up - turn follower around on first 1,2,3 - get her hands down to leader's side during 5,6,7 - back up again during 1,2,3 - bring hands down to her waist during 5,6,7 - follower brings her hands to behind and around leader's neck with optional hair massage on 1,2,3, etc. The second was like a cuddle basic (similar to once rueda step) starting from crossed hold R-R on top - start follower to half turn on 1,2,3 - then do cuddles going back and forth for a while - end on 5,6,7 leading with L-L ending with L-L hat for leader on 7 or 8 followed by R-R hat for follower during next 1,2,3 side-to-side basic.

I wasn't sure if I was going to take part in the second hour's classes. I wasn't very keen on doing Reggaeton. There was no reason to join in on the beginner Bachata unless there was a men-shortage; there was one, so I did that instead.

One thing I had forgotten was that Tony tries a lot of humor during the class and does it quite effectively. The one about height disparity was one of the memorable ones - not the least because I was at one of the joke. Then again, I suppose I could say that I was target of many jokes tonight - fine by me. The curry joke tradition also lives on.

Near the end of the class (I actually thought the class had ended and stepped out for a few minutes), I spotted Ivan and Nina and went to chat with them briefly. Ivan has one of those special dispensations from Helen once again so he'll be out again one more time this week. We also touched briefly on Cuban Carnival and SOS before I realized that the Bachata class was not quite done and thus rushed to rejoin them.

A few more people showed up for the social afterwards - including some minor surprises like Haihan, Stephanie and Agnes - apparently Ivan was once again a big instigator.

Vishal was the main DJ for the first half - playing nice music - not too intense (e.g. choosing Los Titanes version of Merecumbe over Johnny Colon's version seemed very appropriate - and I would not be saying this most of the time) or strange but also not the type of songs that makes some eyes roll. Actually he almost played one of those, but I think I stopped him. This came about because I had a strong feeling that Daniella was going to get me for a dance to the next song (she had already agreed to dance with Haihan - a La 33 song) so I asked Vishal what was next. I thought the music was pleasant throughout.

Daniella and Tony had a surprise performance - Salsa rather than Bachata. The song was El Titere (by Louie Ramirez … I think this was the version with Ray De La Paz but I'm nowhere near certain). Tony was dressed with tails while Daniella was dressed as a showgirl. Very good performance - I thought it was easy to see the difference between professional performers as opposed to amateur ones. Some of the Cambridge amateurs now do better job with music interpretation, but there was additional level of polish evident in this performance.

I tried to dance with many people of different level of abilities although there never was much chance of dancing with everyone. I still ended up dancing twice with a few girls. I also somehow ended up dancing two Salsa and two Bachata with Daniella - the Bachata dances (last two songs of the evening) were particularly memorable (so… this is how it's danced close… nice, but it will definitely require some comfort level and practice to become decent).

Tony used the microphone rather liberally tonight. Using some distortion effect during the class was amusing - I could foresee Vishal abusing this in near future. He also used the microphone to some comical effects - mostly to put me (or my dance partner) in an amusing spotlight - I suppose it'll be talked about for a day or two. Perhaps he was trying to say my name many times over with correct pronunciation to adjust for previous mistakes. In any case, many people seemed to get a kick out of it. I think the favorite for many was the supposed battle or rivalry between Haihan and me (Haihan wasn't even aware it was happening and as far as I'm concerned, it's not a rivalry - I don't think there is much of a contest).

The social must have ended around midnight although things lingered on for a while - first with a photo session, talk of cowbells, handclaps and boogaloo inside followed by a gabfest outside including about a mission I am now entrusted with. I think there was a group of five of us standing outside for nearly half hour - the other four seemed to go on for a bit longer as I drove off. I think some of them were nowhere near ready for bed.