wanning moon - will it wax again?

July 5, 2007

Is this really summer? Is July supposed to be like this? I checked the weather forecast and then weather statistics for London and found that the temperature today was essentially par for July. Hmm. Were last few summers warmer than average then? Did we not have warmer days in April? I also checked weather statistics for American cities like New York and Portland. It confirmed my memory of Portland having really nice summers – it is a lot rainier in winter though. It feels really cold when leaving work late at night – it’s not so bad after a late night of dancing.

I didn’t leave for Club Salsa until after 9. I stopped by Sauce first – taking a seat with Pauline, Andrea, William, Clara et al. I’ve learned that Pauline and Andrea have been friends for 11 years. Like Andrea, Pauline will be moving away in September. It sounded like both of them might be back in Cambridge periodically though. Zern and Euvian arrived after me. Zern sat on my side while Euvian went to the other side beyond my hearing range. Speaking of hearing, isn’t it weird that hearing (or having conversation) is much easier with some people compared to others with high background noise?

Almost immediately upon arrival, Vishal talked to me about some girl dancing On2 and suggesting that I dance with her. So I started the evening of dancing On2. She was nice – I think she was definitely more solid with On2 timing than me. I ended up dancing with her twice. I also tried to talk some others into dancing with her, but I am unsure if anyone else tried.

The floor was very slippery. Usually I don’t mind and usually prefer slippery floor, but it was a bit difficult tonight. Let’s just say that it’s unnerving when you find yourself constantly slipping and losing balance because your dance partner is (unwittingly) being too stiff, giving too much resistance or not being responsive enough (I think this could be one way to describe a reason for someone being “heavy” as opposed to “light”), etc.

For the most part I thought I was in dreadful form tonight. Of all dances On1, I would have given passing grade to me for maybe two or three at most. At the risk of sounding a little pompous, I think people who I did not get to dance with tonight did not miss anything. I held off asking some people for a dance for a long time or altogether because of this perceived poor form. I also held off from dancing On2 on some occasions because of shortage in confidence. Some of it had to do with slippery floor as I mentioned above, but I think I don’t think it was the only reason. A little tired maybe? A little stiff perhaps? A little uninspired? A little bored with myself? I don’t really know why. If people who are away want to believe that this is because they are not here, feel free to believe it. You know who you are. I will neither confirm nor deny it.

It was a curious night in other ways too. Here’s a conversation illustrating the point.

Ivan – Where’s Sergio?
Me – He’s in London
Ivan – Where’s Cyrille?
Me – (shrugs) An even better question is where’s Raj?
Ivan – Yeah… Hmmmmm…

There was a nice opportunity for On2 Cha Cha. Euvian struggled with her timing early but seemed to get used to it fairly quickly.

My Salsa dancing ended with another one On2. By the way, I’m not trying to advocate that Eddie Torres On2 is superior to On1. I certainly don’t mean that I find On2 more enjoyable either. At this point I know and comfortable with On1 considerably more than On2 so I generally would have a lot more fun dancing On1 given best dance partners. However, given a choice between a typical average On1 dance and an opportunity to practice On2, I find On2 more engaging and stimulating – mostly because it’s something new and also because I feel I am making real and rapid progress with pretty much every On2 dance as opposed to at best occasional incremental improvements with On1 (and possibly regressing sometimes).

Having said that, my last On2 dance was exhilarating – I hope neither my dance partner at the time nor everyone else I danced with tonight mind me saying it. The reason why I say it was great is because it felt like one of those “breakthrough” dances – arguably my fourth breakthrough dance On2. The first On2 breakthrough was when I managed to dance On2 from start of the song to the end of the song. I must have gone off time perhaps 20 times during the song, but making it through the end was a victory. The second breakthrough was the time when I went through the song without constantly feeling that I was going to go off time – basically I was on time all the time when I was leading moves I knew well and sometimes even pulled off some moves I wasn’t sure with without going off time. Third breakthrough was when I did the same with someone I had never danced On2 with mostly mistake free. I consider this one the fourth breakthrough because the dance felt more than comfortable – words like natural, fun and flowing comes to mind. It was doubly great because I was expecting a pretty lousy dance given how poorly I danced most of the evening. In this case relative blandness of the song probably helped. It’s also notable that I have not seen any new On2 moves between my first and fourth “breakthroughs.” Many thanks for suggesting On2 (but please don’t leave a comment on this blog about it). Thanks also to Nicola for an (unintentional) assist.

The last dance of the evening was a Bachata – possibly because of Ivan’s urging.

"Random" note - I found my Frankie Martinez DVD after more than a week of searching - I also found just under 10 pounds of coins along with it.