UK Congress 2007

October 12, 2007

The Drive

Traffic in Cambridge meant Zern and Euvian arrived even later than they said not to mention the original plan. We left from Cyrille’s workplace at 5:45 PM. Cyrille and Zern opted to take the back seat and proceeded to act like little children before falling asleep (or trying to do so).

Euvian played the navigator part for a slightly tricky alternate route connecting A1 and M25. There were some scary moments caused by a stopped car on a dual carriageway blocking half of our lane and with traffic zooming by and by some reckless driving by couple of other drivers.

When we stopped at the first rest stop on M3, Euvian learned that people were stuck in a bad traffic 10 miles outside Bournemouth. Thus we decided to eat dinner at the rest stop (KFC or Burger King) before proceeding. The traffic had cleared by the time we arrived in Bournemouth around 9 PM.

The playlist was mostly Salsa and Cha Cha but included some Jazz, Pop, Funk, Afro-cuban, Bachata, Bolero and even Edith Piaf.

Two Tickets

I picked up my band/bracelet for entry via Nicola at Sally’s Hotel (Hedley) while others were checking in. By the time I returned, checking in process at Kings Langley Hotel had not started yet for Cyrille or me. Immediately afterwards, I ended up rushing down to BIC to pick up the show tickets from Sebastian. This was a bit silly because I also ran into Sally on my way down to the BIC. I also had to get the tickets from the Saturday shows at another time.

No Battery

While I was changing, etc. I realized that I did not bring a power cord for my laptop, which was only half charged. Oh well. There goes the idea of having a full use of the computer this weekend. Ditto for daily updates on this blog.

Comedy Is Better than Paul Young, But Is It Necessary?

I probably missed about a quarter of the shows. No big loss. Only a few of the shows qualified as being engaging. In some ways I preferred the comedy routine in between shows even though they were dumb and sometimes cringe-worthy and the microphone problems were painful at times. I thought that as a one-time thing, it was better than listening to Paul Young drone on.

Friday Social

All week long I felt subpar with my dancing form, and the start of the evening had a tinge of malaise about it. However, the dances were good as was music and space. So by the end of the evening I was feeling great.

It was one of those rare days when everyone I asked for a dance said yes although I didn’t realize that this was the case until well after the fact. If anything this detracted from my enjoyment of dancing Saturday because I started thinking about it until a first no came about and then dwelt about it afterwards unnecessarily.

One of the main highlights was running into Marianne – first time since Blackpool. After another haircut (or however many), it was the shortest I have seen yet. The pair of dances with her tonight was the best two I had with her yet.

I also ran into Tony on my way out. He pointed out Claudia to me so I got to say hello to her too.

October 13, 2007

Saturday Workshops

My original plan was to go to about 2 workshops a day. Thanks to more enthusiastic roommates Cyrille and Spyros, I ended up going to the second workshop of the day at 10:45. I should have stuck to my original plan.

Cobo Brothers workshop was a fiasco. I doubt I would have had much luck with it in ideal conditions. With overcrowding and lack of decent partner switching scheme (I had one to start with for 10-15 minutes or so only), I gained zero material from it. I cannot recall how the routine went (this being written Monday), and I couldn’t care less.

Hacha Y Machete body movement class was the most enjoyable one from Saturday. The footwork was done to the clave as opposed to 1,2,3,5,6,7. One exercise had hip movement incorporated. Example (1) L cross over R and R to side R during first half of 2-3 clave followed by hip movement side-to-side (in-out-in) for the second half of the 2-3 clave. Mirror image would be R cross over L and L to side L during first half followed by hip movement side-to-side during second half. Example (2) had chest movement forward along with forward (actually side-forward) followed by chest movement inward/backward with in place step with rear foot. I’m a bit foggy on the actual footwork used but my best guess is that it involved cross forward footwork on 2 and in place with rear foot on 3 followed by the first foot returning to original position on 5, second foot in place on 6.5 and first foot in place on 8. I don’t recall if chest movement was called for during the second half of the clave but it seems possible and reasonable. Example (3) using primarily L foot would start with R foot step in place on 2, and then all with L foot tap in place on 3, tap forward on 5, tap in original spot on 6.5 and tap to side L on 8. I don’t recall any body movement involved here although the hand position (one in front at stomach level and the other in back) probably was discussed here.

I only stayed for about half of the Juan Matos shines workshop before becoming tired and leaving. The most memorable part was the line, “It’s not gay. It’s artistic.” The shine itself was not particularly memorable for me. Too long too. I won’t tax my brain trying to remember it all. I do remember bits of it, but I figure I’ll never use it anyway.

I decided to head back to Pavillion Ballroom early and check out Janet and Rafael’s Cuban workshop. The turn pattern did not seem very difficult. Janet seemed beyond casual about following the pattern, which was pitched to Intermediate On1. What was much more impressive was demonstration of body movement by Janet at the end of the class. She moved really well. I went to chat with Sally, Lindsey and Nicola afterwards and commented about it. I think they were more interested in getting me to say Janet is hot. Sure. She’s that too.

I had great hopes for the “Cha Cha” workshop to be taught by Adolpho and Melissa – more for it being Cha Cha partner work than any name recognition. Unfortunately it ended up being a footwork class. I also gave up on this maybe a third of the way through due to exhaustion. Really unfortunate, especially because I had Christina lined up as a prospective partner for this class.

So I found HYM class a decent exercise and everything else next to useless. I decided that the Pavillion Ballroom was very difficult place to learn anything with excessive crowding and too-low stage. I decided at this point that I would skip HYM partner work workshop – it’s bound to be even more crowded.

Saturday Afternoon Dance Competitions

After grabbing some sandwiches at a convenience store near my hotel, a group of us went back to watch the dance competitions including the heats for the couples. Originally I followed the group in this activity because of Cyrille, but by the time we entered the Windsor Hall, he was nowhere to be seen.

I ended up sitting with Vera separated from others in the group (I think Rico and Natalie were the last ones we lost contact with before finding a spot to sit). As expected and joked about moments before, Vera asked me if I had a chewing gum – to keep your mouth minty fresh. Like the last time at LDA social, I offered her a Listerine strip.

We watched last one of the heats for the couple competition as well as the semi-finals. The participants I recognized included Lee & Shelley and Claudia. I’m guessing both made the finals but I’m not certain. The other contestants were also very good. In many ways I thought watching the competition was more entertaining than most of the shows from Friday night.

Reggaeton team competition started with Serial Dancers – they had a guy sitting in a chair initially blindfolded and an actor impersonating a DJ. Four girls circled the blindfolded guy and danced around him – later without the blindfold. It ended with Tony in pimp suit coming to get the guy enjoying attention from the four girls and leaving the stage nonchalantly making little of the girls. It was pretty good, but the next act turned up the heat even more. Not sure how to describe it except that it had many explicit moments, which had me do a number of double takes and exchanging looks with Vera a few times. By comparison the third act was rated G – you could bring kids to watch it according to Vera. According to Spyros, the second team (the winners) originally had five girls rather than three and had to improvise when two girls cancelled.

Putting Your Feet Up

Back at the hotel afterwards and feeling quite tired, I decided to try to take a nap like Cyrille and Spyros. I found Cyrille lying down in his bed with his feet up against the bed headboard. His explanation was that cyclists do this all the time (say for 30 minutes) to battle heavy legs and that your legs feel much refreshed after such routine. I decided to give it a go and fell asleep in that position. Forty-five minutes later, I woke up still in the same position. I’m not sure if it worked. My legs were throbbing for few minutes. I have no idea if this routine was any more useful than simply lying down and napping.

Oriental Garden

I suggested a more authentic Chinese restaurant based upon recommendations from the Fongs. At the party were Cyrille, Liam, Haihan, Crystal, Ivan, Zern and later Sebastian. I should have remembered that I’m not a big fan of fun noodles. The duck option taken by 2-3 others seemed like a better option. One of the more amusing commentary involved invoking Jesus when a French rugby player Chabal was talked about. Liam of course.

Sweet Chariot

Rugby Union World Cup semi-finals. England versus France. Shamrock Pub. We were joined by Sylvia and her friends and later by Jane and Mark. Over one hour of standing up. Tiring. We missed first 5-10 minutes. The remainder of the first half was rather boring. The second half was better. There were some overzealous English couple, who decided to abuse Cyrille for being a French/Frog. Better for atmosphere was the singing. Swing low…

Saturday Show Spectacles

I arrived a little past 10:20 and missed 3-5 shows.

The calibre of shows was much higher tonight compared to Friday. Having Salsa Dance Squad acting as the master of ceremony (instead of Paul Young or his cronies as MC) kept the interest level higher throughout. There were more good shows too. The only problem (a minor one at that) was that it was often difficult to figure out who the performers are unless you knew them already. Highlights included Juan Matos Y Fogorate, Nuno Y Vanda, and the third couple in black-and-yellow costumes. Music used included La Toalla, Mambo Gallego, Hacha Y Machete (by Hacha Y Machete). The show by the Swing Guys seemed very similar to one of the BritSalsafest shows.

Saturday Social

This was a mixed bag. I started with too much energy to start with and by the end I had too little energy. The dances were up and down. Highlights included dancing with Vera (a nice surprise move from her – I think the song was Esa Mujer), Sasha (for saying dancing On1 with me was a nice change of pace), Christina (to a super fast Nina Y Senora by the band) and Sylvia (weaving through the passer-bys). Other dances, which stood out, included one full of shines with an SOS regular, another SOS regular for her comment about me leading her forward on her back with cross body leads (my solution was to not push at all, which is perfectly fine too). My last dance was with Marianne who did not arrive until ~3. Unfortunately I was too exhausted by then to really enjoy it – it was still good, but…

The band led by Frankie Morales at vocals (with UK based musicians?) was fantastic. The song choices were great – mostly Tito Puente material. Guaguanco Margarito, Oye Mi Guaguanco (at Cha speed), Juventud Del Presente?, Nina Y Senora, Mambo Of The Times, Mambo Gozon?). The encore was Ran Kan Kan (predictable).

So many familiar faces to made dances with truly new less enticing although I still had a fair number of them.

October 14, 2007

Sleep And Food

After driving myself to exhaustion on Saturday, I decided to relax as much as possible on Sunday. After leaving the Saturday party just before 4, I slept in until 2 PM – aside from about half hour for breakfast – for total of 9 1/2 hours.

I decided that another problem for Saturday was food. A small sandwich for lunch and smallish dinner left me quite hungry by the end of the evening. This never happened in previous all-nighters at Scala or other Congresses. So the lunch ended up being a foot-long sandwich from Subway (for lack of better choices I could find), and dinner was a steak – at the tavern next to the hotel. Dinner companions by the way were Cyrille, Zern, Haihan, Crystal, Rajiv, Liam and Sebastian the late arrival once again.

More sleep and food did give better results for Sunday night. Ditto for fewer workshops.

Sunday Workshop

After lunch, I had a quick look at Janet and Rafael’s body movement class. The only class I took was Joel & Ana On2 partner work. No change of partners once again by the instructors. Fortunately I did have Euvian as my partner throughout so I did get something out of it.

I would have to say that the material was not exactly unfamiliar but it was challenging. It would have been a useful exercise On1 although I would not be sure if I would have made it comfortable for me to lead it afterwards. With On2 timing, it was close to but not quite within my grasp. Anyhow, let’s see if I still could remember the routine…

5,6,7,1,2,3 CBL end with L-R hold
5,6,7,1,2,3 open break (not sure if it is appropriate to call it that) and offer R to connect R-L and lead follower to travelling inside (left / 1 1/2 counterclockwise turn) with L-R ending behind leader’s head
5,6,7,1,2,3 drop L-R catch behind leader’s back and get R-L over follower’s head – bring follower forward to back-to-back position with lead on 7,1 – and use L-R to lead follower to 1 1/4 counterclockwise turn into wrap (as opposed to Copa) with L-R around neck and R-L after a brief disconnect at waist level
5,6,7,1,2,3 allow follower to step forward and turn around on 6,7 then lead follower into travelling 1 1/2 counterclockwise turn with leader hooking on 2 and turning clockwise to face partner in open position
5,6,7,1,2,3 plain Copa start but lead follower back into 1 1/2 clockwise turn instead rather than Copa and get R-L behind follower’s waist
5,6,7,1,2,3 Copa start and lead follower into Copa but with a scooping motion with both hands (down and up) – a bit fuzzy for me here
5,6,7,1,2,3 fuzzy start – lead follower to 1 1/2 travelling counterclockwise turn with R-L high and with leader turning about 3/4 counterclockwise at the same time to lead the turn
5,6,7,1,2,3 leader turns 1/2 clockwise under R-L and lead follower to 1 1/2 travelling windmill turn and switch to L-L
5,6,7,1,2,3 open break side pass (follower to left of lead) and lead follower to free 1 1/2 counterclockwise turn
5,6,7,1,2,3 360 CBL

I think that was more or less it. It’s not bad but there are tons of kinks to be worked out to make it useful. I probably would find it easier to convert it to On1 rather than trying to use it for On2.

Walk Up The Hill And Back At The Hotel

Afterwards I remember walking up the hill back to the hotel at first with the girls and then with Liam. I ended up walking down the hill after having bought a drink and wandering around the BIC for 10-15 minutes. I came back up again while talking with Julian about the Congress, shows, Brit Salsafest controversy, etc.

Back at the hotel, I decided to use at least some of my laptop battery and started typing some quick summary thoughts and a few longer paragraphs. Not long afterwards, Cyrille returned (Spyros was already in asleep until just before Cyrille’s return). Cyrille and I then talked about our perception of the Cambridge scene and increasing difficulties in making improvements (or at least keep up with the rest of the world).

Sunday Social

First there was the final for the couple competition. We missed most of it. The start of the social seemed to take forever to get going. And then it was interrupted with two long breaks for announcement of winners for various dance competitions. Paul Young was back on the microphone for much of it (back to hello Cleveland!) – sometimes he did serve a function while some things were being assembled or dissembled, but other times... Sylvia’s group from Pau placed third for the Salsa team competition. These breaks were rather painful on the body – from sitting on the hard floor. It did not help that my views were from the side rather than from the front.

The shows opened with Toy Story dance show by the Serial Dancers. Tony and Daniella were Mr and Mrs Potato Head. Claudia had her Reggaeton troupe performing also. Mambo Lifestyles Team show featured girls with hair extensions including a very familiar face. Hmm. I suppose at this point every large UK Salsa troupes have multiple familiar faces. Irene Miguel had an odd experimental piece with a male bass player and a female conga player. It finished with a large kids group from London – supposedly they were a big hit this afternoon, but I was too uncomfortable sitting on the floor and the view from the side was useless.

The best dances at the main hall tonight happened before the first set of shows. The ones between the two groups of shows were choppy. The lowlight involved dancing with a rather pretty looking girl who seemed to want to be yanked around. I tried to use her rather strong momentum for redirections and such. I thought I was dealing with it reasonably well except she seemed to get more and more frustrated and become stronger and stronger. The dances after the shows were slightly better. The one with Olga wasn’t too bad (Ublabadu). The second one for the weekend with Christina was good too. The one with Jane would have been fine except I accidentally hit her on the nose (she was incredibly nice about it). The one with Charlotte was better.

I had planned to leave around 3. This would have worked okay despite the announcement that the music in Purbeck would end around 2:30. My plan was derailed thanks to Juan Matos. I’m guessing he was quite drunk. He tried to get some group thing going with the all the dancers in the hall. I don’t think it worked. Maybe half the people tried gamely to follow along and make the best of it. The other half seemed either annoyed or dismayed. It wasn’t good.

I decided that I didn’t want to leave on such bad note so I decided to check out the after party at the Pavillion Ballroom for a few more dances. I think I danced with 4 more people there. The first and the third were decent to good. The second was with a very gorgeous girl – no more than average as far as dancing ability was concerned for the weekend (but attractiveness really does enhance the experience). Ivan might know. My last dance was with someone I suspect was one of the foreign performer types – Shaan danced with her immediately afterwards. I thought about asking another after a break for a song, but the music turned to Reggaeton, Merengue and Bachata (along with some battle of dancing between various performer types including Janet). Still I could say I left the Congress on a good note. I was in bed shortly after 4 AM.

October 15, 2007

Drive Back

We left after breakfast. Zern was the last to arrive with his bags. The others were asleep for most of the drive. Cyrille mentioned that he ran into Joe and that Joe wanted him to start coming to Monday classes again - for higher level classes. Traffic seemed slightly slower on the way back. Time of arrival at Cyrille’s workplace was around 12:20 PM.