Convergence?

February 8, 2008

Strange night. It was really crowded when I got there, and I think it became more so over next half hour or so. The ratio of people with more than a couple of months of lesson to people who seemed close to being beginners never felt more skewed than it did tonight. Zhenzhi had tried to initiate an outing tonight and prompted some people (e.g. Jane and Richard) to show up for a short time, but she herself ended up being a no show.

Vish was going to some charity event to DJ, so it was going to be Joe followed by me until Vish returned. I wasn’t sure if I was going to see Vish at all, but he was still there when I got there. I did not get there until the classes ended (in part because I was picking up Liam), so I had some trouble figuring out the teacher lineup but I think it must have been Joe, Danie and Vish.

Joe played music until well past 11 PM – maybe close to 11:30 PM. Songs he used included Lluvia Con Nieve, Part Time Lover, Besitos De Coco, Thinking Of You, Moliendo Café, La Muerte (remix) among others. I thought it was quite good especially considering the crowd he had. I think what he ended up doing was to keep beginner types to stay longer while the regulars simply waited for them to leave for more space, etc.

Cyrille and Zern showed up as well. Natalia and her friend showed up as well – as she mentioned on Tuesday. I think they were really it as far as CBers are concerned. I danced with few other people including a Bachata, but it was difficult. One of them seemed really nice in many ways (and for some reason familiar from both sides) although she probably needs more time and quality practice to become pretty good at Salsa – easier said than done (a chicken and egg problem too).

Playlist

El Verdadero Son – Estrellas Caiman
Bamboleo – Fania All Stars
Decia Que Me Queria – Cachaco
La Lucha (Feat. Shanny) – La Excelencia
Lloraras – Oscar D’Leon
La Musica Es Mi Vida – Spanish Harlem Orchestra*
Lluvia – Willie Rosario (-2%)
Margarito – Bobby Valentin
Cali Aji – Grupo Niche*
Quien Eres Tu – Francisco Aguabella*
Ven Tu – Domenic Marte
No Aguanto Mas – Celia Cruz & Johnny Pacheco
Dime Que Quieres – El Gran Combo (1)
Mirandote – Frankie Ruiz
Los Santos De Macoris – Rey Reyes*
Yambu – Tito Rodriguez (-5%)
Fiesta A La King – Tito Puente (70s)*

(1) Vish texted to say “Play Merengue” via Bulbul.

Total 18 songs. 1 Bachata. 1 Merengue. 16 Salsa including 5 new. The new songs played out as expected. SHO - no problem. GN - really nothing new. FA - Gordon thought it was great. I expected that it would have its fans, but it really wants dancers who could take advantage of it. RR - not bad, but I always thought this was going to be a problematic one - especially for first listening and possibly always for many. TP - Personally I like this song a lot, but I was expecting this one to be a disaster tonight given the conditions. I just wanted to see if I would be right - the only unfortunate thing was that Vish walked in during this song, and he might have thought that I was playing songs like this all night long. I also thought I had just the right song to play afterwards - I was overruled. (No biggie - Me Libere was either my second or third choice anyway)

There was a couple who wanted a song by Shakira - Vish never heard of it. I never heard of it either, but then again I know next to nothing about Shakira's music - aside from the song that gets played at Club Salsa now and then. I think it was the guy's birthday.

Work. Blah!