It’s a great blog, borderline very good

February 5, 2008

My original planned title? Super Tuesday. I don’t want to talk about the Super Bowl.

It’s not excellent – I am a little surprised that excellent is better than great. Did I ask to be judged? No. Do I care? Not really. Am I surprised? Again no. There is no need to advertise a la our old friend Don Baarns. Internet is a scary place. They will find you somehow. Ask Google.

Great sounds good, no? Am I flattered? Not really. It’s at the precipice of being very good, which is not as good. For the moment, we make the top 10 list – for the sub-sub-category of dance, under performing-arts and under entertainment & recreation. But top 10 out of what? 65 blogs? Not exactly – given that only 31 received a grade. It does not take much to get to be included in the top 30 and get a grade of "average" – five entries will do. Of those graded, 67th percentile doesn't sound so hot. Ditto for 80th percentile - if that interpretation is to be taken.

Still... I’m ahead of Fred Astaire. Woohoo! Also one could take it like Michelin Guide – simply being reviewed in the first place (and arguably being noticed by complete strangers in the first place) might be worth some feathers on the cap. Also, it is for the moment number 1 for an amateur and numero uno for Salsa. Am I excited? Yeah, right.

What the heck am I talking about? Sorry, it won’t be that easy. I’m going to make you work. If you care that is. Here it is. Wait for it. Sorry Joe. There.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s get back to me - again. After all it’s all about me me me. Believe it or not, I’m still not completely back to normal. However, I don’t notice it so much anymore because my leg hurts more. I think I pulled a muscle while dancing Ceilidh this weekend.

Finally to what this blog is supposed to be about. We need to get to there somehow, right?

I took part in a lesson! Ed joked for the first time in 10 years. Ha! I did feel rusty, though. I also had not danced On2 in about 2 months – or has it been longer than that?

Let’s see if I like this format. I’m not 100% sure on timing – more so than I have felt with On1 lessons as of late.

It's a new venture headed by Chris and Sally - call it joint project by Pure Salsa and Oh So Salsa (if that name is still in use).

Intermediate with Chris and Sally

6,7,1,2,3,5 CBL with lead turning counterclockwise and switching to R-R (cross pass)
6,7,1,2,3,5 Copa-like start but bringing follower into CBL position (somewhat like bringing follower to CBL position starting with a full counterclockwise turn during the first four beats), then follower walks into clockwise travelling half turn – I think follower is beginning to turn clockwise on 5 then break back on next 6, but don’t take my words as a bible
6,7,1,2,3,5 Copa start, block and bring follower to leader’s left side with a slight clockwise turn
6,7,1,2,3,5 this bit is more or less continuous with the previous bit… unwind the follower to turn counterclockwise (how much? – I think the lead to unwind comes on 1 but again not completely sure about this) block and lead follower to walk straight back and leader turns into the space to face follower
6,7,1,2,3,5 from open hold CBL with 1 1/2 travelling counterclockwise turn for follower
6,7,1,2,3,5 immediately prepare and lead follower to a stationary double turn
6,7,1,2,3,5 CBL L-R toss forward to switch to L-L and 1 1/2 travelling counterclockwise turn for follower
6,7,1,2,3,5 L-L hat for leader and CBL finish

The level of attendance was more or less what I expected given the fringe nature of On2 (I mean small niche). At improver level and above, it was mostly people who are familiar with Sally and Thursdays at Club Salsa. All the beginners (mostly complete beginners) were unfamiliar to me. Possibly the biggest surprise of sort was Steve, who I hadn’t seen in a while and brought Natalia with him. The other Chris made an appearance too – I hadn’t seen him in a while. Apparently he’s started teaching a class in Huntingdon in January with Polly.

As I had said to Steph few days ago, I stuck to dancing On2 exclusively pretty much all night – making only one special dispensation at the end. I was making mistakes left and right, but it was a great fun because all those mistakes came from experimenting too much. Because most of my partners were not used to dancing On2, they did not know when things went wrong because I made a mistake or because they made a mistake. Often I was able to mostly correct my mistakes when I tried to lead the same move second or third time – usually I was rushing the first time around. If I were to get 10 more practices like this over next 2-3 months, I might find myself to be a passable On2 lead by London standard.

There was a performance by Emma and Chris – something of an unofficial one supposedly. I thought Emma was there for support only when I first saw her. She seemed to recognize me and we ended up chatting a couple of times – I guess I have danced with her something like 4 times over past 2 years and have been in range of conversation, etc few other times so maybe I shouldn’t be surprised. Mmm. I probably initiated the conversation first time around tonight too. I can’t remember for sure.

Liam did not get there until fairly late – nearly 11 and after the performance. Cyrille never made it – something of a surprise unless Steph made a last-minute call to inform him that I did not drive – I walked after finding most of my bicycle lights not working. Haihan made an appearance too – arriving even later than Liam. Nina was the last to arrive.

Haihan DJed for a little too. Unfortunately, he still seemed to be stuck in the rut with his song selection – I ended up pointing out to him that everything he played seemed to have vibraphone or marimba in it. This is very limiting considering that probably less than 10% of Salsa music utilizes those instruments. The most common driver of melody in Salsa is horn section combined with piano (with trumpet being most prevalent and trombone and saxophones often contributing also). Flute, violin, tres guitar are used less often lead the melody, and I’d guess that they are used about as frequently as vibraphone. I wryly noted that one of the songs Liam talked about liking was played for third week in a row – this time by Haihan after Sally played it last week and week before. I thought I heard vibraphone in it also although it was not as prevalent. This song by the way is Nabori by Cheo Feliciano.

The venue by the way is new. Slug And Lettuce. It was reasonably spacious especially considering that the number of people was not humongous – and considerably bigger than the main space at Club Salsa. Floor was old worn wood – decent – it would be interesting to see if the surface will stay consistent. The bar closed at 11, but the music went on for about half an hour more.

I ended up walking most of the way back with Steph and Liam – with Steph taking the scenic route with her bike. It’s so much easier to talk when you don’t have to concentrate on the road.