April 29, 2008
Intermediate with Chris
6,7,1,2,3 CBL into open
5,6,7,1,2,3,5 prepare and lead a double clockwise turn stationary windmill (I wonder how Sally would have dealt with this one) ending with R-L with leader's arm pointing up
6,7,1,2,3 Copa with R-L going over follower between 7 and 1 then with leader turning clockwise under R-L after leading the turn on 3
5,6,7,1,2,3,5 prepare as leader finishes his turn and lead a double stationary clockwise turn standard
6,7,1,2,3,5 CBL and lead follower into 1 1/2 clockwise (check this one?) travelling turn with L-R low and keeping R-L intact high
6,7,1,2,3,5 toss follower's L behind her back to her R waist and CBL switching to R-R and lead unwinding double turn into R-R wrap
6,7,1,2,3,5 exchange places on 6,7 and get under R-R by 1 to lead follower forward with steady forward lead and lead simple travelling 1/2 clockwise turn on 5 and with leader turning full counterclockwise immediately afterwards
6,7,1,2,3,5 CBL and lead follower into full travelling counterclockwise turn into wrap
6,7,1,2,3,5 prepare and lead stationary clockwise turn into open
The weather was horrible. I was so distracted by my damp clothes so that I hadn't realized that I hadn't paid for the lessons until Chris told the first class that he wasn't charging for it today. He also said this will be the last class. He'll be moving to Manchester in about a month. I suppose Sally being absent last week should have given me a hint.
No second hour of classes today. Sergio had talked about stopping by for the social, but opted against it when informed of the changed schedule. His texts and phone calls came while Chris was explaining the situation with the class.
For me these Slug and Lettuce classes and socials were useful for practicing On2 and trying out and learning or re-learning some moves. I guess I'll have more free time to … work? The participants for the final Slug and Lettuce class (or private party) were Chris, Lindsey, Nicola, Steve, Natalia, Clara and one more lead. One more showed up for the second hour, and Karim arrived later. Also, it looked like Kate/Katya opted to use Slug and Lettuce for a birthday party so that added a couple more people dancing.
Man U 1 - Barcelona 0. It'll be an all-English Champions League final.
There are worse things than SOS v Scala conflicts
April 27, 2008
SOS on a ScalaLatina Bank Holidays typically is quiet. So how is it when there is a Congress nearby? I have never been there on UK Congress or the Brit Salsafest weekends. Until now I could say the same of the MamboCity Congress, which is held at a closer location than either of those events. After today I think it's probably safe to say that SOS on the MamboCity Congress night is at least as empty as it is on a ScalaLatina night and probably more so. A first-time visitor might have wondered why there was much fuss about the SOS based on this evening alone.
There were multiple reasons why I went. I realized upon arrival that I had invalidated one of the reasons - to return Miriam's CD for her performance with Colleen. The CD is still sitting at work. Oh well. Another was Steph, who wanted to visit SOS another time before her exams, etc. She drew the double-whammy of MamboCity Congress and the change of location to the smaller room on the south side of the Royal National Hotel. She also had the bad luck of drawing the smaller room the only other time she came along. However, considering the fact that it was very quiet, the smaller room was not really an issue. Also there was additional wood floor space (of movable type and with accompanying problems).
MamboCity Congress was a dissuading factor for Steph (and presumably others who might have been tempted otherwise), but her Berlin Congress pal visiting probably helped her resolve. Steph assumed that he was visiting Leon and Tamambo, who were both present. She also looked for his partner but no luck. Apparently Steph pointed her out to me in Blackpool, and I vaguely remembered this exchange but not much beyond it.
One of the things that surprised me given the small crowd was many of the music choice made by Amir. In general I thought he played more difficult songs than he does on average. Unlike the last time when I felt I knew over half of the songs, I recognized no more than a quarter of the songs. There was Fania All-Stars version of Picadillo, Los Rumberos by Mark Dimond & Frankie Dante, El Barrio by Mark Dimond (next to last song, which I mistook initially for Ya No Tengo Pena … I knew the last song but didn't stay for it and can't remember it for sure - possibly Lluvia Con Nieve?), a version of Papel De Payaso, Malaguena Salerosa and Palo Pa' Rumba by Eddie Palmieri, Vagabundo by El Gran Combo, and what sounded like a Henry Fiol song. Steph recognized some songs I did not know by the way.
Probably the most remarkable thing for me tonight was that I danced On2 three times in a row - most ever outside Slug and Lettuce. All three were Salsa, and they got better progressively. Otherwise, I tried On2 briefly for El Barrio before deciding it wasn't working very well and there was a Cha Cha. Otherwise vast majority of my dances were On1 not in the least part because it seemed that On1 was preferred by most of the followers. However, Steph said that majority of her dances were On2. So what's going on here? For whatever its worth, Steph seemed to like her On1 dances tonight - seemingly dependent mostly upon the quality of the leads rather than some innate difference between On1 and On2.
Mode of transportation was train = no need to multitask between talking and driving.
SOS on a ScalaLatina Bank Holidays typically is quiet. So how is it when there is a Congress nearby? I have never been there on UK Congress or the Brit Salsafest weekends. Until now I could say the same of the MamboCity Congress, which is held at a closer location than either of those events. After today I think it's probably safe to say that SOS on the MamboCity Congress night is at least as empty as it is on a ScalaLatina night and probably more so. A first-time visitor might have wondered why there was much fuss about the SOS based on this evening alone.
There were multiple reasons why I went. I realized upon arrival that I had invalidated one of the reasons - to return Miriam's CD for her performance with Colleen. The CD is still sitting at work. Oh well. Another was Steph, who wanted to visit SOS another time before her exams, etc. She drew the double-whammy of MamboCity Congress and the change of location to the smaller room on the south side of the Royal National Hotel. She also had the bad luck of drawing the smaller room the only other time she came along. However, considering the fact that it was very quiet, the smaller room was not really an issue. Also there was additional wood floor space (of movable type and with accompanying problems).
MamboCity Congress was a dissuading factor for Steph (and presumably others who might have been tempted otherwise), but her Berlin Congress pal visiting probably helped her resolve. Steph assumed that he was visiting Leon and Tamambo, who were both present. She also looked for his partner but no luck. Apparently Steph pointed her out to me in Blackpool, and I vaguely remembered this exchange but not much beyond it.
One of the things that surprised me given the small crowd was many of the music choice made by Amir. In general I thought he played more difficult songs than he does on average. Unlike the last time when I felt I knew over half of the songs, I recognized no more than a quarter of the songs. There was Fania All-Stars version of Picadillo, Los Rumberos by Mark Dimond & Frankie Dante, El Barrio by Mark Dimond (next to last song, which I mistook initially for Ya No Tengo Pena … I knew the last song but didn't stay for it and can't remember it for sure - possibly Lluvia Con Nieve?), a version of Papel De Payaso, Malaguena Salerosa and Palo Pa' Rumba by Eddie Palmieri, Vagabundo by El Gran Combo, and what sounded like a Henry Fiol song. Steph recognized some songs I did not know by the way.
Probably the most remarkable thing for me tonight was that I danced On2 three times in a row - most ever outside Slug and Lettuce. All three were Salsa, and they got better progressively. Otherwise, I tried On2 briefly for El Barrio before deciding it wasn't working very well and there was a Cha Cha. Otherwise vast majority of my dances were On1 not in the least part because it seemed that On1 was preferred by most of the followers. However, Steph said that majority of her dances were On2. So what's going on here? For whatever its worth, Steph seemed to like her On1 dances tonight - seemingly dependent mostly upon the quality of the leads rather than some innate difference between On1 and On2.
Mode of transportation was train = no need to multitask between talking and driving.
Things seem just fine here
April 25, 2008
Apparently Joe left early so it was Danie and Vish finishing the class when I arrived. When Vish spotted me, he asked me to get ready a slow song as the final practice track. I chose Yolanda, which I earlier found had bpm of 155?. Then there was the usual cool-down track, Playa No More, and then straight into the first song for the party.
Playlist
La Muy Muy – Roberto Torres (1)
Del Agua Brava – Kako Y Totico
Momposina – Santiago Ceron
La Esencia Del Guaguanco – Johnny Pacheco
Mambologia – Maximo Rodriguez Y Sus Estrellas Panamenas*
Isla Del Encanto – Orquesta Broadway
Y No Hago Mas Na – El Gran Combo
Ay Amor, Cuando Hablan Las Miradas – Orquesta Guayacan*
Fuego En El 23 – Sonora Poncena (2)
Lo Bonito Y Lo Feo – Grupo Niche
Cuando Te Vea – German Villarreal (3)
Periodico De Ayer – Hector Lavoe (4)
Que Bonito Es Sonar – Jimmy Bosch
Avisale A Mi Contrario – Roberto Roena
Japan Mambo – Tito Puente
Rubias De Nueva York – Willie Rosario
Soledad – La 33
Merecumbe – Johnny Colon (5)
No Aguanto Mas – Celia Cruz & Johnny Pacheco
Ven Tu – Domenic Marte
Periquito Pin Pin – Tommy Olivencia
La Cartera – Orchestra Harlow
Torero – Orquesta Guayacan* (6)
Swing La Moderna – Ray Barretto
Guaguanco Margarito – Tito Puente (Live At Birdland)* (7)
Ublabadu – Fania All-Stars (canta: Hector Lavoe)
Playa Fa Sho – Toby Love
Tema Del Apollo – Eddie Palmieri
Mambo Is Here To Stay – Latin Giants Of Jazz
Sopa En Botella – Celia Cruz & Johnny Pacheco
Lo Dudo – Tommy Olivencia (canta: Frankie Ruiz)
Fuego A La Jicotea – Marvin Santiago
Descarga Cachao – Tito Rodriguez* (-10%) (8)
Te Extrano – Toque D’ Queda
I Wanna Love You – Pablo Bachata*
Se Me Fue – El Gran Combo (9)
Nadie Como Ella – Marc Anthony
Yolanda – Orquesta Guayacan*
Contigo – Cache
Otra Oportunidad – Jimmy Bosch (10)
(1) Fairly standard, I guess. I have only so many slow tracks, so I’m bound to use same songs once every 3-5 times. I wasn’t expecting to start, so it was a little bit of a scramble at the start to pick the songs.
(2) Better initial reception than I expected. Maybe it was the placement.
(3) Jane and Mark were unexpected shows. Apparently they opted not to risk MamboCity Congress because of uncertainty about being able to buy tickets.
(4) This was played mainly for Vish, who asked about the song last night after hearing Sally play it. I’ve played this one 6 times over past 2 years.
(5) Vish pushed for more Salsa of similar pace. I actually played this one over previously selected songs because of a couple of request for Merengue. I thought I would be better off playing an energetic Salsa to give a workout for the Salsa people before the Merengue break.
(6) Mohammed recognized the song from the very beginning. MJ seemed to be confused by some parts.
(7) The ending (Timbales solo) was hilarious. I think Gordon was more amused than annoyed - at least this time.
(8) I had my one dance of the evening – with Jane. It was pretty good until I switched from On1 to On2… then switch again to On1 near the end. That was a little embarrassing. No difference in feeling though this time. Trying to differentiate On1 to On2 to On5 could be tricky. Also, this week’s idea took another hit – like it needed one.
(9) Fairly empty by now. The social started out fairly strong, but it didn’t have much legs.
(10) Usually with a crowd this small, Vish would suggest ending the party. He seemed content to keep it going so I left him with one of his CDs playing after this one.
Total = 40 songs. 2 Bachata including 1 new for me. 1 Merengue. 1 Cha Cha. 36 Salsa including 6 new.
Big class. Pretty big crowd until a little after midnight. Very few late-night owls though.
I almost forgot to mention Sean (and Emily?) showed up - visiting from Reading.
Apparently Joe left early so it was Danie and Vish finishing the class when I arrived. When Vish spotted me, he asked me to get ready a slow song as the final practice track. I chose Yolanda, which I earlier found had bpm of 155?. Then there was the usual cool-down track, Playa No More, and then straight into the first song for the party.
Playlist
La Muy Muy – Roberto Torres (1)
Del Agua Brava – Kako Y Totico
Momposina – Santiago Ceron
La Esencia Del Guaguanco – Johnny Pacheco
Mambologia – Maximo Rodriguez Y Sus Estrellas Panamenas*
Isla Del Encanto – Orquesta Broadway
Y No Hago Mas Na – El Gran Combo
Ay Amor, Cuando Hablan Las Miradas – Orquesta Guayacan*
Fuego En El 23 – Sonora Poncena (2)
Lo Bonito Y Lo Feo – Grupo Niche
Cuando Te Vea – German Villarreal (3)
Periodico De Ayer – Hector Lavoe (4)
Que Bonito Es Sonar – Jimmy Bosch
Avisale A Mi Contrario – Roberto Roena
Japan Mambo – Tito Puente
Rubias De Nueva York – Willie Rosario
Soledad – La 33
Merecumbe – Johnny Colon (5)
No Aguanto Mas – Celia Cruz & Johnny Pacheco
Ven Tu – Domenic Marte
Periquito Pin Pin – Tommy Olivencia
La Cartera – Orchestra Harlow
Torero – Orquesta Guayacan* (6)
Swing La Moderna – Ray Barretto
Guaguanco Margarito – Tito Puente (Live At Birdland)* (7)
Ublabadu – Fania All-Stars (canta: Hector Lavoe)
Playa Fa Sho – Toby Love
Tema Del Apollo – Eddie Palmieri
Mambo Is Here To Stay – Latin Giants Of Jazz
Sopa En Botella – Celia Cruz & Johnny Pacheco
Lo Dudo – Tommy Olivencia (canta: Frankie Ruiz)
Fuego A La Jicotea – Marvin Santiago
Descarga Cachao – Tito Rodriguez* (-10%) (8)
Te Extrano – Toque D’ Queda
I Wanna Love You – Pablo Bachata*
Se Me Fue – El Gran Combo (9)
Nadie Como Ella – Marc Anthony
Yolanda – Orquesta Guayacan*
Contigo – Cache
Otra Oportunidad – Jimmy Bosch (10)
(1) Fairly standard, I guess. I have only so many slow tracks, so I’m bound to use same songs once every 3-5 times. I wasn’t expecting to start, so it was a little bit of a scramble at the start to pick the songs.
(2) Better initial reception than I expected. Maybe it was the placement.
(3) Jane and Mark were unexpected shows. Apparently they opted not to risk MamboCity Congress because of uncertainty about being able to buy tickets.
(4) This was played mainly for Vish, who asked about the song last night after hearing Sally play it. I’ve played this one 6 times over past 2 years.
(5) Vish pushed for more Salsa of similar pace. I actually played this one over previously selected songs because of a couple of request for Merengue. I thought I would be better off playing an energetic Salsa to give a workout for the Salsa people before the Merengue break.
(6) Mohammed recognized the song from the very beginning. MJ seemed to be confused by some parts.
(7) The ending (Timbales solo) was hilarious. I think Gordon was more amused than annoyed - at least this time.
(8) I had my one dance of the evening – with Jane. It was pretty good until I switched from On1 to On2… then switch again to On1 near the end. That was a little embarrassing. No difference in feeling though this time. Trying to differentiate On1 to On2 to On5 could be tricky. Also, this week’s idea took another hit – like it needed one.
(9) Fairly empty by now. The social started out fairly strong, but it didn’t have much legs.
(10) Usually with a crowd this small, Vish would suggest ending the party. He seemed content to keep it going so I left him with one of his CDs playing after this one.
Total = 40 songs. 2 Bachata including 1 new for me. 1 Merengue. 1 Cha Cha. 36 Salsa including 6 new.
Big class. Pretty big crowd until a little after midnight. Very few late-night owls though.
I almost forgot to mention Sean (and Emily?) showed up - visiting from Reading.
It's a far cry from...
April 24, 2008
Most of the ideas I had on Tuesday was quickly shot down by Sergio. The conclusion I came to was that the ideas are not necessarily wrong in most cases but also are not an improvement over current methods. Oh well.
It was a quiet night with highly skewed ratio, which prompted Ivan to make a reference to an entirely different type of social gathering - from financial perspective at the opposite end of a Salsa night according to Joe Davids.
For me the best part was the beginning when I snuck in some dances with nicer beginners. Some beginners are better than some people with dozens of lessons under their belt but still without good sense of timing and/or good posture. Not all beginners are created equal though.
Haihan was there but opted not to DJ - presumably because he's gearing up for about a month of intense studying. It left Sally and Vish as the DJ. Sergio suggested the idea of DJ of the month or week and having that person DJ for 30 to 60 minutes that week - I don’t think it'll work because I suspect there are very few independent music collections here.
Steph mentioned a deal with Zern. Speaking of the devil, where has he been? The House of Catherine hasn't been the same since you know who left. The absence of the *** French guy no doubt hurt. Just imagine how it might be when all traces of the San Miguel Gang are gone. As for tonight, MamboCity may be having a long-reaching effect. Vish mentioned that it's Bank Holiday weekend again next weekend. I'm feeling a bit blasé about everything. Maybe it's a burnout of sort.
Most of the ideas I had on Tuesday was quickly shot down by Sergio. The conclusion I came to was that the ideas are not necessarily wrong in most cases but also are not an improvement over current methods. Oh well.
It was a quiet night with highly skewed ratio, which prompted Ivan to make a reference to an entirely different type of social gathering - from financial perspective at the opposite end of a Salsa night according to Joe Davids.
For me the best part was the beginning when I snuck in some dances with nicer beginners. Some beginners are better than some people with dozens of lessons under their belt but still without good sense of timing and/or good posture. Not all beginners are created equal though.
Haihan was there but opted not to DJ - presumably because he's gearing up for about a month of intense studying. It left Sally and Vish as the DJ. Sergio suggested the idea of DJ of the month or week and having that person DJ for 30 to 60 minutes that week - I don’t think it'll work because I suspect there are very few independent music collections here.
Steph mentioned a deal with Zern. Speaking of the devil, where has he been? The House of Catherine hasn't been the same since you know who left. The absence of the *** French guy no doubt hurt. Just imagine how it might be when all traces of the San Miguel Gang are gone. As for tonight, MamboCity may be having a long-reaching effect. Vish mentioned that it's Bank Holiday weekend again next weekend. I'm feeling a bit blasé about everything. Maybe it's a burnout of sort.
Cheating
April 22, 2008
Intermediate with Chris
6,7,1,2,3,5 CBL ending with leader turning 1 1/2 clockwise to end facing away from follower (start 3 facing follower) and switching to R-R
6,7,1,2,3,5 bring follower forward after 6 R-R going over and continuing forward into travelling clockwise turn keeping L-L low and intact and R-R high
6,7,1,2,3,5 and bring R-R high over for double hammerlock then lead follower into partially unwrapping travelling counterclockwise turn with L-L intact and leaving follower’s R behind her back and with leader turning under L-L full counterclockwise
6,7,1,2,3,5 lead follower to 1/2 clockwise turn between 1 and 2 (brief R-R connection made just after 1 and lasting until just before 3) then into 1 1/2 counterclockwise travelling turn switching from L-L to R-L after 3 into neck wrap and making L-R connection (hammerlock) later
6,7,1,2,3,5 lead follower to 1/2 clockwise turn between 1 and 2 to unwrap then into 1 1/2 counterclockwise turn then into
6,7,1,2,3,5 around the world then CBL finish
6,7,1,2,3,5,6,7,1,2,3,5 open break CBL toss to switch to L-L into half crucifix and prep and stationary clockwise turn for follower
Very quiet night. Johnny showed up but no Serap. Kate was there for the class only. Maybe it was because of Liverpool v Chelsea or perhaps random chance. Lindsey might have been affected by not eating properly.
I guess I have been “cheating” when leading around the world both for On1 and for On2 (this realization was prompted by a comment from Chris). The fix is fairly simple, but executing it could be a little challenging especially with people who are used to me leading it in an “irregular” way (it could also be interesting how it will work with people who have been following it in a proper standard way whether I led it properly or not). Working this out later (working out follower’s steps and how to direct her to those steps) led to possibility of fixing another common move (also sometimes referred to as around the world and is similar to adios from Rueda), which in turn led to rediscovery of yet another previously taught but not properly learned move (this move by the way works well only if the original move is learned properly but is otherwise a mess). I wonder if a good teaching method is to lead the move in an infinite loop mode, which probably would look rather nice if done right. It could be a fun project for Thursday. It makes me wonder about gaining more moves when refinement possibilities for old moves get reinvented year after year.
Chris borrowed Ed’s bike near the end of the class (to get to a place called Henry’s? – I couldn’t figure out where it was from Lindsey’s directions). Blame it on too many bridges and too many possible directions to the river.
There was quite a lot of banter about DJing between Chris and Emma thanks to a rather large number of hiccups with the laptop software. Not sure if an MP3 player was involved.
Tried one dance where I tried to lead Ed on On2 timing, then him leading me on a timing I thought was On2 timing (which was better for me) then On1 timing (not as good), then me leading him on On1 timing. I have no idea what worked the best, and it may have served best as a reminder of how crappy some of my lead may still be.
Intermediate with Chris
6,7,1,2,3,5 CBL ending with leader turning 1 1/2 clockwise to end facing away from follower (start 3 facing follower) and switching to R-R
6,7,1,2,3,5 bring follower forward after 6 R-R going over and continuing forward into travelling clockwise turn keeping L-L low and intact and R-R high
6,7,1,2,3,5 and bring R-R high over for double hammerlock then lead follower into partially unwrapping travelling counterclockwise turn with L-L intact and leaving follower’s R behind her back and with leader turning under L-L full counterclockwise
6,7,1,2,3,5 lead follower to 1/2 clockwise turn between 1 and 2 (brief R-R connection made just after 1 and lasting until just before 3) then into 1 1/2 counterclockwise travelling turn switching from L-L to R-L after 3 into neck wrap and making L-R connection (hammerlock) later
6,7,1,2,3,5 lead follower to 1/2 clockwise turn between 1 and 2 to unwrap then into 1 1/2 counterclockwise turn then into
6,7,1,2,3,5 around the world then CBL finish
6,7,1,2,3,5,6,7,1,2,3,5 open break CBL toss to switch to L-L into half crucifix and prep and stationary clockwise turn for follower
Very quiet night. Johnny showed up but no Serap. Kate was there for the class only. Maybe it was because of Liverpool v Chelsea or perhaps random chance. Lindsey might have been affected by not eating properly.
I guess I have been “cheating” when leading around the world both for On1 and for On2 (this realization was prompted by a comment from Chris). The fix is fairly simple, but executing it could be a little challenging especially with people who are used to me leading it in an “irregular” way (it could also be interesting how it will work with people who have been following it in a proper standard way whether I led it properly or not). Working this out later (working out follower’s steps and how to direct her to those steps) led to possibility of fixing another common move (also sometimes referred to as around the world and is similar to adios from Rueda), which in turn led to rediscovery of yet another previously taught but not properly learned move (this move by the way works well only if the original move is learned properly but is otherwise a mess). I wonder if a good teaching method is to lead the move in an infinite loop mode, which probably would look rather nice if done right. It could be a fun project for Thursday. It makes me wonder about gaining more moves when refinement possibilities for old moves get reinvented year after year.
Chris borrowed Ed’s bike near the end of the class (to get to a place called Henry’s? – I couldn’t figure out where it was from Lindsey’s directions). Blame it on too many bridges and too many possible directions to the river.
There was quite a lot of banter about DJing between Chris and Emma thanks to a rather large number of hiccups with the laptop software. Not sure if an MP3 player was involved.
Tried one dance where I tried to lead Ed on On2 timing, then him leading me on a timing I thought was On2 timing (which was better for me) then On1 timing (not as good), then me leading him on On1 timing. I have no idea what worked the best, and it may have served best as a reminder of how crappy some of my lead may still be.
Johnny's Birthday Party
April 18, 2008
Playlist
La La La – Direct Latin Influence (1)
Que Quiere La Nina – Kako Y Totico (2)
Borinquen – Sonora Poncena
Volver Volver – Grupo Gale (3)
Azuquita Pa’l Café – El Gran Combo
Isla Del Encanto – Orquesta Broadway
Lo Dudo – Tommy Olivencia (canta: Frankie Ruiz)*
Si Tu Cocinas Como Caminas – Henry Fiol (4)
Mary – Joe Arroyo
Que Pasa Contigo – Willie Rosario (canta: Tony Vega)*
--a song with video put on by Demetrios …boogaloo? Sonora Carruseles maybe?--
Swing La Moderna – Ray Barretto
Cuando Te Vea – Bobby Valentin (live version)
Hong Kong – Michi Sarmiento Y Sus Bravos*
El Titere – Louie Ramirez & Ray De La Paz
Nadie Como Ella – Marc Anthony (5)
Noche De Salsa – Louie Ramirez
performance break
Amor Perfecto – El Gran Combo (6)
birthday dance to Ingratitudes – Bobby Valentin
Brujeria – El Gran Combo (7)
Cualquiera – Oscar D’Leon
Buenas Noches Che Che – Tito Rodriguez
El As De La Rumba – Machito
Ublabadu – Fania All-Stars (canta: Hector Lavoe)
Mojito – Regina Carter* (8)
Sin Negro No Guaguanco – Lebron Brothers
Estoy En Ti – Willie Rosario
Sopa En Botella – Celia Cruz & Johnny Pacheco
La Familia – Jose Curbelo* (9)
Bilongo – Tito Rodriguez
Tema Del Apollo – Eddie Palmieri (10)
Te Extrano – Extreme
El Cayuco – Tito Puente (short version) (11)
Perdoname – Gilberto Santa Rosa
(1) Johnny played Lovely Day as the first track to get everyone dancing in a circle first.
(2) Sergio and Nat arrived uncharacteristically early or early for Sergio at least on a Friday so that Sergio finally got a chance to dance to this song. I thought it might never happen. For whatever it’s worth, there is zero chance I would have gotten this CD without Sergio’s input.
(3) Serap stopped by to say nice music.
(4) Sergio’s description later – Mexican music.
(5) This was supposed to be the last song before the performance. Lighting issues delayed it by one more song.
(6) I think this was the one with the brief power outage to the sound system.
(7) Another re-start the Salsa party song.
(8) Sergio dances with Miriam to the longest song of the night.
(9) Half a dance with Colleen before them getting ready to depart resulted in another compliment from Sergio. What’s going on?
(10) I had this queued 3-4 songs in advance without anticipating that the party was nearly over. It worked out really well.
(11) This on the other hand was played after seeing how the first Cha Cha went.
Total = 33 songs. 2 Cha Cha. 1 Bachata. 30 Salsa including 5 new.
Nat and Sergio thought the atmosphere reminded them of the old Catholic Church days. Nat obviously enjoyed herself as she stayed until the very end - a little after 12:30. Other people who showed up included Sebastian, Kate, Sharon, Jane, Rajiv, Jay, Bodie so it was a good crowd - about the same (although with largely different cast of attendants) as the other time I visited St. Paul's Church.
I had a unique view of the show by Miriam and Colleen - from their rear at the elevated stage. I guess that's the privilege of acting as the DJ. They did not pick up the CD for the show, and I decided to hold on to them - presumably I could return it next time I'm at SOS (not that it's particularly valuable, I imagine). I still have never asked Miriam for a dance. The opportunity never came up. I probably came closest 1 or 2 years ago, and I have since moved to a phase of not making an effort to ask instructor types. I obviously know her and she definitely recognizes my face, but over 3 years have passed and not asking has seemingly become a comfortable routine. I have danced with Colleen once or twice before at SOS - I think the first one happened the first time I saw her, and I think there was a second but I'm not completely sure.
All in all, I had two dances tonight. It took a while for me to get comfortable with the mixer, etc. Oh well. During the first dance, I noticed that the volume generated by the sound system was a bit too much (not necessarily too loud although probably so but it sounded a bit harsh close to the speakers). I was working with freshly repaired shoes (went this morning to Lion's Yard/Grand Arcade for the first time since Grand Arcade opened and found there were two Timpsons shops there) and was surprised to see that they somehow felt different.
I stopped by at CS to visit Vish around 1. He said it was a fine night although it was winding down by then. I stayed a little while mostly watching other people dance - there was only one couple I recognized. I hadn't really noticed before but it looked to me that they do well with each other.
Playlist
La La La – Direct Latin Influence (1)
Que Quiere La Nina – Kako Y Totico (2)
Borinquen – Sonora Poncena
Volver Volver – Grupo Gale (3)
Azuquita Pa’l Café – El Gran Combo
Isla Del Encanto – Orquesta Broadway
Lo Dudo – Tommy Olivencia (canta: Frankie Ruiz)*
Si Tu Cocinas Como Caminas – Henry Fiol (4)
Mary – Joe Arroyo
Que Pasa Contigo – Willie Rosario (canta: Tony Vega)*
--a song with video put on by Demetrios …boogaloo? Sonora Carruseles maybe?--
Swing La Moderna – Ray Barretto
Cuando Te Vea – Bobby Valentin (live version)
Hong Kong – Michi Sarmiento Y Sus Bravos*
El Titere – Louie Ramirez & Ray De La Paz
Nadie Como Ella – Marc Anthony (5)
Noche De Salsa – Louie Ramirez
performance break
Amor Perfecto – El Gran Combo (6)
birthday dance to Ingratitudes – Bobby Valentin
Brujeria – El Gran Combo (7)
Cualquiera – Oscar D’Leon
Buenas Noches Che Che – Tito Rodriguez
El As De La Rumba – Machito
Ublabadu – Fania All-Stars (canta: Hector Lavoe)
Mojito – Regina Carter* (8)
Sin Negro No Guaguanco – Lebron Brothers
Estoy En Ti – Willie Rosario
Sopa En Botella – Celia Cruz & Johnny Pacheco
La Familia – Jose Curbelo* (9)
Bilongo – Tito Rodriguez
Tema Del Apollo – Eddie Palmieri (10)
Te Extrano – Extreme
El Cayuco – Tito Puente (short version) (11)
Perdoname – Gilberto Santa Rosa
(1) Johnny played Lovely Day as the first track to get everyone dancing in a circle first.
(2) Sergio and Nat arrived uncharacteristically early or early for Sergio at least on a Friday so that Sergio finally got a chance to dance to this song. I thought it might never happen. For whatever it’s worth, there is zero chance I would have gotten this CD without Sergio’s input.
(3) Serap stopped by to say nice music.
(4) Sergio’s description later – Mexican music.
(5) This was supposed to be the last song before the performance. Lighting issues delayed it by one more song.
(6) I think this was the one with the brief power outage to the sound system.
(7) Another re-start the Salsa party song.
(8) Sergio dances with Miriam to the longest song of the night.
(9) Half a dance with Colleen before them getting ready to depart resulted in another compliment from Sergio. What’s going on?
(10) I had this queued 3-4 songs in advance without anticipating that the party was nearly over. It worked out really well.
(11) This on the other hand was played after seeing how the first Cha Cha went.
Total = 33 songs. 2 Cha Cha. 1 Bachata. 30 Salsa including 5 new.
Nat and Sergio thought the atmosphere reminded them of the old Catholic Church days. Nat obviously enjoyed herself as she stayed until the very end - a little after 12:30. Other people who showed up included Sebastian, Kate, Sharon, Jane, Rajiv, Jay, Bodie so it was a good crowd - about the same (although with largely different cast of attendants) as the other time I visited St. Paul's Church.
I had a unique view of the show by Miriam and Colleen - from their rear at the elevated stage. I guess that's the privilege of acting as the DJ. They did not pick up the CD for the show, and I decided to hold on to them - presumably I could return it next time I'm at SOS (not that it's particularly valuable, I imagine). I still have never asked Miriam for a dance. The opportunity never came up. I probably came closest 1 or 2 years ago, and I have since moved to a phase of not making an effort to ask instructor types. I obviously know her and she definitely recognizes my face, but over 3 years have passed and not asking has seemingly become a comfortable routine. I have danced with Colleen once or twice before at SOS - I think the first one happened the first time I saw her, and I think there was a second but I'm not completely sure.
All in all, I had two dances tonight. It took a while for me to get comfortable with the mixer, etc. Oh well. During the first dance, I noticed that the volume generated by the sound system was a bit too much (not necessarily too loud although probably so but it sounded a bit harsh close to the speakers). I was working with freshly repaired shoes (went this morning to Lion's Yard/Grand Arcade for the first time since Grand Arcade opened and found there were two Timpsons shops there) and was surprised to see that they somehow felt different.
I stopped by at CS to visit Vish around 1. He said it was a fine night although it was winding down by then. I stayed a little while mostly watching other people dance - there was only one couple I recognized. I hadn't really noticed before but it looked to me that they do well with each other.
Shoes in disrepair
April 17, 2008
It felt like my feet were aware of the battered condition of my old shoes all night. For quite some time large parts of the soles came unglued, and the leather underneath had started to split about a month ago. I had this pair for around 2 1/2 years, and after about 8 months they looked tattered - a sign of high level of use; Daniella complimented me on the look of those shoes after 15 months of use. After that I deliberated kept them looking ragged and rarely bothering with things like shoe polishes. Anyhow, I decided that I might want to have a new pair ready in case this pair dies and possibly for nicer occasions. I took the new pair to Prague but ended up not using them - mainly because they were untested. I probably should break in the new ones, but I should also repair the old ones. I guess I am a little afraid of changing and moving away from the familiar comforts the old pair provides, but in the long run I think it would be best to get used to different shoes.
Sergio was very early to CS - his Nando's outing ending earlier than he expected. Nat likes chicken. His text prompted me to get there a little earlier than originally planned. It also gave me a chance to catch up with Vish, who seemingly forgot that I had told him about my Prague trip back in February. Sergio and I also talked a little bit of Prague with Ivan, who also was not a big fan of the local cuisine, dumplings and white bread and such. Ed was seen in the class in Hayden mode, which prompted me to try some follower's footwork, which in turn prompted Sergio to make corrections, which of course made things more difficult (it gets harder before it gets easier). Agnes too made an appearance - supposedly the last one until June.
Haihan showed up with Isabelle. I had a few dances with her and made her laugh - a good thing. The first dance started as On1, then switched to On2 after 10-20 seconds, then ended On1 for last 10-20 seconds. I stuck with On1 for the others. I think I danced mostly On2 with Steph including a short Cha Cha not quite successfully away from Sergio's line of sight. Sergio had a dance with Isabelle too; it seemed to go very smoothly by Sergio standard. According to Haihan, Sergio looked like he was having fun.
At the end of the evening, absence of the hot French guy was mourned. Cyrille and Sebastien were compared and contrasted. Steph gave much import to facial hair. We also talked about other people, who left or who expect to leave in near future - including both Mimis. The only person immune might be Ivan, who hopes to settle in Cambridge forever. Try imagine him still anchoring the scene 20 years from now as the don of cross body Salsa in Cambridge and lecturing to anyone who will listen that he was responsible for this and that. How about 40 years in the future and probably cantankerous and calling everyone sonny.
It felt like my feet were aware of the battered condition of my old shoes all night. For quite some time large parts of the soles came unglued, and the leather underneath had started to split about a month ago. I had this pair for around 2 1/2 years, and after about 8 months they looked tattered - a sign of high level of use; Daniella complimented me on the look of those shoes after 15 months of use. After that I deliberated kept them looking ragged and rarely bothering with things like shoe polishes. Anyhow, I decided that I might want to have a new pair ready in case this pair dies and possibly for nicer occasions. I took the new pair to Prague but ended up not using them - mainly because they were untested. I probably should break in the new ones, but I should also repair the old ones. I guess I am a little afraid of changing and moving away from the familiar comforts the old pair provides, but in the long run I think it would be best to get used to different shoes.
Sergio was very early to CS - his Nando's outing ending earlier than he expected. Nat likes chicken. His text prompted me to get there a little earlier than originally planned. It also gave me a chance to catch up with Vish, who seemingly forgot that I had told him about my Prague trip back in February. Sergio and I also talked a little bit of Prague with Ivan, who also was not a big fan of the local cuisine, dumplings and white bread and such. Ed was seen in the class in Hayden mode, which prompted me to try some follower's footwork, which in turn prompted Sergio to make corrections, which of course made things more difficult (it gets harder before it gets easier). Agnes too made an appearance - supposedly the last one until June.
Haihan showed up with Isabelle. I had a few dances with her and made her laugh - a good thing. The first dance started as On1, then switched to On2 after 10-20 seconds, then ended On1 for last 10-20 seconds. I stuck with On1 for the others. I think I danced mostly On2 with Steph including a short Cha Cha not quite successfully away from Sergio's line of sight. Sergio had a dance with Isabelle too; it seemed to go very smoothly by Sergio standard. According to Haihan, Sergio looked like he was having fun.
At the end of the evening, absence of the hot French guy was mourned. Cyrille and Sebastien were compared and contrasted. Steph gave much import to facial hair. We also talked about other people, who left or who expect to leave in near future - including both Mimis. The only person immune might be Ivan, who hopes to settle in Cambridge forever. Try imagine him still anchoring the scene 20 years from now as the don of cross body Salsa in Cambridge and lecturing to anyone who will listen that he was responsible for this and that. How about 40 years in the future and probably cantankerous and calling everyone sonny.
Back to usual routine
April 15, 2008
Intermediate with Chris and Sally
6,7,1,2,3 CBL into open
5,6,7,1,2,3,5 prepare and lead a double with R-L one up one down into hammerlock
6,7,1,2,3,5 open break and Copa-like to back-to-back (leader turning away from follower’s line and R-L at about shoulder level around 7-1 and going over leader’s head on 1 to indicate direction for follower and going up between 2-3 to lead another counterclockwise turn (switching to L-L at some point) and down into wrap (staying close) -- follower's movement is travelling double counterclockwise turn into wrap
6,7,1,2,3,5 unwrap after 6 (with 1/2 clockwise turn) and switch to R-L while turning counterclockwise to end more or less back-to-back on 2 (lead her forward between 1 and 2) then lead her into travelling counterclockwise turn (switching to L-L again while turning more counterclockwise) into wrap
6,7,1,2,3,5 unwrap after 6 but into a full clockwise turn starting on 1 (I suppose that means the lead needs to be somewhat stronger than previous bar) allowing her to step forward on 2 then lead her to walk straight back 3,5,6 and L-L hat over leader’s head
6,7,1,2,3,5 CBL with leader turning 1/2 clockwise to end facing away from follower (try cross back step on 2 to help stay close to follower) switching to R-R
6,7,1,2,3,5 open break and bring follower forward then maybe to left then straight back to L-R hammerlock and with leader moving into follower’s former position and turning around to face follower
6,7,1,2,3,5 (timing?) full clockwise turn for follower presumably on 1 presumably stepping forward on 2 (keeping L-L by follower’s side for the check) before stepping back on 3,5,6 while leader moves to in front of follower into reverse crucifix (with R-R going over leader’s head to get into this position)
6,7,1,2,3,5 in place steps before stepping forward on 2 and turning full clockwise to lead follower to CBL letting go R-R after initiating the lead
6,7,1,2,3,5 Copa
I was having a fairly good luck leading a lot of these moves after the class in social setting. Nice feeling. I imagine it was due to a convergence of many good factors.
Johnny and Serap made it to the first hour’s class. Ditto for Charlotte and Annette. Add Ed, Clara, Jane and Steve, it was quite good.
Haihan apparently organized a dinner outing for a small group before the social. Isabelle or Belle for short visiting from Singapore was the excuse. It got a few others to stop by although many did not stay afterwards. I’m guessing Steph came for the social dancing in part because of it.
Arguably the dance that drew the biggest reaction was to a Hector Lavoe song La Verdad (Hector Lavoe by the way supposedly is the other favorite of Chris at the moment). I tried both On2 and On1 with Isabelle as well as being plain silly to the disco bit – at least until Chris decided that he couldn’t let it continue (I was rather enjoying it and in fact was eagerly waiting for that bit to start). Interestingly I thought I enjoyed the feel of On2 more than On1 to this song in combination with this particular dance partner.
It was quite interesting to have a night where I was feeling more comfortable On2 compared to On1 – especially considering that I did not dance On2 all weekend at the Prague Congress.
Intermediate with Chris and Sally
6,7,1,2,3 CBL into open
5,6,7,1,2,3,5 prepare and lead a double with R-L one up one down into hammerlock
6,7,1,2,3,5 open break and Copa-like to back-to-back (leader turning away from follower’s line and R-L at about shoulder level around 7-1 and going over leader’s head on 1 to indicate direction for follower and going up between 2-3 to lead another counterclockwise turn (switching to L-L at some point) and down into wrap (staying close) -- follower's movement is travelling double counterclockwise turn into wrap
6,7,1,2,3,5 unwrap after 6 (with 1/2 clockwise turn) and switch to R-L while turning counterclockwise to end more or less back-to-back on 2 (lead her forward between 1 and 2) then lead her into travelling counterclockwise turn (switching to L-L again while turning more counterclockwise) into wrap
6,7,1,2,3,5 unwrap after 6 but into a full clockwise turn starting on 1 (I suppose that means the lead needs to be somewhat stronger than previous bar) allowing her to step forward on 2 then lead her to walk straight back 3,5,6 and L-L hat over leader’s head
6,7,1,2,3,5 CBL with leader turning 1/2 clockwise to end facing away from follower (try cross back step on 2 to help stay close to follower) switching to R-R
6,7,1,2,3,5 open break and bring follower forward then maybe to left then straight back to L-R hammerlock and with leader moving into follower’s former position and turning around to face follower
6,7,1,2,3,5 (timing?) full clockwise turn for follower presumably on 1 presumably stepping forward on 2 (keeping L-L by follower’s side for the check) before stepping back on 3,5,6 while leader moves to in front of follower into reverse crucifix (with R-R going over leader’s head to get into this position)
6,7,1,2,3,5 in place steps before stepping forward on 2 and turning full clockwise to lead follower to CBL letting go R-R after initiating the lead
6,7,1,2,3,5 Copa
I was having a fairly good luck leading a lot of these moves after the class in social setting. Nice feeling. I imagine it was due to a convergence of many good factors.
Johnny and Serap made it to the first hour’s class. Ditto for Charlotte and Annette. Add Ed, Clara, Jane and Steve, it was quite good.
Haihan apparently organized a dinner outing for a small group before the social. Isabelle or Belle for short visiting from Singapore was the excuse. It got a few others to stop by although many did not stay afterwards. I’m guessing Steph came for the social dancing in part because of it.
Arguably the dance that drew the biggest reaction was to a Hector Lavoe song La Verdad (Hector Lavoe by the way supposedly is the other favorite of Chris at the moment). I tried both On2 and On1 with Isabelle as well as being plain silly to the disco bit – at least until Chris decided that he couldn’t let it continue (I was rather enjoying it and in fact was eagerly waiting for that bit to start). Interestingly I thought I enjoyed the feel of On2 more than On1 to this song in combination with this particular dance partner.
It was quite interesting to have a night where I was feeling more comfortable On2 compared to On1 – especially considering that I did not dance On2 all weekend at the Prague Congress.
Prague Salsa Festival: one year later than originally intended
April 11, 2008 to April 14, 2008
Friday was a fabulous night – arguably the most enjoyable congress night all around for me since the first Britfest. I think the first Congress will always be the measuring stick - even though back then I was limited compared to now and every dance was essentially the same. I suppose I might think of the same of now with more experience years from now. Virtually everyone I danced with seemed enthusiastic and capable of more than just the basics. There were well over half dozen people I would have been happy to dance with over and over again. Very few people had ego issues – it was an exceedingly friendly and accomplished crowd. It felt ten times better than the UK Congress 2007 and hundred times better than the Madrid Festival 2007.
I liked the music when Lubi was DJing, but the other DJ Mauri for me was below average as a Congress DJ – I liked about 20-30% of his songs. I think Mauri was responsible for the 3-4 Timba, 3-4 Bachata, possibly most of the Cha Cha (which in principle is fine with me except I didn’t dance any) and virtually all of the more questionable selections all night Friday night. With Lubi, I’d say I liked around 80% of the songs - at least on Friday.
The songs from Friday included Cubanoson (Cubanoson), Don Anastacio (Javier Vazquez), Fuego En El 23 (La Sonora Poncena), Rumbon Melon (not Joey Pastrana but still good), Ublabadu (Fania All-Stars with Hector Lavoe), Alejate (Hector Lavoe), Tu Loco Loco Y Yo Tranquillo (Roberto Roena), Baila Que Baila (unknown artist), unknown Linda Leida song, Isla Del Encanto (unknown artist), unknown song with Marvin Santiago on vocals.
The lowlights especially for Friday were the shows, the MCs talking between shows and introducing teachers in two languages (mostly Neeraj and Michal the congress organizer with Mario taking over for Neeraj for the last part on Saturday). Among Friday shows, I enjoyed the Tango-Salsa one during the first session and the very last show with karaoke marching band. Sergio's opinion was about the same. For Saturday, I missed the first set of shows including the one done by the Oxford folks (Mark and Lisa of ConTambor were on the same flight as us both ways. I recognized them from pictures I've seen on the web, so I took my chance to strike a conversation with Mark at the baggage claim area in Prague. We constantly bumped into each other all weekend). While the Saturday performances seemed more polished compared to Friday, most did not engage me much. I found the routine done by Tamambo and Ania to be the nicest one to watch - beating out bigger names like Orville Small (heavily borrowing from Swing Guys), Hacha Y Machete (to the song of the same title) or Neeraj Maskara with a new partner. Surprise, surprise - it was completely unexpected even though I've seen both of them before separately; they may get a lot of mileage out of this new partnership. Sergio was looking forward to the performance by Jazzy and Amy because of her NYC connection so we got up from our chairs in the back to watch it only to give up after about half a minute finding it little more than a spin-fest. Sunday was essentially an amateur night for giving support and nurturing still nascent local Prague Salsa groups and was more notable for the comedy routine of sort done by Tamambo acting as the MC.
Not surprisingly I did not find many familiar faces on Friday. Aside from some of the teachers (Tamambo, Ania, Neeraj, Victor and Burju – no Mario tonight and same for Orville and Sabine) I recognized only two people from SOS including Monica from the LDA. Sergio said he spotted one more (usually wearing go-go boots but not here). Monica I danced with and I chatted briefly with Tamambo, who was here for the very first time as well and seemed to be trying to convince himself that tomorrow night is going to be much better (I told him that I found tonight fabulous). I saw Tamambo all three nights, and he mentioned to me that they have new floor at SOS – I’ve heard about this already and told him that I look forward to seeing it – as well as more speakers.
Maybe the novelty factor wore off. Perhaps it was slightly crowded for somewhat longer. Or my expectations were raised too high. Saturday on the whole was a lot less enjoyable for me compared to Friday. I suppose it could have been the music as well - Lubi did not play as much as he did on Friday.
The songs from Saturday included El Cantante (Hector Lavoe), Traicion (Roberto Roena), Debes Callar (Celia Cruz & Johnny Pacheco), Ahora Quien (Marc Anthony), possibly Sabor Los Rumberos Nuevos (Angel Canales), Esto Es El Guaguanco (Cheo Feliciano), Guarare (Ray Barretto), Los Rumberos (Mark Dimond & Frankie Dante).
There were several more people I recognized on Saturday. The go-go-boots girl was there with the go-go boots - I guess she's not the same without it (and I certainly did not recognize her without it). There was another guy - I think I had spotted him before at SOS and at Coventry. Eva showed up - she recognized me and put two and two together while she was dancing with Sergio. Apparently Sergio saying that he liked Prague made her happy. I also bumped into Pavlina and Pierre - Pavlina is a Czech also. There was an ancient guy whom I have seen in a few different congresses in the UK - I think I once photographed him dancing with Zhenzhi. There was another girl I met somewhere - I don't know her name but we recognized each other and had a dance later. Mario also showed up late - he was very busy so nothing more than a hello there.
Of dances with new people, two people and dances stood out in positive light. Most others were disappointing for various reasons - not the least of reason being that I couldn't get quite a few of my partners to be more than disinterested even though I felt that the overall quality of my partners was probably lower than on Friday - somehow.
The first highlight was just before the last of the shows where I left my drink with Sergio to have a somewhat higher energy expenditure dance than I was looking for at that time but was quite good and ended up being arguably the best of the evening. Sergio commented that she was doing her super styling (I guess she might belong to one of the performance groups) and also that it was pretty good (or was it that I did pretty well? The distinction is not important to me in any case). For the next 3 hours or so, everything else paled in comparison.
Second was towards the end of the evening when I spotted a wisp of a girl I sitting and fanning herself with her hand and with a nice outfit (white tank top maybe and a patterned flared skirt to knee level in pastel color, which might be considered retro or conservative in Salsa setting or otherwise). By this time I had so many underwhelming dances and was quite tired, but I got an intuition that I would have a pleasant dance with her even if she were not much more than a beginner. She turned out to be much more than that and was in fact quite astonishing - the hijacks, quasi-backleads and amazing recoveries. Irresponsible - maybe it should be outlawed. It was a dance that left me shocked, satisfied and yearning for more - a little scary; I think I lost a sliver of what's left of my heart in Prague. Perhaps not surprising is that I was too stunned to make suitable compliment to her at the end of the dance. I looked for her on Sunday but no luck.
The Sunday party was at a different location; the first two nights were at the Congress Center next to Vysehrad metro station while the Sunday party was at Club Tropison on the 5th floor of KOTVA department store by Namesti Republiky metro station. The floor was considerably smaller - comparable to LeL in St. Ives but without the columns in for the wood floor and surrounding carpeted floor about 2/3 of LeL but with a lot more chairs and tables on the carpet and comparable to Bar Salsa in London in total area except that the wood floor portion is about the size of the dance area immediately next to the DJ booth or perhaps a little smaller and rest carpeted. In any case, a much smaller venue meant that the organizers were not selling tickets for Sunday only. Because the party pass sold out early, Sergio wasn't able to accompany me Sunday night.
Club Tropison was considerably warmer than the Congress Center. Combine it with my tired legs from all the walking on cobblestones and sightseeing during the day and constantly switching between wood floor and carpet for dancing, it was a bit of a struggle. Lubi seemingly played even less than he did on Saturday, and there were long Merengue, Bachata, Reggaeton sessions lasting 6-8 songs. There was one non-Latin song thrown in as well (was it MC Hammer?). Despite all that I had a pretty good time.
Salsa songs from Sunday included Bomba Carambomba (Angel Canales), La Cura (Frankie Ruiz), Lluvia (Louie Ramirez & Ray De La Paz), Vagabundo (El Gran Combo),
A main reason why Sunday was better for me was better dance partners although one would think that it should be the other way around. It's nice to dance with people who look happy dancing with me. I could say that more than a few seemed appreciative, but perhaps that would be showing too much ego. I think I ended up dancing more than one night with only two people all weekend. Both obviously were enjoyable, and tonight's one was initiated by her. I think I was going to ask at some point - I had seen her several times after the first dance on Friday and always gave her a smile, but being asked instead made it even easier to get my confidence up and to get into just enjoying the dance with little pressure.
I left the Sunday party shortly before 2:30 so that I could get some sleep before the morning flight. We stayed til around 3:30 on Friday and til closing time at 4 on Saturday. Considering that I did not get much sleep Thursday before the flight, fatigue was certainly a big issue. No doubt it will take a few days to recover from this vacation.
--
Miscellaneous quotes during the trip…
I think you can do pretty well with food here as long as you stay away from Prague food.
Maybe this is the Hunger Wall.
Did I mention that you are a delusional starving student?
33 to 1.
Trust me.
I think every one is here for smokes and free internet connection.
Size 24/34 jeans for men! (Diesel)
It's a Polish Salsa Congress. (although I think 80% Polish and 20% other is a gross exaggeration - I'd guess 40% Polish, 50% max)
Don't you recognize me? (from a random vagabond at Wenceslas Square)
--
Trite observations…
Prague is very pretty.
There are a lot of dogs in Prague.
--
Highlights of sights....
Prague Castle
Old Town Square with amazingly underwhelming Astronomical Clock
less obvious sights near Church of Our Lady Before Tyn (or Tyn Church for short) - Bric A Brac (tiny knick-knack shop), Valentyno (café-bar & accommodation - very well hidden with a pretty yard - great location 100 m from Old Town Square yet it seemed very quiet and peaceful - check www.valentyno.cz (apartments 1-3 only … 4 is at a different location) ... I think this is a kind of place that may look much better seen in person), a small gallery, which had a painting Sergio thought would be better without the bottom 1/3 of it).
St. James Church with a mad organist
St. Nicholas Church (both - with mistaken initial idea of the first one being kick-ass)
Jewish Museum (or failed "museum of an extinct race")
Vysehrad and nearby Cubist buildings in one hour
Hike up to the Hunger Wall
David Cerny sculptures
--
Food…
Egg MacMuffins - in extreme moderation, it can hit the spot (airport)
Hostine U Tri Zlatych Trojek - cheap but with an unusual mandatory 15% gratuity
Czech Pub on Jecna near Lipova - 5 of 8 beers tasted were not worth finishing (it might have turned the tide against spending money on Czech cuisine too)
Daily Market - according to Sergio good apple (from South America, I think)
V Zatisi - about being a delusional starving student … although sans lunch
Pizza takeout at 4:30 AM - enough said
Dahab - everyone was on hookah
Café Tonino Lamborghini - random chance tiramisu held up well against V Zatisi
Sausage stands lining Wenceslas square - can feel it in your stomach for a very long time
Friday was a fabulous night – arguably the most enjoyable congress night all around for me since the first Britfest. I think the first Congress will always be the measuring stick - even though back then I was limited compared to now and every dance was essentially the same. I suppose I might think of the same of now with more experience years from now. Virtually everyone I danced with seemed enthusiastic and capable of more than just the basics. There were well over half dozen people I would have been happy to dance with over and over again. Very few people had ego issues – it was an exceedingly friendly and accomplished crowd. It felt ten times better than the UK Congress 2007 and hundred times better than the Madrid Festival 2007.
I liked the music when Lubi was DJing, but the other DJ Mauri for me was below average as a Congress DJ – I liked about 20-30% of his songs. I think Mauri was responsible for the 3-4 Timba, 3-4 Bachata, possibly most of the Cha Cha (which in principle is fine with me except I didn’t dance any) and virtually all of the more questionable selections all night Friday night. With Lubi, I’d say I liked around 80% of the songs - at least on Friday.
The songs from Friday included Cubanoson (Cubanoson), Don Anastacio (Javier Vazquez), Fuego En El 23 (La Sonora Poncena), Rumbon Melon (not Joey Pastrana but still good), Ublabadu (Fania All-Stars with Hector Lavoe), Alejate (Hector Lavoe), Tu Loco Loco Y Yo Tranquillo (Roberto Roena), Baila Que Baila (unknown artist), unknown Linda Leida song, Isla Del Encanto (unknown artist), unknown song with Marvin Santiago on vocals.
The lowlights especially for Friday were the shows, the MCs talking between shows and introducing teachers in two languages (mostly Neeraj and Michal the congress organizer with Mario taking over for Neeraj for the last part on Saturday). Among Friday shows, I enjoyed the Tango-Salsa one during the first session and the very last show with karaoke marching band. Sergio's opinion was about the same. For Saturday, I missed the first set of shows including the one done by the Oxford folks (Mark and Lisa of ConTambor were on the same flight as us both ways. I recognized them from pictures I've seen on the web, so I took my chance to strike a conversation with Mark at the baggage claim area in Prague. We constantly bumped into each other all weekend). While the Saturday performances seemed more polished compared to Friday, most did not engage me much. I found the routine done by Tamambo and Ania to be the nicest one to watch - beating out bigger names like Orville Small (heavily borrowing from Swing Guys), Hacha Y Machete (to the song of the same title) or Neeraj Maskara with a new partner. Surprise, surprise - it was completely unexpected even though I've seen both of them before separately; they may get a lot of mileage out of this new partnership. Sergio was looking forward to the performance by Jazzy and Amy because of her NYC connection so we got up from our chairs in the back to watch it only to give up after about half a minute finding it little more than a spin-fest. Sunday was essentially an amateur night for giving support and nurturing still nascent local Prague Salsa groups and was more notable for the comedy routine of sort done by Tamambo acting as the MC.
Not surprisingly I did not find many familiar faces on Friday. Aside from some of the teachers (Tamambo, Ania, Neeraj, Victor and Burju – no Mario tonight and same for Orville and Sabine) I recognized only two people from SOS including Monica from the LDA. Sergio said he spotted one more (usually wearing go-go boots but not here). Monica I danced with and I chatted briefly with Tamambo, who was here for the very first time as well and seemed to be trying to convince himself that tomorrow night is going to be much better (I told him that I found tonight fabulous). I saw Tamambo all three nights, and he mentioned to me that they have new floor at SOS – I’ve heard about this already and told him that I look forward to seeing it – as well as more speakers.
Maybe the novelty factor wore off. Perhaps it was slightly crowded for somewhat longer. Or my expectations were raised too high. Saturday on the whole was a lot less enjoyable for me compared to Friday. I suppose it could have been the music as well - Lubi did not play as much as he did on Friday.
The songs from Saturday included El Cantante (Hector Lavoe), Traicion (Roberto Roena), Debes Callar (Celia Cruz & Johnny Pacheco), Ahora Quien (Marc Anthony), possibly Sabor Los Rumberos Nuevos (Angel Canales), Esto Es El Guaguanco (Cheo Feliciano), Guarare (Ray Barretto), Los Rumberos (Mark Dimond & Frankie Dante).
There were several more people I recognized on Saturday. The go-go-boots girl was there with the go-go boots - I guess she's not the same without it (and I certainly did not recognize her without it). There was another guy - I think I had spotted him before at SOS and at Coventry. Eva showed up - she recognized me and put two and two together while she was dancing with Sergio. Apparently Sergio saying that he liked Prague made her happy. I also bumped into Pavlina and Pierre - Pavlina is a Czech also. There was an ancient guy whom I have seen in a few different congresses in the UK - I think I once photographed him dancing with Zhenzhi. There was another girl I met somewhere - I don't know her name but we recognized each other and had a dance later. Mario also showed up late - he was very busy so nothing more than a hello there.
Of dances with new people, two people and dances stood out in positive light. Most others were disappointing for various reasons - not the least of reason being that I couldn't get quite a few of my partners to be more than disinterested even though I felt that the overall quality of my partners was probably lower than on Friday - somehow.
The first highlight was just before the last of the shows where I left my drink with Sergio to have a somewhat higher energy expenditure dance than I was looking for at that time but was quite good and ended up being arguably the best of the evening. Sergio commented that she was doing her super styling (I guess she might belong to one of the performance groups) and also that it was pretty good (or was it that I did pretty well? The distinction is not important to me in any case). For the next 3 hours or so, everything else paled in comparison.
Second was towards the end of the evening when I spotted a wisp of a girl I sitting and fanning herself with her hand and with a nice outfit (white tank top maybe and a patterned flared skirt to knee level in pastel color, which might be considered retro or conservative in Salsa setting or otherwise). By this time I had so many underwhelming dances and was quite tired, but I got an intuition that I would have a pleasant dance with her even if she were not much more than a beginner. She turned out to be much more than that and was in fact quite astonishing - the hijacks, quasi-backleads and amazing recoveries. Irresponsible - maybe it should be outlawed. It was a dance that left me shocked, satisfied and yearning for more - a little scary; I think I lost a sliver of what's left of my heart in Prague. Perhaps not surprising is that I was too stunned to make suitable compliment to her at the end of the dance. I looked for her on Sunday but no luck.
The Sunday party was at a different location; the first two nights were at the Congress Center next to Vysehrad metro station while the Sunday party was at Club Tropison on the 5th floor of KOTVA department store by Namesti Republiky metro station. The floor was considerably smaller - comparable to LeL in St. Ives but without the columns in for the wood floor and surrounding carpeted floor about 2/3 of LeL but with a lot more chairs and tables on the carpet and comparable to Bar Salsa in London in total area except that the wood floor portion is about the size of the dance area immediately next to the DJ booth or perhaps a little smaller and rest carpeted. In any case, a much smaller venue meant that the organizers were not selling tickets for Sunday only. Because the party pass sold out early, Sergio wasn't able to accompany me Sunday night.
Club Tropison was considerably warmer than the Congress Center. Combine it with my tired legs from all the walking on cobblestones and sightseeing during the day and constantly switching between wood floor and carpet for dancing, it was a bit of a struggle. Lubi seemingly played even less than he did on Saturday, and there were long Merengue, Bachata, Reggaeton sessions lasting 6-8 songs. There was one non-Latin song thrown in as well (was it MC Hammer?). Despite all that I had a pretty good time.
Salsa songs from Sunday included Bomba Carambomba (Angel Canales), La Cura (Frankie Ruiz), Lluvia (Louie Ramirez & Ray De La Paz), Vagabundo (El Gran Combo),
A main reason why Sunday was better for me was better dance partners although one would think that it should be the other way around. It's nice to dance with people who look happy dancing with me. I could say that more than a few seemed appreciative, but perhaps that would be showing too much ego. I think I ended up dancing more than one night with only two people all weekend. Both obviously were enjoyable, and tonight's one was initiated by her. I think I was going to ask at some point - I had seen her several times after the first dance on Friday and always gave her a smile, but being asked instead made it even easier to get my confidence up and to get into just enjoying the dance with little pressure.
I left the Sunday party shortly before 2:30 so that I could get some sleep before the morning flight. We stayed til around 3:30 on Friday and til closing time at 4 on Saturday. Considering that I did not get much sleep Thursday before the flight, fatigue was certainly a big issue. No doubt it will take a few days to recover from this vacation.
--
Miscellaneous quotes during the trip…
I think you can do pretty well with food here as long as you stay away from Prague food.
Maybe this is the Hunger Wall.
Did I mention that you are a delusional starving student?
33 to 1.
Trust me.
I think every one is here for smokes and free internet connection.
Size 24/34 jeans for men! (Diesel)
It's a Polish Salsa Congress. (although I think 80% Polish and 20% other is a gross exaggeration - I'd guess 40% Polish, 50% max)
Don't you recognize me? (from a random vagabond at Wenceslas Square)
--
Trite observations…
Prague is very pretty.
There are a lot of dogs in Prague.
--
Highlights of sights....
Prague Castle
Old Town Square with amazingly underwhelming Astronomical Clock
less obvious sights near Church of Our Lady Before Tyn (or Tyn Church for short) - Bric A Brac (tiny knick-knack shop), Valentyno (café-bar & accommodation - very well hidden with a pretty yard - great location 100 m from Old Town Square yet it seemed very quiet and peaceful - check www.valentyno.cz (apartments 1-3 only … 4 is at a different location) ... I think this is a kind of place that may look much better seen in person), a small gallery, which had a painting Sergio thought would be better without the bottom 1/3 of it).
St. James Church with a mad organist
St. Nicholas Church (both - with mistaken initial idea of the first one being kick-ass)
Jewish Museum (or failed "museum of an extinct race")
Vysehrad and nearby Cubist buildings in one hour
Hike up to the Hunger Wall
David Cerny sculptures
--
Food…
Egg MacMuffins - in extreme moderation, it can hit the spot (airport)
Hostine U Tri Zlatych Trojek - cheap but with an unusual mandatory 15% gratuity
Czech Pub on Jecna near Lipova - 5 of 8 beers tasted were not worth finishing (it might have turned the tide against spending money on Czech cuisine too)
Daily Market - according to Sergio good apple (from South America, I think)
V Zatisi - about being a delusional starving student … although sans lunch
Pizza takeout at 4:30 AM - enough said
Dahab - everyone was on hookah
Café Tonino Lamborghini - random chance tiramisu held up well against V Zatisi
Sausage stands lining Wenceslas square - can feel it in your stomach for a very long time
Start of another travelogue
April 11, 2008
For those wondering where I have wandered off to, I'm visiting Prague for sightseeing and Prague Salsa Festival 2008.
The internet connection here is not exactly conducive to blogging so a full write-up may have to wait until I get back to the UK.
One news of note (or more appropriately non-news) is that the travelling from Cambridge to Prague went without a hitch (aside from lack of sleep due to having to get up at 3:40 AM to start the journey). No problems whatsoever! Very unusual! Maybe it's just the luck of my travelling companion.
More to be revealed later...
For those wondering where I have wandered off to, I'm visiting Prague for sightseeing and Prague Salsa Festival 2008.
The internet connection here is not exactly conducive to blogging so a full write-up may have to wait until I get back to the UK.
One news of note (or more appropriately non-news) is that the travelling from Cambridge to Prague went without a hitch (aside from lack of sleep due to having to get up at 3:40 AM to start the journey). No problems whatsoever! Very unusual! Maybe it's just the luck of my travelling companion.
More to be revealed later...
Seventh day of earphone ban
April 8, 2008
The class started with a spinning exercise. Everyone has slightly different system, which is a little problematic never mind confusing. In any case deceleration is a good idea although perhaps the exact method might need further tweaking. The routine was made shorter and easier, which was fine with me – it was relaxing and not one bit boring.
Intermediate with Chris and Sally
6,7,1,2,3 CBL from closed hold
5,6,7,1,2,3,5 Prepare and lead a double turn with R-L
6,7,1,2,3 CBL from open hold
5,6,7,1,2,3 leader’s walking right turn (1/2 clockwise) under L-R then lead follower to travelling 1/2 clockwise turn (follower’s turn happening on 5 thus lead should be coming just before 5) with L-R lead
5,6,7,1,2,3,5 leader’s walking right turn (1/2 clockwise) again with L-R low and switching to R-R then lead follower to 1 1/2 clockwise travelling turn with windmill lead but ending with R-R with leader’s hand pointing down (as opposed to arm-to-arm both pointing up)
6,7,1,2,3,5 R-R prepare to L on 6 (allowing follower to step back) then it’s like a Copa for follower but with the leader moving to R of follower ending back to back with follower with an early switch to L-R (back to back position would be assumed by 2) making R-L connection (with leader’s hand coming from above) and lead follower to 1/2 travelling counterclockwise turn with a straight back lead coming on 3 (follower’s movement is just another variation of in-and-out – easier than Copa) ending with L-R connection as leader face follower at the end (a quarter turn counterclockwise)
6,7,1,2,3,5 CBL into half crucifix
6,7,1,2,3,5 prepare and lead a stationary clockwise turn for follower
Both Steve and Natalia made it this time. Ed and Clara were there as usual. Jane made it this week. Johnny and Serap decided to take part in the class during the second hour. Johnny in fact was having some practice On2 dances during the social afterwards – probably at least half the time anyway.
There was a special dance for Nicola. I guess it was a first for Slug and Lettuce. I’ll say no more except that it was a mix of On1 and On2 – no doubt very confusing.
Polly and Andrea made it to the later part of the social and stayed until the end – an unexpected pleasure. I ended up walking back to the parking lot by the Round Church with a fairly large group for shoe purpose.
Next up - a surprise.
The class started with a spinning exercise. Everyone has slightly different system, which is a little problematic never mind confusing. In any case deceleration is a good idea although perhaps the exact method might need further tweaking. The routine was made shorter and easier, which was fine with me – it was relaxing and not one bit boring.
Intermediate with Chris and Sally
6,7,1,2,3 CBL from closed hold
5,6,7,1,2,3,5 Prepare and lead a double turn with R-L
6,7,1,2,3 CBL from open hold
5,6,7,1,2,3 leader’s walking right turn (1/2 clockwise) under L-R then lead follower to travelling 1/2 clockwise turn (follower’s turn happening on 5 thus lead should be coming just before 5) with L-R lead
5,6,7,1,2,3,5 leader’s walking right turn (1/2 clockwise) again with L-R low and switching to R-R then lead follower to 1 1/2 clockwise travelling turn with windmill lead but ending with R-R with leader’s hand pointing down (as opposed to arm-to-arm both pointing up)
6,7,1,2,3,5 R-R prepare to L on 6 (allowing follower to step back) then it’s like a Copa for follower but with the leader moving to R of follower ending back to back with follower with an early switch to L-R (back to back position would be assumed by 2) making R-L connection (with leader’s hand coming from above) and lead follower to 1/2 travelling counterclockwise turn with a straight back lead coming on 3 (follower’s movement is just another variation of in-and-out – easier than Copa) ending with L-R connection as leader face follower at the end (a quarter turn counterclockwise)
6,7,1,2,3,5 CBL into half crucifix
6,7,1,2,3,5 prepare and lead a stationary clockwise turn for follower
Both Steve and Natalia made it this time. Ed and Clara were there as usual. Jane made it this week. Johnny and Serap decided to take part in the class during the second hour. Johnny in fact was having some practice On2 dances during the social afterwards – probably at least half the time anyway.
There was a special dance for Nicola. I guess it was a first for Slug and Lettuce. I’ll say no more except that it was a mix of On1 and On2 – no doubt very confusing.
Polly and Andrea made it to the later part of the social and stayed until the end – an unexpected pleasure. I ended up walking back to the parking lot by the Round Church with a fairly large group for shoe purpose.
Next up - a surprise.
A plug for Johnny
April 5, 2008
From Johnny...
Hello,
Serap is bringing Miriam and Colleen (SOS teachers) to do a show on 18th April (my birthday treat).
Would you like to do some DJing at our social on 18th April?
Could you mention the show on your web page?
--
Event: Dance showcase with Miriam and Colleen (from SOS)
Venue: The Centre at St Paul's, Hills Rd, Cambridge CB2 1JP
Date: Friday 18th April
Lessons: 7:30pm till 9:30pm
Club and show: 9:30pm till late
Tickets for Club only: £6 in advance, £8 at the door.
Tickets for 2 hours lessons and club: £8 at the door (please, book your place to avoid disappointment).
Booking info: info@salsacambridge.com or call Serap at: 077 298 298 06
--
Miriam is Miriam Oppel of old Marchant and Miriam fame, and Colleen is Colleen Daniels. In addition to being really good dancers, they both seem to be great people. For more details (bios, etc) check salsacambridge.com website.
By the way, I replied to Johnny saying I'll be happy to DJ - for however long as Johnny and Serap asks me to. For now, it'll be a one time thing and presumably I'll be back at Club Salsa the week after (and possibly the same night depending on closing time, etc).
From Johnny...
Hello,
Serap is bringing Miriam and Colleen (SOS teachers) to do a show on 18th April (my birthday treat).
Would you like to do some DJing at our social on 18th April?
Could you mention the show on your web page?
--
Event: Dance showcase with Miriam and Colleen (from SOS)
Venue: The Centre at St Paul's, Hills Rd, Cambridge CB2 1JP
Date: Friday 18th April
Lessons: 7:30pm till 9:30pm
Club and show: 9:30pm till late
Tickets for Club only: £6 in advance, £8 at the door.
Tickets for 2 hours lessons and club: £8 at the door (please, book your place to avoid disappointment).
Booking info: info@salsacambridge.com or call Serap at: 077 298 298 06
--
Miriam is Miriam Oppel of old Marchant and Miriam fame, and Colleen is Colleen Daniels. In addition to being really good dancers, they both seem to be great people. For more details (bios, etc) check salsacambridge.com website.
By the way, I replied to Johnny saying I'll be happy to DJ - for however long as Johnny and Serap asks me to. For now, it'll be a one time thing and presumably I'll be back at Club Salsa the week after (and possibly the same night depending on closing time, etc).
Nowhereland
April 4, 2008
Joe played 4 songs. Fragile was the last one.
Playlist
Mandali – Africando
Asi Son – El Gran Combo
Nunca Que Quedas – Frankie Ruiz
Cinco A Diez – Azabache
Duele Mas – Grupo Niche
Mary – Joe Arroyo (1)
Don Lengua – Santiago Ceron
Sabor Criollo – Tito Rodriguez Jr (canta: Jose Alberto) (2) *
break (3)
No Me Resigno – Toque De Keda
Mentirosa – Louie Ramirez & Ray De La Paz
Me Dejo – Oscar D’Leon
Ya No Puede Ser – Celia Cruz, Ray Barretto and Adalberto Santiago
Somos Caribenos – Grupo Caribe *
El Apartamento – Willie Rosario (canta: Gilberto Santa Rosa)
Abran Paso – Orchestra Harlow (canta: Ismael Miranda)
Lindo Yambu – Cheo Feliciano
Tres Dias De Carnaval – Celia Cruz & Johnny Pacheco (4)
Babarabatiri – Tito Puente (5)
El Preso – Fruko Y Sus Tesos (6)
Vete Y Pregona – Jose Alberto “El Canario” (-8%) *
El Abaniquito – Pucho and His Latin Soul Brothers
Fuego A La Jicotea – Marvin Santiago
Vitamina – Sonora Carruseles (-3%)
break (7)
Ven A Medellin – Grupo Gale
Me Libere – El Gran Combo (8)
Para Darte Fuego – Frankie Ruiz
Lamento Boliviano – Toque De Keda (9)
(1) One of the regulars really liked this one.
(2) I danced to this one. Trickier than I expected. Gordon called it tortuous.
(3) Vish played 6-8 dozen songs. Mostly slow to medium paced of standard canon. danced to 2 songs during this time. Vish finished with an unfamiliar Merengue and I opted for Bachata next. I asked Vish for more details of his Lithuania trip. Also a mystery is solved partially - not the same person.
(4) Vish thinks this song is great?
(5) A Tito Puente request! Woohoo! It's probably nothing more than a coincidence, but the dance floor was at its busiest during Tres Carnaval-Babarabatiri-El Preso trifecta tonight.
(6) A request for more Colombian and a question, “Do I know a lot of Colombian music?” Ans. not as much as New York or Puerto Rican. For the last week, I have been doing more Merengue research than anything else.
(7) Vish decided to give another guy a shot at DJing - I can't remember for sure if this was the guy who substituted for Vish on a Saturday last month. He started with Valio La Pena (with same fade finish as that Saturday), then Temba Tumba Timba, then a few amorphous unfamiliar tracks, a standard Reggaeton. It is difficult to introduce new songs and get people to like it right away, and it's harder without a built-in reputation of playing good or at least interesting songs most of the time. He was also using an iPod nano along with CDs - not sure if this was his modus operandi. In any case he had to raise the volume level considerably to compensate for compression whether he was using an iPod or his CDs. Not sure but it might have been a practice run for next 2 weeks.
(8) Vish had been requesting this for a while. Why not with the conditions as is?
(9) I had two other Salsa songs ready to be queued (El Cantante Y La Orquesta and No Tires La Primera Piedra), but Vish asked for a Bachata as the early last song of the night. Vish actually wanted Obsesion, which I don't have.
Total 26 songs. 2 Bachata. 24 Salsa including 3 new.
Vish talked about having a troupe organized by Lee and Shelley in May. More info should be forthcoming at the Club Salsa website.
Joe played 4 songs. Fragile was the last one.
Playlist
Mandali – Africando
Asi Son – El Gran Combo
Nunca Que Quedas – Frankie Ruiz
Cinco A Diez – Azabache
Duele Mas – Grupo Niche
Mary – Joe Arroyo (1)
Don Lengua – Santiago Ceron
Sabor Criollo – Tito Rodriguez Jr (canta: Jose Alberto) (2) *
break (3)
No Me Resigno – Toque De Keda
Mentirosa – Louie Ramirez & Ray De La Paz
Me Dejo – Oscar D’Leon
Ya No Puede Ser – Celia Cruz, Ray Barretto and Adalberto Santiago
Somos Caribenos – Grupo Caribe *
El Apartamento – Willie Rosario (canta: Gilberto Santa Rosa)
Abran Paso – Orchestra Harlow (canta: Ismael Miranda)
Lindo Yambu – Cheo Feliciano
Tres Dias De Carnaval – Celia Cruz & Johnny Pacheco (4)
Babarabatiri – Tito Puente (5)
El Preso – Fruko Y Sus Tesos (6)
Vete Y Pregona – Jose Alberto “El Canario” (-8%) *
El Abaniquito – Pucho and His Latin Soul Brothers
Fuego A La Jicotea – Marvin Santiago
Vitamina – Sonora Carruseles (-3%)
break (7)
Ven A Medellin – Grupo Gale
Me Libere – El Gran Combo (8)
Para Darte Fuego – Frankie Ruiz
Lamento Boliviano – Toque De Keda (9)
(1) One of the regulars really liked this one.
(2) I danced to this one. Trickier than I expected. Gordon called it tortuous.
(3) Vish played 6-8 dozen songs. Mostly slow to medium paced of standard canon. danced to 2 songs during this time. Vish finished with an unfamiliar Merengue and I opted for Bachata next. I asked Vish for more details of his Lithuania trip. Also a mystery is solved partially - not the same person.
(4) Vish thinks this song is great?
(5) A Tito Puente request! Woohoo! It's probably nothing more than a coincidence, but the dance floor was at its busiest during Tres Carnaval-Babarabatiri-El Preso trifecta tonight.
(6) A request for more Colombian and a question, “Do I know a lot of Colombian music?” Ans. not as much as New York or Puerto Rican. For the last week, I have been doing more Merengue research than anything else.
(7) Vish decided to give another guy a shot at DJing - I can't remember for sure if this was the guy who substituted for Vish on a Saturday last month. He started with Valio La Pena (with same fade finish as that Saturday), then Temba Tumba Timba, then a few amorphous unfamiliar tracks, a standard Reggaeton. It is difficult to introduce new songs and get people to like it right away, and it's harder without a built-in reputation of playing good or at least interesting songs most of the time. He was also using an iPod nano along with CDs - not sure if this was his modus operandi. In any case he had to raise the volume level considerably to compensate for compression whether he was using an iPod or his CDs. Not sure but it might have been a practice run for next 2 weeks.
(8) Vish had been requesting this for a while. Why not with the conditions as is?
(9) I had two other Salsa songs ready to be queued (El Cantante Y La Orquesta and No Tires La Primera Piedra), but Vish asked for a Bachata as the early last song of the night. Vish actually wanted Obsesion, which I don't have.
Total 26 songs. 2 Bachata. 24 Salsa including 3 new.
Vish talked about having a troupe organized by Lee and Shelley in May. More info should be forthcoming at the Club Salsa website.
And now there is...
April 3, 2008
I don't think there's much to say except that it was a very enjoyable night. Sergio made an appearance meaning more challenges or at least different type of challenges for Lindsey. Steph returned from Germany meaning I could try any stupid things at whim and still come out smelling like roses. In her second week of dancing after the surgery Polly seems better than ever. Zhenzhi too made a surprise appearance and plotted a makeover on top of a couple of dances. There were lovely dances with Jane, Andrea, Laura and others including a couple of returnees for spring break (or visiting for Spring break in at least one case I think). Haihan, Ed, Richard and Mark were there, and so was Hayden (supposedly his last visit until he comes back from school this summer). In the middle or all this, I had to wonder what on earth Ivan must be doing to miss this convergence of good luck and ensuing fantastic night. For me at least it was better than last week's SOS at all levels - a rarity.
In America Apple has taken over Wal-Mart as the top music seller. In the world where everything revolves around me this makes for interesting news but nothing more. I have never bought music from Apple or Wal-Mart (or for that matter any of the top 10 retailers except for #4 Amazon). I have never bought music by download. It briefly made me wonder if I should be considered a reactionary, technophobe or even a Luddite. I'm increasingly in the minority in buying large number of CDs instead of downloads. Of course at least 95% of CDs I bought over past 3 years were bought online. Also much of what I buy is not available in download form at this time. In reality what I am is one of the mid-late-late adopters in purchasing music source. I don't see using music download until the quality is equivalent to that of CDs and the portable hard disk or equivalent with at least 2000 GB storage space for a laptop computer is mass produced. Then there's the bandwidth issue. I'm guessing that such days are at least 5 years away.
Growth versus Cyclic industry?
2006-2007 company 1
2007-2008 company 1
2007-2008 company 2
I don't think there's much to say except that it was a very enjoyable night. Sergio made an appearance meaning more challenges or at least different type of challenges for Lindsey. Steph returned from Germany meaning I could try any stupid things at whim and still come out smelling like roses. In her second week of dancing after the surgery Polly seems better than ever. Zhenzhi too made a surprise appearance and plotted a makeover on top of a couple of dances. There were lovely dances with Jane, Andrea, Laura and others including a couple of returnees for spring break (or visiting for Spring break in at least one case I think). Haihan, Ed, Richard and Mark were there, and so was Hayden (supposedly his last visit until he comes back from school this summer). In the middle or all this, I had to wonder what on earth Ivan must be doing to miss this convergence of good luck and ensuing fantastic night. For me at least it was better than last week's SOS at all levels - a rarity.
In America Apple has taken over Wal-Mart as the top music seller. In the world where everything revolves around me this makes for interesting news but nothing more. I have never bought music from Apple or Wal-Mart (or for that matter any of the top 10 retailers except for #4 Amazon). I have never bought music by download. It briefly made me wonder if I should be considered a reactionary, technophobe or even a Luddite. I'm increasingly in the minority in buying large number of CDs instead of downloads. Of course at least 95% of CDs I bought over past 3 years were bought online. Also much of what I buy is not available in download form at this time. In reality what I am is one of the mid-late-late adopters in purchasing music source. I don't see using music download until the quality is equivalent to that of CDs and the portable hard disk or equivalent with at least 2000 GB storage space for a laptop computer is mass produced. Then there's the bandwidth issue. I'm guessing that such days are at least 5 years away.
Growth versus Cyclic industry?
2006-2007 company 1
2007-2008 company 1
2007-2008 company 2
No joke
April 1, 2008
Insomnia followed by near narcolepsy. I guess it makes a bizarre sense. No idea if it explains tired eyes or the ridiculous state of my ears; thoroughly irritating or perhaps worse than that. Down down down. While biking down the backs, I ran into Tavs. Even though it was just literally a flyby hello and how are you it cheered me up considerably.
I felt really subpar during the class – mostly because my ears were bothering me a great deal.
Intermediate with Chris and Sally
6,7,1,2,3 CBL into open
5,6,7,1,2,3,5 prepare and lead a double with R-L [note: possibly the best part of the class for me because I think my preparation is much improved]
6,7,1,2,3,5 lead follower to normal CBL with leader facing the same direction throughout from the start then doing a double right turn keeping L-R connection intact until the very last possible moment and switching to R-R after completing the turn [note: I wasn’t managing the double here but my best guess is that leader’s turn would not start until 4 at the earliest. If it’s a single turn, turning on 5 should be enough.]
6,7,1,2,3,5 starting from facing away position and with R-R starting connection and bring follower forward getting R-R over her head and down to back of her waist and making L-L connection in front then absorb follower’s forward momentum and lead her straight backward on 2 then turn under L-L counterclockwise and connect R-R behind follower’s waist/hip [note: At least in my case, I need to resist temptation to give myself a L-L hat at the end of this move]
6,7,1,2,3,5 lead follower to a full clockwise turn starting on 1 allowing her to finish with a step forward on 2 before leading her straight back then leader moving into the line and turning counterclockwise to end facing follower keeping all connections intact throughout [note: Leader should be turning on 3, right? I suppose a quick turn on 4 if follower is a little late is not fatal.]
6,7,1,2,3,5 crossed hold L-L on bottom to start with (?) and Copa start followed by double clockwise turn (does this end up being 2 1/2?) touch-and-go
6,7,1,2,3,5, crossed hold L-L on top to start with and Copa start followed by lead follower to side R then straight back keeping L-L connection low after having it go over initially to initiate Copa thus getting L-L behind follower’s waist
6,7,1,2,3,5 after allowing follower to step back on 6 then immediately lead her forward and to turn counterclockwise to unwind (I think it works to elevate L-L during the unwinding) then continue to lead her into further counterclockwise turn switching to R-L (with a counterclockwise turn in the class, but it might work just fine or be easier without the leader’s turn) and changing orientation to end with R-L wrap
It was probably a good thing that I was able to sit out during the second hour because the first hour worked when it did only because of skills of my partner at the time.
Johnny and Serap showed up for the social. Karil and I were introduced to each other. I made Lindsey dizzy, and Nicola made me dizzy in response.
Insomnia followed by near narcolepsy. I guess it makes a bizarre sense. No idea if it explains tired eyes or the ridiculous state of my ears; thoroughly irritating or perhaps worse than that. Down down down. While biking down the backs, I ran into Tavs. Even though it was just literally a flyby hello and how are you it cheered me up considerably.
I felt really subpar during the class – mostly because my ears were bothering me a great deal.
Intermediate with Chris and Sally
6,7,1,2,3 CBL into open
5,6,7,1,2,3,5 prepare and lead a double with R-L [note: possibly the best part of the class for me because I think my preparation is much improved]
6,7,1,2,3,5 lead follower to normal CBL with leader facing the same direction throughout from the start then doing a double right turn keeping L-R connection intact until the very last possible moment and switching to R-R after completing the turn [note: I wasn’t managing the double here but my best guess is that leader’s turn would not start until 4 at the earliest. If it’s a single turn, turning on 5 should be enough.]
6,7,1,2,3,5 starting from facing away position and with R-R starting connection and bring follower forward getting R-R over her head and down to back of her waist and making L-L connection in front then absorb follower’s forward momentum and lead her straight backward on 2 then turn under L-L counterclockwise and connect R-R behind follower’s waist/hip [note: At least in my case, I need to resist temptation to give myself a L-L hat at the end of this move]
6,7,1,2,3,5 lead follower to a full clockwise turn starting on 1 allowing her to finish with a step forward on 2 before leading her straight back then leader moving into the line and turning counterclockwise to end facing follower keeping all connections intact throughout [note: Leader should be turning on 3, right? I suppose a quick turn on 4 if follower is a little late is not fatal.]
6,7,1,2,3,5 crossed hold L-L on bottom to start with (?) and Copa start followed by double clockwise turn (does this end up being 2 1/2?) touch-and-go
6,7,1,2,3,5, crossed hold L-L on top to start with and Copa start followed by lead follower to side R then straight back keeping L-L connection low after having it go over initially to initiate Copa thus getting L-L behind follower’s waist
6,7,1,2,3,5 after allowing follower to step back on 6 then immediately lead her forward and to turn counterclockwise to unwind (I think it works to elevate L-L during the unwinding) then continue to lead her into further counterclockwise turn switching to R-L (with a counterclockwise turn in the class, but it might work just fine or be easier without the leader’s turn) and changing orientation to end with R-L wrap
It was probably a good thing that I was able to sit out during the second hour because the first hour worked when it did only because of skills of my partner at the time.
Johnny and Serap showed up for the social. Karil and I were introduced to each other. I made Lindsey dizzy, and Nicola made me dizzy in response.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)