Nelson Flores and Veronica Castillo at Club Salsa

May 23, 2008

It would seem that a significant support came from the Spanish-speaking community. Nelson seemed to be just as happy talking and dancing with Hispanics as much as anything else. It was a nice reminder that Salsa is a Latin dance. It was also pretty cool seeing him dance according to what was comfortable for his partner. It's not like there's anything to prove.

Nelson and Veronica's dance had great emphasis on deft footwork - the speed and intricateness well beyond seen in the UK or for that matter from visitors from the USA to various European congresses. If you weren't looking at their footwork (it may have helped for more people to observe this by having people in the front row sit down), you missed half of the spectacle. Also the movements they made otherwise, fitting it with the music (Cuban Fantasy by the way), execution, etc, were also more intricate compared to most garden variety Salsa shows.

There must have been something akin to a birthday dance for Nelson with every willing girl taking turns dancing with him. I was dancing elsewhere so I didn't see how it went. He broke a sweat - I did see that much afterwards.

Last tidbit. Joe introduced Nelson as a young man - same as his age.

It was very crowded. Not as many people showed up from the expected crowd. Sergio for one got stuck at work late. It was rather difficult to find people because of crowding. I think I figured out who the European friends were, and I danced once with one of them. It was nice - a highlight of the night for the dance-wise. It seemed like no one else really paid attention to them - shame. Joe gave the DJ duty to Vish to dance with her to a couple of songs before they departed.

Another tidbit. Joe seemed a little confused at the end of the show. He asked, "No competition?" when Vish called for music. At the time I thought he was talking about costume competition. However, it might have been about the London Latinfest Salsa championship heat. I'm really unsure because it wasn't advertised at all outside the Latin Nation magazine. I guess I could ask who might have entered - rhetorically because I'm not going to try to answer that one.

By the time I got to the DJ booth, it was well past midnight. Nelson, Veronica, Joe and his European friends were all gone.

Playlist

Debo Pensar - Toque D' Keda (1)
Ritmo Tambo Y Flores - Javier Vazquez (Sonora Matancera?)
Ven A Medellin - Grupo Gale
Celoso - Sonora Poncena*
Vamos A Reir Un Poco - Ocho Y Mas
Paz - Orquesta Flamboyan con Frankie Dante
Lindo Yambu - Santiago Ceron
Geisha Girl - Louie Ramirez
Mary - Joe Arroyo
Trombon Criollo - Cachao (2)
Solo Se Que Tiene Nombre De Mujer - Angel Canales
El Abaniquito - Pucho and His Latin Soul Brothers
Ojala Que Llueve Café - Juan Luis Guerra
I Wanna Love You - Pablo Bachata
Son Malas - Rey Reyes (3)
Clasiquiendo Con Ruben - Afro Cuban All Stars
Ole Gitana - Ismael Miranda & Junior Gonzalez
Isla Del Encanto - Orquesta Broadway
Abuelita - Willie Colon
Eque Tumbao - Jose Curbelo*
Torero - Orquesta Guayacan
Soulsa - Estrellas Caiman
Canto Al Amor - Sonora Poncena (4)
Tu Son - Oscar D'Leon (5)
Aguacero - El Gran Combo (6)
En El Balcon - Tito Rodriguez
Cuando Te Vea - Spanish Harlem Orchestra
Woman De Callao - Juan Luis Guerra*
Te Extrano - Extreme
Cuando Se Una Enamorado - Bobby Valentin
Night In Tunisia - Sonora Poncena
Perdoname - Gilberto Santa Rosa (7)

(1) I had about a minute to pick a song, and Vish was still clearing space. Bachata was playing and I couldn't think of a Salsa starter I liked quickly enough.
(2) Maybe this is no longer considered weird by the mainstream Cambridge.
(3) Not sure if Cristian wanted to DJ tonight. I thought I heard something to that effect, but it might have been just my imagination. It never came about.
(4) Dance floor is clearing up a bit so I danced to this one. I'd say it started clearing noticeably somewhere between Abuelita and Eque Tumbao. I thought Mark was gone by now but he was still there.
(5) Shila "challenged" me to play something conventional and popular next. I more or less ignored him playing what I was going to play next. The next song did happen to be fairly conventional and arguably popular.
(6) Shila asked me if I had played this before. With the search function in my blog I could find out fairly easily. March 21, 2008. September 13, 2007. March 30, 2007. So this is the fourth time, and I had the album and the song since around January 2007.
(7) It was an earlier request from Mark - although he would have preferred the live version.

Total = 32 songs. 2 Merengue including 1 new. 3 Bachata. 28 Salsa including 2 new. I ended up not playing quite a lot of songs I considered playing all week long because it didn't seem appropriate - for example I scrapped Cuban Fantasy after hearing the music for the showcase.