From Mariana Trench To Himalayas

July 13, 2008

Oh s**t! My first dance partner suggested dancing On2, and she was really good. Aside from a couple of time slip-ups I was credible. Is this another one of those “peak way too early and be miserable at the end of the evening” type of night?

Wrong. There were several dances even better scattered throughout the night. It was in fact one of the best SOS night for me in a very long time – by far the best of this year. There were about equal number of great On1 and On2 dances. If I had to choose, I would have to give On2 a slight advantage. I would have to give one of the On2 dances a top 10 rating for all time. I felt so on fire that I even asked Eva for a dance for the penultimate dance of the night – and did a passable job – be able to hang as some might say.

D**m! It did occur to me that while I was trying to avoid ending the week really low, but what I was looking for a mild improvement to build upon rather than have one of the best evenings of the year tonight. Hopefully it will last a while and not drop precipitously within another night or two of dancing. Pretty much the only thing I could complain about all night was that a speaker was blaring loudly into one of the area to cool off.

I think the trouble was that I was so shocked by the difficulties earlier in the week that having a more favourable environment – presumably combination of better spacious floor, easier generally slower music and followers in better form – got me really excited and exuberant. At the very least, I think I successfully dispelled any notion that I might have regressed significantly in last couple of months.

The evening was also notable for seeing Marianne for the first time in a long time. I also ran into Johnny, Rico and Liam. At the start of the evening I thought I spotted Justin and Yanqing – instructors for Agnes back in Singapore. I wanted to go say hello to them, but they disappeared within half an hour or so after my arrival. Presumably they’re on a European trip coinciding with the Hamburg Congress.

The DJ was Sylvester. Unlike last time, he played a large number of pleasant songs. Even his second-rate covers were reasonably good. A nice Cal Tjader (Philadelphia Mambo?) here, good Louie Ramirez (Geisha Girl) there, less often heard but still good Tito Puente (Mambo Diablo?) here, Machito (Tanga) there, etc goes a long way to establish firm footing for dancing in my opinion.

Even the train schedule was favourable. The 11:15 train back to Cambridge was rescheduled for 11:25 instead so I was able to enjoy the last dance of the evening, which did not start until 11. To make an effort to be extra efficient this weekend, I took my laptop to SOS to work on various write-ups including a draft for this post.