Everyone Else Or Me

August 23, 2008

Latinfest Bank Holiday Scala generally gets insanely crowded. I reasoned that going in addition to or instead of Sunday party might be more fun. I thought less crowding and higher proportion of good dancers – or at least the performer contingent. Thus I said no to Vish trying to talk me into his mini-bus. At the Friday party, there was only 1 spot left so I don’t think it would be a problem for him. I wouldn’t be surprised if more than one person were to make an inquiry between Friday and Sunday morning.

I did not even bother trying to talk Sergio into the trip - too many negative responses and no shows. Ever since Mimmi and Cyrille departed for greener pastures, what used to be a fairly large group of people I hung out with in the Cambridge scene has lost interest, etc. It might have affected people outside the inner group also although reasons for people dropping out of the scene are no doubt manifold. Sooner or later, everyone will disappear including me.

I arrived shortly after the social started. I purchased a two-night party pass. It was more crowded than I had anticipated. Apparently there was large Irish contingent. Going by Joe’s description from one of his announcements and advertisements during the showcases, many of the Irish people were here last year as well, but many did not stay for the bigger Sunday party under false assumptions. As I commented to Richard early on, the size of the crowd was just about right – not too empty and not too crowded at the peak hours.

Unfortunately for me the crowd density was about the only right thing about the evening. For much of the evening, I felt there was poor connection between me and my dance partners. On2 was significantly worse than On1 – probably the worst On2 night for me in several months. In many cases, I thought the timing of my partners were off – with caveat that with so many problems, one is led to wonder if it’s them or me. My left index finger still feels sore. Too many people are putting too much pressure on it. Maybe it should be rested. Perhaps I should have been more selective. In general I felt out of touch.

The music was in many parts tortuous. There were very many fast songs without decent number of partners I would have found pleasant dancing with at such speed. Many of the songs had poor sound quality or nothing interesting at any level. Figuring out the timing for some of the songs was extremely difficult. In many cases, I had to wonder who would like these songs for dancing. The choice of Cha Cha songs was bad in my opinion (actually I have the same poor opinion about the entire London Cha Cha scene) when there are so many good ones that do not get much play.

For whatever its worth, notable Salsa songs I heard tonight included Titoro (Bobby Montez), Hong Kong (Michi Sarmiento). Other songs included Avisale A Mi Contrario and En El Balcon (Tito Rodriguez), Asi Se Componene Un Son (Ismael Miranda – older slower version), El Menu (El Gran Combo), El Cantante (Hector Lavoe version?), La Esencia Del Guaguanco (Johnny Pacheco), La Pantera Mambo (La 33), La Palomilla (Joe Cuba Sextet), Acid (Ray Barretto), Mujer Erotica (Tito Rodriguez Jr), and unknown covers of songs like Tumba El Quinto. Most of the familiar songs came either very early in the evening or very late into the night. The selections were generally on the more obscure and difficult side.

I considered staying overnight in London for the Sunday night. It was raining outside, and I didn’t feel like wandering around until hotel receptions started opening. Back to Cambridge then.