Meeting Terence

September 27, 2008

2 PM to 4 PM Drill Hall, London – near Goodge Street underground station.

I missed the 12:15 PM train, which might have enabled me to run some errands at Oxford Circus before the class started. So with a slower 12:30 PM train, I went directly to Drill Hall. At the front desk, I asked for Terence Levine (pronouncing it to rhyme with vine) and was corrected (rhyming with bin). Room 3, second floor.

Four men were in the narrow corridor outside the room, which was still occupied. I picked out Terence as the oldest gentleman. I recognized Andrew. The third I learned later was Matt from Bath. The fourth was waiting for a different room. Then another two people arrived – one of them in our group. It felt claustrophobic. I went back to the stairs, and waited until the room was cleared.

It wasn’t clear what the previous occupant were doing. I only remember there being a blonde woman (by herself?) and no one standing or moving. The fifth guy (not in our group) went into the room at the same time as the rest of us. One of the early arrivals carried in a portable CD player. I guessed that the piano in the room would not get used – you never know for certain.

First impressions of Terence. Other than his obvious age, I would have trouble picking him out in a roundup. I thought the photo on DJ Yuca’s article was only mildly helpful – at least from my memory. Unusual haircut – especially on the back. It reminded me that I am way overdue for a haircut. In any case, I wouldn’t say that he had the most memorable face – not particularly distinctive or striking. Well preserved.

Four more people arrived a little later – three of them girls. That’s not too bad – especially given that Salsa internet forums are dominated by men – unlike the Salsa world in general (Ballroom internet forums are another matter). A group of three including DJ Yuca were from Leicester. This meant that the Londoners were distinct minority here. Amusing but perhaps not surprising.

The class was fairly fast-paced and dealt mostly with basic steps of many different dances. First up was Bolero, which reminded me of Ballroom Rumba – but not quite so stiff. It made me think that such basic step can be quite flexible and used in rather large number of musical settings. Not necessarily optimal but not necessarily completely out of character either. Next up was Danzon box step quickly leading to Mambo box step to forward and back basic to give it all a historic context.

Next up was cross-over (a.k.a. New Yorker), which is seen rarely in social Salsa dancing although common enough in Cha Cha. Arguably the segment, which came closest to a turn pattern, came around here starting with cross-over, followed by back spot turn (or stationary clockwise turn for follower) followed by what was called scallop.

Terence suggested that scallop does require that follower be aware of the move meaning it’s probably not leadable for someone unaware of it. Of course there is lead involved. I thought the footwork timing might be slightly easier with On2 timing, but I don’t think this was the case with follower I had at the time (who was not used to On2 timing in the first place).

Footwork for leader is as follows. On1 timing in this case…

7 R to R somewhat wide and establish two-handed open hold
1 L cross over in front of R
3 L cross over behind R
5 R cross over behind L
6 L slightly to L
7 R together or at least change weight to R

I won’t bother with On2 timing – obvious enough for me. On to follower’s footwork (which the leader leads her into, helped if she knows what she's supposed to do)…

1 R cross over behind L
2 weight transfer to L
3 R cross over in front of L
5 L cross over in front of R
6 R to R
7 L together

So it’s essentially mirror image footwork. The lead is done with both hand connected. It’s really more of frame lead of course, rather than leading with arms.

Dancing on the Clave was funky. This involves dancing outside the bars of music – or you get back to the original position after 6 bars of music. Too little time was spent to see how it would feel.

Last or near the end was the distinction between Guajira and Cha Cha. One is On1 and the other is On2. I actually missed the distinction because I could hear where the cha-cha-cha steps should be coming based upon the beats with Guajira music Terence used. However, it seemed that this was because I was not paying attention to the melody.

There were fair bit of technical stuff in terms of holds, being grounded, etc. For me specifically Terence observed that I was dancing on balls of my feet often without getting my heels down completely to complete the steps. He also noted that I must have become very accustomed to doing it this way and that changing it would take a long time. I’d imagine he would have an interesting reaction to how Ivan does it. In any case, I’d want to change it before I could change it. It’s something to think about.

It was an interesting experience. Would I do it again? Probably. Is the whole thing financially viable for Terence? I have no answer to that. My natural tendency is to be conservative in anyone’s ability to raise interest level. Maybe youtube video shot by DJ Yuca (unfortunately shot vertically) will help.