To be finished later

May 30, 2008

I think Vish commented, "You are in dancing mood." Not exactly. Connections with pretty much all my partners up to that point were rather dismal and I thought I was struggling mightily. It was rather shocking to get asked to dance with a new girl and hear her ask me how I became so good considering on a what seemed to be an off-form night. It wasn't like there were no other good leads around. There was a guy from North London named Sam, who could do some stuff and was listening to the music while dancing.

It seemed like neither Joe nor I were in the mood to DJ. When I arrived at 10:30, Vish was deejaying - possibly with assistance from Shila. I wondered if Joe had left already or such, but he was still there and stayed behind to dance for quite a while. I wasn't exactly in dancing mood, but I guess I was in even less of deejaying mood. The longer it went, more determined I was to keep it going until I couldn't deal with it all anymore. Such moment arrived when La Salsa Nunca Se Acaba was played for the second time. It happened some time between midnight and 1 AM.

I left behind my song list elsewhere. I'm going to have to finish this later. Here's the list, more or less.

Playlist (to be confirmed later)

No Quiero Na Regala'o - Gilberto Santa Rosa
Fantasia Cubana - German Villarreal
Gotas De Lluvia - El Gran Combo
Llego El Sabor - Oscar D'Leon & Jose Alberto "El Canario" (-4%)
Me Enamorado De Ella - Juan Luis Guerra
No Me Resigno - Toque D Keda
Mentirosa - Louie Ramirez & Ray De La Paz
Esta Cobardia - Frankie Ruiz
Hong Kong Mambo - Tito Puente
Los Caminos De La Vida - Ismael Miranda & Junior Gonzalez
Rompe - Daddy Yankee
El Costo De La Vida A Pedir Su Mano - Juan Luis Guerra* (1)
Lamento Boliviano - Toque D Keda
Te Conozco Bien - Marc Anthony*
Tocate - Toque D Keda
A La Yumbae - Tommy Olivencia
Ven Tu - Domenic Marte
Otra Oportunidad - Jimmy Bosch
Perdoname - Gilberto Santa Rosa (2)

(1) At this point, Vish said it's a Reggaeton and Merengue crowd. I respectfully disagreed although I didn't voice it. I simply decided to do a rotation of 1 Reggaeton, 1 Merengue, 1 Bachata and 1 Salsa. I suppose I might not have done a repeat immediately afterwards without Vish's statement.
(2) And I broke out of that 1,1,1,1 cycle done in duplicate by playing a second Salsa in a row just before 2 AM. Actually there was quite a large crowd left over at this point happily dancing on the main floor. Vish decided that it was worth his business to keep it going after I left.

To be completed later… [after corrections made: so I don't know my Merengue very well.]

Total = 19 songs. 3 Merengue including 1 new. 3 Bachata. 2 Reggaeton. 11 Salsa including 1 new.

How 'bout a slow one?

May 29, 2008

Rainy week.

It's getting a bit difficult to find inspiration to write. I could complain about the music - mainly for being relentlessly fast. Vish was the main DJ with Sally departing fairly early. This is not same as saying that the songs were not good because there were plenty of good songs. They were just all very fast - just the way Vish likes, fast and exciting with lotsa drum action.

Tres Dias De Carnaval 199-205 bpm
Anacaona 185-199 bpm
La Palomilla 198-203 bpm
Nina Y Senora 193-186 bpm
Avisale A Mi Contrario 211-216 bpm
Rumbon Melon 199-200+ bpm
Un Verano En New York 204-221 bpm

The only song from the list above that I would qualify as medium speed is Nina Y Senora, which was the last song of the night, and probably Anacaona. Most songs played were at high 190s to 200+ bpm by my estimation. Many and possibly all of the songs were slowed down (1.5% would bring 200 bpm down to 197 bpm and 4% would bring 200 bpm down to 192 bpm), but a better alternative would have been more high quality slower songs.

All the dances were done on the wood floor part of the club. My footwork often seems to mesh better or is more comfortable with On2 timing. Stepping through all the beats with On1 timing is often more of a struggle. I think I had only one On2 dance, which is less than what Ivan had. I decided to give Ivan some excuses for the way he danced for trying to get accustomed to On2 timing. It was particularly amusing to see him start one dance with On1 timing, then switch to On2 mid-way, then finish with On1 timing. Been there, done that, know the feeling.

I think it's going to be one of those weekends. Inevitably.

Next big item for CS. Tony Lara number 7.

Late night Scala post

May 25, 2008

By the last dance of the night with Polly, which by the way happened to be the only dance I had with Cambridge-associated person all night, I felt quite listless. Strange because I probably danced less than usual and without expending much energy all night long; my shirt was fully tucked in still at the end of the night at 4 AM. I wasn't exactly tired unlike say Polly and Andrea, who were complaining of being dead tired when I met them at the entrance of Scala shortly after 11 PM having been through the all-day long workshops like all of the Cambridge folks who came with Vish. Constitution is not exactly the issue here - I don't think being at work 10 hours earlier in the day affected anything either. Now if it were 12 to 14 hours of higher intensity variety it would be another story.

The real reason likely was because I felt I peaked quite early - most of the best dances came during the first 10 dances or so. As matter of fact some of them were so good that I knew right away that things could only go downhill from there. After the first hour and half or so, I thought I had already exceeded my prediction for today made back on Thursday. For the most part the best dances happened with people I already knew and were friendly with although I don’t' even know the names of most of them. Chances are even the ones I know the names of will be remembered more for how I met them or such - e.g. I might think of one as CTU or for Ahora Si, another as really friendly Nordic curly blonde from SOS and Scala, another as the one who moved to Oxford, or a new one who probably will be remembered for her ecstatic responses followed by repeated excuses to say goodbye to her friends.

Even though it was a fairly crowded night - although not a record-breaking one - the number of prospective dance partners felt quite limited. There were a lot of people, whom I would like to have danced with, but quite a number of them were avoiding the floor because of overcrowding. Scala has a lot of air space, but its main dance floor below the stage really needs to be two or three times larger than it is to properly accommodate 1000-2000 people. I think large late-night parties with the number of stars and wanna-be stars like tonight and having good amount of space to go along with it is difficult to achieve in London.

As usual many of the performers for tonight were less than full participants on the social floor. I imagine most of them are used to having a lot more space than is available at Scala when it's busy. Still there were many more of them visible on the social dancing floor than usual (e.g. Mauro & Eva, Helen, Albert, Miguel & Mayana, Niko & Annette, Mel C, Moe, Marchant & Davina, Shelley (but not Lee), Fritha, Laith, etc). I think the foreign visitors from Europe probably had the biggest trouble with the venue getting bumped by neighboring dancers etc. I stated European because Veronica, who is American seemed quite in control - at least when I happened to look at her direction (I think she also had no trouble at even more crowded Club Salsa as long as people didn't actually crash into her).

The showcases were broken into four groupings. The power group was the third one with Osbanis solo show followed by Ye Mambo followed by Nelson & Veronica. Of those, Nelson & Flores was the big ticket of course, but I actually felt that their show at Club Salsa on Friday was more fun to watch even though the execution and intricateness was still of very high standard. It might have been the angle because I was stuck on the side of the stage rather than in front of it as was the case for all other groupings. Vish interestingly said he liked the Friday show more as well in our conversation on the way back. The show I liked best of all night was the one by HP & Stefanie, which had a heavy shade of Tango influence. The rest ranged from pretty good to boring to a bit embarrassing.

It's a small world and the Salsa scene feels like it's getting smaller. I don't mean that it's getting less popular but that I seem to recognize more and more people and be recognized in turn by surprising number of people - even by people I have had minimal interactions with.

Music played tonight included Primoro Cantar, Ay Amor Cuando Hablan Las Miradas, La-La-La (Curbelo version), Swing A La Moderna (Mandingo version?), Fantasia Cubana?, Tu Amor Hace Bien, Salsa Y Control, En El Balcon?, Guaguanco Del Gran Combo, Hace Tiempo?, Rumbon Melon, La Palomilla, Geisha Girl (or similar???), El Matrimonio.

I had two or three On2 dances. Probably two. The earlier one complained that she couldn't follow me. No such problems with the second one, which was a highlight of the second half of the evening. I had danced multiple times with three different partners. I don't know if that's a record, but it's quite unusual. Obviously none were with Cambridge folks as I only had one such dance all night as I mentioned earlier. Yeah, definitely unusual. I'm sure there was never more than one or two with non-Cambridge people and zero is also quite common. Aside from the night peaking too early (not counting the repeat dances), it was a pretty good night.

I had a pseudo-spontaneous burst of laughter, which might have been noticed. It was very amusing but it might have been all in my head.

No heat once again.

Apparently Vish paid for my entry (to be paid back by me later) but did not inform me about it. I guess that's an extra £10 or £12 for Joe.

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.

Unexpected great night before the big night

May 22, 2008

I was expecting a short night. I was wrong. I am glad.

I bet quite a few people were expecting the same. No Ivan. No Sergio. No Liam. Quite a few people are still affected by exams, etc. There were three guys who could lead On2 - me, Mark and this big London guy who had been here on Thursdays several times long time ago - maybe a year ago? I don't think Ed was there, but I can't remember for sure. Otherwise, all the other leads were mostly nameless to me aside from Demetrios, Steve, Ian and a couple of others I'll refrain from naming (in some case because I can't even remember for sure that they were there or not). On the follower's side, it was another story. Lindsey, Nicola, Jane, Charlotte, Polly, Annette, Caroline, Clara, and several others made up one of the best lineup of 2008.

Sally's music choice was one of the better ones in recent memory. Listing of songs I know really does not do justice, but here are the ones I know - La Cura & Puerto Rico by Frankie Ruiz, La Sombra by Angel Canales, Aguzate by Riche Ray & Bobby Cruz, Delta Mambo by Cache, Quince Anos by El Gran Combo, La Llave by Grupo Latin Vibe, Don Astacio by Javier Vazquez, Juana Pena by Willie Colon. That's not a bad list, but I think it was the songs I did not know as well and the sequence of the songs that made it nice. Maybe having fewer really fast songs helped too.

In any case, the social lasted until nearly midnight - well past expected. I think I had five On2 dances and all but the last one was done non-consecutively. As far as not getting confused by all the switching back and forth between On1 and On2, there has never been a better night for me thus far. There were some really nice dances too. It was all so very much that I became worried about peaking too early this weekend. As a matter of fact, I fully expect Friday to be slightly worse for me dance-wise (after all, I'll be DJing part of the time) and Sunday to be at best marginally better. Any higher expectation is liable to disappoint, and I might become disappointed anyway.

Somewhat busy

May 16, 2008

Pretty good turnout by recent standards - biggest beginner class or something like that according to Vish. There were some new people who could dance Salsa a little too. Andrea was there once again; I had a couple of interesting dances with her. Ditto for Sharon. Lorraine was there. She now has a permanent position in Cambridge. Zeynap was a surprise show – probably for the last time ever as she had her final viva today. She was looking for On2 dancers, but there weren’t any tonight (I didn’t dance On2 tonight).

One of Joe’s last song before I took over was a remix of Es La Musica. Amusing.

Playlist

Cuando Te Vea – German Villarreal
Me Voy Pa Cali – Oscar D’Leon
En La Casa De Mi Compay – Javier Vazquez (Sonora Matancera)*
El Entierro Del Feo – Ray Barretto
Tu Nuevo Amor – Ismael Miranda & Junior Gonzalez*
Tito’s Colada – Tito Puente*
Visa Para Un Sueno – Juan Luis Guerra*
Senora – Domenic Marte
La Muerte – El Gran Combo
Salsa Y Control – Lebron Brothers
Pa Los Salseros – Cachaco*
Yo Soy La Rumba – Machito featuring Graciela & Marcelino Guerra* (-3%)

break (1)

Quitate La Mascara – Ray Barretto
El Apartamento – Willie Rosario
Solo Se Que Tiene Nombre De Mujer – Angel Canales* (2)
Dejate Querer – Jose Alberto “El Canario”
Hong Kong – Michi Sarmiento and Sus Bravos
El Pito – Isidro Infante (3)
Primoroso Cantar – Johnny Pacheco & Pete “El Conde” Rodriguez*
Sandra – Angel Canales*
Paris Mambo – Tito Puente & Eddie Palmieri (-10%)
Los Ejes De Mi Carreta – Ray Barretto*

(1) Perhaps Vish likes to take over when there are a lot of people dancing. I'm not sure if playing Merengue early was a factor. Tonight he went El Gran Combo heavy and played for quite long time. I wasn’t necessarily expecting to go back when I did fairly late into the night as things were winding down. I was a little short on time so I first played a Bachata CD Vish had first.
(2) I danced to this one expecting the floor to clear. Nope. It led to a renaissance or a final gasp of crowd to the dance floor.
(3) Slowly thing are petering out. It seems to be that my attempts at pandering doesn't work very well.

Total = 22 songs. 1 “new” Merengue. 1 Bachata. 20 Salsa including 10 new. That was a lot less Merengue and Bachata than I had expected to play until Vish took over earlier than expected. It’s a lot more new songs than I had expected to play. I danced to two of my songs – Yo Soy La Rumba with Andrea and Solo Se Que Tiene Nombre De Mujer with Sharon.

More beer than usual too. One Bachata. Hmm. I don't really dance much Bachata these days. Maybe I should thank Daniella for that. I suppose Tony & Daniella's next visit will lead to another spurt.

It comes down to...

May 15, 2008

I think the difference between last week and this week might have been Clara, Charlotte, Annette and friends being replaced by Andrea and Liam. Jane stayed much longer this time along with Mark. Liam and Andrea are done with their exam and/or school. Everything else was pretty much the same - maybe the party went a little longer, and Ivan had his shirt change a little later in the evening compared to last week. I had one more On2 dance compared to last week. Sergio was there too - the convergence of Sergio, Liam and Ivan all together was a rarity; then again it probably will happen again next Friday with Nelson Flores and all.

Sally played more than usual number of slower or medium-paced songs. I liked it as it gave me more options - dancing with beginners, etc. It's easier to dance with better followers when the songs are slower. Well… maybe easier is not the right word, but I prefer it these days. Who knows if this will change once again. My legs felt a bit tired - perhaps due to slightly less sleep and more work than usual. Periodico De Ayer never felt so fast - perhaps because it was On2 this time or perhaps because the general tendency was for not to many fast songs comparatively speaking.

Memory test

May 9, 2008

I arrived while the cool-down track Playa No More was being played. I noticed that Cristian was substituting for Joe and Vish signalling me to put on a song to start the social. I had a little under 2 minutes – something of a surprise but not too bad.

Playlist

La-La-La – Direct Latin Influence
Nunca Que Quedas – Frankie Ruiz (1)
Tu Musica Popular – Don Perignon
El Menu – El Gran Combo
Una Aventura – Grupo Niche
Swing A La Moderna – Mandingo Y Su Son
Ay Amor, Cuando Hablan Las Miradas - Orquesta Guayacan
Tu No Me Hay Visto Miguel – Sonora Matancera (Javier Vazquez)* (2)

break (3)

Ritmo Tambo Y Flores – Sonora Matancera (Javier Vazquez)*
Ban Ban – Joe Arroyo (-5%)
Tambo La Rumba – Grupo Caribe
Miye Na We – Africando
Me Enamorado De Ella – Juan Luis Guerra* (4)
Musica Ligera – Toque D’ Keda
El Hueso De Maria – Tito Rodriguez
Night In Tunisia – Sonora Poncena
Tu Amor Hace Bien – Marc Anthony
Bamboleate – Louie Ramirez
Que Pasa Contigo – Wilie Rosario
Ven Morena – Orquesta Aragon*
Merengue Del Pichoncito – Sonora Matancera (Javier Vazquez)*
Playa Fa Sho – Toby Love
Lejos De Ti – Son Boricua
Ole Gitana – Ismael Rivera & Junior Gonzalez*

(1) I opted to forgo playing very slow songs first tonight and go instead with slow-medium songs for extended time.
(2) Early break. I cancelled the next 3 songs planned, two of which were not played at all. I did get a chance to dance to this one, however.
(3) Vish started off with La Salsa Nunca Se Acaba followed by Rumbon Melon followed by another song I recognized but cannot recall anymore [note added later - I think it was Mujer Erotica]. I think Vish played 3 or 4 songs before Cristian took over. He started with a Merengue then a Bachata then Nina Y Senora, Lloraras, Soledad (La 33). Next up were bunch of Salsa, Merengue and Bachata I didn’t know well. He finished with Trucutu.
(4) It’s not a big Salsa crowd tonight.
(5) Vish called for Merengue as I was about to start the previous song (Ven Morena) with this song queued next. So I was able to tell him that I have it covered.

Total 24 songs. 2 Merengue, both new. 2 Bachata. 20 Salsa including 4 new.

When I was about to start writing this entry (next day), I couldn’t find the sheet I used to write down the order of the songs. So I tried to remember the songs by memory. As I was about to leave home, I found the sheet so I was able to check my memory before completing the entry. I got the first 4 songs correct. I scrambled the order of next 3 songs before getting the last song before the break correct. After the break, I had the first 2 songs correct before misplacing the next one (Tambo La Rumba) into the position of Que Pasa Contigo, which I completely forgot about. Beyond it, I remembered everything else correctly. Not too bad, but I think writing it down is definitely better.

A little more beer than usual. A little more watching than usual. A little more dancing than usual for Fridays not counting the “special” evening with out of town visitors. By the time Vish took over for the second time, Salsa dancing seemed to be winding down. I can’t remember if he played any Salsa second time around. He did play a 15-minute Merengue medley, which he stopped after about 6-7 minutes and switched over to a Reggaeton CD. After a bit of Reggaeton, I slipped in another of Vish’s CD containing a pair of songs by Shakira (not Hips Don’t Lie though – that’s like a cliché now) before taking off.

Talking about visiting celebs

May 8, 2008

Sergio was there early talking with Vish about Hamburg when I arrived. The topic changed to Nelson Flores coming to CS in about two weeks (on May 23) just as Ivan arrived, which prompted Ivan to reminisce about his old offhand comment about bringing Eddie Torres and Frankie Martinez to Cambridge; Nelson Flores would be pretty close in calibre. Apparently Joe Davids was talking about bringing along some dancers from the continent as well - not sure about their identity. None of us knew much about the background of the partner Nelson was bringing - Veronica Castillo. I suppose it's the nature of the Salsa business - far fewer renown women compared to men. Then it was about Ivan getting the position he applied for some weeks ago meaning he will be here indefinitely and moving to a bigger place.

The social dancing was on the quiet side - hardly anyone came aside from people taking the classes (or teaching classes) although there were a couple of followers I hadn't seen in several months or more. It was interesting watching some of the people dancing after their Scala stint. I wasn't feeling particularly inspired - somewhat less sleep than usual lately and still smarting a little from the elbow at the Scala. Pretty much all dances went as about expected except the ones with Charlotte seemed to stretch boundaries more than it has for a while - possibly because she was dancing more than usual before I got around to asking her. We called it a night a bit earlier than usual.

Large number of On2 dances at Scala

May 4, 2008

I was next to last to arrive – about 5 minutes late. Vish’s mini bus was full – about 5 people tried to book last minute without avail. I was to act as Vish’s guide, but I thought he did just fine finding my route on the way in. Despite a slightly later departure time and a queue outside Scala, we arrived on time for lessons for the first time – maybe missing about first 5 minutes or so of the Salsa class.

In my case, I opted to check out the Lambada class instead. I had planned to watch the proceedings only but was dragged into the class by the instructors under the plea that they needed more leads. It was interesting and not exactly easy especially taking into consideration the kind of body movements the instructors were incorporating into basic steps and into spins. Having now years of experiences in leading was helpful, but an essentially mirror-image basic ET steps but with Palladium timing for basic forward-and-back step was a bit confusing. I did not stay after the lessons.

Aside from the mini bus contingent, there had to be more than 5 from Cambridge. Jane met us at Scala after arriving via train – a direct train will always beat a car to Kings Cross. Shila plus one also joined us on the queue. Although I did not get around to say hello, Sebastian and Kate were there. Steve as expected was there too. There was at least one more guy, who I think has been quite diligent and gentlemanly in learning Salsa and totally undeserving of the label “2” (as in sequel to another) in my opinion (hint: Rob...).

For the most part, On1 was a bit disappointing tonight. A follow, who was at one second nearly half meter away, managed to elbow my chin with her full weight behind her. I think that was the third dance of the evening, and it made me wary about asking strangers for the rest of the evening. For me at least On1 was more fun on Friday at CS. On2 was a different story though. Not counting Cha Cha, I must have managed more than 6 On2 dances. It started somewhat weakly because I wasn’t mentally prepared, but it improved quite a bit by the time I danced with Johanna and especially Helen (finally!). The one with Helen in particular was my best first-time On2 dance with a new partner by a long shot no doubt helped by familiarity with the music and a great compatible partner.

An interesting change from recent experiences and/or opinions was that I found dancing with instructor-type or performer-types more enjoyable or more comfortable – at least for tonight. Aside from Johanna and Helen who had the third showcase slot tonight, I snuck in a dance with Andrea Stewart once again – for the most comfortable On1 dance of the evening. Ditto for Colleen at the very end just before departure – I think she showed up very late. Maybe I could have asked Miriam finally if she weren’t occupied pretty much all the time I spotted her.

The music tonight was amusing once again for high percentage of songs I recognized and more. Quite a few songs I played on Friday and included on tonight’s iPod playlist for the drive were played at Scala. This despite the fact that I was choosing quite a lot of very slow songs Friday night and that I was choosing many songs to suit Vish (or the driver’s) taste.

Songs played included Hay Craneo (TR), Que Bueno Baila Usted (OD), Satin and Lace (TR probably), Swing A La Moderna (MySS), La-La-La (Curbelo and DLI versions), El Matrimonio, Malaguena Salerosa, Siguelo (version?), Merecumbe (JC), Tu Amor Me Hace Bien, Fuego En El 23, Hacha Y Machete (ADLF), La Palomilla, El Apartamento, Nina Y Senora, Cao Cao Mani Picao (version unknown), Agua Del Clavelito (version unknown but Vish has it), and more. There was a song that was played twice but I can’t remember what it was.

Now that there is no longer an obvious place to practice On2 in Cambridge, maybe I should start using London for this purpose. It's not like London nowadays offer much more in terms of On1 practice compared to Cambridge. I don't mean to dance On2 exclusively by any means, however. We'll see if this is more than a passing thought.

Diversity Dance Co visits Club Salsa

May 2, 2008

On the way to CS, I stopped by at St Paul's Center to drop off a CD containing the music for Miriam and Colleen's performance. I had failed to take the CD with me to SOS last weekend and thus could not give the CD to Colleen. Now Johnny presumably will mail the CD to Miriam. Johnny and Serap had decent number of people at their class, and they looked like a loyal bunch. I don't think Johnny and Serap will give up teaching Salsa on Fridays anytime soon. It's unfortunate because CS Fridays with Johnny and Serap as mainstays of the social scene would be so much stronger. Also unlike someone like me, Cyrille, Sebastian and all of the student-types, Johnny and Serap are likely to be living in Cambridge for years or decades to come.

There's no doubt that the Friday classes at CS has gotten much bigger since Joe Davids took over. I arrived around 9:30 so check out the proceedings. The classes taught by Joe, Danie and Vish were once again nearly packed - above average by recent standards. Lee and his company arrived shortly afterwards, and they were quite impressed by the crowded classes. Joe isn't going anywhere in near future as long as Vish keeps running CS.

Lee's Diversity Dance Company is made up of four people, who said they considered themselves more of a buddy group. I had not realized this from the pictures, but I knew one of the three others already - Helen from LDA. So in a sense the talk was a bit of catching up - I hadn't seen either Lee or Helen for half year or more. I also talked a little with the second guy - I think his name might be Andreas but I'm totally unsure [note added later: I think his name is Albert]. I did not get to talk to the second woman Johanna until I asked her for a dance later in the evening - I did not get her name right until later because of background noise. It's a common problem for me; increase background noise, and I can't have normal conversation with pretty much everyone. For example, I asked Lee about the music they were going to be using for their performance. I knew the song name, but I couldn't figure out based on their naming it. Only after figuring out the chorus did I realize what they were saying. El Tiroteo - originally done by the New Swing Sextet and covered by Joe Arroyo possibly with a new title Ban Ban.

Before the social started I also conversed a bit with Astrid - mostly talking shop. She's going to be really good once she figures out the beats and gain a bit more experience with following in general.

Many of the Thursday regulars showed up tonight - Sally, Jane, Mark, Raj, Nicola, Lindsey, Ed and (minor surprise) Ivan. Cristian from Wednesday was also there and briefly DJed when Joe was done. Steve was there too but without the usual cohorts. Marina who used to work behind bars came by with friends in part to celebrate her birthday. No Sergio after all. Liam must be busy with exams. Ditto Haihan. A few more good leads would have been nice - where were likes of Zern? Sam was there too and the planets lined up nicely this time around. There seemed to be at least several people from out of town - the only one I knew somewhat was Sofia (from Coventry with a CTU shirt and a Scala night), who found me first for a dance to Fragile or another version of the same song.

Joe was the DJ for a quite long time to start the evening. Good stuff - less commercial than usual. One of the bigger surprises was Guallando by Fulanito, which is something one of the regulars here had been bugging me about for quite some time. Joe went on well beyond the showcase done by the Diversity Dance Co. Crisitian as mentioned earlier was the next DJ. Vish took over next. Both sets were fairly brief.

I must have started my set well after 1 AM.

Playlist

Bomba Carambomba – Angel Canales* (-5%) (1)
Me Prendiste Velas – Oscar D’Leon
Canto Al Amor – Sonora Poncena* (studio version) (2)
Ahora Si – Ismael Miranda (3)
Satin And Lace – Tito Rodriguez* (4)
Nadie Como Ella – Marc Anthony
Los Caminos De La Vida – Ismael Miranda & Junior Gonzalez* (5)
El Que Se Fue – Roberto Roena (6)
Swing A La Moderna – Mandingo Y Su Son*
Yolanda – Orquesta Guayacan (7)
Te Extrano – Extreme
Ojala Que Llueve Café – Juan Luis Guerra* (8)
Salchicha Con Huevos – Jimmy Sabater (shorter older version)*
Perdoname – Gilberto Santa Rosa (9)
Sin Sentimientos – Grupo Niche
Mambo Diablo – Tito Puente (50s version)
Ay Amor, Cuando Hablan Las Miradas – Orquesta Guayacan (10)
Por Que Adore – Mark Dimond & Frankie Dante
Rosalia – Juan Luis Guerra*
Lamento Boliviano – Toque D’ Keda
Ahora Si – Sonora Poncena (45th anniversary live version) (11)*

(1) Play the fastest song first. What a concept. I figured it was now or never considering the party seemed to be losing heat quickly. Mark led Lee to this one.
(2) Slowing the pace rapidly – at least at the start of the song. I danced with Johanna for the second time, struggling a little with On2 timing especially during the trumpet duet with non-Mambo beat. Johanna by the way was really great with On2 – definitely better with or accustomed to On2 than On1.
(3) Now to mid-high speed. Lee, Helen, Johanna and Andreas began preparing for departure.
(4) Another dance for me with Sofia.
(5) Helen asked me for the song info on this one. This will not be the easiest one to obtain. I never found the opportunity to dance with her tonight.
(6) Very few people left now. I stopped Sharon from leaving momentarily and had another dance with her.
(7) I thought there was a real chance that this could be the last song. I begun to lower the volume as it seemed oppressively loud with thin crowd of people left – not background level but more comfortable.
(8) Very slow Merengue – I was really surprised that people danced to it including some not known for dancing Merengue. I went to brag about it to Vish, and he bought me another drink (after not letting me pay for the first one earlier in the evening).
(9) I’m still thinking the party could end at any time. Mark is still going strong switching between Jane and Sofia. Steve is around also still dancing.
(10) I’ve changed my mind. I think this might go to the advertised end with another Merengue-Bachata-Salsa combination.
(11) I started this one at 2:54 AM announcing that it will be the last song. This song by the way is listed as 16 minutes and 21 seconds long on my CD. I first asked for a dance with Sofia before venturing such a long song. It looked like she knew the song very well. I may have played it anyway but not finish it. Since no one was at the DJ booth it was played to the very end. It’s a new record – shattering 3 or 4 dances I had to El Cantante by Hector Lavoe. My neck felt a little odd at the start of the evening and quite a few of the dances felt a little off, but all was better by the end of the evening.

Total = 21 songs. 2 Merengue, both new. 2 Bachata. 1 Cha Cha (new). 16 Salsa including 6 new.

Sofia is apparently moving to France. She asked me if I was coming to Paris in June. I had considered it ... along with the idea of Hamburg instead. Something to think more about perhaps.

Power up

May 1, 2008

Cambridge Salsa seems to be taking a beating this week. Water damage knocked out power at Club Salsa - around 7:15 PM according to Vish. The three electricians (Larry, Moe and Curly) were still working on it when I got there around 9:30. I stuck around for a little while and chatted with Vish then with Sergio, who arrived a bit later. Vish was worried about getting power back up by tomorrow for the big party when I left.

p.s. Vish sent me an e-mail after 3 AM to let me know that everything is back to normal.