Countdown Begins

January 16, 2009

Acille mentioned that it has been very cold in Cambridge while I was away. DC on the other hand had mostly mild weather while I was there. Weather in Cambridge now is better. So far so good.

I arrived at CS near 10. Making my way to the DJ booth and saying happy new year to several people on the way, I noticed no Joe. Final practice track was being played. Playa No More was ready to go. It looked like I was going to go first.

Playlist – Part I

Huracan – Bobby Valentin
Sientate Ahi – Oscar D’Leon
No Dejemos Que Muera El Amor – Miles Pena*
Se Me Fue – Conjunto Yumuri
Muchachita – Orquesta Guayacan*
Asi Son – El Gran Combo
Almendra – German Villarreal
Tu No Me Has Visto Miguel – Javier Vazquez (mislabelled Sonora Matancera)

I was about to play a Merengue next when Vishal came by and asked to have him start off with a Merengue. Perfect timing, I thought. Vishal upped the tempo a bit, and then Haihan took over. Meanwhile I danced.

First I was going to ask Jane or maybe someone else except they were occupied one way or another. I settled on a random girl except I realized it was Natalie just as I started asking; I was delighted.

Cambridge is a younger scene in every way compared to DC. People are younger too – no doubt helped by the university. I wonder if the North Carolina scene headlined by the Cobo Brothers and three major universities is similar to Cambridge? Cambridge does not have anyone at the calibre of Cobo Brothers of course.

Cambridge have lower average standard compared to DC (e.g. me at DC might be equivalent to somewhere between Demetrios and Dan at Cambridge), but here I get the benefit of familiarity. I rarely danced more than once a night with one person. I danced multiple times with at least 4 people (one – twice, one – two or more likely three times, one newcomer whom I liked in terms of timing and connection but possibly not rated as highly by others – three times, one – more than three times). I easily could have danced multiple times with more people had they stayed longer (e.g. Jane, who was about the only person there tonight good for complicated songs).

It was a weird night in terms of attendance. According to Haihan, classes started this week. So having people like Natalie and Wei-Shen made sense. But no Mark or Stephanie. However, Zhenzhi, Sam (tired) and Richard were there. Johnny yes, Ivan no, Mauricio no. Sacha. David. No Sharon. No John!

A number of people asked me about my impending departure – Haihan, Vishal and Abbe. For whatever its worth, my schedule here will be normal until the end of March. I’ll be travelling for much of April, and I’ll be returning to the States for good in mid-late April. I might make a CS appearance in April just prior to departing but there’s no guarantee on that score. I prefer not to have a “leaving dance” and promise to make it really boring if forced to give one.

Dan asked me about On2 shines and others. I gave a couple of examples, but the thing is I improvise on the spot about 90% of the time often not even thinking about the timing. The standard thing would be to be on R foot on 2, 5, 7 and L foot on 1, 3, 6 whether On1 or On2. However, I don’t always follow such rigid rule and more often than not use 4 and 8 as well as syncopations. Because I generally do my shines on percussion solo, it gets to be quite free-flowing (no hard and fast rule about breaking on 1 or on 2). Of course, it’s not all about the feet either – rest of the body (shoulder, arm, chest, hips, etc) can move to the beat as well.

Playlist – Part II

Ken Moussoul Guis Li – Africando
Tee Pee Mambo – Tito Puente*
Para La Luna – Los Nemus Del Pacifico*
Te Pone La Cabeza Mala – Los Van Van*
Usted Abuso – Celia Cruz & Willie Colon (-4%)
Remember Me – Eddie Torres and His Mambo Kings Orchestra*
No Es Una Novela – Monchy & Alexandra

Total = 15 songs. 1 Bachata. 14 Salsa including 6 new. Mohammed was excited by Los Nemus Del Pacifico getting played (without the song picked being the ubiquitous Castigala presumably).