Lee Wright Tribute Night

January 17, 2009

Journey back and forth was fast. It was a bit windy. One of the roundabouts at Aldgate disappeared. It was a little jarring but it made the travel more efficient. It rained during a 2 block walk from my car to the Bar Fly Club ULU.

The first person I saw at the door was Helen – obviously not in New Zealand. The first person from Cambridge was Richard. Making my way around all the rooms being used, I saw that pretty much all of who’s who in London was present – aside from ones travelling afar, etc. I think it might take less time to mention who wasn’t there (and I’m not going to make such list public). Lee was a beloved figure.

London sure is a big city. It would not be a stretch to say that there were at least as many people if not more here tonight compared to the New Year Resolution Jam at DC. People are on average younger. It’s less On2 heavy; I would guess less than quarter of my dances were On2. I would infer that followers here on the whole had seen not as many good leads as in DC.

There were three rooms – all of them were full of photographs of Lee; many taken with people who were acting as volunteers for tonight’s event. I only took a glimpse of the third room (Lee’s dance floor upstairs), which at the time was the least populated and supposedly with most varied music format and also had a large sheet on the wall for people to leave behind messages and handprints. The main room was the most crowded at all times. I ended up dancing in that room only twice. This was because I found the music in the second room (music all night) to be just as good in the main room without it being so crowded. Just as useful was that the second room had cooler temperature and better spots for leaving drinks. The second room was also much better lit compared to dark main room. This however meant that I did not see as many people as I would have had I stayed in the main room all night.

Despite the presence of dance floor and music during performances, most people opted to watch dance showcases when such were available. More than a couple of songs were played to no more than three couples during the shows. The shows by Anke & Gil (Austria/Mexico), Eva & Mauro, Mamboleo, Miriam & Colleen, Mambata, Element Dance Co., Fahrenheit, Lee’s student groups from Newbury and Brighton, Marchant & Davina, Diablo Dance Co., Shaan & Aiste were all great and were interspersed with moving speeches. Shelley was the MC of course.

I think either I had a very good night as a lead or my lead has improved considerably (possibly helped a great deal from the DC trip). I say this based on reactions from quite a few people I have had previous dances with. On general I think more people seem to like the way I lead now compared to some time ago – although I might add that this is not necessarily the case with some people I have known for very long time.

Hardly anyone left before closing time at 2 AM. Tamambo was handing out fliers for SOS anniversary extravaganza to people on their way out. I would have bought a Saturday party pass except it was never available for purchase. Now I have serious doubt as to whether I’ll go at all.