December 20, 2008
I arrived around 9:40. I think the classes might not been going very far because they were doing some footwork. This was followed by a short break followed by partner work. Hmm. Maybe that break meant that there was considerable action before I got there too.
Ivan arrived shortly after me. He has been super busy with his new job – the first year was always going to require most amount of preparation time. He talked about the Salsa team and his perception on how its absence had affected the Cambridge scene. It sounded like he hasn’t given up on dancing or Salsa for that matter.
Vish started off the party playing song seemingly designed to please more hardcore Salsa people – arguably favoring LA/NY types. Does Ven Devorame Otra Vez (Lalo Rodriguez) or Castigala (Los Nemus Del Pacifico) qualify? Vish certainly was picking nice pleasant songs rather than trying to come up with challenges and overdose on excitement.
I was spending more time dancing with people I associate with the Cuban crowd – like Cristelle and Sadia (although they seem perfectly fine dancing non-Cuban with me – as matter of fact, I like dancing with most of the good “Cuban-first” followers here in Cambridge). It seemed like there wasn’t very many of the people I think of as hard-core Cuban leaders; are they less willing to show up to the “bigger” or more “general” events? I was amused to see Moe dancing essentially slot style (but without being too strict about the slot) with Cuban followers later in the evening.
The first break of sorts happened as the social dancing was interrupted with an announcement for the Mashi Foundation charity, for which this event was held. Then started a series Moe Flex™ party dances, which Sally, Lindsey and Nicola trio excitedly joined. I decided to videotape this one (hint hint).
There was a fairly long sequence of Salsa-free songs. I think it started right after the party dances with a Reggaeton-fest by Vish. Moe was at the DJ booth next asking whether to go with more Reggaeton (not much noise) or Salsa (big noise for assent). I think not a few of the Salsa fans were disappointed by decidedly Cuban Salsa getting played next. Ivan and Jane had been gone for a while. Sally trio left shortly thereafter; I had only danced with Nicola between all of them (Sally photographed it).
So at this point, I was thinking that the party for me was more or less over. I had a bit more dances than I had on Friday. I also had fairly large number of no thank you to my dance requests – at least by recent standards here and elsewhere. I was mistaken.
…running out of time for now so this will be continued later…
Random bit: It took me a while to realize who Cristelle’s companion was.
...continued...
Moe announced that DJ Shorty was up next. Even though Moe had said there was be Mambo later, I wasn’t expecting much. Imagine my surprise when I heard vibraphones and the melody to Muneca. I smiled in amusement. Towards the end of the song, I walked over to the DJ booth and asked her whose rendition this was. Son Boricua. Of course – presumably from their 60s album.
Gotas De Lluvia by El Gran Combo was next – I danced to it. This might have been with Anna, who came in quite late in the evening. This was followed by the unauthorized remix of Ojos Chinos also by El Gran Combo. I decided to tease her about her playing three Puerto Rican tracks in a row to start off. She replied, “Good music is good music.” Either that or something to same effect.
Some Cuban stuff came on later as well, but also on later were No Ha Sido Facil (Monchy & Alexandra) and La Llave (Grupo Latin Vibe). I danced with Shorty (I wonder what her real name is – no one seems to know) to Otra Oportunidad (Jimmy Bosch). She probably would have finished off with Sun Sun Babae (Tito Rodriguez Jr – she has the Eclipse CD, which I had been wanting for some time. I don’t know if this is the version with too many breaks), but Vish switched the songs while she was dancing with me. About half the songs she played could easily have come from me.
How late was it then? 2:30? I’m not completely sure. I am unsure when the singing started. I think it was after DJ Shorty was done with her set, but I also remember talking to her during the singing and she was inside the DJ booth then. For both of us, it was only tonight where we figured out the identity of the second singer at the X-mas party.
Incidentally there were two singers tonight as well. One of the girls working behind the bar decided to sing impromtu before the main act. It was a Christmas song, which she sang again later. A first for Club Salsa – the encore by Vishal’s songbird led to a few couple dancing Salsa while she sang with pre-recorded accompaniment music. Who ever thought dancing Salsa to live music at Club Salsa was possible?
Moe Flex started another party song around this time - this one involved a Conga line.
More Reggaeton. Some belly dancing. A lot of nondescript non-Salsa songs. It went on and on and on. Around 3:30, big hands X came down and presumably left locking the entrance. It was now essentially a private party. The players were Vish, Moe, Bulbul, Shorty, Abbe (was behind the bar), Belly dancer (was behind the bar), Syed (still behind the bar), a lanky white guy with sharp movements, Vish’s songbird, a friend of Syed, and one seemingly random straggler.
Normally I would consider myself to be on the outermost fringe in this type of setting. Not so much tonight. I still was more of an observer at times, but I would have to cast myself in a role of a supporting character with a name rather than a number. Hmm. Seven if a number must be used. I danced sporadically over a long time. Some of them were even danced On2. More proper Latin dances were with Shorty and other random dances were with Vish’s songbird. Nothing significant here – I was not the main dance partner for either of them during this late hours.
By the way, Evil Ways (Cal Tjader) speeded up by 16% is too much. Maybe try 8% next time if I really want to make it faster. I was inspired to play this because Vish played a Santana song prior to it (but not right afterwards at his insistence).
Syed was getting desperate to leave. He came to me to beg me to put on a final song. I told him I will do what I can. Moe had already arranged for the next song. I previewed Moe’s song and found that it could work as a last song of the night. When the other song ended. I turned on the microphone and said, “This could be the last song of the night. Syed says he really wants to go home.” Others started protesting while Moe was trying to get his song to be played – which was my intent in any case so no conflict there. In any case it was not the last song of the night.
I wondered for a while how this kept going. I think the easy answer is that Vish was more than happy to keep it going while the guest of honor (in this case Moe Flex – he of iron constitution) was willing to stay. Some people were stuck – waiting for Syed. I probably would have left except I was curious to see how this would end. The fact that DJ Shorty was still there made it easier – if another Salsa or such came on, I would be quite happy to ask her for a dance; she’s liable to ask me for rain check if she’s out of breath, etc but she also seem quite open to dancing with me multiple times on a same night. As for others, I can only guess their reasons for staying and I am not going to share my guesses.
Syed eventually managed to take his leave – taking with him a girl friend of his as well as Bulbul. Belly dancer and the skinny white guy eventually left as well. Eventually Vishal’s songbird decided to crash after too much alcohol. Vish was quite drunk as well. The remainder of the main group (now Moe, Shorty, Abbe – there was one outsider whose purpose escapes me) seemed to be in fine shape. I was feeling a slight effect of a Sambucca shot earlier but it wore off fairly soon. Now it was around 5 AM.
I went upstairs to find it completely dark; it only dawned upon me then that the door must have been locked for some hours now. When I returned downstairs, I saw that Vishal had put on another Salsa. Shorty had moved her considerable baggage (consisting of among other things four CD cases and a headphone) and had changed her shoes, but she was still willing to dance.
Moe put on a Cuban track with a possibly religious tinted intro. Here he finally danced with Shorty for what I perceived to be the first time all night. This was a bit different from other dances I saw (or more appropriately ignored) all night. I happened to glance at the mixer board after they had been dancing for some time, and I saw that there were still over 8 minutes of song left. Shortly thereafter Moe faded the song out – apparently it’s a 12-plus minute song. It made me remember the time I played a 16-plus minute song at the end of one party.
So it was well after 5 AM when the four of us escaped from Vish, who seemed quite reluctant to let us go still – under the pretext of getting Moe well taken care of. The mystery guy was still around – still aimless and still not in a hurry to go anywhere. I don’t think Vish was going to be going home anytime soon – he was too hammered. My car clock said 5:25 when its engines were started.
Showing posts with label Events - Cambridge. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Events - Cambridge. Show all posts
Orquesta La 33 in Cambridge
July 11, 2008
It is what it is. The La-33 concert was great and awful at the same time. How often does Cambridge get an opportunity to dance to a top-notch band? The band sounded tremendous, but the dancers were not ready for them – at least not ready for the way I would have liked to dance to their music, which was generally very energetic. The most common issues were timing (ranging from seemingly not hearing the beats at all to simply not being able to keep up with fast music) and space. I suppose the underlying issue was that finding a suitable partner for dancing was extremely challenging – not the least because the many candidates seemed reluctant (of course this is nothing new with some of them). Without getting into more specifics, I would summarize the event as the best-sounding Salsa band I’ve heard in Cambridge and the least satisfying dance experience with a live band.
After chatting a bit with Raj, Haihan and Laura in the dining area after the band, I headed back to CS. It was quite busy with so-called Latino crowd. I tried a few dances but couldn’t really get into it. The problem is that the number of people I can have fun dancing nowadays is completely dependent on the song. Generally slower songs are fine with the largest number of people, and as the song becomes faster the number drops precipitously. This is not to say that everyone is best with slower songs because there are people who for some reason are not very good with slow songs. More interesting or complex songs also means fewer people are any good with it. Songs with good segments for extended shines? Ditto. If dancing is a challenge, consider deejaying for group of one-trick ponies who prefer or demand that the music fit their dancing style rather than vice versa.
In case this is of use. Indestructible by Ray Barretto at –6% goes from 201 BPM to 207 BPM (214-200 BPM without adjustment). El Pito by Isidro Infante at –8% is at 167 BPM (182 BPM without adjustment). 180 BPM means it’s a solid medium-speed or possibly slow-medium song. 200+ BPM means it’s a fast song.
Playlist
A La Yumbae – Tommy Olivencia (1)
Senora – Domenic Marte
Amor Perfecto – El Gran Combo
Yo Puedo Tu Puedes – Hector Tricoche*
Ven A Medellin – Grupo Gale
Bamboleo – Fania All Stars
El Ajiaco – La Charanga New York*
San Martin (2)
Quiero Enamorarte – Marco Ferretti
Bilongo – Charanga De La 4 (polished shortened version)*
(1) I thought about starting with a Merengue. Then I started to drift away from that idea. Then Vish asked me to play a Merengue or two. Don’t play too much Mambo (whatever it means yada yada) and the usual litany.
(2) Someone brought along a CD to be played as a request. I think it was a compilation album, and I couldn’t figure out who the artist was. It sounded like a Merengue of sort – a bit silly but not completely out of character for the night. The request came around the time the Hector Tricoche song was being played, and after listening to most of the song I told them I would play it in about 15 minutes. Just as I was about to play this, Vish stopped by again to say that he wanted to play a few songs in a couple of songs. Fine. It’s his prerogative, and it’s probably a reasonable call at the time. Still it does make me wonder why I am being asked to bother deejaying at all. Maybe it’s because the belief is that there’s no monetary value involved.
Total = 10 songs. 9 songs from my collection. 2 Merengue. 2 Bachata. 6 Salsa including 3 new (includes slightly altered version of a new song from 2 weeks ago).
It became a Reggaeton-fest afterwards with the kids storming the dance floor. It was packed and it lasted quite a long time. This was followed by an even longer Salsa-fest where Vish did a more than creditable imitation of me – assuming that was the intent. He even played a Boogaloo/Cha Cha. The irony is that by then I had lost all will to dance – too frustrated with how things went all night. Further the only dance I had during the last hours (only because I was asked) was to Ahora Quien by Marc Anthony – the most conventional song Vish picked all night.
Final word. Perhaps it is not a bad thing to get a poor night of dancing out of the way this week.
It is what it is. The La-33 concert was great and awful at the same time. How often does Cambridge get an opportunity to dance to a top-notch band? The band sounded tremendous, but the dancers were not ready for them – at least not ready for the way I would have liked to dance to their music, which was generally very energetic. The most common issues were timing (ranging from seemingly not hearing the beats at all to simply not being able to keep up with fast music) and space. I suppose the underlying issue was that finding a suitable partner for dancing was extremely challenging – not the least because the many candidates seemed reluctant (of course this is nothing new with some of them). Without getting into more specifics, I would summarize the event as the best-sounding Salsa band I’ve heard in Cambridge and the least satisfying dance experience with a live band.
After chatting a bit with Raj, Haihan and Laura in the dining area after the band, I headed back to CS. It was quite busy with so-called Latino crowd. I tried a few dances but couldn’t really get into it. The problem is that the number of people I can have fun dancing nowadays is completely dependent on the song. Generally slower songs are fine with the largest number of people, and as the song becomes faster the number drops precipitously. This is not to say that everyone is best with slower songs because there are people who for some reason are not very good with slow songs. More interesting or complex songs also means fewer people are any good with it. Songs with good segments for extended shines? Ditto. If dancing is a challenge, consider deejaying for group of one-trick ponies who prefer or demand that the music fit their dancing style rather than vice versa.
In case this is of use. Indestructible by Ray Barretto at –6% goes from 201 BPM to 207 BPM (214-200 BPM without adjustment). El Pito by Isidro Infante at –8% is at 167 BPM (182 BPM without adjustment). 180 BPM means it’s a solid medium-speed or possibly slow-medium song. 200+ BPM means it’s a fast song.
Playlist
A La Yumbae – Tommy Olivencia (1)
Senora – Domenic Marte
Amor Perfecto – El Gran Combo
Yo Puedo Tu Puedes – Hector Tricoche*
Ven A Medellin – Grupo Gale
Bamboleo – Fania All Stars
El Ajiaco – La Charanga New York*
San Martin (2)
Quiero Enamorarte – Marco Ferretti
Bilongo – Charanga De La 4 (polished shortened version)*
(1) I thought about starting with a Merengue. Then I started to drift away from that idea. Then Vish asked me to play a Merengue or two. Don’t play too much Mambo (whatever it means yada yada) and the usual litany.
(2) Someone brought along a CD to be played as a request. I think it was a compilation album, and I couldn’t figure out who the artist was. It sounded like a Merengue of sort – a bit silly but not completely out of character for the night. The request came around the time the Hector Tricoche song was being played, and after listening to most of the song I told them I would play it in about 15 minutes. Just as I was about to play this, Vish stopped by again to say that he wanted to play a few songs in a couple of songs. Fine. It’s his prerogative, and it’s probably a reasonable call at the time. Still it does make me wonder why I am being asked to bother deejaying at all. Maybe it’s because the belief is that there’s no monetary value involved.
Total = 10 songs. 9 songs from my collection. 2 Merengue. 2 Bachata. 6 Salsa including 3 new (includes slightly altered version of a new song from 2 weeks ago).
It became a Reggaeton-fest afterwards with the kids storming the dance floor. It was packed and it lasted quite a long time. This was followed by an even longer Salsa-fest where Vish did a more than creditable imitation of me – assuming that was the intent. He even played a Boogaloo/Cha Cha. The irony is that by then I had lost all will to dance – too frustrated with how things went all night. Further the only dance I had during the last hours (only because I was asked) was to Ahora Quien by Marc Anthony – the most conventional song Vish picked all night.
Final word. Perhaps it is not a bad thing to get a poor night of dancing out of the way this week.
Johnny's Birthday Party
April 18, 2008
Playlist
La La La – Direct Latin Influence (1)
Que Quiere La Nina – Kako Y Totico (2)
Borinquen – Sonora Poncena
Volver Volver – Grupo Gale (3)
Azuquita Pa’l Café – El Gran Combo
Isla Del Encanto – Orquesta Broadway
Lo Dudo – Tommy Olivencia (canta: Frankie Ruiz)*
Si Tu Cocinas Como Caminas – Henry Fiol (4)
Mary – Joe Arroyo
Que Pasa Contigo – Willie Rosario (canta: Tony Vega)*
--a song with video put on by Demetrios …boogaloo? Sonora Carruseles maybe?--
Swing La Moderna – Ray Barretto
Cuando Te Vea – Bobby Valentin (live version)
Hong Kong – Michi Sarmiento Y Sus Bravos*
El Titere – Louie Ramirez & Ray De La Paz
Nadie Como Ella – Marc Anthony (5)
Noche De Salsa – Louie Ramirez
performance break
Amor Perfecto – El Gran Combo (6)
birthday dance to Ingratitudes – Bobby Valentin
Brujeria – El Gran Combo (7)
Cualquiera – Oscar D’Leon
Buenas Noches Che Che – Tito Rodriguez
El As De La Rumba – Machito
Ublabadu – Fania All-Stars (canta: Hector Lavoe)
Mojito – Regina Carter* (8)
Sin Negro No Guaguanco – Lebron Brothers
Estoy En Ti – Willie Rosario
Sopa En Botella – Celia Cruz & Johnny Pacheco
La Familia – Jose Curbelo* (9)
Bilongo – Tito Rodriguez
Tema Del Apollo – Eddie Palmieri (10)
Te Extrano – Extreme
El Cayuco – Tito Puente (short version) (11)
Perdoname – Gilberto Santa Rosa
(1) Johnny played Lovely Day as the first track to get everyone dancing in a circle first.
(2) Sergio and Nat arrived uncharacteristically early or early for Sergio at least on a Friday so that Sergio finally got a chance to dance to this song. I thought it might never happen. For whatever it’s worth, there is zero chance I would have gotten this CD without Sergio’s input.
(3) Serap stopped by to say nice music.
(4) Sergio’s description later – Mexican music.
(5) This was supposed to be the last song before the performance. Lighting issues delayed it by one more song.
(6) I think this was the one with the brief power outage to the sound system.
(7) Another re-start the Salsa party song.
(8) Sergio dances with Miriam to the longest song of the night.
(9) Half a dance with Colleen before them getting ready to depart resulted in another compliment from Sergio. What’s going on?
(10) I had this queued 3-4 songs in advance without anticipating that the party was nearly over. It worked out really well.
(11) This on the other hand was played after seeing how the first Cha Cha went.
Total = 33 songs. 2 Cha Cha. 1 Bachata. 30 Salsa including 5 new.
Nat and Sergio thought the atmosphere reminded them of the old Catholic Church days. Nat obviously enjoyed herself as she stayed until the very end - a little after 12:30. Other people who showed up included Sebastian, Kate, Sharon, Jane, Rajiv, Jay, Bodie so it was a good crowd - about the same (although with largely different cast of attendants) as the other time I visited St. Paul's Church.
I had a unique view of the show by Miriam and Colleen - from their rear at the elevated stage. I guess that's the privilege of acting as the DJ. They did not pick up the CD for the show, and I decided to hold on to them - presumably I could return it next time I'm at SOS (not that it's particularly valuable, I imagine). I still have never asked Miriam for a dance. The opportunity never came up. I probably came closest 1 or 2 years ago, and I have since moved to a phase of not making an effort to ask instructor types. I obviously know her and she definitely recognizes my face, but over 3 years have passed and not asking has seemingly become a comfortable routine. I have danced with Colleen once or twice before at SOS - I think the first one happened the first time I saw her, and I think there was a second but I'm not completely sure.
All in all, I had two dances tonight. It took a while for me to get comfortable with the mixer, etc. Oh well. During the first dance, I noticed that the volume generated by the sound system was a bit too much (not necessarily too loud although probably so but it sounded a bit harsh close to the speakers). I was working with freshly repaired shoes (went this morning to Lion's Yard/Grand Arcade for the first time since Grand Arcade opened and found there were two Timpsons shops there) and was surprised to see that they somehow felt different.
I stopped by at CS to visit Vish around 1. He said it was a fine night although it was winding down by then. I stayed a little while mostly watching other people dance - there was only one couple I recognized. I hadn't really noticed before but it looked to me that they do well with each other.
Playlist
La La La – Direct Latin Influence (1)
Que Quiere La Nina – Kako Y Totico (2)
Borinquen – Sonora Poncena
Volver Volver – Grupo Gale (3)
Azuquita Pa’l Café – El Gran Combo
Isla Del Encanto – Orquesta Broadway
Lo Dudo – Tommy Olivencia (canta: Frankie Ruiz)*
Si Tu Cocinas Como Caminas – Henry Fiol (4)
Mary – Joe Arroyo
Que Pasa Contigo – Willie Rosario (canta: Tony Vega)*
--a song with video put on by Demetrios …boogaloo? Sonora Carruseles maybe?--
Swing La Moderna – Ray Barretto
Cuando Te Vea – Bobby Valentin (live version)
Hong Kong – Michi Sarmiento Y Sus Bravos*
El Titere – Louie Ramirez & Ray De La Paz
Nadie Como Ella – Marc Anthony (5)
Noche De Salsa – Louie Ramirez
performance break
Amor Perfecto – El Gran Combo (6)
birthday dance to Ingratitudes – Bobby Valentin
Brujeria – El Gran Combo (7)
Cualquiera – Oscar D’Leon
Buenas Noches Che Che – Tito Rodriguez
El As De La Rumba – Machito
Ublabadu – Fania All-Stars (canta: Hector Lavoe)
Mojito – Regina Carter* (8)
Sin Negro No Guaguanco – Lebron Brothers
Estoy En Ti – Willie Rosario
Sopa En Botella – Celia Cruz & Johnny Pacheco
La Familia – Jose Curbelo* (9)
Bilongo – Tito Rodriguez
Tema Del Apollo – Eddie Palmieri (10)
Te Extrano – Extreme
El Cayuco – Tito Puente (short version) (11)
Perdoname – Gilberto Santa Rosa
(1) Johnny played Lovely Day as the first track to get everyone dancing in a circle first.
(2) Sergio and Nat arrived uncharacteristically early or early for Sergio at least on a Friday so that Sergio finally got a chance to dance to this song. I thought it might never happen. For whatever it’s worth, there is zero chance I would have gotten this CD without Sergio’s input.
(3) Serap stopped by to say nice music.
(4) Sergio’s description later – Mexican music.
(5) This was supposed to be the last song before the performance. Lighting issues delayed it by one more song.
(6) I think this was the one with the brief power outage to the sound system.
(7) Another re-start the Salsa party song.
(8) Sergio dances with Miriam to the longest song of the night.
(9) Half a dance with Colleen before them getting ready to depart resulted in another compliment from Sergio. What’s going on?
(10) I had this queued 3-4 songs in advance without anticipating that the party was nearly over. It worked out really well.
(11) This on the other hand was played after seeing how the first Cha Cha went.
Total = 33 songs. 2 Cha Cha. 1 Bachata. 30 Salsa including 5 new.
Nat and Sergio thought the atmosphere reminded them of the old Catholic Church days. Nat obviously enjoyed herself as she stayed until the very end - a little after 12:30. Other people who showed up included Sebastian, Kate, Sharon, Jane, Rajiv, Jay, Bodie so it was a good crowd - about the same (although with largely different cast of attendants) as the other time I visited St. Paul's Church.
I had a unique view of the show by Miriam and Colleen - from their rear at the elevated stage. I guess that's the privilege of acting as the DJ. They did not pick up the CD for the show, and I decided to hold on to them - presumably I could return it next time I'm at SOS (not that it's particularly valuable, I imagine). I still have never asked Miriam for a dance. The opportunity never came up. I probably came closest 1 or 2 years ago, and I have since moved to a phase of not making an effort to ask instructor types. I obviously know her and she definitely recognizes my face, but over 3 years have passed and not asking has seemingly become a comfortable routine. I have danced with Colleen once or twice before at SOS - I think the first one happened the first time I saw her, and I think there was a second but I'm not completely sure.
All in all, I had two dances tonight. It took a while for me to get comfortable with the mixer, etc. Oh well. During the first dance, I noticed that the volume generated by the sound system was a bit too much (not necessarily too loud although probably so but it sounded a bit harsh close to the speakers). I was working with freshly repaired shoes (went this morning to Lion's Yard/Grand Arcade for the first time since Grand Arcade opened and found there were two Timpsons shops there) and was surprised to see that they somehow felt different.
I stopped by at CS to visit Vish around 1. He said it was a fine night although it was winding down by then. I stayed a little while mostly watching other people dance - there was only one couple I recognized. I hadn't really noticed before but it looked to me that they do well with each other.
Club Salsa X-mas party 2007
December 7, 2007
Lotsa work again. Left work at 8:55. Got home. Prepared and ate a quick meal, then headed to Club Salsa by 9:45. Not bad.
Vishal was at the entrance. Joe was about to start the final run-through for the class. I said a quick hello to Lee and Shelley – established that I live here and that they were here for the first time for Salsa dancing.
Just before the cool-down started, Vishal let me know (and Joe) that I would be the first DJ of the evening. There was going to be five DJs tonight – the others being Joe, Sally, Cristian and Vishal. Here’s my set.
Playlist
La-La-La – Direct Latin Influence
La Muy Muy – Roberto Torres
Borinquen – Sonora Poncena (studio version)*
Sientate Ahi – Oscar D’Leon
Anuncio Clasificado – Willie Rosario
Bongo Loco – Lebron Brothers
Mambo Sentimental – Machito*
Bailando – Frankie Ruiz
El Que Se Fue – Roberto Roena
Bilongo – Tito Rodriguez*
El Guaguanco Del Gran Combo – El Gran Combo
Chanchullo – Fania All-Stars
Total 12 songs. 11 Salsa. 1 Cha Cha. 3 new. I guess the number of songs was the highest one I guessed. I like to think I played a good set, and Vishal complimented me on my set three times (once during, once right after and once toward the end of the evening). Who knows if everyone was pleased? There were plenty of people keen on dancing so keeping the floor reasonably busy was not a problem.
It was a big party all right. Rico and Natalie came up from London. Sally, Cristian et al came down from Peterborough. Non-regular Friday people like Lindsey and Nicola were there. Non-regulars like Aurelei, Sam and Liz were present too. Add to them Cyrille, Liam, Mark, Jane, Richard, Polly, Andrea, Kate, Sharon and hundreds more.
Joe was the next DJ. I would say that he played for the common denominator. The floor was packed, but I managed to dance with three or four people (Aurelei, the girl from Mondays from way back, etc). Many of these dances were in pairs – mostly two Salsa and sometimes a Bachata and a Salsa. I guess I was dragged onto the floor for one Merengue too.
Ivan was there too. I don’t remember if I spotted him before the shows were about to start. Some Shakira-themed thing came on before Lee and Shelley. I was not able to see either of the shows – too many people. I told Ivan that he probably saw this one already – it was the one with Indestructible by Ray Barretto. Things were about the same with the same-sex competition. I was able to glimpse the contestants only – Vishal and partner, Jane and Natalie, Sally and Lindsey, Jay and Cristian. Vishal came in last. Jay and Cristian won. Because I managed to get myself into the DJ booth, I was able to get a decent view of the best costume competition – won by Richard and one of the regulars I don’t know the name of (I think of her as a friend of Sharon’s).
Sally was the third to DJ. The floor space situation became a bit more manageable during this time. The music started with fairly standard Thursday material with a brief interlude with maybe two unfamiliar songs. I think I had first of my dances with Shelley during her stint (I thought it might have been one of Cristian’s songs but I think Sally is a better guess). It was one of the most difficult songs in recent memory – I was unsure of timing at several different occasions, and Shelley might have been just as lost and possibly more. I think things were difficult also because she was anticipating for more complicated moves than I was ready for. It was a confidence-breaker in many ways despite nice words from Shelley at the end of the dance.
After a few more dances in order to get used to dancing with more space and with more speed, I decided to ask Lee next. I must say that I was really nervous – I don’t think I ever felt so nervous about asking anyone – not since after the first year. I was exceedingly nervous during the dance too – I relaxed only a little after the first minute or so. Strange. I have danced with other men. Not just in class settings. I’ve done it in Cambridge in social setting (albeit with very few people around very late in the evening). I’ve done it in a Congress type event – in Madrid. In any case Lee was very good follower. I could see why people say that Lee is a better follower than most women. One thing though, Lee still followed like a man rather than a woman – his spins had something of a forced quality to it – self-propelled and rather obviously so. I thought it interesting that Hayden might have been better at disguising self-propelling aspect when spinning. Like Shelley, Lee found time to say nice things about the dance, and I repaid in kind (well … sort of) by telling him that he followed me better than Shelley. Wrong. I danced with Shelley much later in the evening, and based upon second impression I will say that Shelley is better follower (and have higher upside).
Believe it or not, both of my dances with Shelley were a bit depressing. The first one was the worst dance of the evening by far. Second one was much better, but I thought I sucked big time - I was not in sync with the music (despite knowing the song quite well – it was Mambo Mongo). After the first dance, I thought Shelley was not a good follower. During the second dance, that initial impression was shattered because the connection and her following were both impeccable. Instead I simply felt inadequate. Certainly I could have danced better (I already lamented being out of sync with music – here I’m referring to musicality rather than timing), but even at my best (current or foreseeable future) it felt like she was used to having much more interesting dances. By the way, all of this was in my mind (perhaps warped) and none was it was caused by anything Shelley said verbally or otherwise.
Lest anyone think otherwise, I think both Lee and Shelley are great. They are friendly to everyone and will dance with anyone. They seem to be kind to everyone. They seem to be smiling even when the dance is not going so well. They are excellent show dancers, and they are really good and enthusiastic social dancers too. I can’t imagine anyone accusing either of being snotty, unfriendly, cliquey – I’ll even go further and say that I can’t fathom anyone finding a cause to say bad things about them.
Cristian was the fourth DJ. It was an interesting set. The only songs I recognized were Cuando Tu Quieras (Chivirico Davila) and a Merengue (the one starting with the word Wyando). I’m not a big fan of some of his Bachata selections, but his Salsa selections were pretty nifty. As matter of fact, I think it could be said that some of the songs he selected were the most challenging and sophisticated ones played tonight – and difficult to dance to in some cases. I definitely did not think that many of his selections were geared towards the masses or beginners, and frankly I don’t know what to make of it either.
Vishal was the final DJ. Mambo heaven with a few popular Bachata selections thrown in. Avisale A Mi Contrario (Tito Rodriguez), La Palomilla (Joe Cuba), Merecumbe (Johnny Colon), Asia Mood (Tito Puente), Mambo Mongo (Mongo Santamaria – from Afro Indio), La Llave (Grupo Latin Vibe), Vamonos Pa’l Monte (version?), a Chivirico Davila tune, La China De Mi Barrio (Javier Vazquez), La Salsa Nunca Se Acaba (Susie Hansen – played twice) and a version of Fragile. The only regret was that it was very late and many people were too tired to dance by near the end of the evening.
When it was all finished – a little after 3:30 AM and with Lee and Shelley staying to the bitter end (Joe and Olga left a little before 1?). It really was the biggest party of year for Club Salsa. The topic on the drive back (I gave ride back for Liam and Cyrille) included music tonight – I got Liam to admit that Vish played some good music tonight (Liam also thought positively of Cristian’s selections too). Liam and especially Cyrille voiced an opinion that they had more fun tonight than at the SOS. For me, I wouldn’t go that far. The last SOS was quite good for me, and tonight gets some demerits for a few not-so-hot dances (Strangely the only other negative incident while dancing I could think also involves Shelley – although I think the fault was the her dance partner. I got stepped on by Shelley first, then her partner also stepped on my foot while somehow ending up between me and my partner – taking too big steps). I think getting something like five declines for a dance (many of whom admittedly were tired and I already had danced with – sometimes more than once) were a definite negative. Also maybe I was disappointed about not seeing some people – one or a set of two or three who I hoped would show up would have made a difference.
Lotsa work again. Left work at 8:55. Got home. Prepared and ate a quick meal, then headed to Club Salsa by 9:45. Not bad.
Vishal was at the entrance. Joe was about to start the final run-through for the class. I said a quick hello to Lee and Shelley – established that I live here and that they were here for the first time for Salsa dancing.
Just before the cool-down started, Vishal let me know (and Joe) that I would be the first DJ of the evening. There was going to be five DJs tonight – the others being Joe, Sally, Cristian and Vishal. Here’s my set.
Playlist
La-La-La – Direct Latin Influence
La Muy Muy – Roberto Torres
Borinquen – Sonora Poncena (studio version)*
Sientate Ahi – Oscar D’Leon
Anuncio Clasificado – Willie Rosario
Bongo Loco – Lebron Brothers
Mambo Sentimental – Machito*
Bailando – Frankie Ruiz
El Que Se Fue – Roberto Roena
Bilongo – Tito Rodriguez*
El Guaguanco Del Gran Combo – El Gran Combo
Chanchullo – Fania All-Stars
Total 12 songs. 11 Salsa. 1 Cha Cha. 3 new. I guess the number of songs was the highest one I guessed. I like to think I played a good set, and Vishal complimented me on my set three times (once during, once right after and once toward the end of the evening). Who knows if everyone was pleased? There were plenty of people keen on dancing so keeping the floor reasonably busy was not a problem.
It was a big party all right. Rico and Natalie came up from London. Sally, Cristian et al came down from Peterborough. Non-regular Friday people like Lindsey and Nicola were there. Non-regulars like Aurelei, Sam and Liz were present too. Add to them Cyrille, Liam, Mark, Jane, Richard, Polly, Andrea, Kate, Sharon and hundreds more.
Joe was the next DJ. I would say that he played for the common denominator. The floor was packed, but I managed to dance with three or four people (Aurelei, the girl from Mondays from way back, etc). Many of these dances were in pairs – mostly two Salsa and sometimes a Bachata and a Salsa. I guess I was dragged onto the floor for one Merengue too.
Ivan was there too. I don’t remember if I spotted him before the shows were about to start. Some Shakira-themed thing came on before Lee and Shelley. I was not able to see either of the shows – too many people. I told Ivan that he probably saw this one already – it was the one with Indestructible by Ray Barretto. Things were about the same with the same-sex competition. I was able to glimpse the contestants only – Vishal and partner, Jane and Natalie, Sally and Lindsey, Jay and Cristian. Vishal came in last. Jay and Cristian won. Because I managed to get myself into the DJ booth, I was able to get a decent view of the best costume competition – won by Richard and one of the regulars I don’t know the name of (I think of her as a friend of Sharon’s).
Sally was the third to DJ. The floor space situation became a bit more manageable during this time. The music started with fairly standard Thursday material with a brief interlude with maybe two unfamiliar songs. I think I had first of my dances with Shelley during her stint (I thought it might have been one of Cristian’s songs but I think Sally is a better guess). It was one of the most difficult songs in recent memory – I was unsure of timing at several different occasions, and Shelley might have been just as lost and possibly more. I think things were difficult also because she was anticipating for more complicated moves than I was ready for. It was a confidence-breaker in many ways despite nice words from Shelley at the end of the dance.
After a few more dances in order to get used to dancing with more space and with more speed, I decided to ask Lee next. I must say that I was really nervous – I don’t think I ever felt so nervous about asking anyone – not since after the first year. I was exceedingly nervous during the dance too – I relaxed only a little after the first minute or so. Strange. I have danced with other men. Not just in class settings. I’ve done it in Cambridge in social setting (albeit with very few people around very late in the evening). I’ve done it in a Congress type event – in Madrid. In any case Lee was very good follower. I could see why people say that Lee is a better follower than most women. One thing though, Lee still followed like a man rather than a woman – his spins had something of a forced quality to it – self-propelled and rather obviously so. I thought it interesting that Hayden might have been better at disguising self-propelling aspect when spinning. Like Shelley, Lee found time to say nice things about the dance, and I repaid in kind (well … sort of) by telling him that he followed me better than Shelley. Wrong. I danced with Shelley much later in the evening, and based upon second impression I will say that Shelley is better follower (and have higher upside).
Believe it or not, both of my dances with Shelley were a bit depressing. The first one was the worst dance of the evening by far. Second one was much better, but I thought I sucked big time - I was not in sync with the music (despite knowing the song quite well – it was Mambo Mongo). After the first dance, I thought Shelley was not a good follower. During the second dance, that initial impression was shattered because the connection and her following were both impeccable. Instead I simply felt inadequate. Certainly I could have danced better (I already lamented being out of sync with music – here I’m referring to musicality rather than timing), but even at my best (current or foreseeable future) it felt like she was used to having much more interesting dances. By the way, all of this was in my mind (perhaps warped) and none was it was caused by anything Shelley said verbally or otherwise.
Lest anyone think otherwise, I think both Lee and Shelley are great. They are friendly to everyone and will dance with anyone. They seem to be kind to everyone. They seem to be smiling even when the dance is not going so well. They are excellent show dancers, and they are really good and enthusiastic social dancers too. I can’t imagine anyone accusing either of being snotty, unfriendly, cliquey – I’ll even go further and say that I can’t fathom anyone finding a cause to say bad things about them.
Cristian was the fourth DJ. It was an interesting set. The only songs I recognized were Cuando Tu Quieras (Chivirico Davila) and a Merengue (the one starting with the word Wyando). I’m not a big fan of some of his Bachata selections, but his Salsa selections were pretty nifty. As matter of fact, I think it could be said that some of the songs he selected were the most challenging and sophisticated ones played tonight – and difficult to dance to in some cases. I definitely did not think that many of his selections were geared towards the masses or beginners, and frankly I don’t know what to make of it either.
Vishal was the final DJ. Mambo heaven with a few popular Bachata selections thrown in. Avisale A Mi Contrario (Tito Rodriguez), La Palomilla (Joe Cuba), Merecumbe (Johnny Colon), Asia Mood (Tito Puente), Mambo Mongo (Mongo Santamaria – from Afro Indio), La Llave (Grupo Latin Vibe), Vamonos Pa’l Monte (version?), a Chivirico Davila tune, La China De Mi Barrio (Javier Vazquez), La Salsa Nunca Se Acaba (Susie Hansen – played twice) and a version of Fragile. The only regret was that it was very late and many people were too tired to dance by near the end of the evening.
When it was all finished – a little after 3:30 AM and with Lee and Shelley staying to the bitter end (Joe and Olga left a little before 1?). It really was the biggest party of year for Club Salsa. The topic on the drive back (I gave ride back for Liam and Cyrille) included music tonight – I got Liam to admit that Vish played some good music tonight (Liam also thought positively of Cristian’s selections too). Liam and especially Cyrille voiced an opinion that they had more fun tonight than at the SOS. For me, I wouldn’t go that far. The last SOS was quite good for me, and tonight gets some demerits for a few not-so-hot dances (Strangely the only other negative incident while dancing I could think also involves Shelley – although I think the fault was the her dance partner. I got stepped on by Shelley first, then her partner also stepped on my foot while somehow ending up between me and my partner – taking too big steps). I think getting something like five declines for a dance (many of whom admittedly were tired and I already had danced with – sometimes more than once) were a definite negative. Also maybe I was disappointed about not seeing some people – one or a set of two or three who I hoped would show up would have made a difference.
St. Paul's on Friday
November 9, 2007
Things were beyond my control – not that I want or need things to be under my control. The drive to bring the core group of prominent cross body stylists to Johnny and Serap’s event managed enough momentum so resistance seemed futile. If nothing else, the thirst to try something new and different will sometimes triumph over continuing comforts of following the familiar routine even if it offers no significant improvement. An excellent example for near future may be this talk of visiting Coventry next weekend. It’ll probably be okay but not great yet novelty of dancing in a new place for the first time probably will win out – at least this time around now that enough people have indicated interest to get the ball rolling. Heck, it might end up being the same crowd except in a different city if the movement gets big enough.
St. Paul’s church hall was fairly large – the dance space was a little bigger than total floor space at Club Salsa. Nice wood floor – in better shape than Guildhall or the other church hall Johnny and Serap used last year near the bus station. Liam thought the floor was very slippery – he says the same of Club Salsa. Sam mentioned the place reminded her of school balls where boys and girls segregate at opposite corners of the room - maybe it was the presence of a basketball setup over the entrance or the high ceiling or the arch. Similar things had been said of many other events held outside Club Salsa. There was plenty of seats on the edge, and the volume of music suitable for making conversation led to a lot of lounging around and relaxing rather than looking for a dance after a dance.
Predictably the balance was in favor of the girls – typical when venturing to a new venue is involved. The group arriving around 10 included me, Liam, Raj, Haihan, Per, Steph, Sam and Polly. We were joined by Mark, Sally, Richard, Jane, Cyrille, Sebastian and Ed. Agnes showed up later and Zhenzhi much later near closing time. Isabelle also was here visiting from London and getting a Cambridge version of her birthday dance. It felt as if the party grew double in size as soon as we arrived, and as the evening went on this group came to more or less dominate the scene. As another commented, it was like a private party. This feeling was reinforced when within half hour of arrival, Haihan replaced Theodore as the DJ. It really was like the old Thursday crowd transplanted to a different spot.
The party at St. Paul’s lasted until past 1 AM – much later than it would have ended without the group - and ending with three Bachata in a row. I only had seven dances altogether – meaning I did not even get around to ask everyone in the group. Fairly large contingent of people felt they had not gotten enough dancing, so we headed to Club Salsa hoping for another half hour of dancing. Alas Club Salsa was closed by then. It really goes to show small delicate nature of the scene here in Cambridge. On a normal Friday night I would expect 6-8 people from the group to attend Club Salsa. Outside the group, maybe another 6-8 people would have gone to Club Salsa after St. Paul’s closed early (probably no later than midnight). Those seemingly are not big numbers, but perhaps some people have disproportionate influence because of trickle-down effect their presence generates.
A question is what will happen next week and thereafter? Is it likely that a concerted effort to keep the same group going together to one or another venue every week? If not, how would a smaller group choose? Which venue is more likely to entice newcomers (to Cambridge or to Salsa or to both)? Who has better teachers? Better music? Better people? Better atmosphere? Other intangibles? Does any of it matter? Can Cambridge support two or more Salsa venues on a same night? Someone commented to me some time ago that people who would go to St. Paul’s is not the same as the ones who would attend Club Salsa. How true is that? If there is some truth to it, would the people who would prefer St. Paul’s not welcome people who would prefer Club Salsa attending their event? Or vice versa?
Things were beyond my control – not that I want or need things to be under my control. The drive to bring the core group of prominent cross body stylists to Johnny and Serap’s event managed enough momentum so resistance seemed futile. If nothing else, the thirst to try something new and different will sometimes triumph over continuing comforts of following the familiar routine even if it offers no significant improvement. An excellent example for near future may be this talk of visiting Coventry next weekend. It’ll probably be okay but not great yet novelty of dancing in a new place for the first time probably will win out – at least this time around now that enough people have indicated interest to get the ball rolling. Heck, it might end up being the same crowd except in a different city if the movement gets big enough.
St. Paul’s church hall was fairly large – the dance space was a little bigger than total floor space at Club Salsa. Nice wood floor – in better shape than Guildhall or the other church hall Johnny and Serap used last year near the bus station. Liam thought the floor was very slippery – he says the same of Club Salsa. Sam mentioned the place reminded her of school balls where boys and girls segregate at opposite corners of the room - maybe it was the presence of a basketball setup over the entrance or the high ceiling or the arch. Similar things had been said of many other events held outside Club Salsa. There was plenty of seats on the edge, and the volume of music suitable for making conversation led to a lot of lounging around and relaxing rather than looking for a dance after a dance.
Predictably the balance was in favor of the girls – typical when venturing to a new venue is involved. The group arriving around 10 included me, Liam, Raj, Haihan, Per, Steph, Sam and Polly. We were joined by Mark, Sally, Richard, Jane, Cyrille, Sebastian and Ed. Agnes showed up later and Zhenzhi much later near closing time. Isabelle also was here visiting from London and getting a Cambridge version of her birthday dance. It felt as if the party grew double in size as soon as we arrived, and as the evening went on this group came to more or less dominate the scene. As another commented, it was like a private party. This feeling was reinforced when within half hour of arrival, Haihan replaced Theodore as the DJ. It really was like the old Thursday crowd transplanted to a different spot.
The party at St. Paul’s lasted until past 1 AM – much later than it would have ended without the group - and ending with three Bachata in a row. I only had seven dances altogether – meaning I did not even get around to ask everyone in the group. Fairly large contingent of people felt they had not gotten enough dancing, so we headed to Club Salsa hoping for another half hour of dancing. Alas Club Salsa was closed by then. It really goes to show small delicate nature of the scene here in Cambridge. On a normal Friday night I would expect 6-8 people from the group to attend Club Salsa. Outside the group, maybe another 6-8 people would have gone to Club Salsa after St. Paul’s closed early (probably no later than midnight). Those seemingly are not big numbers, but perhaps some people have disproportionate influence because of trickle-down effect their presence generates.
A question is what will happen next week and thereafter? Is it likely that a concerted effort to keep the same group going together to one or another venue every week? If not, how would a smaller group choose? Which venue is more likely to entice newcomers (to Cambridge or to Salsa or to both)? Who has better teachers? Better music? Better people? Better atmosphere? Other intangibles? Does any of it matter? Can Cambridge support two or more Salsa venues on a same night? Someone commented to me some time ago that people who would go to St. Paul’s is not the same as the ones who would attend Club Salsa. How true is that? If there is some truth to it, would the people who would prefer St. Paul’s not welcome people who would prefer Club Salsa attending their event? Or vice versa?
Man of the moment
June 19, 2007
I was mildly surprised to find the door locked little past 7:30. Wasn't this supposed to start at 7:45? I was only slightly less surprised by the fact that I was first to arrive - with the second and third arriving within a minute after me. Before anyone else arrived, signs of people milling about inside was evident and we were downstairs after a moment. There was another guy besides Vishal, Danie, Tony and Daniella so technically I wasn't the first. After initial greeting, Tony said they were wondering if I would show up. Why wouldn't I? I also told Vish last night (I meant to tell him earlier but I forgot) that I would be here.
Vishal announced that this was the fourth time Tony came to Cambridge (meaning Club Salsa) - actually it's the fifth time. There has been a lot of turnover since the first time. I think Rajiv and Vishal and maybe Caroline are the only other constants for all five visits. Only two other people (Danie and Mark) have been here for at least four of five visits. Almost 30 people were there for the first class (Bachata level 2) including Gordon, William, Louise, Laura, Andrea, Melania. For the second hour, another 20+ people showed up including Kate and her friends.
The first hour of Bachata class covered materials such as -
Body movement exercises involving shoulders, chest, hip … also body rolls.
Modified basic steps including side-to-side basic with up-and-down movement (I found this one more confusing for some reason - down on even numbered steps), side-to-side basic with chest rolls (I found out near the end of the evening that this is a lot more interesting when done during close contact - chest forward on odd numbered steps), minimizing side-to-side movement during turns by going backwards on 2 (and on 6) instead of moving to side throughout, zig-zag type of forward-and-back basic, interrupted spot turn (turning on 1,2,3 and pausing on 5,6,7 while only moving (or swaying?) knees (?) from side-to-side.
Towards the end of the class, a couple of short easy-to-do turn patterns were thrown in. The first one was called feel-her-up - turn follower around on first 1,2,3 - get her hands down to leader's side during 5,6,7 - back up again during 1,2,3 - bring hands down to her waist during 5,6,7 - follower brings her hands to behind and around leader's neck with optional hair massage on 1,2,3, etc. The second was like a cuddle basic (similar to once rueda step) starting from crossed hold R-R on top - start follower to half turn on 1,2,3 - then do cuddles going back and forth for a while - end on 5,6,7 leading with L-L ending with L-L hat for leader on 7 or 8 followed by R-R hat for follower during next 1,2,3 side-to-side basic.
I wasn't sure if I was going to take part in the second hour's classes. I wasn't very keen on doing Reggaeton. There was no reason to join in on the beginner Bachata unless there was a men-shortage; there was one, so I did that instead.
One thing I had forgotten was that Tony tries a lot of humor during the class and does it quite effectively. The one about height disparity was one of the memorable ones - not the least because I was at one of the joke. Then again, I suppose I could say that I was target of many jokes tonight - fine by me. The curry joke tradition also lives on.
Near the end of the class (I actually thought the class had ended and stepped out for a few minutes), I spotted Ivan and Nina and went to chat with them briefly. Ivan has one of those special dispensations from Helen once again so he'll be out again one more time this week. We also touched briefly on Cuban Carnival and SOS before I realized that the Bachata class was not quite done and thus rushed to rejoin them.
A few more people showed up for the social afterwards - including some minor surprises like Haihan, Stephanie and Agnes - apparently Ivan was once again a big instigator.
Vishal was the main DJ for the first half - playing nice music - not too intense (e.g. choosing Los Titanes version of Merecumbe over Johnny Colon's version seemed very appropriate - and I would not be saying this most of the time) or strange but also not the type of songs that makes some eyes roll. Actually he almost played one of those, but I think I stopped him. This came about because I had a strong feeling that Daniella was going to get me for a dance to the next song (she had already agreed to dance with Haihan - a La 33 song) so I asked Vishal what was next. I thought the music was pleasant throughout.
Daniella and Tony had a surprise performance - Salsa rather than Bachata. The song was El Titere (by Louie Ramirez … I think this was the version with Ray De La Paz but I'm nowhere near certain). Tony was dressed with tails while Daniella was dressed as a showgirl. Very good performance - I thought it was easy to see the difference between professional performers as opposed to amateur ones. Some of the Cambridge amateurs now do better job with music interpretation, but there was additional level of polish evident in this performance.
I tried to dance with many people of different level of abilities although there never was much chance of dancing with everyone. I still ended up dancing twice with a few girls. I also somehow ended up dancing two Salsa and two Bachata with Daniella - the Bachata dances (last two songs of the evening) were particularly memorable (so… this is how it's danced close… nice, but it will definitely require some comfort level and practice to become decent).
Tony used the microphone rather liberally tonight. Using some distortion effect during the class was amusing - I could foresee Vishal abusing this in near future. He also used the microphone to some comical effects - mostly to put me (or my dance partner) in an amusing spotlight - I suppose it'll be talked about for a day or two. Perhaps he was trying to say my name many times over with correct pronunciation to adjust for previous mistakes. In any case, many people seemed to get a kick out of it. I think the favorite for many was the supposed battle or rivalry between Haihan and me (Haihan wasn't even aware it was happening and as far as I'm concerned, it's not a rivalry - I don't think there is much of a contest).
The social must have ended around midnight although things lingered on for a while - first with a photo session, talk of cowbells, handclaps and boogaloo inside followed by a gabfest outside including about a mission I am now entrusted with. I think there was a group of five of us standing outside for nearly half hour - the other four seemed to go on for a bit longer as I drove off. I think some of them were nowhere near ready for bed.
I was mildly surprised to find the door locked little past 7:30. Wasn't this supposed to start at 7:45? I was only slightly less surprised by the fact that I was first to arrive - with the second and third arriving within a minute after me. Before anyone else arrived, signs of people milling about inside was evident and we were downstairs after a moment. There was another guy besides Vishal, Danie, Tony and Daniella so technically I wasn't the first. After initial greeting, Tony said they were wondering if I would show up. Why wouldn't I? I also told Vish last night (I meant to tell him earlier but I forgot) that I would be here.
Vishal announced that this was the fourth time Tony came to Cambridge (meaning Club Salsa) - actually it's the fifth time. There has been a lot of turnover since the first time. I think Rajiv and Vishal and maybe Caroline are the only other constants for all five visits. Only two other people (Danie and Mark) have been here for at least four of five visits. Almost 30 people were there for the first class (Bachata level 2) including Gordon, William, Louise, Laura, Andrea, Melania. For the second hour, another 20+ people showed up including Kate and her friends.
The first hour of Bachata class covered materials such as -
Body movement exercises involving shoulders, chest, hip … also body rolls.
Modified basic steps including side-to-side basic with up-and-down movement (I found this one more confusing for some reason - down on even numbered steps), side-to-side basic with chest rolls (I found out near the end of the evening that this is a lot more interesting when done during close contact - chest forward on odd numbered steps), minimizing side-to-side movement during turns by going backwards on 2 (and on 6) instead of moving to side throughout, zig-zag type of forward-and-back basic, interrupted spot turn (turning on 1,2,3 and pausing on 5,6,7 while only moving (or swaying?) knees (?) from side-to-side.
Towards the end of the class, a couple of short easy-to-do turn patterns were thrown in. The first one was called feel-her-up - turn follower around on first 1,2,3 - get her hands down to leader's side during 5,6,7 - back up again during 1,2,3 - bring hands down to her waist during 5,6,7 - follower brings her hands to behind and around leader's neck with optional hair massage on 1,2,3, etc. The second was like a cuddle basic (similar to once rueda step) starting from crossed hold R-R on top - start follower to half turn on 1,2,3 - then do cuddles going back and forth for a while - end on 5,6,7 leading with L-L ending with L-L hat for leader on 7 or 8 followed by R-R hat for follower during next 1,2,3 side-to-side basic.
I wasn't sure if I was going to take part in the second hour's classes. I wasn't very keen on doing Reggaeton. There was no reason to join in on the beginner Bachata unless there was a men-shortage; there was one, so I did that instead.
One thing I had forgotten was that Tony tries a lot of humor during the class and does it quite effectively. The one about height disparity was one of the memorable ones - not the least because I was at one of the joke. Then again, I suppose I could say that I was target of many jokes tonight - fine by me. The curry joke tradition also lives on.
Near the end of the class (I actually thought the class had ended and stepped out for a few minutes), I spotted Ivan and Nina and went to chat with them briefly. Ivan has one of those special dispensations from Helen once again so he'll be out again one more time this week. We also touched briefly on Cuban Carnival and SOS before I realized that the Bachata class was not quite done and thus rushed to rejoin them.
A few more people showed up for the social afterwards - including some minor surprises like Haihan, Stephanie and Agnes - apparently Ivan was once again a big instigator.
Vishal was the main DJ for the first half - playing nice music - not too intense (e.g. choosing Los Titanes version of Merecumbe over Johnny Colon's version seemed very appropriate - and I would not be saying this most of the time) or strange but also not the type of songs that makes some eyes roll. Actually he almost played one of those, but I think I stopped him. This came about because I had a strong feeling that Daniella was going to get me for a dance to the next song (she had already agreed to dance with Haihan - a La 33 song) so I asked Vishal what was next. I thought the music was pleasant throughout.
Daniella and Tony had a surprise performance - Salsa rather than Bachata. The song was El Titere (by Louie Ramirez … I think this was the version with Ray De La Paz but I'm nowhere near certain). Tony was dressed with tails while Daniella was dressed as a showgirl. Very good performance - I thought it was easy to see the difference between professional performers as opposed to amateur ones. Some of the Cambridge amateurs now do better job with music interpretation, but there was additional level of polish evident in this performance.
I tried to dance with many people of different level of abilities although there never was much chance of dancing with everyone. I still ended up dancing twice with a few girls. I also somehow ended up dancing two Salsa and two Bachata with Daniella - the Bachata dances (last two songs of the evening) were particularly memorable (so… this is how it's danced close… nice, but it will definitely require some comfort level and practice to become decent).
Tony used the microphone rather liberally tonight. Using some distortion effect during the class was amusing - I could foresee Vishal abusing this in near future. He also used the microphone to some comical effects - mostly to put me (or my dance partner) in an amusing spotlight - I suppose it'll be talked about for a day or two. Perhaps he was trying to say my name many times over with correct pronunciation to adjust for previous mistakes. In any case, many people seemed to get a kick out of it. I think the favorite for many was the supposed battle or rivalry between Haihan and me (Haihan wasn't even aware it was happening and as far as I'm concerned, it's not a rivalry - I don't think there is much of a contest).
The social must have ended around midnight although things lingered on for a while - first with a photo session, talk of cowbells, handclaps and boogaloo inside followed by a gabfest outside including about a mission I am now entrusted with. I think there was a group of five of us standing outside for nearly half hour - the other four seemed to go on for a bit longer as I drove off. I think some of them were nowhere near ready for bed.
Cambridge heat of Latinfest dance competition
May 20, 2007
I suppose I could start the story on May 4 (Fix that face of yours). That was when Cyrille, Natalie and I started talking seriously about the Cambridge heat of the Latinfest Salsa dance competition. That was when we started trying to talk each other into entering the competition and we talked about possible dance partners for entering the competition. The latter topic directly or indirectly came up many times thereafter including during the SOS trip and during the dinner last Friday.
Another line of thought originate as early as March 30 (Mark this on your calendar), when I first noted that this competition is being organized and that Club Salsa will host one of the heats. One of the first thoughts that came to my mind was that there may very well be an invasion from London and elsewhere for the Cambridge heat. I was certainly not alone in thinking this - I definitely recall Rajiv vocalizing the same thought at one of the Sauce outings.
I could start from this Friday at Club Salsa immediately after dinner. Cyrille and I were chilling on one of the couches. I saw Vishal and motioned him over. I asked him about the heat and who was supposed to have entered. Vishal said there were two couples, whom he knew nothing about.
Vishal started talking about being rather unimpressed with the Scala heat earlier this month on May 6 (I danced with a porn star) and said that he thought some Cambridge people are "way better" than those people. My thought was that the Scala competitors were alright but that "there are 'amateur' people associated with Cambridge who would have looked respectable." Could a Cambridge couple have won the Scala heat? I didn't think it was a slam dunk but certainly not out of the question.
Vishal also tried to talk us into entering the competition - especially Cyrille. In fact, by the end of the evening, Cyrille had verbally committed to entering and had a ready partner in Danie. Vishal and Cyrille tried to talk me and Mimi into entering, but we declined for a variety of reasons.
By Saturday, however, Cyrille was getting cold feet and tried to talk me into going SOS instead. I told him that it would be nice to have people from Cambridge representing Cambridge.
Come Sunday, Cyrille said he will enter the competition - but with Stephanie not Danie. Apparently Danie was not feeling well enough for the competition. Cyrille also asked me what my status was.
Stephanie… Now she would have been on top of my list. I didn't think she was going to be around in August for the semi-finals or finals, however. :p
I had made one phone call prior on Saturday. No luck. Not available neither tonight nor August. I think there might be another complicating factors too (I had considered it before the call and felt even less sure about if after the call).
Well. It's not like I have a long list of candidates on my phone. I made two more calls. One was available neither tonight nor August. I never got hold of the other.
So I was not able to join Cyrille in the competition. Too bad. Call me delusional or whatever, but my goal would have been to make it past the semi-finals because working on a choreography for a <4 min show for a couple dancing would have been a fascinating challenge.
I arrived at 7:15 to cheer Cyrille and Stephanie on. The workshop had not ended yet. I was slightly surprised to see Rico and Natalie there. Apparently they were thinking about entering the heat too. Nice. They no longer live in Cambridge, but they definitely have Cambridge connection. I think Rico has won every Salsa dance competitions I have seen in him enter in Cambridge. I suppose I would have to support them to come in second.
Not a small number of people came to watch the heat. Ivan, Haihan, William and Pauline for example came only to watch the competition and check out the social afterwards. There were good number of out-of-towners too - some looked like they might have considered entering the competition.
Not many people danced between the end of the workshop and the start of the competition. Cyrille danced with Stephanie only while Rico danced only with Natalie - seemed normal especially given that the break was pretty short (15 min or so?). I danced pretty much non-stop keeping the dance at as high level reasonable with each new partner - build up expectations maybe or just being a general nuisance (I suppose not all that different than I usually I dance).
Like at Scala, there were three couples competing. Cyrille and Stephanie. Rico and Natalie. The third couple included a girl I recognized from London (Scala? SOS?) and a guy I didn't recognize (I suppose I don't look at them very much). Two songs. Two minutes each. I don't know if anyone will remember the glitch they had with the second song.
After it ended, Ivan asked me who I thought was going to win. I replied, "I'm a little biased, but I think Cyrille and Stephanie will win." I have no idea what he thought. I suppose he would have to support his former pupils Rico and Natalie. (By the way I told Ivan that he should qualify as an amateur by the rules of this competition.)
More detailed analysis - hopefully I won't get into trouble for this. I thought Cyrille had a few too many moments of "sabor." I think they had something like 4 of them in each of the two minute segments. The music was flexible enough and they perhaps were not out of place, but there were too many - it should have been cut down in half. The octople (?) turn was debatable. It was not executed very cleanly (although the fact that it did not look practiced may not have hurt tonight) and I thought it was a bit gratuitous. My preference would have to keep it to no more than triple or maybe quadruple - anything more than triple should be done just once unless music allows it. So in that regard, I was happy to see that it wasn't repeated. Cyrille asking Stephanie for a solo shine was also not a good idea. There was nothing prepared! Unless it's going to look like something, it is not good to put your partner on the spot. Again, Cyrille stopped it after just one measure. Having both people do shine at the same time was a better idea and it worked much better. Among other things, it showed that they were just doing turn patterns after turn patterns. It was still a little nerve-wrecking - I was thinking that they were doing okay but they could do better. Maybe I am too familiar with vagaries and tendencies of Cyrille. Also it was not me out there. But I also thought that Cyrille had a golden opportunity here with Stephanie as his partner and that he better not mess it up. I relaxed a little bit when I turned my attention more to the other two couples. My impression was that they were not doing any better - more obvious stumbles and generally conservative and less interesting.
OK. Stephanie and Cyrille won. It took very long for me to say it, no? The judges were Joe, Tiz and Olga.
The social afterwards was pretty good - it lasted til 9. I tried to dance with as many people as possible - only partly successful. I danced with Natalie early, but not Stephanie (I just waited too long) and not the third female participant (she left quite early).
The only other noteworthy item was an amusing wardrobe glitch. No details except to say that I felt the danger a few times before it actually happened.
Finally a thread from way back in the past - December 16, 2005 (Ringers from Cambridge). Here's an excerpt.
I told Johnny my earlier thought about the four of us from Cambridge raising the standard of dancing tonight, and Johnny replied, "Maybe Cambridge will get a revenge on London. London Salsa dancers used to travel to provincial cities to compete in and win Salsa contests. Maybe people in Cambridge will start traveling to London to win the contests in London."
Cyrille and Stephanie are no longer available, but I would say that there are amateurs (not earning more than £5500 per year on Salsa) who could win heats elsewhere.
I suppose I could start the story on May 4 (Fix that face of yours). That was when Cyrille, Natalie and I started talking seriously about the Cambridge heat of the Latinfest Salsa dance competition. That was when we started trying to talk each other into entering the competition and we talked about possible dance partners for entering the competition. The latter topic directly or indirectly came up many times thereafter including during the SOS trip and during the dinner last Friday.
Another line of thought originate as early as March 30 (Mark this on your calendar), when I first noted that this competition is being organized and that Club Salsa will host one of the heats. One of the first thoughts that came to my mind was that there may very well be an invasion from London and elsewhere for the Cambridge heat. I was certainly not alone in thinking this - I definitely recall Rajiv vocalizing the same thought at one of the Sauce outings.
I could start from this Friday at Club Salsa immediately after dinner. Cyrille and I were chilling on one of the couches. I saw Vishal and motioned him over. I asked him about the heat and who was supposed to have entered. Vishal said there were two couples, whom he knew nothing about.
Vishal started talking about being rather unimpressed with the Scala heat earlier this month on May 6 (I danced with a porn star) and said that he thought some Cambridge people are "way better" than those people. My thought was that the Scala competitors were alright but that "there are 'amateur' people associated with Cambridge who would have looked respectable." Could a Cambridge couple have won the Scala heat? I didn't think it was a slam dunk but certainly not out of the question.
Vishal also tried to talk us into entering the competition - especially Cyrille. In fact, by the end of the evening, Cyrille had verbally committed to entering and had a ready partner in Danie. Vishal and Cyrille tried to talk me and Mimi into entering, but we declined for a variety of reasons.
By Saturday, however, Cyrille was getting cold feet and tried to talk me into going SOS instead. I told him that it would be nice to have people from Cambridge representing Cambridge.
Come Sunday, Cyrille said he will enter the competition - but with Stephanie not Danie. Apparently Danie was not feeling well enough for the competition. Cyrille also asked me what my status was.
Stephanie… Now she would have been on top of my list. I didn't think she was going to be around in August for the semi-finals or finals, however. :p
I had made one phone call prior on Saturday. No luck. Not available neither tonight nor August. I think there might be another complicating factors too (I had considered it before the call and felt even less sure about if after the call).
Well. It's not like I have a long list of candidates on my phone. I made two more calls. One was available neither tonight nor August. I never got hold of the other.
So I was not able to join Cyrille in the competition. Too bad. Call me delusional or whatever, but my goal would have been to make it past the semi-finals because working on a choreography for a <4 min show for a couple dancing would have been a fascinating challenge.
I arrived at 7:15 to cheer Cyrille and Stephanie on. The workshop had not ended yet. I was slightly surprised to see Rico and Natalie there. Apparently they were thinking about entering the heat too. Nice. They no longer live in Cambridge, but they definitely have Cambridge connection. I think Rico has won every Salsa dance competitions I have seen in him enter in Cambridge. I suppose I would have to support them to come in second.
Not a small number of people came to watch the heat. Ivan, Haihan, William and Pauline for example came only to watch the competition and check out the social afterwards. There were good number of out-of-towners too - some looked like they might have considered entering the competition.
Not many people danced between the end of the workshop and the start of the competition. Cyrille danced with Stephanie only while Rico danced only with Natalie - seemed normal especially given that the break was pretty short (15 min or so?). I danced pretty much non-stop keeping the dance at as high level reasonable with each new partner - build up expectations maybe or just being a general nuisance (I suppose not all that different than I usually I dance).
Like at Scala, there were three couples competing. Cyrille and Stephanie. Rico and Natalie. The third couple included a girl I recognized from London (Scala? SOS?) and a guy I didn't recognize (I suppose I don't look at them very much). Two songs. Two minutes each. I don't know if anyone will remember the glitch they had with the second song.
After it ended, Ivan asked me who I thought was going to win. I replied, "I'm a little biased, but I think Cyrille and Stephanie will win." I have no idea what he thought. I suppose he would have to support his former pupils Rico and Natalie. (By the way I told Ivan that he should qualify as an amateur by the rules of this competition.)
More detailed analysis - hopefully I won't get into trouble for this. I thought Cyrille had a few too many moments of "sabor." I think they had something like 4 of them in each of the two minute segments. The music was flexible enough and they perhaps were not out of place, but there were too many - it should have been cut down in half. The octople (?) turn was debatable. It was not executed very cleanly (although the fact that it did not look practiced may not have hurt tonight) and I thought it was a bit gratuitous. My preference would have to keep it to no more than triple or maybe quadruple - anything more than triple should be done just once unless music allows it. So in that regard, I was happy to see that it wasn't repeated. Cyrille asking Stephanie for a solo shine was also not a good idea. There was nothing prepared! Unless it's going to look like something, it is not good to put your partner on the spot. Again, Cyrille stopped it after just one measure. Having both people do shine at the same time was a better idea and it worked much better. Among other things, it showed that they were just doing turn patterns after turn patterns. It was still a little nerve-wrecking - I was thinking that they were doing okay but they could do better. Maybe I am too familiar with vagaries and tendencies of Cyrille. Also it was not me out there. But I also thought that Cyrille had a golden opportunity here with Stephanie as his partner and that he better not mess it up. I relaxed a little bit when I turned my attention more to the other two couples. My impression was that they were not doing any better - more obvious stumbles and generally conservative and less interesting.
OK. Stephanie and Cyrille won. It took very long for me to say it, no? The judges were Joe, Tiz and Olga.
The social afterwards was pretty good - it lasted til 9. I tried to dance with as many people as possible - only partly successful. I danced with Natalie early, but not Stephanie (I just waited too long) and not the third female participant (she left quite early).
The only other noteworthy item was an amusing wardrobe glitch. No details except to say that I felt the danger a few times before it actually happened.
Finally a thread from way back in the past - December 16, 2005 (Ringers from Cambridge). Here's an excerpt.
I told Johnny my earlier thought about the four of us from Cambridge raising the standard of dancing tonight, and Johnny replied, "Maybe Cambridge will get a revenge on London. London Salsa dancers used to travel to provincial cities to compete in and win Salsa contests. Maybe people in Cambridge will start traveling to London to win the contests in London."
Cyrille and Stephanie are no longer available, but I would say that there are amateurs (not earning more than £5500 per year on Salsa) who could win heats elsewhere.
Pasion de primavera
March 11, 2007
Other than having to skip lunch, work didn’t need to be done in tight schedule once again. After a quick dinner, I arrived at University Arms Hotel around 8:30 PM. The classes were over by then. It did not seem as crowded as it did last time. Air conditioning was working much better this time too. The stage and the DJ booth were at different spot.
I had my doubts about my enthusiasm for dancing being especially high so I was mostly standing by the sidelines. Funny thing is that one girl asked me for a dance. Then another. Then another. Five girls asked me for a dance before I initiated anything. It’s not like I can say no, right? I considered keeping the same approach for the rest of the evening, but I decided not to press my luck.
The first girl I asked for a dance was Sam. As usual, she took her time getting to the dance floor after saying yes. The next girl I asked was – Natasha (not sure about her name). This was followed by a pair of girls asking me for a dance in succession. 2 vs 7 to that point and counting. Quite amusing.
By the time Palenke came on, I still was asked more often than I asked. Stephanie got me for the first dance to live music. I started doing more asking and probably ended up asking more girls than vice versa – I am not far from certain though. Among girls I sought out, asked and danced with were Zhenzhi, Jane, Agnes, Charlotte, and Euvian. I danced Salsa more than once with only one girl - only because she asked me for a second one. No need to list names of girls who declined my request - only one for Salsa ;p.
Both Sally and Ivan seemed to be trying hard to stretch the kind of music being played - meaning there were a lot of songs I did not recognize. Among Sally’s songs, the songs I can recall are Mundy Baja (El Gran Combo), La Banda (Spanish Harlem Orchestra maybe?), two different versions of Muneca. Ivan played Paraiso De Dulzura and El Todopoderoso (both by Hector Lavoe), Merecumbe (Johnny Colon), Mi Ritmo Es Bueno (Bobby Valentin), Nina Y Senora (Tito Puente), Rumbon Melon (Joey Pastrana), and a version of Cao Cao Mani Picao I didn’t recognize.
Covers played by Palenke included Me Libere, Hips Don’t Lie, Micaela, and there were couple other Colombian-sounding ones I recognized but cannot recall anymore.
I finally got a decent look at the Salsa team performance. It seemed well done. Five couples participated – Sam and Mark, Agnes and Haihan, Stephanie and Young-Joon, Zhenzhi and Rajiv, Phyllis and Richard. I didn’t like the music though.
I was originally told that I would have 45 minutes to DJ starting at 11:15, and I prepared a playlist based on that assumption. At 11:10, it looked like the band was going to go extra long (I assumed so because they hadn’t played a Cha Cha yet). I asked Mark whether the plan was to finish promptly at midnight. He said yes (meaning I would have to rethink my playlist). I started doing some cuts in my head while waiting for the band to play a Cha Cha.
By this point, I decided that my high point of the evening could be the opportunity to dance Cha Cha to live music On2. It finally came around 11:20. I scrambled. I think I asked Nina first and then maybe Jane. I finally got Agnes to agree, but she gave up after a minute or so (she apologized later). I then asked Zhenzhi and managed to get to the end of the song with her. The order I asked was mostly by whom I spotted nearby.
During the next song, I spotted another girl who I thought would be worth dancing with. However, the opportunity did not arise while the band was playing. I wasn’t going to dance to Hips Don’t Lie or Micaela. I suppose another reason to skip on Micaela was that it was the last song by the band – meaning I needed to cue up a song. I think I heard Nina groan when Micaela came on – it made me smile.
Here’s my playlist. I started playing at 11:35 or about 20 minutes later than expected.
Babarabatiri – Willie Rosario (1)
La-La-La – Direct Latin Influence (2)
Sun Sun Babae – Celia Cruz (3)
Asia Mood – Tito Puente (4)
Musica Ligera – Toke D Keda (5)
Gotas De Lluvia – El Gran Combo (6)
Luna Negra – Rey Ruiz (7)
Abuelita – Hector Lavoe and Willie Colon (8)
Picadillo – Tito Puente (a version probably from the 40s or maybe the 50s) (9)
(1) One of the band members wondered if the volume was too low. I didn’t think it was too bad – I didn’t want too much distortion anyway. He commented that he remembered me dancing from last time – at the Winter Salsa Ball. Unlike last time, I danced near the band only once or twice tonight. 1984
(2) Mark had requested “a selection of new music and some different stuff [not heard from other DJs]… a couple of Bachata and a Cha Cha - it's always nice to get some variety...” I had to cut things down, and this song is a bit on the long side – longest one tonight by more than a minute. However, I decided that at least one new song had to be played. 2005
(3) Another possibility was Cao Cao Mani Picao, but Ivan played another version of this song earlier. For tonight, I liked this song better anyway. I liked the reaction from Adriana and Nina. 1940s-1950s
(4) A band member (balding with glasses and mustache) likes my songs. 1995
(5) It was a toss-up between this and Lamento Boliviano. Sam and Rajiv came by to make sure that I play a Bachata. It was cued before either of them stopped by. 2006 (promo) official release 2007 or tba
(6) The lead singer came by to compliment me on the music. probably late 1980s or 1990s
(7) It was 11:59 when I started this song. I thought at least one Salsa Romantica needed to be played. I did not cue another song. Instead I grabbed the girl I was eyeing earlier for a dance. I learned later that I must have seen her before either at SOS or at Scala. 1993
(8) Several people in the crowd called for more songs. The room seemed to be agreement. I skipped over to the best song on the only CD already loaded (Grandes Soneros De Ayer Y Hoy). Haihan stopped by to make a song request (no specific version stated). A hotel personnel also came by to ask that this or next song be the last song. I make an announcement to the effect before starting the next song. 1970
(9) I obtained this song from a 3 CD Tito Puente compilation album called King of Timbales. I suspect that the same version of the song could be obtained from other albums also. 1940s or 1950s
The original planned playlist was as follows.
Babarabatiri
Es La Musica – Massimo Scalici (another new music)
La-La-La
Push, Push, Push – Joe Cuba Sextet (Cha Cha / Boogaloo)
Sun Sun Babae
El Pito – Isidro Infante (or El Swing De Fruko – Fruko Y Sus Tesos. Either would have been the only Salsa that I know Ivan/Sally had played previously.)
Musica Ligera
Revolucionando – New Swing Sextet
Asia Mood
Lamento Boliviano – Toke D Keda (Bachata) (Sally played this once.)
Gotas De Lluvia
Luna Negra
Total played in reality. 9 Songs. 1 Bachata. 8 Salsa. It would have been 5 or 6 Salsa if I ended promptly at midnight. No new songs.
Total songs originally planned (‘final’ version). 12 songs. 2 Bachata (1 not played). 1 Cha Cha (not played). 9 Salsa (3 not played). No new songs.
My dancing form? I would give it a C minus. Timing and musicality feel very off. Maybe it's because of all those On2 practice. I had 15-20 dances altogether – many with beginners/improvers.
Other than having to skip lunch, work didn’t need to be done in tight schedule once again. After a quick dinner, I arrived at University Arms Hotel around 8:30 PM. The classes were over by then. It did not seem as crowded as it did last time. Air conditioning was working much better this time too. The stage and the DJ booth were at different spot.
I had my doubts about my enthusiasm for dancing being especially high so I was mostly standing by the sidelines. Funny thing is that one girl asked me for a dance. Then another. Then another. Five girls asked me for a dance before I initiated anything. It’s not like I can say no, right? I considered keeping the same approach for the rest of the evening, but I decided not to press my luck.
The first girl I asked for a dance was Sam. As usual, she took her time getting to the dance floor after saying yes. The next girl I asked was – Natasha (not sure about her name). This was followed by a pair of girls asking me for a dance in succession. 2 vs 7 to that point and counting. Quite amusing.
By the time Palenke came on, I still was asked more often than I asked. Stephanie got me for the first dance to live music. I started doing more asking and probably ended up asking more girls than vice versa – I am not far from certain though. Among girls I sought out, asked and danced with were Zhenzhi, Jane, Agnes, Charlotte, and Euvian. I danced Salsa more than once with only one girl - only because she asked me for a second one. No need to list names of girls who declined my request - only one for Salsa ;p.
Both Sally and Ivan seemed to be trying hard to stretch the kind of music being played - meaning there were a lot of songs I did not recognize. Among Sally’s songs, the songs I can recall are Mundy Baja (El Gran Combo), La Banda (Spanish Harlem Orchestra maybe?), two different versions of Muneca. Ivan played Paraiso De Dulzura and El Todopoderoso (both by Hector Lavoe), Merecumbe (Johnny Colon), Mi Ritmo Es Bueno (Bobby Valentin), Nina Y Senora (Tito Puente), Rumbon Melon (Joey Pastrana), and a version of Cao Cao Mani Picao I didn’t recognize.
Covers played by Palenke included Me Libere, Hips Don’t Lie, Micaela, and there were couple other Colombian-sounding ones I recognized but cannot recall anymore.
I finally got a decent look at the Salsa team performance. It seemed well done. Five couples participated – Sam and Mark, Agnes and Haihan, Stephanie and Young-Joon, Zhenzhi and Rajiv, Phyllis and Richard. I didn’t like the music though.
I was originally told that I would have 45 minutes to DJ starting at 11:15, and I prepared a playlist based on that assumption. At 11:10, it looked like the band was going to go extra long (I assumed so because they hadn’t played a Cha Cha yet). I asked Mark whether the plan was to finish promptly at midnight. He said yes (meaning I would have to rethink my playlist). I started doing some cuts in my head while waiting for the band to play a Cha Cha.
By this point, I decided that my high point of the evening could be the opportunity to dance Cha Cha to live music On2. It finally came around 11:20. I scrambled. I think I asked Nina first and then maybe Jane. I finally got Agnes to agree, but she gave up after a minute or so (she apologized later). I then asked Zhenzhi and managed to get to the end of the song with her. The order I asked was mostly by whom I spotted nearby.
During the next song, I spotted another girl who I thought would be worth dancing with. However, the opportunity did not arise while the band was playing. I wasn’t going to dance to Hips Don’t Lie or Micaela. I suppose another reason to skip on Micaela was that it was the last song by the band – meaning I needed to cue up a song. I think I heard Nina groan when Micaela came on – it made me smile.
Here’s my playlist. I started playing at 11:35 or about 20 minutes later than expected.
Babarabatiri – Willie Rosario (1)
La-La-La – Direct Latin Influence (2)
Sun Sun Babae – Celia Cruz (3)
Asia Mood – Tito Puente (4)
Musica Ligera – Toke D Keda (5)
Gotas De Lluvia – El Gran Combo (6)
Luna Negra – Rey Ruiz (7)
Abuelita – Hector Lavoe and Willie Colon (8)
Picadillo – Tito Puente (a version probably from the 40s or maybe the 50s) (9)
(1) One of the band members wondered if the volume was too low. I didn’t think it was too bad – I didn’t want too much distortion anyway. He commented that he remembered me dancing from last time – at the Winter Salsa Ball. Unlike last time, I danced near the band only once or twice tonight. 1984
(2) Mark had requested “a selection of new music and some different stuff [not heard from other DJs]… a couple of Bachata and a Cha Cha - it's always nice to get some variety...” I had to cut things down, and this song is a bit on the long side – longest one tonight by more than a minute. However, I decided that at least one new song had to be played. 2005
(3) Another possibility was Cao Cao Mani Picao, but Ivan played another version of this song earlier. For tonight, I liked this song better anyway. I liked the reaction from Adriana and Nina. 1940s-1950s
(4) A band member (balding with glasses and mustache) likes my songs. 1995
(5) It was a toss-up between this and Lamento Boliviano. Sam and Rajiv came by to make sure that I play a Bachata. It was cued before either of them stopped by. 2006 (promo) official release 2007 or tba
(6) The lead singer came by to compliment me on the music. probably late 1980s or 1990s
(7) It was 11:59 when I started this song. I thought at least one Salsa Romantica needed to be played. I did not cue another song. Instead I grabbed the girl I was eyeing earlier for a dance. I learned later that I must have seen her before either at SOS or at Scala. 1993
(8) Several people in the crowd called for more songs. The room seemed to be agreement. I skipped over to the best song on the only CD already loaded (Grandes Soneros De Ayer Y Hoy). Haihan stopped by to make a song request (no specific version stated). A hotel personnel also came by to ask that this or next song be the last song. I make an announcement to the effect before starting the next song. 1970
(9) I obtained this song from a 3 CD Tito Puente compilation album called King of Timbales. I suspect that the same version of the song could be obtained from other albums also. 1940s or 1950s
The original planned playlist was as follows.
Babarabatiri
Es La Musica – Massimo Scalici (another new music)
La-La-La
Push, Push, Push – Joe Cuba Sextet (Cha Cha / Boogaloo)
Sun Sun Babae
El Pito – Isidro Infante (or El Swing De Fruko – Fruko Y Sus Tesos. Either would have been the only Salsa that I know Ivan/Sally had played previously.)
Musica Ligera
Revolucionando – New Swing Sextet
Asia Mood
Lamento Boliviano – Toke D Keda (Bachata) (Sally played this once.)
Gotas De Lluvia
Luna Negra
Total played in reality. 9 Songs. 1 Bachata. 8 Salsa. It would have been 5 or 6 Salsa if I ended promptly at midnight. No new songs.
Total songs originally planned (‘final’ version). 12 songs. 2 Bachata (1 not played). 1 Cha Cha (not played). 9 Salsa (3 not played). No new songs.
My dancing form? I would give it a C minus. Timing and musicality feel very off. Maybe it's because of all those On2 practice. I had 15-20 dances altogether – many with beginners/improvers.
St. Edmunds and Siegfried
March 10, 2007
Finally a relaxing day a work. For a change no rush to get things done. Before heading off to St. Edmunds College, I turned on the television. Possibly for the first time in over a week. BBC two was broadcasting Richard Wagner’s Siegfried from the Covent Gardens. Near the end of Act 1. I watched it for a while and considered staying home.
11:45 PM. I arrived at St. Edmunds College Common Room. I signed in as a guest – just in case I turn out to be or become a celebrity. When I entered the main dance area, I spotted immediately Rajiv, Stephanie and Haihan. Haihan said, “I didn’t think you’d come to this place.” I can be masochistic sometimes.
11:50 PM. I spotted Tamaryn at the other end of the room. Vishal was playing La Pantera Mambo. I walked over to her. She had her head out the window – presumably to cool down. She said she had only gone out to dance Salsa only twice this year - very busy with school presumably. We had a short dance. I won’t see her tomorrow.
11:55 PM. Next song was Merengue. I said a brief hello to Olivia, who took Tamaryn with her out the main room. As I made my way back to Haihan’s group, A Ballroom dancer I remember from my first year of Salsa dancing spotted me. I danced Merengue with her briefly. Next song was R & B.
12:00 AM. I was standing by Stephanie when Vishal started Mambo No. 5 (not the original of course but the one by Lou Bega). Stephanie muttered, “I was going to request a Mambo.”
12:20 AM. Stephanie left. See you tomorrow. Zhenzhi arrived. Among other songs played was Hips Don’t Lie.
12:25 AM. Two Bachata – Obsesion and the new R & B Bachata – were played.
12:30 AM. Third “Salsa” of the evening (while I was here anyway) was played. Playa No More.
12:35 AM. Haihan left. See you tomorrow. I’m getting hot and sweaty just sitting still.
12:40 AM. Otra. Otra. Otra something, something else, whatever.
12:45 AM. Okay, I can say that I was here for an hour – maybe a little over an hour. Let’s say one Salsa dance and one Merengue dance. I had very little expectations anyway. Shila says tomorrow is going to be the big night and that it’ll be good. I imagine it will be – whether I have a good time or not.
Back to Siegfried - Part 3 of the Ring Cycle, which left as a profound and indelible mark (perhaps a curse) on me as any work of art and literature. No doubt not in a way Wagner intended.
Finally a relaxing day a work. For a change no rush to get things done. Before heading off to St. Edmunds College, I turned on the television. Possibly for the first time in over a week. BBC two was broadcasting Richard Wagner’s Siegfried from the Covent Gardens. Near the end of Act 1. I watched it for a while and considered staying home.
11:45 PM. I arrived at St. Edmunds College Common Room. I signed in as a guest – just in case I turn out to be or become a celebrity. When I entered the main dance area, I spotted immediately Rajiv, Stephanie and Haihan. Haihan said, “I didn’t think you’d come to this place.” I can be masochistic sometimes.
11:50 PM. I spotted Tamaryn at the other end of the room. Vishal was playing La Pantera Mambo. I walked over to her. She had her head out the window – presumably to cool down. She said she had only gone out to dance Salsa only twice this year - very busy with school presumably. We had a short dance. I won’t see her tomorrow.
11:55 PM. Next song was Merengue. I said a brief hello to Olivia, who took Tamaryn with her out the main room. As I made my way back to Haihan’s group, A Ballroom dancer I remember from my first year of Salsa dancing spotted me. I danced Merengue with her briefly. Next song was R & B.
12:00 AM. I was standing by Stephanie when Vishal started Mambo No. 5 (not the original of course but the one by Lou Bega). Stephanie muttered, “I was going to request a Mambo.”
12:20 AM. Stephanie left. See you tomorrow. Zhenzhi arrived. Among other songs played was Hips Don’t Lie.
12:25 AM. Two Bachata – Obsesion and the new R & B Bachata – were played.
12:30 AM. Third “Salsa” of the evening (while I was here anyway) was played. Playa No More.
12:35 AM. Haihan left. See you tomorrow. I’m getting hot and sweaty just sitting still.
12:40 AM. Otra. Otra. Otra something, something else, whatever.
12:45 AM. Okay, I can say that I was here for an hour – maybe a little over an hour. Let’s say one Salsa dance and one Merengue dance. I had very little expectations anyway. Shila says tomorrow is going to be the big night and that it’ll be good. I imagine it will be – whether I have a good time or not.
Back to Siegfried - Part 3 of the Ring Cycle, which left as a profound and indelible mark (perhaps a curse) on me as any work of art and literature. No doubt not in a way Wagner intended.
New Year Party at Club Salsa on Dec 30th
December 30, 2006
I arrived around 8:45 or so. I didn’t think 7 PM start was very plausible. As expected, the DJ booth was on autopilot. Somewhat surprising was that the music wasn’t Salsa, Merengue or Bachata. The number of people was small, but it seemed reasonable to play Salsa.
Playlist
Mandali – Africando (1)
La Muy Muy – Roberto Torres
Trombon Criollo – Cachao (2)
Lovely Day – borrowed from Vishal’s CD (why not? it would be a long night)
Poinciana Cha Cha – Cal Tjader (3)
Sientate Ahi – Oscar D’Leon
Asuncion – Roberto Roena (4)*
Cuestion De Epoca – Celia Cruz & Jose Alberto “El Canario”*
Maria Cervantes – Grupo Latin Vibe (5)
Te Extrano – Toke D Keda
Culebra – Grupo Niche (-1%)
Hablame – Frankie Ruiz (-1%)
Mi Tierra – Gloria Estefan (-1%) (6)*
Lluvia – Eddie Santiago
Mala Mana – Roberto Roena (7)*
break #1 (starting with “better” Merengue)
Tu Son – Oscar D’Leon (8)
Meneame La Cuna – Roberto Torres*
Lindo Yambu – Cheo Feliciano
Soledad – La 33
Aguadilla – Ray Barretto
break #2 (Vishal started with a double dose of Playa No More. I commented/joked to him that the party doesn’t start officially until he plays that song.)
Ven Tu – Dominic Marte
Debo Pensar – Toke D Keda
Cucala – Celia Cruz
El Abaniquito – Pucho & His Latin Soul Brothers
Cao Cao Mani Picao – Tito Puente
Ran Kan Kan – Tito Puente (Mambo Birdland live version)
Musica Ligera – Toke D Keda
No Hay Cama Pa’ Tanta Gente – El Gran Combo
break #3 (started off with Lamento Boliviano followed by hit parade of Salsa ending with Otra Oportunidad – you know, things like Me Libere, Cali Pachanguero, Caballo Viejo. Vishal also played Ave Maria Lola, Gotas De Lluvia, La Vida Es Un Carnival (probably), Sey, Contigo, Un Verano En Nueva York at other points this evening. Also Ping Pong, Lovely Day, Micaela (probably) – let’s say that Vishal had a very conventional day even by his usual standard – the only Salsa songs that he played tonight that I did not hear him play at least 30 times already were Gotas De Lluvia and Un Verano En Nueva York. Would it be accurate to say that Vishal stuck to the same 100 Salsa songs this year? Vishal did not play Lloraras, Que Buena Baila Usted, A El, Me Voy Pa’ Cali, Ojos Chinos, Brujeria, Pantera Mambo, Obsesion, La Rebelion, Yamulemau, El Pito, Perdoname, Lady, Aicha, Bailando.)
Prestame Tu Mujer – Ray Barretto
Caballero Y Dama – Celia Cruz & Willie Chirino
Dime Que Quieres – El Gran Combo
Vitamina – Sonora Carruseles
Merecumbe – Johnny Colon (9)
No Aguanto Mas – Celia Cruz & Johnny Pacheco (10)
Apretoncito – Toke D Keda
break #4 (This break felt a little longer. I think Vishal’s session ended with more romantic stuff.)
Amor De Una Noche – N’Klabe
Esas Lagrimas – Gilberto Santa Rosa (11)
La Llave – Grupo Latin Vibe
Idilio – Willie Colon
break #5 (or done for the rest of the evening, except for a one song request – see below. It started off with Merengue and then Reggaeton. I thought the Reggaeton segment was surprisingly small. Vish went back to Salsa and stayed with it for quite a while near the end – although most of the material was very familiar yet I don’t have good idea what most of them are because I never came across them in my Salsa searches.)
Muneca – Alfredo De La Fe (12)*
(1) I guess some people still dance to Sey when Vishal plays it later, but hardly anyone seems to dance when I play Africando.
(2) This one gets a “That’s a weird one” comment from Vish.
(3) Ditto.
(4) Requests for Merengue had begun already – actually even before I started playing. So here goes. I think Abit might have been the only one to dance to it.
(5) Complaints are supposedly mounting.
(6) Pandering. Would you believe that this was one of the first four Latin CDs I ever purchased? Yet I had never used it as DJ until now?
(7) Requests for Merengue were mounting again. Considering the fact that out of 1700+ songs I have categorized under Latin, only 3 are Merengue PLUS I have used one of them already means my options are limited. This one wasn’t popular either. Only Abit danced to it. Vishal ended it prematurely – saying that it’s not a good (read: popular) one. What else can one expect when I have only 3 songs – all obtained inadvertently.
(8) Okay. I’m going to get more serious now with DJing – not to say that I was playing all crap during the first stint.
(9) Vishal talked about taking over again just after I had this song cued. I asked to play this song with the idea that I would try to dance to it. When I started the song and then started looking for a prospective dance partner, I couldn’t find one so I trudged back to the DJ booth. There was another clamor for Merengue by now, so I played Merengue next before switching to Bachata again.
(10) This Merengue was supposedly a bit better. I note that this was the first Merengue I ever played – last week.
(11) A request around this point was for “commercial stuff.” It wasn’t Vish. Isn’t N’Klabe or Gilberto Santa Rosa about as commercial as it gets?
(12) I tried to make a Reggaeton request first, but Vishal didn’t want to play any more Reggaeton because he wanted to end the evening sooner rather than later. So I made a Salsa request instead hoping to get my third dance of the evening - I just couldn’t get inspired to dance to same old same old.
Total 40 songs. 5 Bachata. 3 Merengue. 1 Cha Cha. 31 Salsa. 4 new Salsa. 2 new Merengue. Oh... and that Lovely Day song.
I never really got into dancing mood – I didn’t dance with anyone between ~11 PM and close to 3 AM. Until near the very end, it looked like I was going to end with 2 dances followed by consecutive rejections or “not this song” by 3 people. There were few other occasions where I ended up not asking because the person I would have asked were nowhere to be found or already dancing with someone else or looked occupied with something or someone else. The final tally – I asked for a dance 8 or 9 times, and I got yes for an answer 4 times. Two of the dances were with people who still have difficulty keeping time to the music when left on their own.
I took a look at last year's post for New Years Eve party. Supposedly I danced very little last year too - only with 8 people (or only twice as many as tonight). A quick glance suggests that December in Cambridge was not great for Salsa last year either. January on the other hand was much better (even with a brief period of practicing instead of dancing to work on fixing how to lead cross body lead), so maybe it won't stay dire for so long. I should keep my expectations low, of course.
At least I got some socializing done. Umm… Right. I guess I did speak with Lindsey and Sam for over 30 seconds. Vishal and I also chatted throughout the evening – it was a long evening.
I arrived around 8:45 or so. I didn’t think 7 PM start was very plausible. As expected, the DJ booth was on autopilot. Somewhat surprising was that the music wasn’t Salsa, Merengue or Bachata. The number of people was small, but it seemed reasonable to play Salsa.
Playlist
Mandali – Africando (1)
La Muy Muy – Roberto Torres
Trombon Criollo – Cachao (2)
Lovely Day – borrowed from Vishal’s CD (why not? it would be a long night)
Poinciana Cha Cha – Cal Tjader (3)
Sientate Ahi – Oscar D’Leon
Asuncion – Roberto Roena (4)*
Cuestion De Epoca – Celia Cruz & Jose Alberto “El Canario”*
Maria Cervantes – Grupo Latin Vibe (5)
Te Extrano – Toke D Keda
Culebra – Grupo Niche (-1%)
Hablame – Frankie Ruiz (-1%)
Mi Tierra – Gloria Estefan (-1%) (6)*
Lluvia – Eddie Santiago
Mala Mana – Roberto Roena (7)*
break #1 (starting with “better” Merengue)
Tu Son – Oscar D’Leon (8)
Meneame La Cuna – Roberto Torres*
Lindo Yambu – Cheo Feliciano
Soledad – La 33
Aguadilla – Ray Barretto
break #2 (Vishal started with a double dose of Playa No More. I commented/joked to him that the party doesn’t start officially until he plays that song.)
Ven Tu – Dominic Marte
Debo Pensar – Toke D Keda
Cucala – Celia Cruz
El Abaniquito – Pucho & His Latin Soul Brothers
Cao Cao Mani Picao – Tito Puente
Ran Kan Kan – Tito Puente (Mambo Birdland live version)
Musica Ligera – Toke D Keda
No Hay Cama Pa’ Tanta Gente – El Gran Combo
break #3 (started off with Lamento Boliviano followed by hit parade of Salsa ending with Otra Oportunidad – you know, things like Me Libere, Cali Pachanguero, Caballo Viejo. Vishal also played Ave Maria Lola, Gotas De Lluvia, La Vida Es Un Carnival (probably), Sey, Contigo, Un Verano En Nueva York at other points this evening. Also Ping Pong, Lovely Day, Micaela (probably) – let’s say that Vishal had a very conventional day even by his usual standard – the only Salsa songs that he played tonight that I did not hear him play at least 30 times already were Gotas De Lluvia and Un Verano En Nueva York. Would it be accurate to say that Vishal stuck to the same 100 Salsa songs this year? Vishal did not play Lloraras, Que Buena Baila Usted, A El, Me Voy Pa’ Cali, Ojos Chinos, Brujeria, Pantera Mambo, Obsesion, La Rebelion, Yamulemau, El Pito, Perdoname, Lady, Aicha, Bailando.)
Prestame Tu Mujer – Ray Barretto
Caballero Y Dama – Celia Cruz & Willie Chirino
Dime Que Quieres – El Gran Combo
Vitamina – Sonora Carruseles
Merecumbe – Johnny Colon (9)
No Aguanto Mas – Celia Cruz & Johnny Pacheco (10)
Apretoncito – Toke D Keda
break #4 (This break felt a little longer. I think Vishal’s session ended with more romantic stuff.)
Amor De Una Noche – N’Klabe
Esas Lagrimas – Gilberto Santa Rosa (11)
La Llave – Grupo Latin Vibe
Idilio – Willie Colon
break #5 (or done for the rest of the evening, except for a one song request – see below. It started off with Merengue and then Reggaeton. I thought the Reggaeton segment was surprisingly small. Vish went back to Salsa and stayed with it for quite a while near the end – although most of the material was very familiar yet I don’t have good idea what most of them are because I never came across them in my Salsa searches.)
Muneca – Alfredo De La Fe (12)*
(1) I guess some people still dance to Sey when Vishal plays it later, but hardly anyone seems to dance when I play Africando.
(2) This one gets a “That’s a weird one” comment from Vish.
(3) Ditto.
(4) Requests for Merengue had begun already – actually even before I started playing. So here goes. I think Abit might have been the only one to dance to it.
(5) Complaints are supposedly mounting.
(6) Pandering. Would you believe that this was one of the first four Latin CDs I ever purchased? Yet I had never used it as DJ until now?
(7) Requests for Merengue were mounting again. Considering the fact that out of 1700+ songs I have categorized under Latin, only 3 are Merengue PLUS I have used one of them already means my options are limited. This one wasn’t popular either. Only Abit danced to it. Vishal ended it prematurely – saying that it’s not a good (read: popular) one. What else can one expect when I have only 3 songs – all obtained inadvertently.
(8) Okay. I’m going to get more serious now with DJing – not to say that I was playing all crap during the first stint.
(9) Vishal talked about taking over again just after I had this song cued. I asked to play this song with the idea that I would try to dance to it. When I started the song and then started looking for a prospective dance partner, I couldn’t find one so I trudged back to the DJ booth. There was another clamor for Merengue by now, so I played Merengue next before switching to Bachata again.
(10) This Merengue was supposedly a bit better. I note that this was the first Merengue I ever played – last week.
(11) A request around this point was for “commercial stuff.” It wasn’t Vish. Isn’t N’Klabe or Gilberto Santa Rosa about as commercial as it gets?
(12) I tried to make a Reggaeton request first, but Vishal didn’t want to play any more Reggaeton because he wanted to end the evening sooner rather than later. So I made a Salsa request instead hoping to get my third dance of the evening - I just couldn’t get inspired to dance to same old same old.
Total 40 songs. 5 Bachata. 3 Merengue. 1 Cha Cha. 31 Salsa. 4 new Salsa. 2 new Merengue. Oh... and that Lovely Day song.
I never really got into dancing mood – I didn’t dance with anyone between ~11 PM and close to 3 AM. Until near the very end, it looked like I was going to end with 2 dances followed by consecutive rejections or “not this song” by 3 people. There were few other occasions where I ended up not asking because the person I would have asked were nowhere to be found or already dancing with someone else or looked occupied with something or someone else. The final tally – I asked for a dance 8 or 9 times, and I got yes for an answer 4 times. Two of the dances were with people who still have difficulty keeping time to the music when left on their own.
I took a look at last year's post for New Years Eve party. Supposedly I danced very little last year too - only with 8 people (or only twice as many as tonight). A quick glance suggests that December in Cambridge was not great for Salsa last year either. January on the other hand was much better (even with a brief period of practicing instead of dancing to work on fixing how to lead cross body lead), so maybe it won't stay dire for so long. I should keep my expectations low, of course.
At least I got some socializing done. Umm… Right. I guess I did speak with Lindsey and Sam for over 30 seconds. Vishal and I also chatted throughout the evening – it was a long evening.
Cambridge Salsa event of the year
November 26, 2006
Pasion de Invierno - The CDC Salsa Winter Ball
After a dinner at a bistro near Grafton Center with some co-workers, we walked to University Arms Hotel arriving about 30 minutes late. We found the hotel swarming with kids wearing boxing gloves, which added an interesting atmosphere. Once inside the Newton Suite, I was struck by there being so many people wearing formal dresses (ball gowns, neckties, etc), which made me one of the more casually clothed people in the room.
My original intent was to either skip the class or take one of the easier classes to help out women from my workplace. However, one of the women decided not to show up until much later (in fact she never made it), and there were two other men from work who could help her out. There were other hang-ups too and in the middle of a lull, Sally spotted me and volunteered me into taking part in her level 3 class, which was couple of men short. I was late again, so it took me a moment or two to catch up.
Level 3 class instructed by Sally
R-R hold
1,2,3,5,6,7 lead double stationary clockwise turn for follower
1,2,3,5,6,7 crossed hold L-L underneath R-R – CBL and lead follower into 1 1/2 traveling counterclockwise turn ending in something like a wrap
1,2,3,5,6,7 lead follower straight back on 1,2,3 underneath L-L – lead follower into stationary clockwise turn with R-R over behind leader and with leader turning 1/2 counterclockwise (let go L-L briefly)
1,2,3,5,6,7 reconnect L-L open break and Copa with L-L going over and R hand on follower’s shoulder and standard 1 1/2 counterclockwise Copa turn for follower
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break reconnect R-R underneath and lead follower into full counterclockwise turn on 2,3 with each connections ending above follower’s shoulders – lead follower into touch and go 2 1/2 clockwise traveling turn
1,2,3,5,6,7 drop catch to get R-R underneath L-L open break and lead follower in on leader’s R side – with all connection kept close to each other until 7 or so lead follower into 1 1/2 clockwise traveling turn with windmill motion with leader turning 1/2 counterclockwise and splitting hands around 7 to get into reverse crucifix (or Titanic or whatever)
1,2,3,5,6,7 leader turns 1/2 clockwise on 1,2,3 as follower is also turned 1/2 clockwise on 2,3 with R-R (L-L briefly let go before reconnecting) and catch L-L to lead follower into stationary counterclockwise turn (I am not sure if this would involve broken left turn for follower)
The university students dominated this event. I am now guessing that quite a number of people who I have seen at Club Salsa during classes must be students. Perhaps I should have guessed that, but I never thought about it very much until now. Aside from people from my workplace, the only people I knew for sure were not with the CDC were the people I recognized from Rhona and Helen’s Rueda group, couple of women I remembered from SOS (I was a little surprised that they would choose to come to Cambridge rather than sticking to SOS), small number of regulars from Club Salsa, some ex-team members (Rico and Drew). My guess is that most people from my work would have felt a little out-of-place in tonight’s setting (although they said they enjoyed the band, etc) – oh well.
One of the thoughts that came to my mind immediately upon entering the Newton Suite was that Cyrille missed out on a really good Cambridge Salsa event – I can’t imagine that it is possible to get any better than this in Cambridge. It might be possible to equal the crowd and the atmosphere, but I really doubt that it can get significantly better. My advice to the CDC would be to stay in the same room and go for another sold-out event or two before moving to a bigger room. Having a crowded floor (the floor space was pretty close to ideal in my opinion) just gave it a great atmosphere – even if it was sometimes difficult to figure out where some of my favorite dance partners were at several different times. In retrospect, it is no surprise that a big non-profit organization like CDC given enough willpower would be in better position to hold top notch Salsa event.
Palenke was excellent. Their first song was a like a baptism by fire – there were so many transitions and tricky bits. They really kept me on my toes. They also played at least one Bachata, one Merengue and at least 3 Cuban songs. Funny thing was that I glanced at the lead singer a few times during this first song and whenever I did this, I saw her looking at me dancing. I also had similar experience with couple of other band members on several other occasions throughout the evening. At the end of the evening, I approached some of the band members and thanked and complimented them for excellent music, and they told me that they had fun watching me dance; they said I had an unusual style (seemingly not in a bad way - although I have yet to see how silly I look) and referred to the fact that I kept changing the way I dance (well… I do try to change things depending on the music and my dance partner – sometimes with more success than others).
There were two wood floors right next to each other; the one on the South side close to the bandstand was nicer and bigger. I generally avoided the one closer to the entrance because of gaps between wooden panels being a potential hazard. The room was also a little on the warm side - I felt I was in danger of dehydration (something I had not had to worry about for a very long time).
In addition to many excellent dances with Euvian, Agnes, Zhenzi and Stephanie (at least two or more likely three dances with each of them - I seem to dance with them so often that I wonder if I will be suffering from dearth of dances partners who know most if not all of my moves when all of them go away for vacation, etc), I had memorable dances with Nina (a very old and nifty sounding song while Ivan was DJing – a gem of a dance after suffering through a Reggaeton), with Isabel (a major spin-fest to a fast (not sure if Ivan slowed it down a little) Indestructible by Ray Barretto – Isabel did not seem mind what many would consider insane amount of spinning), with Nicola (another one of the songs where I caught the Piano player or was it the Conga player checking me and my partner for long parts of the song), with Lindsey (I tried to make the dance more like Sergio’s, but doing so successfully might take years of practice), with Jane (final dance of the evening to Perdoname by Gilberto Santa Rosa – unusual because most dance I had with her this year were dance to Mambo and generally faster songs – thus this made for a big change of pace and was very relaxing). There were also a number of fun dances with Tamaryn (I recall a band member of two checking us out doing a number of extended shines during our first dance – Tamaryn had her back to the band so she would not have noticed – I might also have tried too hard to make some of the later dances with her too irregular (redrawing the line without rhyme or reason many times, etc)); I hadn’t seen Tamaryn in a couple of months… again (well… she seems to have many other obligations on top of studies). Hmm. I probably am sticking my neck out for decapitation – I have been warned that no good will ever come out of talking about how good or bad my dances with specific persons in public. Maybe having a live band, a really great atmosphere and tons of people I know well and like dancing with resulted in many highlights. Olivia was back after close to a year away (and just one dance was not enough to get ourselves readjusted to each other). Thinking about it more, there were bunch of really nice dances earlier in the evening too – Cinzia and Cristelle definitely (I remember them better because I don’t see them regularly) and the only Bachata dance of the evening with Anastasia. Thinking even more, the whole thing was a little ridiculous in that there were probably at least 30 women I would have made strong effort to dance with on a typical night at Club Salsa. As it was, I danced with only a few of them and only because they happened to be at the opportune time and location (or simply because they made the effort to ask me – now that’s one surefire way to get pretty much any male Salsa dancer to the dance floor). I didn’t even dance with the woman from work. I don’t think I danced with Susie either (because she was holding some cards for Sam???). Or Sam (but then again she had tired ankles and wanted to rest them for her dance performance)! I could go on, and I am realizing anew that there are many good reasons to avoid talking about individual dances. There’s no end especially if there are so many. I really should shut up now, and I am going to make minimal effort to make this paragraph readable.
However, there are other things that should be mentioned.
The Salsa demonstration by Sam and Mark was really superb and quite fun to watch. I think we may have a big-time front-runner for this year’s Cuppers competition (I mention this because of a rather prominent appearance made by the Cup) – talking about the Cuppers by the way does not do enough justice. More appropriate statement would be that this raised the bar for future Cambridge Salsa performances if nothing else because Sam and Mark made judicious use of shines and body movement (very common in performances in London and at Brit Salsafest but until now not so in Cambridge). I don’t recall for sure if I made comments about lack of shines at appropriate moments on other performances I have seen (but if I did, maybe Sam and/or Mark read about it and gave it some consideration). More likely it was simply a product of them having become more exposed to the Salsa scene outside Cambridgeshire (e.g. SOS, Scala, Congress) with increased frequency. After congratulating Mark and Sam for a very well-done performance, I went to Ivan and told him that he did a very nice job with choreography – because I assumed that he put most of it together. Not so. Ivan said it was 99% Mark and Sam. This meant that I had to go back to Mark and Sam to compliment them all over again.
The Rock and Roll demonstration by contrast was a bit anticlimactic. Acrobatics was certainly fun and at times scary to watch, but it suffered from lack of musicality. It was a bit of relief that they were putting safety first at one point rather than going on recklessly.
Listening to the single Merengue song played by Palenke helped to confirm in my mind that I do have one or two Merengue songs in some of my CDs. Merengue from 70's... One potential problem - I was asked to dance to this Merengue, and it wasn't clear at all to me that she realized that the song was Merengue (even though the lead singer clearly said it was the only Merengue they will play all night).
I had my CDs with me just in case they asked me to DJ - there was some confusion about it. It was just as well that I didn't for many reasons: most importantly I would have missed out on many dances (I wish I could have danced more); playing for 30 minute slot for a crowd I didn't know well would have been a little challenging (for whatever it's worth I did have several songs on top of my list - Vitamina, El Abaniquito, Malanga Amarilla, La Fiesta de Pilito, and at least one slow Salsa song, and one purely instrumental Salsa/Mambo/Latin Jazz song (newer version of Vietnam Mambo maybe?), possibly two Bachata songs like Musica Ligera and possibly Lamento Boliviano, one Cha Cha/Boogaloo song (Push, Push, Push) … all of these songs would have been picked in large part because of their brevity); and as a matter of principle at least a CDC member discount at the very least. This made absolutely no difference by the way - it was great to have extra time for dancing.
The music ended at midnight. I milled around chatting with people before leaving. I also had difficulty sleeping afterwards. I am going to be so tired on Monday…
Quote of the day - "I saw you checking me out."
It took my breath away - or at least left me at loss for sensible words...
Congratulations for a job very well done to everyone involved. Mark and Sam of course, some of the team members, Sally and Ivan, Caroline and others who did much to sell tickets and other volunteers (incl. Shila at the entrance/admissions) - I probably don't know everyone who helped. This was by far the most spectacular Salsa event I have seen in Cambridge.
Pasion de Invierno - The CDC Salsa Winter Ball
After a dinner at a bistro near Grafton Center with some co-workers, we walked to University Arms Hotel arriving about 30 minutes late. We found the hotel swarming with kids wearing boxing gloves, which added an interesting atmosphere. Once inside the Newton Suite, I was struck by there being so many people wearing formal dresses (ball gowns, neckties, etc), which made me one of the more casually clothed people in the room.
My original intent was to either skip the class or take one of the easier classes to help out women from my workplace. However, one of the women decided not to show up until much later (in fact she never made it), and there were two other men from work who could help her out. There were other hang-ups too and in the middle of a lull, Sally spotted me and volunteered me into taking part in her level 3 class, which was couple of men short. I was late again, so it took me a moment or two to catch up.
Level 3 class instructed by Sally
R-R hold
1,2,3,5,6,7 lead double stationary clockwise turn for follower
1,2,3,5,6,7 crossed hold L-L underneath R-R – CBL and lead follower into 1 1/2 traveling counterclockwise turn ending in something like a wrap
1,2,3,5,6,7 lead follower straight back on 1,2,3 underneath L-L – lead follower into stationary clockwise turn with R-R over behind leader and with leader turning 1/2 counterclockwise (let go L-L briefly)
1,2,3,5,6,7 reconnect L-L open break and Copa with L-L going over and R hand on follower’s shoulder and standard 1 1/2 counterclockwise Copa turn for follower
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break reconnect R-R underneath and lead follower into full counterclockwise turn on 2,3 with each connections ending above follower’s shoulders – lead follower into touch and go 2 1/2 clockwise traveling turn
1,2,3,5,6,7 drop catch to get R-R underneath L-L open break and lead follower in on leader’s R side – with all connection kept close to each other until 7 or so lead follower into 1 1/2 clockwise traveling turn with windmill motion with leader turning 1/2 counterclockwise and splitting hands around 7 to get into reverse crucifix (or Titanic or whatever)
1,2,3,5,6,7 leader turns 1/2 clockwise on 1,2,3 as follower is also turned 1/2 clockwise on 2,3 with R-R (L-L briefly let go before reconnecting) and catch L-L to lead follower into stationary counterclockwise turn (I am not sure if this would involve broken left turn for follower)
The university students dominated this event. I am now guessing that quite a number of people who I have seen at Club Salsa during classes must be students. Perhaps I should have guessed that, but I never thought about it very much until now. Aside from people from my workplace, the only people I knew for sure were not with the CDC were the people I recognized from Rhona and Helen’s Rueda group, couple of women I remembered from SOS (I was a little surprised that they would choose to come to Cambridge rather than sticking to SOS), small number of regulars from Club Salsa, some ex-team members (Rico and Drew). My guess is that most people from my work would have felt a little out-of-place in tonight’s setting (although they said they enjoyed the band, etc) – oh well.
One of the thoughts that came to my mind immediately upon entering the Newton Suite was that Cyrille missed out on a really good Cambridge Salsa event – I can’t imagine that it is possible to get any better than this in Cambridge. It might be possible to equal the crowd and the atmosphere, but I really doubt that it can get significantly better. My advice to the CDC would be to stay in the same room and go for another sold-out event or two before moving to a bigger room. Having a crowded floor (the floor space was pretty close to ideal in my opinion) just gave it a great atmosphere – even if it was sometimes difficult to figure out where some of my favorite dance partners were at several different times. In retrospect, it is no surprise that a big non-profit organization like CDC given enough willpower would be in better position to hold top notch Salsa event.
Palenke was excellent. Their first song was a like a baptism by fire – there were so many transitions and tricky bits. They really kept me on my toes. They also played at least one Bachata, one Merengue and at least 3 Cuban songs. Funny thing was that I glanced at the lead singer a few times during this first song and whenever I did this, I saw her looking at me dancing. I also had similar experience with couple of other band members on several other occasions throughout the evening. At the end of the evening, I approached some of the band members and thanked and complimented them for excellent music, and they told me that they had fun watching me dance; they said I had an unusual style (seemingly not in a bad way - although I have yet to see how silly I look) and referred to the fact that I kept changing the way I dance (well… I do try to change things depending on the music and my dance partner – sometimes with more success than others).
There were two wood floors right next to each other; the one on the South side close to the bandstand was nicer and bigger. I generally avoided the one closer to the entrance because of gaps between wooden panels being a potential hazard. The room was also a little on the warm side - I felt I was in danger of dehydration (something I had not had to worry about for a very long time).
In addition to many excellent dances with Euvian, Agnes, Zhenzi and Stephanie (at least two or more likely three dances with each of them - I seem to dance with them so often that I wonder if I will be suffering from dearth of dances partners who know most if not all of my moves when all of them go away for vacation, etc), I had memorable dances with Nina (a very old and nifty sounding song while Ivan was DJing – a gem of a dance after suffering through a Reggaeton), with Isabel (a major spin-fest to a fast (not sure if Ivan slowed it down a little) Indestructible by Ray Barretto – Isabel did not seem mind what many would consider insane amount of spinning), with Nicola (another one of the songs where I caught the Piano player or was it the Conga player checking me and my partner for long parts of the song), with Lindsey (I tried to make the dance more like Sergio’s, but doing so successfully might take years of practice), with Jane (final dance of the evening to Perdoname by Gilberto Santa Rosa – unusual because most dance I had with her this year were dance to Mambo and generally faster songs – thus this made for a big change of pace and was very relaxing). There were also a number of fun dances with Tamaryn (I recall a band member of two checking us out doing a number of extended shines during our first dance – Tamaryn had her back to the band so she would not have noticed – I might also have tried too hard to make some of the later dances with her too irregular (redrawing the line without rhyme or reason many times, etc)); I hadn’t seen Tamaryn in a couple of months… again (well… she seems to have many other obligations on top of studies). Hmm. I probably am sticking my neck out for decapitation – I have been warned that no good will ever come out of talking about how good or bad my dances with specific persons in public. Maybe having a live band, a really great atmosphere and tons of people I know well and like dancing with resulted in many highlights. Olivia was back after close to a year away (and just one dance was not enough to get ourselves readjusted to each other). Thinking about it more, there were bunch of really nice dances earlier in the evening too – Cinzia and Cristelle definitely (I remember them better because I don’t see them regularly) and the only Bachata dance of the evening with Anastasia. Thinking even more, the whole thing was a little ridiculous in that there were probably at least 30 women I would have made strong effort to dance with on a typical night at Club Salsa. As it was, I danced with only a few of them and only because they happened to be at the opportune time and location (or simply because they made the effort to ask me – now that’s one surefire way to get pretty much any male Salsa dancer to the dance floor). I didn’t even dance with the woman from work. I don’t think I danced with Susie either (because she was holding some cards for Sam???). Or Sam (but then again she had tired ankles and wanted to rest them for her dance performance)! I could go on, and I am realizing anew that there are many good reasons to avoid talking about individual dances. There’s no end especially if there are so many. I really should shut up now, and I am going to make minimal effort to make this paragraph readable.
However, there are other things that should be mentioned.
The Salsa demonstration by Sam and Mark was really superb and quite fun to watch. I think we may have a big-time front-runner for this year’s Cuppers competition (I mention this because of a rather prominent appearance made by the Cup) – talking about the Cuppers by the way does not do enough justice. More appropriate statement would be that this raised the bar for future Cambridge Salsa performances if nothing else because Sam and Mark made judicious use of shines and body movement (very common in performances in London and at Brit Salsafest but until now not so in Cambridge). I don’t recall for sure if I made comments about lack of shines at appropriate moments on other performances I have seen (but if I did, maybe Sam and/or Mark read about it and gave it some consideration). More likely it was simply a product of them having become more exposed to the Salsa scene outside Cambridgeshire (e.g. SOS, Scala, Congress) with increased frequency. After congratulating Mark and Sam for a very well-done performance, I went to Ivan and told him that he did a very nice job with choreography – because I assumed that he put most of it together. Not so. Ivan said it was 99% Mark and Sam. This meant that I had to go back to Mark and Sam to compliment them all over again.
The Rock and Roll demonstration by contrast was a bit anticlimactic. Acrobatics was certainly fun and at times scary to watch, but it suffered from lack of musicality. It was a bit of relief that they were putting safety first at one point rather than going on recklessly.
Listening to the single Merengue song played by Palenke helped to confirm in my mind that I do have one or two Merengue songs in some of my CDs. Merengue from 70's... One potential problem - I was asked to dance to this Merengue, and it wasn't clear at all to me that she realized that the song was Merengue (even though the lead singer clearly said it was the only Merengue they will play all night).
I had my CDs with me just in case they asked me to DJ - there was some confusion about it. It was just as well that I didn't for many reasons: most importantly I would have missed out on many dances (I wish I could have danced more); playing for 30 minute slot for a crowd I didn't know well would have been a little challenging (for whatever it's worth I did have several songs on top of my list - Vitamina, El Abaniquito, Malanga Amarilla, La Fiesta de Pilito, and at least one slow Salsa song, and one purely instrumental Salsa/Mambo/Latin Jazz song (newer version of Vietnam Mambo maybe?), possibly two Bachata songs like Musica Ligera and possibly Lamento Boliviano, one Cha Cha/Boogaloo song (Push, Push, Push) … all of these songs would have been picked in large part because of their brevity); and as a matter of principle at least a CDC member discount at the very least. This made absolutely no difference by the way - it was great to have extra time for dancing.
The music ended at midnight. I milled around chatting with people before leaving. I also had difficulty sleeping afterwards. I am going to be so tired on Monday…
Quote of the day - "I saw you checking me out."
It took my breath away - or at least left me at loss for sensible words...
Congratulations for a job very well done to everyone involved. Mark and Sam of course, some of the team members, Sally and Ivan, Caroline and others who did much to sell tickets and other volunteers (incl. Shila at the entrance/admissions) - I probably don't know everyone who helped. This was by far the most spectacular Salsa event I have seen in Cambridge.
Tony Lara IV cancelled?
November 21, 2006
Over a phone call around noon, Tony and I agreed to meet for a bite to eat at Sauce at 6 before the start of the class. I arrived at 5:58 according to the clock in my car. After a brief runaround to find a working ATM (the first one was out of service), I hurried back to the Sauce.
Odd. There was no sign of Tony. Last three times, he was almost exactly on time. After 5-10 minutes, I decided to go into Sauce by myself and have a drink – probably J2O Orange Cranberry. At 6:40, there was still no sign of Tony and Daniela. Around 6:30, I tried calling the number Tony used to call me earlier in the day. This number led to someone who was involved with BritSalsafest – obviously not Tony’s personal number. Tony’s Italian phone number was not in service. Ditto for the mobile phone Tony used during his last visit. Having finished my drink for a while now, I decided not to stay for another drink by myself (although I did notice that there were couple of people dining by himself at the Sauce).
Instead of freezing myself, I decided to hang out at Tandoori Station Restaurant and chat a little with Bulbul (no idea if I have his name spelled correctly). There was a customer doing a takeaway, and I sat down in the chair she was using when she left with her order. A little later, Vishal apparently got in contact with people at the restaurant to let me know that he was running a little late as well. My thoughts included – (1) This was not a type of disaster I had expected (I was more prepared for very small number of people showing up for the class) and (2) Serious car accidents happen and can very easily explain why Tony had not contacted me (cases in point – Sally and Lindsey this summer and Piers in a fatal crash last fall) and (3) It would be easy to avoid getting roped into hosting another major Salsa/Bachata event if this one turned disastrous. I twiddled my thumbs as three groups of customers walked in – a pair of women with reservations arrived first, followed by a walk-in couple and finally an elderly trio.
Around 7:10, I stepped out of Tandoori Station Restaurant. Almost immediately, Sergio and Natalie arrived, and I let them know of the situation. While they went to get a snack, Vishal opened Club Salsa. Same talk again. One of the first to arrive was Lindsey and the same talk happened again with predictable “I know about that” when I mentioned my car accident theory. As more and more people filed in, I had them wait downstairs without collecting money (after all, it was looking as if a cancellation was a distinct possibility).
At 7:25, my phone rang. It’s Tony. His car is in Cambridge. There was a massive traffic jam, and it took him 4 hours to get to Cambridge (from London presumably). He’ll be arriving in 5-10 minutes tops. Apparently, Tony had sent a text earlie but to a wrong number. I breathed a sigh of relief, and then scrambled to collect money, etc.
Surprisingly large number of people was there for the first hour of lesson advertised as intermediate level already, and it looked like I wasn’t going to lose serious amount of money. I couldn’t recognize quite a large number of people, which lead me to wonder, “Where did these people come from?” Of four people I ended up speaking to verbally about the Bachata class, two (Sergio and Cyrille) came – I did not see Sean around for past several days so he’s not one of the four. Everyone else either heard about the event via internet (this blog, Club Salsa website and Cambridge Latin Dance website) or via posters and fliers at Club Salsa (distributed by Vishal mostly) or methods unknown to me (mostly word-of-mouth presumably). In the end, I did break even after giving what might have been amounted to a 10 pound profit to Vishal.
Tony & Daniela Improver/Intermediate Bachata
zig zag step (more for women – given in men’s timing here)
1 twist to L with L foot pointing to L (but turning momentum apparently comes in part from R foot)
2 twist to R with R foot pointing to R
3 twist to L with L foot pointing to L
4 pause or Bachata hip movement
5 twist to R with R foot pointing to R
6 twist to L with L foot pointing to L
7 twist to R with R foot pointing to R
8 pause or Bachata hip movement
syncopated step (more for men) – this was covered once before
1,2,3 basic movement to L
4 R foot behind L and R foot slightly forward on 4 1/2
5,6,7 basic movement to R
8 L foot behind R and L foot slightly forward on 8 1/2
reverse turn (traveling)
the turn timing is the same as normal turning step but it is more like a long hook step (using R or L foot depending on timing …. turn starts on 2 by the way)
turn pattern
1,2,3,4 basic to L
5,6,7,8 lead normal traveling turn for follower
1,2,3,4 leader opens up to start with and do a fake turn (only turning about 1/4) with L-R going over leader’s head for what is essentially a drop-catch or slam dunk (using Joe’s terminology) – after the fake turn leader is essentially stepping forward facing the direction he (and his partner) is moving towards – ends with R-R hold
5,6,7,8 lead follower into traveling turn with R-R – finish with R-R extended high and catch L-L low
1,2,3,4 lead follower into traveling turn with both connections intact (but not keeping hands together as often is the case in Salsa turn patterns) – end with L-L behind leader’s head (like a hat)
5,6,7,8 leader’s normal traveling turn letting go L-L briefly to get L-L behind leader’s back R waist
1,2,3,4 something Joe would have called the Matrix movement to swing follower’s arms in alternating circular movement with L-R ending high
5,6,7,8 lead normal traveling turn for follower with L-R and end with follower positioned to L of leader
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 lead follower to walk around leader in a counterclockwise walk (with pauses on 4 and 8 of course)
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 dip (swerving)
Total number of people taking part in the classes was around 36. Perhaps another dozen and half people showed up after the class for a dance.
A good number of people were impressed enough to inquire when they will be teaching again. Natalie for one was disappointed to learn that they won’t be back next week and that this would not be a regular ongoing class. Cyrille seemed satisfied too – his assessment was that it was a little slow at first but an enjoyable turn pattern for the second half or so. Sam on the other hand seemed mildly disappointed about it being a little too easy; although my thought was that the turn pattern for the second half was just as intricate as any of the previous Bachata classes given by Tony. I can't imagine that Sergio was enthralled although he might have gotten something out in terms of trying some simple but different basic footwork for Bachata (e.g. syncopated basic). Perhaps she was remembering the Salsa classes given last two times, which made the classes last 2 whole hours for those who were taking both Bachata and Salsa classes (as opposed to there being little point in taking 2 hours of classes given tonight’s format). It probably didn't help that Tony called the class improver level. Because of shortage of men for the second class, some men from the first hour’s class took part in it as well (and presumably received varying degree of useful practice).
I had a very good night of dancing. Somehow I ended up getting away with mixing up my turn patterns with large number of people. Perhaps the afterglow of SOS somehow survived last night largely unscathed. Even though I had a pair of very nice dances with Daniela (one Salsa and one Bachata), they did not stand out as being “totally out there” compared to many other dances I had tonight. One of the more amusing moment included having Daniela remembering Tony’s Salsa class material from last time in the middle of the dance – I guess the pattern in question is something that sticks out in Daniela’s mind as something fairly unique (or perhaps one of favorite patterns) of Tony’s.
Tony tried to talk me into going to another Salsa event involving a Banquet in Kent this Saturday but I had to decline because of another engagement (Barn dancing!). It's rather far away (south of London), but it could have been interesting to see a new place, share a dinner table with the featured guests, etc. So the next time I’ll see him would be on the night of the Scala (with the LDA social as a possible complicating factor).
Among other things, I purchased a new Toque D' Keda (or Toke D Keda) CD. Vish declined to get a copy claiming that he already had one. Tony seemed a little surprised as he commented, "They just came out." I certainly don't remember Vishal playing a new song by the band, but he does have a slow trigger. I don't know how or where I would have gone about buying this CD. It does have 3 songs from their first album, so that could be a possible source of confusion. In any case expect something new this Friday. I might write something about the album in another post too. Perhaps something on his DVD vols 2 and 3 too.
Trends in music. While chatting with Tony, Vishal said that he was tired of too much Mambo. Too much Mambo at Congresses. Too much Mambo at all-nighters like Scala. Mambo nothing but Mambo. Tony nodded and said that it gets to be too much sometimes. He also said that everyone wants more and more Mambo in Europe too. I chimed in towards the end saying, "I like Mambo."
Apparently Danielle is doing a student dance performance at her school - possibly using Mambo Mongo (among other songs). This led to me and Tony talking about songs from 70's and remakes of the same songs in 90s and 00s (with key question of whether the new covers add something or not).
Tony's music collection. As I remembered from last couple of times, Tony has his CDs organized into various categories. There would be some 8 or so CDs containing Bachata songs. Perhaps a dozen CDs labeled Cubana. Dozen or so CDs labeled SalsaBrava (these would include artists like Joe Cuba). While briefly manning the DJ booth, I noticed that he also was carrying both CD releases by Grupo Latin Vibe, so I played La Llave (I thought it matched the sound quality of what was being played at the time). When Tony asked me whether it was my CD (it stopped inexplicably for a second or two at about 10 second after starting), I said I had both CDs in my collection but that I was using his CD. Tony decided to play another Grupo Latin Vibe song later in the evening. When I was at the DJ booth, I was simply playing whatever song was on cue next. The only other time I made a musical choice was using La Quiero (by Dominic Marte). Much of what was played was from Tony's Cubana collection - with smooth sounds. One song I remember being played towards the end was a mellow sounding cover of Manos Duras (original artist is Ray Barretto).
When asked about possible recommendations for Bachata CDs, Tony said that the same problem of there being only one good song in each album existed in Bachata - just like it usually is in Salsa. Toke D Keda (or Toque De Keda or whatever) CD he brought with him was recommended. He also talked about an R&B Bachata fusion song to be released as a part of another Salsa.IT compilation to be released in about a month.
So will there be Tony Lara V? Thus far I more or less broke even on even numbered events and lost a lot of money on odd numbered ones - this reminds me of Star Trek movies. For better or worse, tonight's event did not give me an easy out; many loved it according to Vishal. In addition to ones I mentioned earlier, people like Rajiv always shows appreciation for me doing this sort of thing and presumably would want me to continue. Well. Whatever happens will happen, and I did get away with spending fairly small amount of time organizing Tony Lara IV.
Quote of the day - "Does he like dancing??? Just look at his dancing shoes! They are shoes of someone who loves dancing!" - Daniela speaking to Tony
I knew I wasn't the only person checking out kind of shoes people wear. I swear I never did this before I took up Salsa dancing.
Over a phone call around noon, Tony and I agreed to meet for a bite to eat at Sauce at 6 before the start of the class. I arrived at 5:58 according to the clock in my car. After a brief runaround to find a working ATM (the first one was out of service), I hurried back to the Sauce.
Odd. There was no sign of Tony. Last three times, he was almost exactly on time. After 5-10 minutes, I decided to go into Sauce by myself and have a drink – probably J2O Orange Cranberry. At 6:40, there was still no sign of Tony and Daniela. Around 6:30, I tried calling the number Tony used to call me earlier in the day. This number led to someone who was involved with BritSalsafest – obviously not Tony’s personal number. Tony’s Italian phone number was not in service. Ditto for the mobile phone Tony used during his last visit. Having finished my drink for a while now, I decided not to stay for another drink by myself (although I did notice that there were couple of people dining by himself at the Sauce).
Instead of freezing myself, I decided to hang out at Tandoori Station Restaurant and chat a little with Bulbul (no idea if I have his name spelled correctly). There was a customer doing a takeaway, and I sat down in the chair she was using when she left with her order. A little later, Vishal apparently got in contact with people at the restaurant to let me know that he was running a little late as well. My thoughts included – (1) This was not a type of disaster I had expected (I was more prepared for very small number of people showing up for the class) and (2) Serious car accidents happen and can very easily explain why Tony had not contacted me (cases in point – Sally and Lindsey this summer and Piers in a fatal crash last fall) and (3) It would be easy to avoid getting roped into hosting another major Salsa/Bachata event if this one turned disastrous. I twiddled my thumbs as three groups of customers walked in – a pair of women with reservations arrived first, followed by a walk-in couple and finally an elderly trio.
Around 7:10, I stepped out of Tandoori Station Restaurant. Almost immediately, Sergio and Natalie arrived, and I let them know of the situation. While they went to get a snack, Vishal opened Club Salsa. Same talk again. One of the first to arrive was Lindsey and the same talk happened again with predictable “I know about that” when I mentioned my car accident theory. As more and more people filed in, I had them wait downstairs without collecting money (after all, it was looking as if a cancellation was a distinct possibility).
At 7:25, my phone rang. It’s Tony. His car is in Cambridge. There was a massive traffic jam, and it took him 4 hours to get to Cambridge (from London presumably). He’ll be arriving in 5-10 minutes tops. Apparently, Tony had sent a text earlie but to a wrong number. I breathed a sigh of relief, and then scrambled to collect money, etc.
Surprisingly large number of people was there for the first hour of lesson advertised as intermediate level already, and it looked like I wasn’t going to lose serious amount of money. I couldn’t recognize quite a large number of people, which lead me to wonder, “Where did these people come from?” Of four people I ended up speaking to verbally about the Bachata class, two (Sergio and Cyrille) came – I did not see Sean around for past several days so he’s not one of the four. Everyone else either heard about the event via internet (this blog, Club Salsa website and Cambridge Latin Dance website) or via posters and fliers at Club Salsa (distributed by Vishal mostly) or methods unknown to me (mostly word-of-mouth presumably). In the end, I did break even after giving what might have been amounted to a 10 pound profit to Vishal.
Tony & Daniela Improver/Intermediate Bachata
zig zag step (more for women – given in men’s timing here)
1 twist to L with L foot pointing to L (but turning momentum apparently comes in part from R foot)
2 twist to R with R foot pointing to R
3 twist to L with L foot pointing to L
4 pause or Bachata hip movement
5 twist to R with R foot pointing to R
6 twist to L with L foot pointing to L
7 twist to R with R foot pointing to R
8 pause or Bachata hip movement
syncopated step (more for men) – this was covered once before
1,2,3 basic movement to L
4 R foot behind L and R foot slightly forward on 4 1/2
5,6,7 basic movement to R
8 L foot behind R and L foot slightly forward on 8 1/2
reverse turn (traveling)
the turn timing is the same as normal turning step but it is more like a long hook step (using R or L foot depending on timing …. turn starts on 2 by the way)
turn pattern
1,2,3,4 basic to L
5,6,7,8 lead normal traveling turn for follower
1,2,3,4 leader opens up to start with and do a fake turn (only turning about 1/4) with L-R going over leader’s head for what is essentially a drop-catch or slam dunk (using Joe’s terminology) – after the fake turn leader is essentially stepping forward facing the direction he (and his partner) is moving towards – ends with R-R hold
5,6,7,8 lead follower into traveling turn with R-R – finish with R-R extended high and catch L-L low
1,2,3,4 lead follower into traveling turn with both connections intact (but not keeping hands together as often is the case in Salsa turn patterns) – end with L-L behind leader’s head (like a hat)
5,6,7,8 leader’s normal traveling turn letting go L-L briefly to get L-L behind leader’s back R waist
1,2,3,4 something Joe would have called the Matrix movement to swing follower’s arms in alternating circular movement with L-R ending high
5,6,7,8 lead normal traveling turn for follower with L-R and end with follower positioned to L of leader
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 lead follower to walk around leader in a counterclockwise walk (with pauses on 4 and 8 of course)
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 dip (swerving)
Total number of people taking part in the classes was around 36. Perhaps another dozen and half people showed up after the class for a dance.
A good number of people were impressed enough to inquire when they will be teaching again. Natalie for one was disappointed to learn that they won’t be back next week and that this would not be a regular ongoing class. Cyrille seemed satisfied too – his assessment was that it was a little slow at first but an enjoyable turn pattern for the second half or so. Sam on the other hand seemed mildly disappointed about it being a little too easy; although my thought was that the turn pattern for the second half was just as intricate as any of the previous Bachata classes given by Tony. I can't imagine that Sergio was enthralled although he might have gotten something out in terms of trying some simple but different basic footwork for Bachata (e.g. syncopated basic). Perhaps she was remembering the Salsa classes given last two times, which made the classes last 2 whole hours for those who were taking both Bachata and Salsa classes (as opposed to there being little point in taking 2 hours of classes given tonight’s format). It probably didn't help that Tony called the class improver level. Because of shortage of men for the second class, some men from the first hour’s class took part in it as well (and presumably received varying degree of useful practice).
I had a very good night of dancing. Somehow I ended up getting away with mixing up my turn patterns with large number of people. Perhaps the afterglow of SOS somehow survived last night largely unscathed. Even though I had a pair of very nice dances with Daniela (one Salsa and one Bachata), they did not stand out as being “totally out there” compared to many other dances I had tonight. One of the more amusing moment included having Daniela remembering Tony’s Salsa class material from last time in the middle of the dance – I guess the pattern in question is something that sticks out in Daniela’s mind as something fairly unique (or perhaps one of favorite patterns) of Tony’s.
Tony tried to talk me into going to another Salsa event involving a Banquet in Kent this Saturday but I had to decline because of another engagement (Barn dancing!). It's rather far away (south of London), but it could have been interesting to see a new place, share a dinner table with the featured guests, etc. So the next time I’ll see him would be on the night of the Scala (with the LDA social as a possible complicating factor).
Among other things, I purchased a new Toque D' Keda (or Toke D Keda) CD. Vish declined to get a copy claiming that he already had one. Tony seemed a little surprised as he commented, "They just came out." I certainly don't remember Vishal playing a new song by the band, but he does have a slow trigger. I don't know how or where I would have gone about buying this CD. It does have 3 songs from their first album, so that could be a possible source of confusion. In any case expect something new this Friday. I might write something about the album in another post too. Perhaps something on his DVD vols 2 and 3 too.
Trends in music. While chatting with Tony, Vishal said that he was tired of too much Mambo. Too much Mambo at Congresses. Too much Mambo at all-nighters like Scala. Mambo nothing but Mambo. Tony nodded and said that it gets to be too much sometimes. He also said that everyone wants more and more Mambo in Europe too. I chimed in towards the end saying, "I like Mambo."
Apparently Danielle is doing a student dance performance at her school - possibly using Mambo Mongo (among other songs). This led to me and Tony talking about songs from 70's and remakes of the same songs in 90s and 00s (with key question of whether the new covers add something or not).
Tony's music collection. As I remembered from last couple of times, Tony has his CDs organized into various categories. There would be some 8 or so CDs containing Bachata songs. Perhaps a dozen CDs labeled Cubana. Dozen or so CDs labeled SalsaBrava (these would include artists like Joe Cuba). While briefly manning the DJ booth, I noticed that he also was carrying both CD releases by Grupo Latin Vibe, so I played La Llave (I thought it matched the sound quality of what was being played at the time). When Tony asked me whether it was my CD (it stopped inexplicably for a second or two at about 10 second after starting), I said I had both CDs in my collection but that I was using his CD. Tony decided to play another Grupo Latin Vibe song later in the evening. When I was at the DJ booth, I was simply playing whatever song was on cue next. The only other time I made a musical choice was using La Quiero (by Dominic Marte). Much of what was played was from Tony's Cubana collection - with smooth sounds. One song I remember being played towards the end was a mellow sounding cover of Manos Duras (original artist is Ray Barretto).
When asked about possible recommendations for Bachata CDs, Tony said that the same problem of there being only one good song in each album existed in Bachata - just like it usually is in Salsa. Toke D Keda (or Toque De Keda or whatever) CD he brought with him was recommended. He also talked about an R&B Bachata fusion song to be released as a part of another Salsa.IT compilation to be released in about a month.
So will there be Tony Lara V? Thus far I more or less broke even on even numbered events and lost a lot of money on odd numbered ones - this reminds me of Star Trek movies. For better or worse, tonight's event did not give me an easy out; many loved it according to Vishal. In addition to ones I mentioned earlier, people like Rajiv always shows appreciation for me doing this sort of thing and presumably would want me to continue. Well. Whatever happens will happen, and I did get away with spending fairly small amount of time organizing Tony Lara IV.
Quote of the day - "Does he like dancing??? Just look at his dancing shoes! They are shoes of someone who loves dancing!" - Daniela speaking to Tony
I knew I wasn't the only person checking out kind of shoes people wear. I swear I never did this before I took up Salsa dancing.
You’re feeling very sleepy… sleepy… sleepy
November 14, 2006
After the last time, I knew better than to arrive early and to wait for the lessons to end. Thus it was almost 10 PM when I walked up the University Centre for the second free CDC Salsa social. By then the social part of the evening had started. The number of people present seemed smaller than last time – not surprising given the late change of schedule.
I spotted Susie near the DJ station and approached her for a little chitchat and later my first dance of the evening. A topic among a few was about an upcoming flying examination. Cyrille and Euvian arrived shortly thereafter. Neither Cyrille nor I had talked to Sergio about tonight’s CDC party. Cyrille apparently made an effort – maybe. I didn’t think it was worth the effort – I wasn’t in position to chauffer him around anyway. I have been letting other people drive me around lately, and it’s nice and relaxing.
After passing on a few songs, I had my first dance. All the dances were fairly relaxing and low key– or at least they felt that way. I mean this is the best sense – nothing forced, not strained, not trying too hard… effortless or seemingly so. Other possible descriptive words include lighthearted and playful. The overall approach was the same whether I was doing the usual improvisationathon with Stephanie, eliciting oohs out of Sam, replicating and practicing recently learned moves with Euvian or doing more shines than turn patterns with Agnes. The dance with Agnes warrants a special mention because I don’t ever recall doing shines with anyone for more than half the song in Cambridge. Then again, I don’t do shines so much in London either – a small number of dances with Diane being more memorable exceptions. In Cambridge, some dances with Serap and with Stephanie came closest in being so shine happy. Less than six months ago, Agnes was not very keen on shines. How times change – it seemed like Agnes might have been perfectly content to do nothing but shine for the entire song tonight. I feel that there seems to be more of it in Cambridge nowadays – and not just by the cross-body dancers either.
Caroline was trying to get everyone to buy tickets for the Pasion de Invierno CDC special Salsa event. According to her, I should have been the first in line to get a ticket – I am practically required to be there (and write about it of course). I suppose she’s right. It’s pretty much a given that I’ll buy a ticket. It is highly unlikely that I will miss it. I might even talk some co-workers into checking out the band.
Leading (strong, soft, rough, etc) once again was a topic of discussion. Dancing style (good-looking, lousy-looking, gay-looking, etc) and dance timing (on-1, on-2, on-5, on-6, on-4.5, on-1.5, etc) too. I doubt anyone in the UK let alone Cambridge dance on the clave.
It was a very low-key relaxed affair. If it were any more relaxed, words like catatonic or calming could have been used instead of restful, relaxing, soothing or calming. In a good way of course.
Perhaps one of the bigger highlights was the bicycle ride back with Agnes, Stephanie and Mark – relaxing by the way also seems like an appropriate word to describe the ride.
Quote of the day – “Squeals? Memories of them all kind of blend together these days.”
Quote of the day 2 – “I don’t wanna be like Godzilla.”
Trick of the day – Making people invisible (by standing in front of them)
Nickname of the day – Zoom? I could hear the Mazda jingle Zoom Zoom Zoom. There really should not be a zed sound. Better would be to pronounce it like the month June except a little softer and shorter. The young part is fine as is. Say it quickly and without a pause young-june. There ya go. Easy enough, no?
After the last time, I knew better than to arrive early and to wait for the lessons to end. Thus it was almost 10 PM when I walked up the University Centre for the second free CDC Salsa social. By then the social part of the evening had started. The number of people present seemed smaller than last time – not surprising given the late change of schedule.
I spotted Susie near the DJ station and approached her for a little chitchat and later my first dance of the evening. A topic among a few was about an upcoming flying examination. Cyrille and Euvian arrived shortly thereafter. Neither Cyrille nor I had talked to Sergio about tonight’s CDC party. Cyrille apparently made an effort – maybe. I didn’t think it was worth the effort – I wasn’t in position to chauffer him around anyway. I have been letting other people drive me around lately, and it’s nice and relaxing.
After passing on a few songs, I had my first dance. All the dances were fairly relaxing and low key– or at least they felt that way. I mean this is the best sense – nothing forced, not strained, not trying too hard… effortless or seemingly so. Other possible descriptive words include lighthearted and playful. The overall approach was the same whether I was doing the usual improvisationathon with Stephanie, eliciting oohs out of Sam, replicating and practicing recently learned moves with Euvian or doing more shines than turn patterns with Agnes. The dance with Agnes warrants a special mention because I don’t ever recall doing shines with anyone for more than half the song in Cambridge. Then again, I don’t do shines so much in London either – a small number of dances with Diane being more memorable exceptions. In Cambridge, some dances with Serap and with Stephanie came closest in being so shine happy. Less than six months ago, Agnes was not very keen on shines. How times change – it seemed like Agnes might have been perfectly content to do nothing but shine for the entire song tonight. I feel that there seems to be more of it in Cambridge nowadays – and not just by the cross-body dancers either.
Caroline was trying to get everyone to buy tickets for the Pasion de Invierno CDC special Salsa event. According to her, I should have been the first in line to get a ticket – I am practically required to be there (and write about it of course). I suppose she’s right. It’s pretty much a given that I’ll buy a ticket. It is highly unlikely that I will miss it. I might even talk some co-workers into checking out the band.
Leading (strong, soft, rough, etc) once again was a topic of discussion. Dancing style (good-looking, lousy-looking, gay-looking, etc) and dance timing (on-1, on-2, on-5, on-6, on-4.5, on-1.5, etc) too. I doubt anyone in the UK let alone Cambridge dance on the clave.
It was a very low-key relaxed affair. If it were any more relaxed, words like catatonic or calming could have been used instead of restful, relaxing, soothing or calming. In a good way of course.
Perhaps one of the bigger highlights was the bicycle ride back with Agnes, Stephanie and Mark – relaxing by the way also seems like an appropriate word to describe the ride.
Quote of the day – “Squeals? Memories of them all kind of blend together these days.”
Quote of the day 2 – “I don’t wanna be like Godzilla.”
Trick of the day – Making people invisible (by standing in front of them)
Nickname of the day – Zoom? I could hear the Mazda jingle Zoom Zoom Zoom. There really should not be a zed sound. Better would be to pronounce it like the month June except a little softer and shorter. The young part is fine as is. Say it quickly and without a pause young-june. There ya go. Easy enough, no?
Free Salsa Social at CDC
October 19, 2006
Free is a very good price. Even if I personally don’t mind small expenditures for Salsa, my guess was that many people like things for free. Thus when Sergio sent me a query about going to the CDC Salsa social (and who else probably would be going), my reaction was something like “Don’t fight fate.” Instead, I had Sergio arrange a group for a dinner to raise the ante – the final participants were Sergio, Liam and me.
Highlights of dinner conversation included Richard Pryor – I asked, “The comedian?” I imagine that a main highlight of the evening for Sergio and Liam must have been my driving form this evening. The usual music talk involved Malanga Amarilla (by Cachao), Pucho & His Latin Soul Brothers being covered by Usher (Raymond), Ray Barretto and Poncho Sanchez.
We arrived at the University Centre around 9:15 and was surprised to find that they had a Salsa class in progress – I don’t recall reading about free lessons in the CDC website. Aside from people giving or helping with instructions, hardly anyone I knew was there. Cyrille arrived shortly afterwards. Around 9:40, we began to wonder if no one was going to show up and came close to leaving and going to Club Salsa instead as the class was winding down.
And then everyone arrived in span of about 10-15 minutes. Apparently everyone else knew about the class and knew when to arrive, and pretty much all suspects were there – with a glaring exception of one who probably did as much word-of-mouth boosting of tonight’s event as anyone. More than a few people probably wondered "Where the heck is ----?"
Liam was very keen on trying to get as many songs he liked from my CD collection get played tonight. This worked beautifully for a while. First, a set of three Tito Puente songs was played as Liam’s request – Hong Kong Mambo, Babarabatiri, and Nina Y Senora. I particularly enjoyed Hong Kong Mambo. Next, I tried to get songs by Lebron Brothers played – Salsa Y Control, Piensalo Bien and Bongo Loco. Salsa Y Control was great. Unfortunately, I had the track numbers scrambled and a wrong song (Regresa A Mi) was played as the second Lebron Brothers track. After that I must have lost DJ’s confidence in me because he didn’t play any more of songs from this CD.
Word of the day - "Neo-fascist"
While I had quite a good number of dances, I don’t think the quantity was quite on par with the recent Thursday standard (I didn't dance with anyone more than once for a change) – quality was good. Floor was nice in both quality and quantity. There were a lot of people – although I did miss a number of regulars who presumably stayed at Club Salsa tonight (too bad these kind of events tend to cause fragmentation). Sound system was pretty weak – just the way I remember it from last school year. Music played by Sally would have trumped much of tonight’s selection at CDC.
I finally matched all the names to the faces in the Salsa team (as well as pointing them out to a curious bystander). The most amusing revelation was that Sean (one of my oldest friend from the Cambridge Salsa scene) made it into the team and that it took me about 10 days to realize this. In fact, I figured out the identity of every other team members before I realized that Sean made it. I had my first inkling yesterday but was only 99% sure (and I received the confirmation tonight). I guess we just don’t talk to each other as much as we used to.
I’m guessing no one’s going to mind if I give names of the team members. They are – Agnes, Isabel, Jane, Phyllis, Samantha, Stephanie, Zhenzhi and Haihan, Mark, Rajiv, Richard, Sean, Thomas, Yoon.
Quote of the day – “He looks like he’s dancing with himself.”
This quote had long legs. Hmm. I cannot believe I said that. Hmm. Did I use this quote before? I distinctly remember someone making a very similar comment (I remember the context and people involved too). If so, this might merely be the second time tonight when someone used something I wrote here. I guess it is questionable whether such comment is entirely complimentary – it could suggest something artistic or possibly narcissism. Perhaps a better more accurate interpretation of the comment is that the couple dancing together was not moving harmoniously or that their style was very different or possibly clashing or that one half of the couple looked to be moving comfortably and effortlessly while the other looked distressed, harried or overworked.
There was another statement using the words primary school and dark and sweaty - this was never seriously considered as today’s quote.
Other quotes of note.
“I’d like to have her back in one piece.”
I definitely heard that one before. Actually the dance in question was executed and followed quite well and I though everything was quite under control. I suppose my dance partner was given a few more surprises than she expected. The dance in question was fairly typical for me. I often start easy and gradually build things up until I sense that my partner is beginning to have difficulties. When I reach this point I would ease up. The dance was going quite smoothly – even as I presumably led moves my partner might normally find difficult (but she was following very well). So when I kept up the level of difficulty a bit longer while introducing different elements, my partner was a bit overwhelmed and shocked (while still staying very much in control in every other and important matters). At least that is my version of the story. This also leads to another quote.
“Are you going to break me?”
No fear of that - at least I thought not physically in this case. It does lead to yet another quote.
“Don’t worry. I have a very bad memory.” and “I have forgotten it already.”
Hopefully, this quote won’t jog her memory. Who am I kidding? I probably just doomed myself. Masochist!
Finally…
“He fingered my CD.”
That drew a look from Liam. Good thing I don’t carry my originals around.
Free is a very good price. Even if I personally don’t mind small expenditures for Salsa, my guess was that many people like things for free. Thus when Sergio sent me a query about going to the CDC Salsa social (and who else probably would be going), my reaction was something like “Don’t fight fate.” Instead, I had Sergio arrange a group for a dinner to raise the ante – the final participants were Sergio, Liam and me.
Highlights of dinner conversation included Richard Pryor – I asked, “The comedian?” I imagine that a main highlight of the evening for Sergio and Liam must have been my driving form this evening. The usual music talk involved Malanga Amarilla (by Cachao), Pucho & His Latin Soul Brothers being covered by Usher (Raymond), Ray Barretto and Poncho Sanchez.
We arrived at the University Centre around 9:15 and was surprised to find that they had a Salsa class in progress – I don’t recall reading about free lessons in the CDC website. Aside from people giving or helping with instructions, hardly anyone I knew was there. Cyrille arrived shortly afterwards. Around 9:40, we began to wonder if no one was going to show up and came close to leaving and going to Club Salsa instead as the class was winding down.
And then everyone arrived in span of about 10-15 minutes. Apparently everyone else knew about the class and knew when to arrive, and pretty much all suspects were there – with a glaring exception of one who probably did as much word-of-mouth boosting of tonight’s event as anyone. More than a few people probably wondered "Where the heck is ----?"
Liam was very keen on trying to get as many songs he liked from my CD collection get played tonight. This worked beautifully for a while. First, a set of three Tito Puente songs was played as Liam’s request – Hong Kong Mambo, Babarabatiri, and Nina Y Senora. I particularly enjoyed Hong Kong Mambo. Next, I tried to get songs by Lebron Brothers played – Salsa Y Control, Piensalo Bien and Bongo Loco. Salsa Y Control was great. Unfortunately, I had the track numbers scrambled and a wrong song (Regresa A Mi) was played as the second Lebron Brothers track. After that I must have lost DJ’s confidence in me because he didn’t play any more of songs from this CD.
Word of the day - "Neo-fascist"
While I had quite a good number of dances, I don’t think the quantity was quite on par with the recent Thursday standard (I didn't dance with anyone more than once for a change) – quality was good. Floor was nice in both quality and quantity. There were a lot of people – although I did miss a number of regulars who presumably stayed at Club Salsa tonight (too bad these kind of events tend to cause fragmentation). Sound system was pretty weak – just the way I remember it from last school year. Music played by Sally would have trumped much of tonight’s selection at CDC.
I finally matched all the names to the faces in the Salsa team (as well as pointing them out to a curious bystander). The most amusing revelation was that Sean (one of my oldest friend from the Cambridge Salsa scene) made it into the team and that it took me about 10 days to realize this. In fact, I figured out the identity of every other team members before I realized that Sean made it. I had my first inkling yesterday but was only 99% sure (and I received the confirmation tonight). I guess we just don’t talk to each other as much as we used to.
I’m guessing no one’s going to mind if I give names of the team members. They are – Agnes, Isabel, Jane, Phyllis, Samantha, Stephanie, Zhenzhi and Haihan, Mark, Rajiv, Richard, Sean, Thomas, Yoon.
Quote of the day – “He looks like he’s dancing with himself.”
This quote had long legs. Hmm. I cannot believe I said that. Hmm. Did I use this quote before? I distinctly remember someone making a very similar comment (I remember the context and people involved too). If so, this might merely be the second time tonight when someone used something I wrote here. I guess it is questionable whether such comment is entirely complimentary – it could suggest something artistic or possibly narcissism. Perhaps a better more accurate interpretation of the comment is that the couple dancing together was not moving harmoniously or that their style was very different or possibly clashing or that one half of the couple looked to be moving comfortably and effortlessly while the other looked distressed, harried or overworked.
There was another statement using the words primary school and dark and sweaty - this was never seriously considered as today’s quote.
Other quotes of note.
“I’d like to have her back in one piece.”
I definitely heard that one before. Actually the dance in question was executed and followed quite well and I though everything was quite under control. I suppose my dance partner was given a few more surprises than she expected. The dance in question was fairly typical for me. I often start easy and gradually build things up until I sense that my partner is beginning to have difficulties. When I reach this point I would ease up. The dance was going quite smoothly – even as I presumably led moves my partner might normally find difficult (but she was following very well). So when I kept up the level of difficulty a bit longer while introducing different elements, my partner was a bit overwhelmed and shocked (while still staying very much in control in every other and important matters). At least that is my version of the story. This also leads to another quote.
“Are you going to break me?”
No fear of that - at least I thought not physically in this case. It does lead to yet another quote.
“Don’t worry. I have a very bad memory.” and “I have forgotten it already.”
Hopefully, this quote won’t jog her memory. Who am I kidding? I probably just doomed myself. Masochist!
Finally…
“He fingered my CD.”
That drew a look from Liam. Good thing I don’t carry my originals around.
A quickie stop for the Salsa dance competition
October 15, 2006
After rushing through work and not really finishing it, I headed home a little after 8 for a meal before heading of to Club Salsa to check out the competition.
I did make a perfunctory effort to find a dance partner for the competition by trying to get in touch with 3 people (and succeeding with only 1). I failed. No big deal. In the back of my mind, I thought it is always possible to just pick a random person as a partner at the last minute if I felt inspired enough.
Dance competitions do not interest me very much for variety of reasons. Perhaps I care least about the fact the quality of the dance is judged by some arbitrary onlooker(s) using some arbitrary definition. For example, Cristian (tonight's judge) would have looked for a number of factors possibly including difficulty of moves, quality of partner-work executions, stylistics or artistry, musical interpretation, showmanship, shines (if any), etc. There might be other things he might have looked for as well as overlooked. He might place greater importance on some things over others. Almost certainly his opinions would not be identical to mine. This of course applies to anyone - the judge could be Ivan, Sally, Johnny, Serap, Joe Davids, Sergio, Cyrille, Rhona, Helen, the Salsa team, Frankie Martinez, Eddie Torres, etc. Different people will have different standards, and standards change over time too.
Perhaps the most intriguing part of entering competitions for me is the preparation. Thus far Salsa dancing involved practicing routines taught in class during the class, using the material learned in class during social dancing and experimenting and playing with things I learned in class or by accident while social dancing (aside from a very small amount of practices outside the class (e.g. working on body isolations, spins, shines by myself for a minute or two occasionally or reviewing turn patterns with random available person after a class). A concerted practice for a performance or competition offers interesting possibilities (some of which I might not realize until I actually do one).
I arrived after 9 PM. It was a little on the quiet side. Vishal was suffering from a hangover. I guess he partied too hard last night.
More people arrived after me. I had not seen Zern in a while (he has different regular nights also) - he entered the competition with Euvian and made it to the next round. Cyrille also arrived later - still smarting from his hand injury.
Stephanie was there too. She has become a real revelation. In addition to having improved her technique and style, she also developed a quite a taste for (or strong opinions about) music. Everyone has different taste of course, but in my book she has a very good ear. Long time ago when she first danced with me, she declared that I can dance with her anytime (or something like that -- at least that's how recall it). Back then, I thought was she was pretty good but I would not have gone as far as to return the compliment. Probably the best thing about her was that she was happy to dance with me. Now she's simply great period - and I am thrilled that she is still happy to dance with me (at least when she likes the song) - and not just once a night either. You never know how people will turn out in a relatively short amount of time.
Stephanie was a last second participant of the Salsa competition - she says she dislikes competitions but she was dragged into one twice in a row now. This time, William was her partner. They made it to next round too.
I didn't enter. I wasn't inspired enough.
Near the end of the evening, Zern and Cyrille talked themselves into leading each other. I decided that it would be fun to join in. Zern's a little easier to lead than Cyrille. Zern said he also found Cyrille difficult to lead. We also talked about possibility of going to the Scala this Saturday.
Eventually the music ended and I went back to work. I will worry about Bachata but not until tomorrow.
After rushing through work and not really finishing it, I headed home a little after 8 for a meal before heading of to Club Salsa to check out the competition.
I did make a perfunctory effort to find a dance partner for the competition by trying to get in touch with 3 people (and succeeding with only 1). I failed. No big deal. In the back of my mind, I thought it is always possible to just pick a random person as a partner at the last minute if I felt inspired enough.
Dance competitions do not interest me very much for variety of reasons. Perhaps I care least about the fact the quality of the dance is judged by some arbitrary onlooker(s) using some arbitrary definition. For example, Cristian (tonight's judge) would have looked for a number of factors possibly including difficulty of moves, quality of partner-work executions, stylistics or artistry, musical interpretation, showmanship, shines (if any), etc. There might be other things he might have looked for as well as overlooked. He might place greater importance on some things over others. Almost certainly his opinions would not be identical to mine. This of course applies to anyone - the judge could be Ivan, Sally, Johnny, Serap, Joe Davids, Sergio, Cyrille, Rhona, Helen, the Salsa team, Frankie Martinez, Eddie Torres, etc. Different people will have different standards, and standards change over time too.
Perhaps the most intriguing part of entering competitions for me is the preparation. Thus far Salsa dancing involved practicing routines taught in class during the class, using the material learned in class during social dancing and experimenting and playing with things I learned in class or by accident while social dancing (aside from a very small amount of practices outside the class (e.g. working on body isolations, spins, shines by myself for a minute or two occasionally or reviewing turn patterns with random available person after a class). A concerted practice for a performance or competition offers interesting possibilities (some of which I might not realize until I actually do one).
I arrived after 9 PM. It was a little on the quiet side. Vishal was suffering from a hangover. I guess he partied too hard last night.
More people arrived after me. I had not seen Zern in a while (he has different regular nights also) - he entered the competition with Euvian and made it to the next round. Cyrille also arrived later - still smarting from his hand injury.
Stephanie was there too. She has become a real revelation. In addition to having improved her technique and style, she also developed a quite a taste for (or strong opinions about) music. Everyone has different taste of course, but in my book she has a very good ear. Long time ago when she first danced with me, she declared that I can dance with her anytime (or something like that -- at least that's how recall it). Back then, I thought was she was pretty good but I would not have gone as far as to return the compliment. Probably the best thing about her was that she was happy to dance with me. Now she's simply great period - and I am thrilled that she is still happy to dance with me (at least when she likes the song) - and not just once a night either. You never know how people will turn out in a relatively short amount of time.
Stephanie was a last second participant of the Salsa competition - she says she dislikes competitions but she was dragged into one twice in a row now. This time, William was her partner. They made it to next round too.
I didn't enter. I wasn't inspired enough.
Near the end of the evening, Zern and Cyrille talked themselves into leading each other. I decided that it would be fun to join in. Zern's a little easier to lead than Cyrille. Zern said he also found Cyrille difficult to lead. We also talked about possibility of going to the Scala this Saturday.
Eventually the music ended and I went back to work. I will worry about Bachata but not until tomorrow.
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