December 24, 2005
On a last minute whim, I drove through thick fog to Bar Latina in Tottenham (North London) for their Christmas Eve party hosted by the Latin Collective. Bar Latina is a short walk from Tottenham Hotspurs home stadium and seemingly in a less hospitable part of London as I gathered from spying a signpost warning motorists of thefts in the area as I parked my car one street away. The bouncer in front of the bar told me I should have a flier or a printout of an advertisement for this free event, but he eventually let me in without forcing me to pay a £5 entry fee.
I arrived more than 3/4 hours after the start of their lessons - which mattered not one bit as they were doing a very basic Cha Cha Cha lesson. The Cha Cha Cha lesson was a little different from the CDC (Cambridge Dancers Club) version in that men stepped backwards with R foot on 2 rather than stepping forward with L foot on 2. Also, New Yorker was initiated with R foot to L on 2 and a turn from New Yorker was taught with L-R connection left intact and positioned high. I watched the lesson but did not participate. Cha Cha Cha was not played during the rest of the evening.
The setup of the venue was as follows: the main dancing area was a ring surrounding the cavernous bar - although not all parts of the ring was useful as I found many parts of the floor tilted or cracked. A small elevated area in the far right corner (from the entrance) was okay but could only accommodate 3-4 couples and some spots in the far left corner (another 3-4 couples) and some spots step below the aforementioned elevated area in the far right corner (another 6-8 couples) was also not too bad. Middle of a separate back room (sound might have been slightly worse here) several steps above the main floor was also fairly even and could accommodate another 9 couples.
I estimate that 90% of the people were dancing Cuban style Salsa with a small minority of LA stylists occupying the back room. There were some followers who were dancing mainly Cuban who also could follow CBL credibly. So this was almost like a repeat of Joice's Bar (replacement venue for Ealing Town Hall) couple of weeks ago.
Music was pretty standard overplayed Salsa fare early on. I thought things hit rock bottom when a song based on theme to Rocky came on (and started again about 30 seconds later). Unfortunately things got even worse thereafter, especially after a DJ switch, which led to a whole lot of what some may consider shapeless and non-melodious tunes which seemingly drove people from stop dancing.
I had one dance I enjoyed and 2-3 alright dances in the beginning of the evening. This unfortunately was followed by a couple of painful dances (one too stiff and one too fancy) and couple of no's, which put me off from dancing for quite some time (maybe over an hour). This situation was exacerbated by my observation that 90% of the dancing was Cuban and seeing someone who looked like someone I had a bad experience with (meanwhile the music selection became increasingly worse). I seriously contemplated taking a loss and leaving early, but I forced myself for few more dances - one of which went well enough to revitalize me for several more dances (including a request for a non-consecutive encore, which is still somewhat rare for me outside of Cambridge) before they stopped pretending to play Salsa altogether after 2 AM.
There were some LA stylists at Bar Latina but I think I ended up preferring to dance with some of the mainly Cuban followers who could follow CBL tonight. I daresay in general people there appreciated qualities of my lead more than I liked Bar Latina in general - people were generally okay but I didn't think the larger floor was enough of a factor to alleviate unevenness of the floor and the music was often not fun to listen to.
The Latin Collective website is not well-maintained right now. It had no advertisement of tonight's events and also contains a lot of outdated information (e.g. it still lists SuperMario/Susanna Montero Thursday classes at Our Place in its list of classes while failing to mention another class they organize at Bar Latina on Thursdays). I also learned that Scala Latina for January 1st 2006 is cancelled only by looking at a flier left on a table at Bar Latina tonight.
Showing posts with label Travelogue 2005. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Travelogue 2005. Show all posts
Ringers from Cambridge at Ealing Town Hall ... err Joice's Bar
December 16, 2005
There were two candidates for our London outing; Bar Rez and Ealing Town Hall. From what I read in the Salsa Mafia forum (which has been down for a long time and may be going defunct) and London Salsa website, I was leaning towards Ealing Town Hall. Because Johnny had enjoyed some Mambocity Saturday events, Johnny & Serap also favored Ealing Town Hall. Sean was okay with either venue; both offered novelty value. It probably didn't help Bar Rez that their club probably would not have started until nearly 11 PM as they had classes starting at 9:45 PM.
Route taken was M11 to A406 (North Circular) to Uxbridge Road. Traffic was mild for the most part (we didn't have delays at M11/A11 junction for a change!) except for a stretch of A406 from High Green Road to Bounds Green Road, which was extremely slow. From the way the road was laid out, that short segment will always be a trouble spot. It might be better to take M25 and A1 to avoid that spot even though M25 also has poor reputation.
It took us a little over 1.5 hours but under 2 hours to get to Uxbridge Road after hitting M11, which left us with about 30 minutes for a meal. We chose Pizza Hut located across the Town Hall for a quick meal, and I was feeling pretty good about how the journey was managed when we entered the Ealing Town Hall at 8:35 PM.
Unfortunately, we found out that there was a problem with the hall and that the venue was moved to another location called Joice's Bar about 5-10 min drive away. There were other stranded visitors who were in similar predicament except without a car. We would have offered them a ride except it would have been impossible to fit six people into Johnny's car. Later, I looked at the underground map and saw that going from Ealing Town Hall to Joice's Bar would have involved going to a tube stop 3 stations away and involving a change of train (going from Ealing Broadway to Park Royal).
We arrived at Joice's Bar shortly before 9 PM to find there being only two Salsa classes (beginner and intermediate but no advanced) and a Bachata class (by Tony & Claudia). After watching the intermediate Salsa (which looked pretty simple - not more difficult than second most difficult lessons offered by any of the Club Salsa teachers), Serap, Sean and I opted for Bachata, which had some new elements compared to the Tony & Claudia's Cambridge Bachata class while Johnny sat out altogether for the lessons.
Side turn into wrap and out
1,2,3,4 travel to left basic
5,6,7,8 lead follower to travel and turn ~3/4 counterclockwise with L-R high and R-L low to end in wrap - R-L ends on follower's R waist while L-R is kept at shoulder level fair distance away toward follower's left
1,2,3,4 lead follower to travel and turn ~1/2 clockwise keeping connection at same heigh and ending with another wrap with L-R on follower's L shoulder and R-L at waist level fair distance away towards follower's right
5,6,7,8 lead follower to travel and turn ~1/2 counterclockwise to get back to same position as before
1,2,3,4 lead follower to travel and turn ~3/4 clockwise with L-R raised to unwrap
5,6,7,8 travel to right basic
Side turn into shoulder wrap and wrapped basic
1,2,3,4 travel to left basic
5,6,7,8 lead follower to travel and turn full counterclockwise with L-R starting low and ending on follower's R shoulder and L-R placed behind follower's back waist (requires turn of wrist)
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 basic side-to-side
1,2,3,4 lead follower to travel and turn full clockwise to unwrap
5,6,7,8 travel to right basic is one option ... another is to get both hands on follower's shoulders to close in
Syncopated basic (requires a little more room compared to plain side-to-side basic)
1 L to L
2 R close
3 L to L
4 R cross behind L and quick L step slightly forward R
5 R to R
6 L close
7 R to R
8 L cross behind R and quick R step slightly forward L
Because of simulateous Salsa and Bachata lessons, there were couple of breaks in the Bachata lesson for free-style Salsa. During one of these dances, my follower at the time said to me, "No one here dances like you do," which seemed like a positive comment and a compliment but also slightly worrying nevertheless.
After the lessons, the organizers decided to get the women in the venue to follow Claudia for a Reggaeton demonstration with the winner getting a Tony & Claudia Bachata DVD. Serap decided to join in, and after watching the demonstration for a few minutes I turned to Johnny and asked, "I don't suppose you bought Tony's DVD last month by any chance?" Johnny replied, "No." Lo and behold - Serap won the DVD (and a Bachata CD?).
After 2-3 dances, I was beginning to wonder if having the four of us from Cambridge helped to raise the bar in Salsa dancing at this place. By and large the followers here were no better than in Cambridge. I was also getting enough declines for dance early on, which happens often in Cambridge also. There were a lot of complete beginners who opted to stay out of the dance floor. Most (but not all) people were quite friendly. Even the follower who acted most bored of them all was not so bad as the memorably haughty follower I danced with last weekend at SOS. Then again, I also had one follower who seemed incapable of dancing to the timing of the music even with much effort from me. The middle segment of the evening was getting so bad that I resorted to asking a familar face - Claudia - for a dance to get my bearings straight. This helped, but it also meant this dance was far from ideal and that I missed out on havnig a really enjoyable dance with a super follower. I think that this sacrifice (followed by a second therapeutic dance with Serap) did get me back on right footing and made the last hour reasonably enjoyable. Positive statements from Serap regarding my traveling maneuvers also helped to loosen me up. Having second or even third dance with followers I liked helped, and a lot of space opening up during the last hour really helped. It would have been nice to get a second dance with Claudia but I failed to do so as I lost track of time.
It was nice to catch up with Tony & Claudia again. I think he was pleased to see me and others from Cambridge here tonight. Tony mentioned that he has a show Saturday night and a class at Club Havana on Sunday, and we talked couple of times about possibility of a return tour stop at Cambridge in February. He seemed quite interested in doing another Monday class in Cambridge and told me that he'll get in touch with me in January; I suspect that he enjoyed his Cambridge experience. I'll have to talk to Vishal and others about it to see if there's sufficient interest. I don't think I want to lose a lot of money again so I'll have to keep my expenses down if I were to organize another Tony & Claudia workshop.
We talked about tonight's venue on the way back. Serap enjoyed many of the dances. Sean enjoyed it as well - although he found himself reverting to Cuban style a lot presumably because many dancers here were dancing more Cuban rather than LA. Johnny was not impressed with the dancers tonight. Same for me; the level of dancing was no better than in Cambridge although it was nice to have more space. 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." This will need a lot more effort from people in Cambridge but it didn't seem completely ridiculous tonight. I didn't think it was worth coming back with the caveat that this event was held in a emergency backup venue; Tony told me that Ealing Town Hall is much nicer also. Because we saw some dancers we recognized from SOS, maybe we can find out from them how tonight compares to usual night at Ealing Town Hall on Fridays.
By the way, the floor was about half the size of Mary Ward Hall and capabable of accommodating well over 25 couples. Floor quality was okay - marginally better than Club Salsa in its present condition. I found a lot of purple wax-like stuck to my soles at the end of the evening.
A big part of the conversation on the way back was about history of Cambridge Salsa as remembered by Johnny. Johnny must have been in Cambridge by 2001 in the early days of Cambridge Rueda. Johnny helped in organizing Rueda weekly classes with Steve Reid, which typically included apparently only 4 regular students - Johnny, Peter, Rhona, and Helen. Also by 2001 or so, many of the best recognized Salsa teachers and dancers currently in Cambridge were already established as being very good or showing promise. Teaching venues included St. Columba's and the Catholic Church. Apparently the Catholic Church has been a launching pad for many things, including Cambridge Rueda (see their history section) and Ivan's classes. More recently, there was an attempt to start an on-2 class using the Catholic Church. Other snippets included Sally inviting Susanna Montero to Cambridge few years ago, Special Tee coming to Po Na Na earlier this year - around February (I have a vague recollection of seeing someone like him in the context Johnny's description - this episode must have been instrumental in how my opinion about good-looking Salsa dancing came about), and the identity of the anonymous person who left the comment about Special Tee; maybe we'll meet at SOS one of these days.
There were two candidates for our London outing; Bar Rez and Ealing Town Hall. From what I read in the Salsa Mafia forum (which has been down for a long time and may be going defunct) and London Salsa website, I was leaning towards Ealing Town Hall. Because Johnny had enjoyed some Mambocity Saturday events, Johnny & Serap also favored Ealing Town Hall. Sean was okay with either venue; both offered novelty value. It probably didn't help Bar Rez that their club probably would not have started until nearly 11 PM as they had classes starting at 9:45 PM.
Route taken was M11 to A406 (North Circular) to Uxbridge Road. Traffic was mild for the most part (we didn't have delays at M11/A11 junction for a change!) except for a stretch of A406 from High Green Road to Bounds Green Road, which was extremely slow. From the way the road was laid out, that short segment will always be a trouble spot. It might be better to take M25 and A1 to avoid that spot even though M25 also has poor reputation.
It took us a little over 1.5 hours but under 2 hours to get to Uxbridge Road after hitting M11, which left us with about 30 minutes for a meal. We chose Pizza Hut located across the Town Hall for a quick meal, and I was feeling pretty good about how the journey was managed when we entered the Ealing Town Hall at 8:35 PM.
Unfortunately, we found out that there was a problem with the hall and that the venue was moved to another location called Joice's Bar about 5-10 min drive away. There were other stranded visitors who were in similar predicament except without a car. We would have offered them a ride except it would have been impossible to fit six people into Johnny's car. Later, I looked at the underground map and saw that going from Ealing Town Hall to Joice's Bar would have involved going to a tube stop 3 stations away and involving a change of train (going from Ealing Broadway to Park Royal).
We arrived at Joice's Bar shortly before 9 PM to find there being only two Salsa classes (beginner and intermediate but no advanced) and a Bachata class (by Tony & Claudia). After watching the intermediate Salsa (which looked pretty simple - not more difficult than second most difficult lessons offered by any of the Club Salsa teachers), Serap, Sean and I opted for Bachata, which had some new elements compared to the Tony & Claudia's Cambridge Bachata class while Johnny sat out altogether for the lessons.
Side turn into wrap and out
1,2,3,4 travel to left basic
5,6,7,8 lead follower to travel and turn ~3/4 counterclockwise with L-R high and R-L low to end in wrap - R-L ends on follower's R waist while L-R is kept at shoulder level fair distance away toward follower's left
1,2,3,4 lead follower to travel and turn ~1/2 clockwise keeping connection at same heigh and ending with another wrap with L-R on follower's L shoulder and R-L at waist level fair distance away towards follower's right
5,6,7,8 lead follower to travel and turn ~1/2 counterclockwise to get back to same position as before
1,2,3,4 lead follower to travel and turn ~3/4 clockwise with L-R raised to unwrap
5,6,7,8 travel to right basic
Side turn into shoulder wrap and wrapped basic
1,2,3,4 travel to left basic
5,6,7,8 lead follower to travel and turn full counterclockwise with L-R starting low and ending on follower's R shoulder and L-R placed behind follower's back waist (requires turn of wrist)
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 basic side-to-side
1,2,3,4 lead follower to travel and turn full clockwise to unwrap
5,6,7,8 travel to right basic is one option ... another is to get both hands on follower's shoulders to close in
Syncopated basic (requires a little more room compared to plain side-to-side basic)
1 L to L
2 R close
3 L to L
4 R cross behind L and quick L step slightly forward R
5 R to R
6 L close
7 R to R
8 L cross behind R and quick R step slightly forward L
Because of simulateous Salsa and Bachata lessons, there were couple of breaks in the Bachata lesson for free-style Salsa. During one of these dances, my follower at the time said to me, "No one here dances like you do," which seemed like a positive comment and a compliment but also slightly worrying nevertheless.
After the lessons, the organizers decided to get the women in the venue to follow Claudia for a Reggaeton demonstration with the winner getting a Tony & Claudia Bachata DVD. Serap decided to join in, and after watching the demonstration for a few minutes I turned to Johnny and asked, "I don't suppose you bought Tony's DVD last month by any chance?" Johnny replied, "No." Lo and behold - Serap won the DVD (and a Bachata CD?).
After 2-3 dances, I was beginning to wonder if having the four of us from Cambridge helped to raise the bar in Salsa dancing at this place. By and large the followers here were no better than in Cambridge. I was also getting enough declines for dance early on, which happens often in Cambridge also. There were a lot of complete beginners who opted to stay out of the dance floor. Most (but not all) people were quite friendly. Even the follower who acted most bored of them all was not so bad as the memorably haughty follower I danced with last weekend at SOS. Then again, I also had one follower who seemed incapable of dancing to the timing of the music even with much effort from me. The middle segment of the evening was getting so bad that I resorted to asking a familar face - Claudia - for a dance to get my bearings straight. This helped, but it also meant this dance was far from ideal and that I missed out on havnig a really enjoyable dance with a super follower. I think that this sacrifice (followed by a second therapeutic dance with Serap) did get me back on right footing and made the last hour reasonably enjoyable. Positive statements from Serap regarding my traveling maneuvers also helped to loosen me up. Having second or even third dance with followers I liked helped, and a lot of space opening up during the last hour really helped. It would have been nice to get a second dance with Claudia but I failed to do so as I lost track of time.
It was nice to catch up with Tony & Claudia again. I think he was pleased to see me and others from Cambridge here tonight. Tony mentioned that he has a show Saturday night and a class at Club Havana on Sunday, and we talked couple of times about possibility of a return tour stop at Cambridge in February. He seemed quite interested in doing another Monday class in Cambridge and told me that he'll get in touch with me in January; I suspect that he enjoyed his Cambridge experience. I'll have to talk to Vishal and others about it to see if there's sufficient interest. I don't think I want to lose a lot of money again so I'll have to keep my expenses down if I were to organize another Tony & Claudia workshop.
We talked about tonight's venue on the way back. Serap enjoyed many of the dances. Sean enjoyed it as well - although he found himself reverting to Cuban style a lot presumably because many dancers here were dancing more Cuban rather than LA. Johnny was not impressed with the dancers tonight. Same for me; the level of dancing was no better than in Cambridge although it was nice to have more space. 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." This will need a lot more effort from people in Cambridge but it didn't seem completely ridiculous tonight. I didn't think it was worth coming back with the caveat that this event was held in a emergency backup venue; Tony told me that Ealing Town Hall is much nicer also. Because we saw some dancers we recognized from SOS, maybe we can find out from them how tonight compares to usual night at Ealing Town Hall on Fridays.
By the way, the floor was about half the size of Mary Ward Hall and capabable of accommodating well over 25 couples. Floor quality was okay - marginally better than Club Salsa in its present condition. I found a lot of purple wax-like stuck to my soles at the end of the evening.
A big part of the conversation on the way back was about history of Cambridge Salsa as remembered by Johnny. Johnny must have been in Cambridge by 2001 in the early days of Cambridge Rueda. Johnny helped in organizing Rueda weekly classes with Steve Reid, which typically included apparently only 4 regular students - Johnny, Peter, Rhona, and Helen. Also by 2001 or so, many of the best recognized Salsa teachers and dancers currently in Cambridge were already established as being very good or showing promise. Teaching venues included St. Columba's and the Catholic Church. Apparently the Catholic Church has been a launching pad for many things, including Cambridge Rueda (see their history section) and Ivan's classes. More recently, there was an attempt to start an on-2 class using the Catholic Church. Other snippets included Sally inviting Susanna Montero to Cambridge few years ago, Special Tee coming to Po Na Na earlier this year - around February (I have a vague recollection of seeing someone like him in the context Johnny's description - this episode must have been instrumental in how my opinion about good-looking Salsa dancing came about), and the identity of the anonymous person who left the comment about Special Tee; maybe we'll meet at SOS one of these days.
Transportation fiascoes in getting to and out of London
December 15, 2005
7:40 AM - I wake up after about 5-6 hours of sleep. I'm still getting used to changing time zones.
8:30 AM - I leave for MOT test.
8:45 AM - I start my walk back - I choose to go home first because it was a little colder than I expected.
9:45 AM - After a quick change of clothes, I get on my bicycle to head for the rail station.
10:15 AM - I arrive at rail station and miss the train by 1-2 min. I had not been able to find my Network Rail Pass, which was going to expire soon anyway. I stop at a photo booth for a photo card; I learn later that this was unnecessary if I'm not purchasing a weekly (or longer) rail pass. No matter. I purchase a rail pass and a cheap day return ticket to London with underground access.
11:45 AM - I arrive at Kings Cross.
12:00 AM - I emerge from Oxford Circus underground station.
12:50 PM - I arrive at Henry Holland Pub near Bond Street station after wandering around Oxford street looking for a suitable gift. I meet with a large group of people from work.
1:00 PM - A long lunch (dim sum) starts.
3:45 PM - Lunch ends.
4:00 PM - A pub stop near Oxford Circus station.
5:15 PM - At Oxford Circus station, I discover that I lost my rail tickets. I get separated from my group.
6:15 PM - After a short stop at the pub and restaurant, I give up my search for my tickets and take the underground from Baker Street.
6:30 PM - I rejoin my group at the London Eye after getting off at Waterloo station.
7:15 PM - After several unsuccessful attempt at finding a pub or bar that can seat a group of over a dozen near Embankment and Charing Cross, we end up inside a crowded pub with a alarm going off outside the pub. Here I find that severe train delays (and replacement buses) have been scheduled after 9:15 PM. Best possible option for returning to Cambridge may involve taking a 9:58 PM train from Liverpool Street. I don't think I could handle 2-3 hour train/bus ride back to Cambridge late in the evening followed by an hour walk to pick up my car from MOT testing Friday morning.
This train schedule change essentially rules out going to Bar Salsa because their club does not start until 9:30 PM. Second option is to go to Little Tree, look at their lesson for last 10 min or so, and then check out the club for 1 to 1.5 hours before returning to Cambridge.
7:55 PM - I arrive at Litten Tree (near Old Street station). Classes and club are cancelled because of the holidays. The pub is cavernous, but the dance floor is fairly small and has a large column near the middle of the floor. I estimate that the main elevated wood floor could accommodate about 12-15 couples. Overall, I wasn't impressed - but maybe I would think differently with dancers present.
8:15 PM - I arrive at Kings Cross. I purchase a replacement network rail pass and a ticket back to Cambridge from a not-very-friendly and unsympathetic cashier. By the way, one-way ticket to Cambridge cost more than cheap day return from Cambridge with underground access.
10:00 PM - I arrive at Cambridge rail station.
10:05 PM - I stop at Club Salsa for a short and not-intensive night of dancing after a hectic, tiring and largely irritating day. I was informed that I missed a nice routine at the class.
7:40 AM - I wake up after about 5-6 hours of sleep. I'm still getting used to changing time zones.
8:30 AM - I leave for MOT test.
8:45 AM - I start my walk back - I choose to go home first because it was a little colder than I expected.
9:45 AM - After a quick change of clothes, I get on my bicycle to head for the rail station.
10:15 AM - I arrive at rail station and miss the train by 1-2 min. I had not been able to find my Network Rail Pass, which was going to expire soon anyway. I stop at a photo booth for a photo card; I learn later that this was unnecessary if I'm not purchasing a weekly (or longer) rail pass. No matter. I purchase a rail pass and a cheap day return ticket to London with underground access.
11:45 AM - I arrive at Kings Cross.
12:00 AM - I emerge from Oxford Circus underground station.
12:50 PM - I arrive at Henry Holland Pub near Bond Street station after wandering around Oxford street looking for a suitable gift. I meet with a large group of people from work.
1:00 PM - A long lunch (dim sum) starts.
3:45 PM - Lunch ends.
4:00 PM - A pub stop near Oxford Circus station.
5:15 PM - At Oxford Circus station, I discover that I lost my rail tickets. I get separated from my group.
6:15 PM - After a short stop at the pub and restaurant, I give up my search for my tickets and take the underground from Baker Street.
6:30 PM - I rejoin my group at the London Eye after getting off at Waterloo station.
7:15 PM - After several unsuccessful attempt at finding a pub or bar that can seat a group of over a dozen near Embankment and Charing Cross, we end up inside a crowded pub with a alarm going off outside the pub. Here I find that severe train delays (and replacement buses) have been scheduled after 9:15 PM. Best possible option for returning to Cambridge may involve taking a 9:58 PM train from Liverpool Street. I don't think I could handle 2-3 hour train/bus ride back to Cambridge late in the evening followed by an hour walk to pick up my car from MOT testing Friday morning.
This train schedule change essentially rules out going to Bar Salsa because their club does not start until 9:30 PM. Second option is to go to Little Tree, look at their lesson for last 10 min or so, and then check out the club for 1 to 1.5 hours before returning to Cambridge.
7:55 PM - I arrive at Litten Tree (near Old Street station). Classes and club are cancelled because of the holidays. The pub is cavernous, but the dance floor is fairly small and has a large column near the middle of the floor. I estimate that the main elevated wood floor could accommodate about 12-15 couples. Overall, I wasn't impressed - but maybe I would think differently with dancers present.
8:15 PM - I arrive at Kings Cross. I purchase a replacement network rail pass and a ticket back to Cambridge from a not-very-friendly and unsympathetic cashier. By the way, one-way ticket to Cambridge cost more than cheap day return from Cambridge with underground access.
10:00 PM - I arrive at Cambridge rail station.
10:05 PM - I stop at Club Salsa for a short and not-intensive night of dancing after a hectic, tiring and largely irritating day. I was informed that I missed a nice routine at the class.
Salsa in Washington D.C. IV – SOS (Stuck on Salsa) Monthly Social
December 4, 2005
This was by far the best of Washington D.C. Salsa scene I saw in this trip. I enjoyed this outing very much. It was highly reminiscent of SOS in London. I am not completely sure but I think there were some on-2 dancers present. Earl Rush of Stuck on Salsa is well-deserving of the praise of local dancers who stated that he can be counted upon to throw a good party every time. The cover was $5 and included complimentary unlimited soda and water (However, I suspect that giving free drinks is not fiscally sound, so I expect this will not last long).
The venue (Avenue Night Club) at quick glance looked spacious and covered with wall-to-wall wood floor that could accommodate well over 30 or maybe even 40 couples – or about half the size of Mary Ward Hall (home of SOS or Salsa on Sundays in London) and somewhat smaller than the Grad Pad in Cambridge University. I initially was quite thrilled with the feel of the floor (nice and smooth) until I started dancing upon which I discovered that there was a severe tilt to the floor with the far end of the club being at noticeably higher elevation compared to the entrance of the club. The sloped floor caused me to upset my balance during some spins (almost falling towards downhill several times) for the first several dances; I was getting dizzy and possibly even seasick. I would imagine that the followers had it even worse. I started to despair that I would not be able to take advantage of the space this venue offered and high quality of followers present at this party. Fortunately, I adjusted to the curious floor problem (some parts were worse than others) after about half dozen dances and ended up having a quite good time. I daresay that everyone went through some adjustment period.
The dancers at this party were very good – on average almost equal to London’s SOS. There were slightly more beginners here than at SOS – this I did not mind at all because all of them were really responsive and very friendly. I loved the fact that everyone seemed to be having a good time and that no one was acting bored or being inattentive to my leads; this hadn't been so evident or frequent in my other D.C. Salsa outings. Probably the worst case tonight involved a follower who consistently tried to do more turns than what I was leading (I don’t recall seeing such a blatant case - I interpreted this as her showing off or trying to prove something), but even this dance worked out alright because her technique was generally sound. I estimate that I danced with approximately 90% of the followers present in the course of under 3 1/2 hours; the event ran from 4 PM to 9 PM with an hour of class (including a on-2 class) at the beginning, which I missed. Initially, there were relatively small number of dancers (albeit many good ones not seen at other places), but many more people came in as hours went by compared to small number of people who left early and the floor became more crowded (but still very manageable) for last 1.5-2 hour or so.
Near the end of the evening, I asked a charming follower (nice package of skill, attitude and grace -- ummm, actually there were quite a few of them but...) for a dance and received a reply that she was about to leave and head off to another Salsa club called Polyester. I was invited to come with her group of friends. I wasn’t interested in much more dancing but because I had never heard of this place, I thought it might be useful to check it out. Unfortunately, I was given a wrong address (12th and H), so I took off after searching in vain for 5-10 min after parking on the corner of 12th and H. I tried to look up this venue on the internet afterwards, and found out after a while that the club is called Polly Esther’s and is located at 12th and F, not 12th and H – I only got as far as the corner of 12th and G, which was just one block away. There is no indication in the internet that Polly Esther’s plays any Salsa.
Sergio had told me that next weekend in D.C. should be great for Salsa dancing because of a group of New York dancers coming down. There will be a set of parties celebrating release of two DVDs – Ismael Otero’s “Advanced Turn Patterns with Jamie Matos" and Toronto’s Magna Gopal’s “Turns by Magna”. Somewhat amusing factoid (to me) is that Ismael Otero's nickname is "Man with Million Moves". (I don't know who came up with it first - Otero or SuperMario, but Otero has been teaching Salsa/Mambo long before SuperMario started learning Salsa.) Anyway, the Dual DVD party's first D.C. stop is Earl Rush’s 50th birthday party on Friday. Earl (who by the way is a good and humorous dancer) tried to talk me into coming next weekend but I will be back in Cambridge by then. Based upon tonight, I have full confidence that Earl’s party Friday (and Saturday) will be great. Same goes for his monthly Salsa social in the future (I believe this was the second Sunday social overall for Earl, but first as the start of it being a monthly event) – especially if the event were moved to a venue with more level floor or if everyone can get accustomed to sloped floor very quickly.
This was by far the best of Washington D.C. Salsa scene I saw in this trip. I enjoyed this outing very much. It was highly reminiscent of SOS in London. I am not completely sure but I think there were some on-2 dancers present. Earl Rush of Stuck on Salsa is well-deserving of the praise of local dancers who stated that he can be counted upon to throw a good party every time. The cover was $5 and included complimentary unlimited soda and water (However, I suspect that giving free drinks is not fiscally sound, so I expect this will not last long).
The venue (Avenue Night Club) at quick glance looked spacious and covered with wall-to-wall wood floor that could accommodate well over 30 or maybe even 40 couples – or about half the size of Mary Ward Hall (home of SOS or Salsa on Sundays in London) and somewhat smaller than the Grad Pad in Cambridge University. I initially was quite thrilled with the feel of the floor (nice and smooth) until I started dancing upon which I discovered that there was a severe tilt to the floor with the far end of the club being at noticeably higher elevation compared to the entrance of the club. The sloped floor caused me to upset my balance during some spins (almost falling towards downhill several times) for the first several dances; I was getting dizzy and possibly even seasick. I would imagine that the followers had it even worse. I started to despair that I would not be able to take advantage of the space this venue offered and high quality of followers present at this party. Fortunately, I adjusted to the curious floor problem (some parts were worse than others) after about half dozen dances and ended up having a quite good time. I daresay that everyone went through some adjustment period.
The dancers at this party were very good – on average almost equal to London’s SOS. There were slightly more beginners here than at SOS – this I did not mind at all because all of them were really responsive and very friendly. I loved the fact that everyone seemed to be having a good time and that no one was acting bored or being inattentive to my leads; this hadn't been so evident or frequent in my other D.C. Salsa outings. Probably the worst case tonight involved a follower who consistently tried to do more turns than what I was leading (I don’t recall seeing such a blatant case - I interpreted this as her showing off or trying to prove something), but even this dance worked out alright because her technique was generally sound. I estimate that I danced with approximately 90% of the followers present in the course of under 3 1/2 hours; the event ran from 4 PM to 9 PM with an hour of class (including a on-2 class) at the beginning, which I missed. Initially, there were relatively small number of dancers (albeit many good ones not seen at other places), but many more people came in as hours went by compared to small number of people who left early and the floor became more crowded (but still very manageable) for last 1.5-2 hour or so.
Near the end of the evening, I asked a charming follower (nice package of skill, attitude and grace -- ummm, actually there were quite a few of them but...) for a dance and received a reply that she was about to leave and head off to another Salsa club called Polyester. I was invited to come with her group of friends. I wasn’t interested in much more dancing but because I had never heard of this place, I thought it might be useful to check it out. Unfortunately, I was given a wrong address (12th and H), so I took off after searching in vain for 5-10 min after parking on the corner of 12th and H. I tried to look up this venue on the internet afterwards, and found out after a while that the club is called Polly Esther’s and is located at 12th and F, not 12th and H – I only got as far as the corner of 12th and G, which was just one block away. There is no indication in the internet that Polly Esther’s plays any Salsa.
Sergio had told me that next weekend in D.C. should be great for Salsa dancing because of a group of New York dancers coming down. There will be a set of parties celebrating release of two DVDs – Ismael Otero’s “Advanced Turn Patterns with Jamie Matos" and Toronto’s Magna Gopal’s “Turns by Magna”. Somewhat amusing factoid (to me) is that Ismael Otero's nickname is "Man with Million Moves". (I don't know who came up with it first - Otero or SuperMario, but Otero has been teaching Salsa/Mambo long before SuperMario started learning Salsa.) Anyway, the Dual DVD party's first D.C. stop is Earl Rush’s 50th birthday party on Friday. Earl (who by the way is a good and humorous dancer) tried to talk me into coming next weekend but I will be back in Cambridge by then. Based upon tonight, I have full confidence that Earl’s party Friday (and Saturday) will be great. Same goes for his monthly Salsa social in the future (I believe this was the second Sunday social overall for Earl, but first as the start of it being a monthly event) – especially if the event were moved to a venue with more level floor or if everyone can get accustomed to sloped floor very quickly.
Salsa in Washington D.C. III - after midnight at Divino’s Lounge
December 2, 2005
From what I heard and read, it seemed like it might be a good idea to arrive late. This way, I thought I would avoid big crowds while still catching better dancers who may decide to show up late. Thus I schemed to arrive a little after midnight; the club hour is advertised as 10 PM to 2 AM. In retrospect, it might have been better to arrive earlier because only a very small number of people arrived after me (and I did not think that the late arrivals were better dancers than early arrivals) whereas I definitely missed out on some of the better (or flashier) dancers who left shortly after my arrival.
Divino's Lounge is the smallest of the three Salsa venues I have been to thus far in Washington D.C. area. The main dance floor was made of a very smooth stone surface - nice for spinning, as it was quite slippery. I estimate that the main dance surface could accommodate 15 couples or so, and the floor was slightly above this capacity at the time of my arrival. There isn't much of an extra dance space outside the main dance floor; one end of the main dance floor was situated between dining tables with inferior surface and the other end of the floor was carpeted and surrounded by furniture.
Total number of people at Divino’s was smaller than both Clarendon Grill and Barking Dog – at least by the time of my arrival. Level of difficulty conducted by top-level leaders looked comparable to Clarendon Grill and slightly higher than Barking Dog earlier this week. Divino's like the other two had fair number of beginners (first-timers) and non-dancers. I ended up dancing with pretty much everyone who stayed until I got around to asking (excepting a few who insisted that they didn't know how to dance). Sergio’s assessment earlier this week – sometimes you find good dancers there, sometimes not – is probably accurate. (Note: Sergio said the same about Barking Dog, Zanzibar, South Beach, H2O, etc. He also said you find better dancers in some special events involving people from New York coming down to D.C., like the one that will happen next weekend when I’m back in Cambridge.)
While I generally enjoyed dancing at Divino’s and have no regrets about tonight, I am getting less and less impressed with D.C. Salsa scene as I visit more venues. Thus far the most disappointing aspect of Salsa in D.C. is that I haven’t had any dance that I found thoroughly enjoyable and made me happy. In general I have gotten more enjoyment out of dancing with some of the “less experienced” followers who do not necessarily know how to follow many of my leads but who nevertheless appear to enjoy dancing with me a great deal. As for the “more experienced” (or flashy) followers, all of them turned out to be disappointing for one reason or other; I often found hand-to-hand connection was too strong while mental/emotional connection was often too weak or absent. No one I danced was good enough or nice enough to cover any mistakes I made and follow everything I tried to lead.
No Salsa lessons are given on Fridays at Divino’s. Cover was $10 (same as Barking Dog, twice as expensive as Clarendon Grill). It may be a good idea to call in advance – apparently there will be no Salsa at Divino’s next week because of a private party but they will return the week after next.
From what I heard and read, it seemed like it might be a good idea to arrive late. This way, I thought I would avoid big crowds while still catching better dancers who may decide to show up late. Thus I schemed to arrive a little after midnight; the club hour is advertised as 10 PM to 2 AM. In retrospect, it might have been better to arrive earlier because only a very small number of people arrived after me (and I did not think that the late arrivals were better dancers than early arrivals) whereas I definitely missed out on some of the better (or flashier) dancers who left shortly after my arrival.
Divino's Lounge is the smallest of the three Salsa venues I have been to thus far in Washington D.C. area. The main dance floor was made of a very smooth stone surface - nice for spinning, as it was quite slippery. I estimate that the main dance surface could accommodate 15 couples or so, and the floor was slightly above this capacity at the time of my arrival. There isn't much of an extra dance space outside the main dance floor; one end of the main dance floor was situated between dining tables with inferior surface and the other end of the floor was carpeted and surrounded by furniture.
Total number of people at Divino’s was smaller than both Clarendon Grill and Barking Dog – at least by the time of my arrival. Level of difficulty conducted by top-level leaders looked comparable to Clarendon Grill and slightly higher than Barking Dog earlier this week. Divino's like the other two had fair number of beginners (first-timers) and non-dancers. I ended up dancing with pretty much everyone who stayed until I got around to asking (excepting a few who insisted that they didn't know how to dance). Sergio’s assessment earlier this week – sometimes you find good dancers there, sometimes not – is probably accurate. (Note: Sergio said the same about Barking Dog, Zanzibar, South Beach, H2O, etc. He also said you find better dancers in some special events involving people from New York coming down to D.C., like the one that will happen next weekend when I’m back in Cambridge.)
While I generally enjoyed dancing at Divino’s and have no regrets about tonight, I am getting less and less impressed with D.C. Salsa scene as I visit more venues. Thus far the most disappointing aspect of Salsa in D.C. is that I haven’t had any dance that I found thoroughly enjoyable and made me happy. In general I have gotten more enjoyment out of dancing with some of the “less experienced” followers who do not necessarily know how to follow many of my leads but who nevertheless appear to enjoy dancing with me a great deal. As for the “more experienced” (or flashy) followers, all of them turned out to be disappointing for one reason or other; I often found hand-to-hand connection was too strong while mental/emotional connection was often too weak or absent. No one I danced was good enough or nice enough to cover any mistakes I made and follow everything I tried to lead.
No Salsa lessons are given on Fridays at Divino’s. Cover was $10 (same as Barking Dog, twice as expensive as Clarendon Grill). It may be a good idea to call in advance – apparently there will be no Salsa at Divino’s next week because of a private party but they will return the week after next.
Finding Salsa spots in Washington DC
November 30, 2005 (updated December 8, 2005)
Trying to find up-to-date information on good places to go dancing is a challenge. Internet has made searching easier but popularity of various venues can be highly fluid. Even the venerable Jimmy Anton's Social in New York has been going strong only for about 12 years, and it would have been possible to find out that Jimmy's is the place to be for last 5 years or so via internet. London's SOS cannot have been existence for more than a decade or so (a pure guess on my part), and hint of its reputation could have been garnered using Salsa chat forums like one operated by Salsa Mafia for last couple of years and starting this year via general club listing and review site londonsalsa.co.uk. In Cambridge, Club Salsa (now the center of LA style Salsa in Cambridge) has been around for about 2 years, and JC's latindance website offers well-updated listing of Salsa venues and dates although no explicit review of Cambridge venues exists (of course, it may be possible to get an idea from my blog). For Washington DC, Clarendon Grill apparently is the premier weekly spot and has been for couple of years at least; it's possible to guess that this is the case after extensive internet research. However, this was quite difficult in part because there is not a single website devoted to listing all venues let alone review various venues and also because of existence of many outdated information floating about.
During my research into DC Salsa, I found two cool websites called greatdance.com and stuckonsalsa.com. I liked these website mainly because they were comprehensive and allowed me to get a good picture of Salsa scene in Washington DC area as whole, rather than simply advertise their own events (not that there's anything wrong with such an approach).
As its name suggests, greatdance.com covers many types of dances, not just Salsa. The forum operated by greatdance.com may be of interest to DC and visiting dancers. Avid readers of Salsa Mafia might be amused by this thread, which lists places to go for Salsa dancing as of a month ago (and therefore already outdated) - hint: the list itself is not the source of amusement by the way. The calendar operated by greatdance.com (in a format similar to that of salsanewyork.com) looked great and pretty when I first started my research about Salsa in DC back in September, but it content seems to be getting increasingly out-of-date.
Within a short period of time, stuckonsalsa.com seemingly has become the liveliest of the DC Salsa websites. The website itself is sprawling with Salsa-related material and is updated very frequently. Although the website is a little messy, I really liked the content - I think the enthusiasm and energy of Earl Rush (the founder of stuckonsalsa.com) is evident throughout the website. Like greatdance.com, stuckonsalsa.com has list of DC weekly Salsa events (this list is currently up-to-date). It has a forum, which only got started in the beginning of December 2005. One of the more incredible part of the website included profiles of large number of regular DC Salseros/Salseras apparently posted with permission.
List of weekly Salsa venues in DC seems to get outdated very quickly and it takes fair amount of effort for anyone to keep track. It seems to me that venues (usually restaurants, taverns, lounges, etc) where Salsa dancing is held does a good job of keeping up-to-date information on what's going on. So in the list I'm making below, I give links to both the venues and promoters when possible. Short commentaries are attached (along with links leading to my personal impression of the venue).
Clarendon Grill - Mondays - Seemingly the best weekly spot DC has to offer currently as implicitly suggested by the amusing thread mentioned above, by another older post I read in a private forum, and also confirmed by Sergio, who has done some research of his own. Read my post for my impression of the venue. It is located in Arlington, and the closest Metro station is Clarendon about 1 min walk away.
Barking Dog - Tuesdays - This is the apparent leader of Tueday battle royale in Bethesda. Also refer to my post for more details. The closest Metro station is Bethesda about 2-3 min walk away.
South Beach Restaurant - Tuesdays and Thursdays - Thursdays might be better bet - also located in Bethesda about 5 min walk from Metro station.
Divino's Lounge - Fridays - Apparently they also operate on Mondays but no longer Tuesdays. It gets very crowded with non-dancers on Fridays until much later. I stopped by for about two hours. Divino's is also located in Bethesda about 1 min walk from the Metro station.
In the aforementioned amusing thread, DC spots like Yuca on Saturdays and H2O (map) or another nearby DC venue on Fridays hosted by Eileen Torres (also see this profile and updates) were also recommended. It would seem that the information regarding Yuca was already one month outdated before the post was made while H2O may have become a mostly non-Salsa venue (merengue, reggaeton, etc) within a month after the post and one week prior to my arrival - I'm not sure about this.
Other recently recommended spots include Zanzibar on the waterfront on Wednesdays in DC and Cecilia's on Thursdays and Fridays in Arlington.
Other potential DC Salsa spots include Cafe Citron and venerable Habana Village.
Finally, a new venture from stuckonsalsa.com is a monthly Salsa social starting in December. It seems promising but who knows how long it will last if at all considering the volatile up-and-down nature of Salsa in Washington DC. Based upon what I have seen and heard, special events hosted by stuckonsalsa.com is more likely to bring out large number of good dancers compared to weekly club nights.
Trying to find up-to-date information on good places to go dancing is a challenge. Internet has made searching easier but popularity of various venues can be highly fluid. Even the venerable Jimmy Anton's Social in New York has been going strong only for about 12 years, and it would have been possible to find out that Jimmy's is the place to be for last 5 years or so via internet. London's SOS cannot have been existence for more than a decade or so (a pure guess on my part), and hint of its reputation could have been garnered using Salsa chat forums like one operated by Salsa Mafia for last couple of years and starting this year via general club listing and review site londonsalsa.co.uk. In Cambridge, Club Salsa (now the center of LA style Salsa in Cambridge) has been around for about 2 years, and JC's latindance website offers well-updated listing of Salsa venues and dates although no explicit review of Cambridge venues exists (of course, it may be possible to get an idea from my blog). For Washington DC, Clarendon Grill apparently is the premier weekly spot and has been for couple of years at least; it's possible to guess that this is the case after extensive internet research. However, this was quite difficult in part because there is not a single website devoted to listing all venues let alone review various venues and also because of existence of many outdated information floating about.
During my research into DC Salsa, I found two cool websites called greatdance.com and stuckonsalsa.com. I liked these website mainly because they were comprehensive and allowed me to get a good picture of Salsa scene in Washington DC area as whole, rather than simply advertise their own events (not that there's anything wrong with such an approach).
As its name suggests, greatdance.com covers many types of dances, not just Salsa. The forum operated by greatdance.com may be of interest to DC and visiting dancers. Avid readers of Salsa Mafia might be amused by this thread, which lists places to go for Salsa dancing as of a month ago (and therefore already outdated) - hint: the list itself is not the source of amusement by the way. The calendar operated by greatdance.com (in a format similar to that of salsanewyork.com) looked great and pretty when I first started my research about Salsa in DC back in September, but it content seems to be getting increasingly out-of-date.
Within a short period of time, stuckonsalsa.com seemingly has become the liveliest of the DC Salsa websites. The website itself is sprawling with Salsa-related material and is updated very frequently. Although the website is a little messy, I really liked the content - I think the enthusiasm and energy of Earl Rush (the founder of stuckonsalsa.com) is evident throughout the website. Like greatdance.com, stuckonsalsa.com has list of DC weekly Salsa events (this list is currently up-to-date). It has a forum, which only got started in the beginning of December 2005. One of the more incredible part of the website included profiles of large number of regular DC Salseros/Salseras apparently posted with permission.
List of weekly Salsa venues in DC seems to get outdated very quickly and it takes fair amount of effort for anyone to keep track. It seems to me that venues (usually restaurants, taverns, lounges, etc) where Salsa dancing is held does a good job of keeping up-to-date information on what's going on. So in the list I'm making below, I give links to both the venues and promoters when possible. Short commentaries are attached (along with links leading to my personal impression of the venue).
Clarendon Grill - Mondays - Seemingly the best weekly spot DC has to offer currently as implicitly suggested by the amusing thread mentioned above, by another older post I read in a private forum, and also confirmed by Sergio, who has done some research of his own. Read my post for my impression of the venue. It is located in Arlington, and the closest Metro station is Clarendon about 1 min walk away.
Barking Dog - Tuesdays - This is the apparent leader of Tueday battle royale in Bethesda. Also refer to my post for more details. The closest Metro station is Bethesda about 2-3 min walk away.
South Beach Restaurant - Tuesdays and Thursdays - Thursdays might be better bet - also located in Bethesda about 5 min walk from Metro station.
Divino's Lounge - Fridays - Apparently they also operate on Mondays but no longer Tuesdays. It gets very crowded with non-dancers on Fridays until much later. I stopped by for about two hours. Divino's is also located in Bethesda about 1 min walk from the Metro station.
In the aforementioned amusing thread, DC spots like Yuca on Saturdays and H2O (map) or another nearby DC venue on Fridays hosted by Eileen Torres (also see this profile and updates) were also recommended. It would seem that the information regarding Yuca was already one month outdated before the post was made while H2O may have become a mostly non-Salsa venue (merengue, reggaeton, etc) within a month after the post and one week prior to my arrival - I'm not sure about this.
Other recently recommended spots include Zanzibar on the waterfront on Wednesdays in DC and Cecilia's on Thursdays and Fridays in Arlington.
Other potential DC Salsa spots include Cafe Citron and venerable Habana Village.
Finally, a new venture from stuckonsalsa.com is a monthly Salsa social starting in December. It seems promising but who knows how long it will last if at all considering the volatile up-and-down nature of Salsa in Washington DC. Based upon what I have seen and heard, special events hosted by stuckonsalsa.com is more likely to bring out large number of good dancers compared to weekly club nights.
Salsa in Washington D.C. II – Barking Dog
November 29, 2005
Unseasonably warm weather persisted to this evening although a somewhat heavy rain made a short dash from parked car to the Barking Dog a scramble. The pub downstairs appeared downright empty, and the dance floor upstairs did not feel packed either compared to Clarendon Grill. Just as Sergio said last night, the cover fee was twice as expensive as Clarendon Grill ($10 versus $5). After paying the cashier, I was presented with a glowing paper bracelet as receipt on top of a stamp I received on back of my hand presumably as proof of age at the entrance.
The first thing I noticed was the layout of the dance floor, which had a small square wood floor area in the middle with columns on four corners just outside of the wood floor. The wood floor, which could accommodate perhaps 10-12 couples, was surrounded by much larger space covered with tile floors. Also, the temperature inside was not as warm as it was at Clarendon Grill; having no fan was not as a big an issue as it was last night and extra clothing I brought was not used.
Beginner class was still unfinished when arrived, so I went downstairs to visit the toilet, in which I encountered a huge man dressed only in his briefs and getting ready to jump into a rather garish suit. Later I found that this man is the DJ for the evening. Everything about this DJ was big, including his booming voice, which he used liberally throughout the evening with earthshaking volume over which no conversation was possible – at least for me. He also had a strange habit of making random strange gurgling noises – one of my dance partner commented, “Oh, he does that all the time.” without blinking an eye.
The regular instructor for the Tuesdays at Barking Dog is Michelle Reyes, whom Sergio apparently knows fairly well and is a part of a clique that regularly attends Jimmy Anton’s Social in New York (more on this later). However, Michelle was nowhere in sight tonight. Instead of their regular intermediate class (of which I had fairly low expectations based upon the lessons at Clarendon Grill), another woman came out to introduce Casino Rueda for the students. Initially it seemed that I was the only one who had any experience with Rueda among approximately 30 people who were there – however, it turned out there were at least one other who knew something of Rueda and drifted in and out of the circle. Predictably, we did not get very far – I don’t think the instructor had a very big ambition about teaching Rueda tonight. The moves taught are listed below with minimal description.
Basic step (Guapea but not named) – This was done with partners facing each other at all times. Both step back on 1 and come together on 5.
Dame (the instructor pronounced the word very softly – even more so than with any other commands she used – without a microphone and with music on, she was inaudible – an incredible fact in my opinion for a Rueda caller)
High Five – Turn and face backwards to do a high five clap with next follower on 1 (R to R), then finish Guapea
High Ten – Turn and face backwards and do patty cake clap (using both hands - L with R and vice versa) with next follower on 1, then finish Guapea
Fly – Turn and face backwards and clap (I don’t think they jumped) on 1, then finish Guapea
Fly doble – Like Fly but clap on 1 and on 2, then finish Guapea
Besito – Turn and face backwards and kiss air on 1, then finish Guapea
Bota? Vuelta? – Guapea until about 5, then lead follower to spin clockwise for her to face her new partner while leader turns counterclockwise to face his next follower for a Dame
Initially I considered sitting out of the lesson when I realized that they would be doing Rueda with complete beginners. But then I decided that I didn’t really have anything better to do.
Despite heavy rain tonight, Sergio showed up once again to lend “support”. Whatever the reason, it was very nice to have a familiar face around and at least at one point observe his dancing and marvel at his ability to improvise and lead his partner to all sorts of unexpected movements. He had talked about going to New York next weekend to attend among other events, Jimmy Anton’s Social. Apparently in New York, these so-called socials are the place to go for dancing rather than clubs, which attract large share of people who are there for drinking, etc rather than dancing Salsa. A good resource for finding good places to dance apparently can be found in a website called salsanewyork.com and in particular its calendar. Details of events page is also useful. I had been to this website several times previously over the past year but Sergio’s comments gave me additional context to look at the contents of the website with more concrete purpose. I suppose a problem for me would be that I suspect most people there dance on-2, which I haven’t had an opportunity to start learning. In any case, I can’t go to New York for this event this year since I will be back in Cambridge by next weekend.
About halfway through the club hours, there was a performance with tonight’s Rueda instructor as one of the participant. The performers were six women, three in red and three in black but otherwise in seemingly identical dresses. The performance started off with what looked like Offbeat dancing rather than Salsa dancing followed by some rudimentary partner dancing done in unison followed by fairly simple Rueda with some stylizations. I think the big emphasis was on doing stylizations in unison by the women in red playing follower’s part.
The club part of the evening started fairly well – probably slightly better than in Clarendon Grill last night when the first hour from both were compared to each other possibly because I was feeling more relaxed tonight. It might have helped that I recognized some of the faces tonight from Clarendon Grill last night. I was hoping that dancing went better as evening went along as it did in Clarendon Grill. Unfortunately, things more or less plateaued at about the level reached by the halfway point and the start of the Offbeat-Rueda demonstration. Overall, I would guess that Clarendon Grill had many more flashier dancers. Still overall, tonight still was enjoyable with plusses including fairly large pool of decent if not outstanding dance partners throughout the evening and reasonable amount of space equivalent to Club Salsa on Wednesdays and Thursdays.
Unseasonably warm weather persisted to this evening although a somewhat heavy rain made a short dash from parked car to the Barking Dog a scramble. The pub downstairs appeared downright empty, and the dance floor upstairs did not feel packed either compared to Clarendon Grill. Just as Sergio said last night, the cover fee was twice as expensive as Clarendon Grill ($10 versus $5). After paying the cashier, I was presented with a glowing paper bracelet as receipt on top of a stamp I received on back of my hand presumably as proof of age at the entrance.
The first thing I noticed was the layout of the dance floor, which had a small square wood floor area in the middle with columns on four corners just outside of the wood floor. The wood floor, which could accommodate perhaps 10-12 couples, was surrounded by much larger space covered with tile floors. Also, the temperature inside was not as warm as it was at Clarendon Grill; having no fan was not as a big an issue as it was last night and extra clothing I brought was not used.
Beginner class was still unfinished when arrived, so I went downstairs to visit the toilet, in which I encountered a huge man dressed only in his briefs and getting ready to jump into a rather garish suit. Later I found that this man is the DJ for the evening. Everything about this DJ was big, including his booming voice, which he used liberally throughout the evening with earthshaking volume over which no conversation was possible – at least for me. He also had a strange habit of making random strange gurgling noises – one of my dance partner commented, “Oh, he does that all the time.” without blinking an eye.
The regular instructor for the Tuesdays at Barking Dog is Michelle Reyes, whom Sergio apparently knows fairly well and is a part of a clique that regularly attends Jimmy Anton’s Social in New York (more on this later). However, Michelle was nowhere in sight tonight. Instead of their regular intermediate class (of which I had fairly low expectations based upon the lessons at Clarendon Grill), another woman came out to introduce Casino Rueda for the students. Initially it seemed that I was the only one who had any experience with Rueda among approximately 30 people who were there – however, it turned out there were at least one other who knew something of Rueda and drifted in and out of the circle. Predictably, we did not get very far – I don’t think the instructor had a very big ambition about teaching Rueda tonight. The moves taught are listed below with minimal description.
Basic step (Guapea but not named) – This was done with partners facing each other at all times. Both step back on 1 and come together on 5.
Dame (the instructor pronounced the word very softly – even more so than with any other commands she used – without a microphone and with music on, she was inaudible – an incredible fact in my opinion for a Rueda caller)
High Five – Turn and face backwards to do a high five clap with next follower on 1 (R to R), then finish Guapea
High Ten – Turn and face backwards and do patty cake clap (using both hands - L with R and vice versa) with next follower on 1, then finish Guapea
Fly – Turn and face backwards and clap (I don’t think they jumped) on 1, then finish Guapea
Fly doble – Like Fly but clap on 1 and on 2, then finish Guapea
Besito – Turn and face backwards and kiss air on 1, then finish Guapea
Bota? Vuelta? – Guapea until about 5, then lead follower to spin clockwise for her to face her new partner while leader turns counterclockwise to face his next follower for a Dame
Initially I considered sitting out of the lesson when I realized that they would be doing Rueda with complete beginners. But then I decided that I didn’t really have anything better to do.
Despite heavy rain tonight, Sergio showed up once again to lend “support”. Whatever the reason, it was very nice to have a familiar face around and at least at one point observe his dancing and marvel at his ability to improvise and lead his partner to all sorts of unexpected movements. He had talked about going to New York next weekend to attend among other events, Jimmy Anton’s Social. Apparently in New York, these so-called socials are the place to go for dancing rather than clubs, which attract large share of people who are there for drinking, etc rather than dancing Salsa. A good resource for finding good places to dance apparently can be found in a website called salsanewyork.com and in particular its calendar. Details of events page is also useful. I had been to this website several times previously over the past year but Sergio’s comments gave me additional context to look at the contents of the website with more concrete purpose. I suppose a problem for me would be that I suspect most people there dance on-2, which I haven’t had an opportunity to start learning. In any case, I can’t go to New York for this event this year since I will be back in Cambridge by next weekend.
About halfway through the club hours, there was a performance with tonight’s Rueda instructor as one of the participant. The performers were six women, three in red and three in black but otherwise in seemingly identical dresses. The performance started off with what looked like Offbeat dancing rather than Salsa dancing followed by some rudimentary partner dancing done in unison followed by fairly simple Rueda with some stylizations. I think the big emphasis was on doing stylizations in unison by the women in red playing follower’s part.
The club part of the evening started fairly well – probably slightly better than in Clarendon Grill last night when the first hour from both were compared to each other possibly because I was feeling more relaxed tonight. It might have helped that I recognized some of the faces tonight from Clarendon Grill last night. I was hoping that dancing went better as evening went along as it did in Clarendon Grill. Unfortunately, things more or less plateaued at about the level reached by the halfway point and the start of the Offbeat-Rueda demonstration. Overall, I would guess that Clarendon Grill had many more flashier dancers. Still overall, tonight still was enjoyable with plusses including fairly large pool of decent if not outstanding dance partners throughout the evening and reasonable amount of space equivalent to Club Salsa on Wednesdays and Thursdays.
Salsa in Washington D.C. I – Clarendon Grill
November 28, 2005
Clarendon Grill in Arlington according to some has arguably the best Salsa dancing on non-special evenings in Washington D.C. area. Initially I was skeptical and underwhelmed because of the level of lessons being taught in the intermediate class, but things got better as the evening progressed and I ended up having a pretty good time.
Drop-in lessons were taught by Keith Givens (or someone who I assumed was him) of Latin Motion Company. I watched the end of the Beginners class and participated in their Intermediate class, which I estimated was roughly equivalent in difficulty to Level III classes in Cambridge. Male dancers outnumbered female dancers by at least 50% in this class. Changing of partners was done without any organization. I ended up participating about 50% of the time although I wasn’t too bothered by this because the routine taught was very easy for me. I would guess that in order to progress beyond intermediate level in DC, you would have to take class outside drop-in classes at Clubs unlike in Cambridge or in London.
1,2,3,5,6,7 basic
1,2,3,5,6,7 cross body lead with 1 1/2 counterclockwise traveling turn for follower led with L-R high
1,2,3,5,6,7 basic with a hat for the leader with L-R followed by L arm outstretched to side for leader’s styling during 1,2,3 and establish R-R connection
1,2,3,5,6,7 cross body lead with full clockwise traveling turn for follower with R-R high and stopped with L hand on follower’s L shoulder
1,2,3,5,6,7 prepare (or in place if going by the way it was taught tonight) on 1,2,3 and lead stationary 1 1/2 clockwise turn for follower with R-R high
1,2,3,5,6,7 basic while giving hat to follower using R-R on 1 and 5 and with L-L and 3 and 7
1,2,3,5,6,7 basic while giving hat to leader with R-R on 1 and get back to open hold
1,2,3,5,6,7 cross body lead with 1 1/2 counterclockwise traveling turn for follower with both hand connections intact with L-R kept low and R-R raised to end in hammerlock/setenta position – keep L-R close to follower’s back waist at the end
1,2,3,5,6,7 cross body lead with 1 1/2 clockwise traveling turn for follower – after the first 1/2 turn for follower, both leader and follower make a full turn (follower continues clockwise while leader turns counterclockwise) with both hand connections intact
Initially the routine continued on as described below but they ran out of time.
1,2,3,5,6,7 basic?
1,2,3,5,6,7 standard cross body ending with leader turning 1/2 clockwise on 7 with L-R ending behind leader’s back R waist and leader facing away from follower’s line
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break followed by leader placing his R hand on follower’s oncoming R waist to signal follower to turn back with a full counterclockwise turn – I think leader did a 1 1/4 counterclockwise turn as well to get back into open position instead of simply turning 1/4 clockwise to get back to open but I’m not completely sure about this
The dance floor was okay but not great. The main floor was small-to-medium sized and could accommodate a little over 20 couples without getting unmanageable; the main area was approximately equal to the three danceable areas of Club Salsa combined but smaller than Fisher Hall, St. Columba’s Hall, St. Paul’s, etc. Floor quality was about St. Columba’s Hall level with penalty point for chewing gum stuck to the floors. I spied some dancers bringing a personal stock of talcum powder; I don’t remember seeing this anywhere else before. Dancing spilled over to areas outside the main floor with as many as 9 or 10 couples dancing outside the main floor. My biggest complaint was that the venue was the warmest I have been to and had no AC or fans. Bringing a towel or even an extra shirt would have been a very good idea. To top it off, the weather tonight was unusually warm and I was quite comfortable walking around in my long-sleeve shirt only – with my coat serving only as excess baggage. I had expected the temperature here to be colder than in UK, but apparently Northeast USA is enjoying an unusually warm weather thus far in last month or so.
Club dancing was pretty good. Better dancers did not arrive until later in the evening. Sergio stopped by for not quite two hours. I’m guessing that some of my dance partners would have felt at home at SOS although the general atmosphere here did not quite reach such level tonight. I also estimate that some of the couples would have been considered good everywhere I have visited thus far. Conversely, I would guess that many of the dancers in Cambridge would have been considered very good here, and the finest in Cambridge would be equal to the finest at Clarendon Grill.
Clarendon Grill in Arlington according to some has arguably the best Salsa dancing on non-special evenings in Washington D.C. area. Initially I was skeptical and underwhelmed because of the level of lessons being taught in the intermediate class, but things got better as the evening progressed and I ended up having a pretty good time.
Drop-in lessons were taught by Keith Givens (or someone who I assumed was him) of Latin Motion Company. I watched the end of the Beginners class and participated in their Intermediate class, which I estimated was roughly equivalent in difficulty to Level III classes in Cambridge. Male dancers outnumbered female dancers by at least 50% in this class. Changing of partners was done without any organization. I ended up participating about 50% of the time although I wasn’t too bothered by this because the routine taught was very easy for me. I would guess that in order to progress beyond intermediate level in DC, you would have to take class outside drop-in classes at Clubs unlike in Cambridge or in London.
1,2,3,5,6,7 basic
1,2,3,5,6,7 cross body lead with 1 1/2 counterclockwise traveling turn for follower led with L-R high
1,2,3,5,6,7 basic with a hat for the leader with L-R followed by L arm outstretched to side for leader’s styling during 1,2,3 and establish R-R connection
1,2,3,5,6,7 cross body lead with full clockwise traveling turn for follower with R-R high and stopped with L hand on follower’s L shoulder
1,2,3,5,6,7 prepare (or in place if going by the way it was taught tonight) on 1,2,3 and lead stationary 1 1/2 clockwise turn for follower with R-R high
1,2,3,5,6,7 basic while giving hat to follower using R-R on 1 and 5 and with L-L and 3 and 7
1,2,3,5,6,7 basic while giving hat to leader with R-R on 1 and get back to open hold
1,2,3,5,6,7 cross body lead with 1 1/2 counterclockwise traveling turn for follower with both hand connections intact with L-R kept low and R-R raised to end in hammerlock/setenta position – keep L-R close to follower’s back waist at the end
1,2,3,5,6,7 cross body lead with 1 1/2 clockwise traveling turn for follower – after the first 1/2 turn for follower, both leader and follower make a full turn (follower continues clockwise while leader turns counterclockwise) with both hand connections intact
Initially the routine continued on as described below but they ran out of time.
1,2,3,5,6,7 basic?
1,2,3,5,6,7 standard cross body ending with leader turning 1/2 clockwise on 7 with L-R ending behind leader’s back R waist and leader facing away from follower’s line
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break followed by leader placing his R hand on follower’s oncoming R waist to signal follower to turn back with a full counterclockwise turn – I think leader did a 1 1/4 counterclockwise turn as well to get back into open position instead of simply turning 1/4 clockwise to get back to open but I’m not completely sure about this
The dance floor was okay but not great. The main floor was small-to-medium sized and could accommodate a little over 20 couples without getting unmanageable; the main area was approximately equal to the three danceable areas of Club Salsa combined but smaller than Fisher Hall, St. Columba’s Hall, St. Paul’s, etc. Floor quality was about St. Columba’s Hall level with penalty point for chewing gum stuck to the floors. I spied some dancers bringing a personal stock of talcum powder; I don’t remember seeing this anywhere else before. Dancing spilled over to areas outside the main floor with as many as 9 or 10 couples dancing outside the main floor. My biggest complaint was that the venue was the warmest I have been to and had no AC or fans. Bringing a towel or even an extra shirt would have been a very good idea. To top it off, the weather tonight was unusually warm and I was quite comfortable walking around in my long-sleeve shirt only – with my coat serving only as excess baggage. I had expected the temperature here to be colder than in UK, but apparently Northeast USA is enjoying an unusually warm weather thus far in last month or so.
Club dancing was pretty good. Better dancers did not arrive until later in the evening. Sergio stopped by for not quite two hours. I’m guessing that some of my dance partners would have felt at home at SOS although the general atmosphere here did not quite reach such level tonight. I also estimate that some of the couples would have been considered good everywhere I have visited thus far. Conversely, I would guess that many of the dancers in Cambridge would have been considered very good here, and the finest in Cambridge would be equal to the finest at Clarendon Grill.
Salsa in Portland, Oregon (USA) - night 2
June 25, 2005
I was appreciative of the fact that the staff at Fernando's Hideaway was helpful in guiding me to a better location last night; one of the staff even made some calls for me to figure out the location. I suspected that there would be smaller number of good dancers tonight compared to yesterday, and my suspicion was confirmed. The dancers were worse than Po Na Na Cambridge on typical Mondays. There was precious little Salsa from 11 PM to 1 AM, which reminded me of Club Salsa Cambridge on Saturdays. Actually, they played more salsa after 1 AM, which is opposite of the way it goes in Club Salsa Cambridge on Fridays. I'm getting very little sleep during this PDX trip.
I was appreciative of the fact that the staff at Fernando's Hideaway was helpful in guiding me to a better location last night; one of the staff even made some calls for me to figure out the location. I suspected that there would be smaller number of good dancers tonight compared to yesterday, and my suspicion was confirmed. The dancers were worse than Po Na Na Cambridge on typical Mondays. There was precious little Salsa from 11 PM to 1 AM, which reminded me of Club Salsa Cambridge on Saturdays. Actually, they played more salsa after 1 AM, which is opposite of the way it goes in Club Salsa Cambridge on Fridays. I'm getting very little sleep during this PDX trip.
Salsa in Portland, Oregon (USA) - night 1
June 24, 2005
I first went to Fernando's Hideaway based upon recommendation from SalsaPower website. Unfortunately, scene was not at all promising (plenty of absolute beginners only). I asked several members of the staff about this, and they said all the good dancers are probably at a Salsa competiton event at a place called PPAA. After some misadventures looking for this place, I got there just before the competition started. The event was organized by a Salsa couple who refer themselves as Gemini, who turns out to have the most up to date information about Salsa venues in Portland right now; unfortunately, I didn't realize this before I got to PDX. The venue PPAA was comparable in size to SOS, but the quality of the dancers was not as good as SOS. I would guess that Salsa in Portland may be equivalent or perhaps slightly better than in Cambridge although I was rather worried in the begininng; my first two partners couldn't keep to the beat and my third partner got me in the eye with her elbow, which resulted in my contact lens popping out. I ended up dancing with four of the seven finalists in the competition. [added Oct 2, 2005 - In retrospect, I wonder if I was too brazen in asking them although my impression at the time was that most of them parted with good humor intact.] The finalists were not necessarily the most fun to dance with; there was another out-of-towner follower who gave me as good a dance as the finalists and yet another follower who was not as experienced but but still very pleasant to dance with.
I first went to Fernando's Hideaway based upon recommendation from SalsaPower website. Unfortunately, scene was not at all promising (plenty of absolute beginners only). I asked several members of the staff about this, and they said all the good dancers are probably at a Salsa competiton event at a place called PPAA. After some misadventures looking for this place, I got there just before the competition started. The event was organized by a Salsa couple who refer themselves as Gemini, who turns out to have the most up to date information about Salsa venues in Portland right now; unfortunately, I didn't realize this before I got to PDX. The venue PPAA was comparable in size to SOS, but the quality of the dancers was not as good as SOS. I would guess that Salsa in Portland may be equivalent or perhaps slightly better than in Cambridge although I was rather worried in the begininng; my first two partners couldn't keep to the beat and my third partner got me in the eye with her elbow, which resulted in my contact lens popping out. I ended up dancing with four of the seven finalists in the competition. [added Oct 2, 2005 - In retrospect, I wonder if I was too brazen in asking them although my impression at the time was that most of them parted with good humor intact.] The finalists were not necessarily the most fun to dance with; there was another out-of-towner follower who gave me as good a dance as the finalists and yet another follower who was not as experienced but but still very pleasant to dance with.
Travelogue
Here I present links to blog posts regarding my Salsa travels outside the United Kingdom.
June 24, 2005 - Portland, Oregon I - Special event at PPAA
June 25, 2005 - Portland, Oregon II - Fernando's Hideaway
November 28, 2005 - Washington DC I - Clarendon Grill
November 29, 2005 - Washington DC II - Barking Dog
December 2, 2005 - Washington DC III - Divino's Lounge
December 4, 2005 - Washington DC IV - Stuck on Salsa Sunday Social
December 8, 2005 - Washington DC Summary - Finding Salsa Spots in DC
Here I present links to blog posts regarding my Salsa travels within the United Kingdom. I included some unusual London trips but not my SOS visits.
December 16, 2006 - Ealing (Greater London)
December 24, 2005 - Bar Latina (Tottenham - Greater London)
Brit Salsafest at Blackpool - February 3-5, 2006
post 1 - the arrival
post 2 - first night
post 3 - first day of workshops
post 4 - second night
post 5 - second day of workshops
post 6 - last night
post 7 - drive back
post 8 - final thoughts
June 24, 2005 - Portland, Oregon I - Special event at PPAA
June 25, 2005 - Portland, Oregon II - Fernando's Hideaway
November 28, 2005 - Washington DC I - Clarendon Grill
November 29, 2005 - Washington DC II - Barking Dog
December 2, 2005 - Washington DC III - Divino's Lounge
December 4, 2005 - Washington DC IV - Stuck on Salsa Sunday Social
December 8, 2005 - Washington DC Summary - Finding Salsa Spots in DC
Here I present links to blog posts regarding my Salsa travels within the United Kingdom. I included some unusual London trips but not my SOS visits.
December 16, 2006 - Ealing (Greater London)
December 24, 2005 - Bar Latina (Tottenham - Greater London)
Brit Salsafest at Blackpool - February 3-5, 2006
post 1 - the arrival
post 2 - first night
post 3 - first day of workshops
post 4 - second night
post 5 - second day of workshops
post 6 - last night
post 7 - drive back
post 8 - final thoughts
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