April 16, 2006
Weird night. Incoherent night. Tiring night. These are some of many descriptions I could think of when I think of my Scala outing. There were enjoyable moments too but overall it was a flat and underwhelming night for me in general.
Where to start? Perhaps with a phone call from Sergio shortly after noon, as I was driving to my workplace with Lenny Kravitz on at high volume, to let me know that he decided to come along? Or perhaps getting home to eat dinner and trying to find time to work with Frankie Martinez body movement DVD before picking up Sergio? By the way, there was not enough time to get started with Frankie. Or perhaps I should start with getting lost less than a minute after picking up Sergio? Instead of taking Chesterton Road from High Street to eventually enter M11 from exit 13, I ended up going towards Milton Road, then taking a minor road to turn around, taking a wrong turn on Milton Road and ending up on Arbury Road and finally on some parking lot (or car park as they call it here) before backtracking my way all the way back to High Street via Union Lane. After this initial farce (I probably lost about 5 minutes here), drive to Scala was flawless and I managed to find a space to park right in front of Kings Cross station less than 100 minutes after I left home for a less than 2 minutes walk to Scala.
Maybe 2 seconds after I entered Scala, I spotted two, then three, then four, then five people from Cambridge Salsa scene. Within 5 minutes, the number grew to dozen and eventually to a little over 25 people – I counted 28 people (14 men, 14 women) including me. It was as if I never left Cambridge. According to Joe Davids, this was the best ever attended Scala night on Easter (meaning probably over 1200 people) and Club Salsa regulars contributed over 2% of the total.
Scala. Big yet small. I think there were four rooms; I only managed to find three - the place was something of a maze. The first room I spotted was a Cuban alcove about the size of lower floor at Club Salsa. Three sides of this alcove were surrounded by walls, which made the space look even more constricted than it perhaps was. The fourth side led to a social area / bar / coat check, which took up more than 5 times the area of the Cuban alcove thus dwarfing the alcove. The second room I saw the Main Salsa room (Salsa Max). This room had three areas for dancing – the main floor (about the size of main floor at Clarendon Grill in Arlington/DC), the elevated stage behind the main speakers (slightly smaller than the main floor – when combined with the main floor, the dance space becomes comparable in size to the main downstairs floor at the Rocket), and the corridor behind the DJ booth. There were a lot of corridors, stairs, etc., and many places to watch the dancers were somewhat inaccessible from the dance floor thus finding a new dance partner who wasn’t already on the dance floor was a bit tricky for me. In terms of layout for easy access to dance floor, this room was the worst I have ever seen for a Salsa venue. My initial reaction was something like “They are going to have 1000+ Salsa dancers in this place? This is not going to be fun. I wouldn’t want more than 300-400 people at most.” Cambridge Guildhall main hall has more space than all of Salsa Max room danceable area combined. The third room for Lambada looked pretty nice at a quick glance – pretty spacious with dance floor being accessible to dancers.
Music was generally good and sometimes adventurous. I particularly enjoyed the fact that several songs I either played at Club Salsa or was planning on playing at Club Salsa in some future based solely on my opinion were played tonight by professional DJs. It was also nice to see that some songs I would have considered essentially unplayable at Club Salsa were played tonight as well – it might give me more courage to push boundaries even further if chance presents itself.
There were three showcases. I progressively stood or sat closer to the stage for each successive shows. I think I enjoyed the Lee & Shelley one the most – even though I think I saw this routine three times now.
On Londonsalsa.co.uk forum, one person wrote that there would be over 1000 black belt Salsa dancers at Scala tonight. I don’t know what her opinion of black belt Salsa dancer would be. If I were to place least experienced dancers from Cambridge tonight as the lowest cut-off point for black belt, I would have to say that the number would be well below 1000; I thought a very large number of people were watching other people dance 90+% of the time. My guess is that the median Salsa dancer tonight from Cambridge would place in top quartile of people who were at Scala, and everyone would have been considered average (approximately 50% percentile) at worst. I think one third to half of my dances tonight were with Cambridge people; I would never have predicted it.
Back to space. There wasn’t very much. Vast majority of Cambridge people were dancing on the elevated stage area behind the speakers, which for a short time had more space compared to the main floor. At times, dances were more of a traffic management than anything else. Sergio mentioned observing tempers flaring over with some people using their partners as a battering ram on people who were intruding on their space, etc. I felt like I had to be quite restrained and dance compactly – some of my partners seemed perfectly okay about this while others were probably bored. It seemed like whenever I tried to stretch things and venture beyond a comfort zone, some disaster struck. I never got around to dancing with full energy – which may or may not be a good thing.
I only recognized couple of dozen regulars from SOS, and relatively few random people I asked for a dance were very good. On the whole, about half of 10 or so dances I enjoyed and had absolutely no complaints about were with strangers. Many of the better dancers were better largely because of some underlying context (e.g. better than usual dances with familiar dance partners, dancing with people I haven’t seen in a while – both in Cambridge and in London). None of the dances when taking dancing alone as sole criteria reached spellbinding level though, and I felt pretty flat most of the time.
Unique. I find this adjective somewhat troubling whenever my dance partner to describe my dance style. I must have heard this about three times in last 5 months or so and my best explanation is that my partner simply does not have much experience. It would make sense if this word is used in a pejorative manner, but the tone used has seemed complimentary. Still, it had a negative effect on me tonight – probably because I was already feeling fairly negative. I think I was able to get myself up for one more dance after this comment. I suppose I’m not good at reading people – for example, there are people who I think may not like me very much for some unknown reason but I am very unsure about this assessment. I feel very awkward interacting with them and I would micro-analyze every small gestures and generally be oversensitive – not fun especially since I don’t have a nice gentle subtle ways in me to correct any problems. When translated into dancing, there are people who I can dance with more or less competently but I have poor idea of what she wants from the dance as well as what I want out of the dance. Awkward.
Highlight of the evening. I ran into someone I was hoping to run into tonight – it took long enough – it was 3:20 AM by the time I spotted her – I’ll call her Diane (not her real name); she apparently arrived around 1 AM. It took a long look as well as a returning look of recognition from her as I approached her because she had changed her appearance quite a bit. It’s gratifying to know that she likes dancing with me – supposedly because I enjoy and have fun dancing and have a lot of energy (somewhat surprising because I was feeling very tired by the time I had my dances with her and my shines were sloppy as hell - by the way, a big part of our first dance was an inside joke). I guess I just need to work on everything else. It’s interesting to note that two other people who made a comment like this to me in the past are Serap and Sally. I was already planning on working based upon more dance advice from Sergio, but this provides even more impetus.
Sergio thinks I should work harder on my basics, and I agree with him. My understanding is that he’s looking at my feet mostly. When I started out, my feet were my strong points and my hands were rubbish. Now, it’s the other way around and my feet feel heavy. I don’t know how easy it will be – hopefully the cure will take many weeks of training to take a dramatic effect as opposed to many months or even years. It’s nice to know that people think I’m worth working with – whatever it is that they see.
Drive back was odd – I’m so not used to driving out of London when it’s not dark. Even though I was never lost, I felt lost two or three times and had difficulty figuring out if I was indeed on the correct road. Also driving long distance at 4:30 AM to 6 AM in any condition is not something I am used to. Aside from basics of dancing (and idea of some tutoring), main topic of conversation was music.
I was hoping that Scala would help to gauge my progress over last couple of months but this did not work as well as I hoped. I’m not sure if I am any better and more fun to dance with for other people. I think I have more opinions about abilities of my partners – generally more critical although I no longer know if my judgment is any better; I have changed my opinion so often about my various dance partners in the past so that I no longer know if someone I like dancing with now would be someone I would still enjoy dancing with as much in two or three months time. In case it means anything, as I get more critical of others, I am getting even more critical of myself; I am guessing and hoping that I am dancing better than I was 2, 4 or 6 months ago in an absolute sense, but it usually doesn’t “feel” that way except on occasional superb nights.
I’m feeling pretty nervous about Tuesday night. I meant to speak to Cambridge people about it once again while I was at Scala. I ended up talking about it only with one person and that was because this person decided to drop out with a perfectly understandable reason. A funny or odd thing is that while I became worried, I felt even friendlier and freer with this person when given this news. Whether it turns out a success or disaster, I wonder if I have any more energy left to organize any more events like this.
I also wonder if it’s safer now to start referring to some less public people by name – provided that they are okay with it. This blog sometimes has too much self-analysis, which is time-consuming and is by default self-absorbed. I would imagine many people wouldn’t mind as long as nothing bad is written about them.
Playing to Cuban crowd
April 14, 2006
I wasn’t expecting to be back as DJ so soon until Vishal invited me back Thursday night. The DJ situation seems a little fluid at the moment, and there was talk of yet another newcomer DJing (although this did not materialize tonight).
Playlist – order is approximate and is less certain in the middle
Frankie Ruiz – La Rueda (1)
N’Klabe – Quizas (2)
Africando – Mandali
La 33 – Soledad
Sonora Carruseles – Ave Maria Lola
Alex Leon – Acabo De Llegar (3)
Oscar D’Leon – Mi Mujer Es Una Bomba (4)
Willie Colon – Idillo
Tabaco Y Ron – Tumbando Cabeza (5)
Tito Puente – El #100 (6)
Grupo Niche – Culebra
Ray Barretto – Quitate La Mascara
Luisito Rosario – 1-800-Quiereme
Eddie Palmieri – Ritmo Caliente II
La 33 – La 33
Lebron Brothers – Bongo Loco (7)
Oscar D’Leon – Mi Gente (8)
N’Klabe – I Love Salsa
Dominic Marte – Ven Tu (9)
La 33 – Que Rico Boogaloo (10)
Frankie Ruiz - Mirandote
Tito Puente – Ran Kan Kan – live version (11)
some random request from Buena Vista Social Club CD (12)
Vishal’s Merengue track #1 (13)
Vishal’s Merengue track #3
Tito Puente – Picadillo (14)
La 33 – La Pantera Mambo
Orchestra Harlow – El Jardinero Del Amor (15)
Tabaco Y Ron – Lloraras – live version (16)
Jimmy Bosch – Otra Oportunidad
Grupo Niche – Un Alto En El Camino (17)
Toque D’ Keda – Lamento Boliviano
(1) I thought the plan was that Enrique would have the first set, but he wasn’t there tonight so my plan had to be reconfigured. A song from Johnny’s CD collection was used as the first song of the evening.
(2) Vast majority of people were beginners. Playing slower tracks seemed like a good idea. I kept this up for next few songs. Vishal stopped by 2 songs later to make a comment on this – it’s a good idea.
(3) Speeding things up just slightly.
(4) A defect was found on this track and was terminated early.
(5) This was the first song I might have played in my original plan. Every song up to this point was not part of my original plan.
(6) A Tito Puente song that people won’t accuse of being Mambo or Latin Jazz.
(7) Quite possibly the first time Lebron Brothers was played at Club Salsa.
(8) Mexican Party Music? I had meant to play this couple of times before. Finally it makes its debut.
(9) After 18 Salsa songs in row (19 if Johnny’s track is included), a Bachata track gets played at 11:20 PM or about 1 2/3 hours after the start of the Club hours. Normally with a crowd like tonight, I would guess that up to 5 Merengue songs would have been played by now as recently as 2 months ago.
(10) Bachata track is followed by a rare opportunity to dance Cha Cha Cha – although I’m not completely convinced that this is a Cha Cha Cha song.
(11) By the way, next Thursday is Tito Puente’s Birthday.
(12) I lose control of song selections briefly to play someone’s request…
(13) …followed by couple of Merengue songs at Vishal’s request (people wanted Merengue by the reaction).
(14) Taking a hard right turn to reassert my control. I considered playing Palmieri/Tjader version, which is 7 minutes long. I looked at the crowd and opted instead for the 3 minute version.
(15) Vishal asks when he should take over. I tell him in about 20 minutes; I’ll finish with a Bachata track.
(16) I fooled some people with this new version.
(17) Playing with mood swings. I think this stretch worked quite well.
I was done around 12:20 AM. I think Vishal played maybe 12-16 more Salsa songs for the rest of the evening. I danced with 5 people altogether – only two were comfortable with CBL style of Salsa. If I were to do another long set, I should forego paying an entrance fee – I would have done it tonight except I wasn’t completely sure about playing even a short set, let alone a set lasting around 2 2/3 hours.
Few more people were rounded up for Tuesday’s Tony & Daniela workshop and party. I’m cautiously optimistic that it will be at least equal to last couple of times if not better, and I’m less worried about uneven number of sexes after having made concerted effort to talk to men of Cambridge. Many of crème de la crème of Cambridge area should be present. I meant to invite more people during the early part of the club hours, but DJing duty interfered with it – I will have to do this with e-mail with some people later. By the way, Vishal won’t be present at Club Salsa on Tuesday for the Tony & Daniela workshop. I’m sure it won’t turn out like a house party while parents are away – but it was fun making such a joke to Vishal. In any case, I will be a little shorthanded so please be nice and try not to take advantage of the situation. Because I told a few people not to worry about advanced booking, I might as well do the same with everyone – whatever one does, some people will show up unannounced anyway. For those planning on showing up for the club only, it costs only 2 pounds with the flier (or print this announcement). Doors will be open at 7 PM.
The night ended with some drunk guy taking off his shirt and waving it around followed by an unusual fracas. For some reason, this guy seemed to think that taking off his shirt and showing his bare chest is a regular part of Salsa dancing. Hmm. Who should we blame? The Egyptologist?
I wasn’t expecting to be back as DJ so soon until Vishal invited me back Thursday night. The DJ situation seems a little fluid at the moment, and there was talk of yet another newcomer DJing (although this did not materialize tonight).
Playlist – order is approximate and is less certain in the middle
Frankie Ruiz – La Rueda (1)
N’Klabe – Quizas (2)
Africando – Mandali
La 33 – Soledad
Sonora Carruseles – Ave Maria Lola
Alex Leon – Acabo De Llegar (3)
Oscar D’Leon – Mi Mujer Es Una Bomba (4)
Willie Colon – Idillo
Tabaco Y Ron – Tumbando Cabeza (5)
Tito Puente – El #100 (6)
Grupo Niche – Culebra
Ray Barretto – Quitate La Mascara
Luisito Rosario – 1-800-Quiereme
Eddie Palmieri – Ritmo Caliente II
La 33 – La 33
Lebron Brothers – Bongo Loco (7)
Oscar D’Leon – Mi Gente (8)
N’Klabe – I Love Salsa
Dominic Marte – Ven Tu (9)
La 33 – Que Rico Boogaloo (10)
Frankie Ruiz - Mirandote
Tito Puente – Ran Kan Kan – live version (11)
some random request from Buena Vista Social Club CD (12)
Vishal’s Merengue track #1 (13)
Vishal’s Merengue track #3
Tito Puente – Picadillo (14)
La 33 – La Pantera Mambo
Orchestra Harlow – El Jardinero Del Amor (15)
Tabaco Y Ron – Lloraras – live version (16)
Jimmy Bosch – Otra Oportunidad
Grupo Niche – Un Alto En El Camino (17)
Toque D’ Keda – Lamento Boliviano
(1) I thought the plan was that Enrique would have the first set, but he wasn’t there tonight so my plan had to be reconfigured. A song from Johnny’s CD collection was used as the first song of the evening.
(2) Vast majority of people were beginners. Playing slower tracks seemed like a good idea. I kept this up for next few songs. Vishal stopped by 2 songs later to make a comment on this – it’s a good idea.
(3) Speeding things up just slightly.
(4) A defect was found on this track and was terminated early.
(5) This was the first song I might have played in my original plan. Every song up to this point was not part of my original plan.
(6) A Tito Puente song that people won’t accuse of being Mambo or Latin Jazz.
(7) Quite possibly the first time Lebron Brothers was played at Club Salsa.
(8) Mexican Party Music? I had meant to play this couple of times before. Finally it makes its debut.
(9) After 18 Salsa songs in row (19 if Johnny’s track is included), a Bachata track gets played at 11:20 PM or about 1 2/3 hours after the start of the Club hours. Normally with a crowd like tonight, I would guess that up to 5 Merengue songs would have been played by now as recently as 2 months ago.
(10) Bachata track is followed by a rare opportunity to dance Cha Cha Cha – although I’m not completely convinced that this is a Cha Cha Cha song.
(11) By the way, next Thursday is Tito Puente’s Birthday.
(12) I lose control of song selections briefly to play someone’s request…
(13) …followed by couple of Merengue songs at Vishal’s request (people wanted Merengue by the reaction).
(14) Taking a hard right turn to reassert my control. I considered playing Palmieri/Tjader version, which is 7 minutes long. I looked at the crowd and opted instead for the 3 minute version.
(15) Vishal asks when he should take over. I tell him in about 20 minutes; I’ll finish with a Bachata track.
(16) I fooled some people with this new version.
(17) Playing with mood swings. I think this stretch worked quite well.
I was done around 12:20 AM. I think Vishal played maybe 12-16 more Salsa songs for the rest of the evening. I danced with 5 people altogether – only two were comfortable with CBL style of Salsa. If I were to do another long set, I should forego paying an entrance fee – I would have done it tonight except I wasn’t completely sure about playing even a short set, let alone a set lasting around 2 2/3 hours.
Few more people were rounded up for Tuesday’s Tony & Daniela workshop and party. I’m cautiously optimistic that it will be at least equal to last couple of times if not better, and I’m less worried about uneven number of sexes after having made concerted effort to talk to men of Cambridge. Many of crème de la crème of Cambridge area should be present. I meant to invite more people during the early part of the club hours, but DJing duty interfered with it – I will have to do this with e-mail with some people later. By the way, Vishal won’t be present at Club Salsa on Tuesday for the Tony & Daniela workshop. I’m sure it won’t turn out like a house party while parents are away – but it was fun making such a joke to Vishal. In any case, I will be a little shorthanded so please be nice and try not to take advantage of the situation. Because I told a few people not to worry about advanced booking, I might as well do the same with everyone – whatever one does, some people will show up unannounced anyway. For those planning on showing up for the club only, it costs only 2 pounds with the flier (or print this announcement). Doors will be open at 7 PM.
The night ended with some drunk guy taking off his shirt and waving it around followed by an unusual fracas. For some reason, this guy seemed to think that taking off his shirt and showing his bare chest is a regular part of Salsa dancing. Hmm. Who should we blame? The Egyptologist?
Where did that come from?
April 13, 2006
Intermediate - Sally with Chris - Pure Salsa
1,2,3,5,6,7 Mambo basic
1,2,3,5,6,7 CBL end extended (follower does shoulder wiggle)
1,2,3,5,6,7 follower is brought closer on 2,3 and lead double turn for follower with R-L with R-L coming down after the first turn (pulling the zipper) to get R-L behind follower’s back R waist
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break and bring follower along on the right side with L hand offered behind leader’s backside to connect L-R and lead follower into 1 1/2 clockwise turn ending with tight closed hold
1,2,3,5,6,7 keep follower on the spot on 1 (as opposed to stepping back) and rotate as a unit counterclockwise for rotating CBL ending with cross pass (essentially hook turn for leader to face follower) and change to R-R
1,2,3,5,6,7 R-R Copa stopping follower’s motion aided with R forearm on follower’s back – connect L-L in front of follower’s L shoulder and lead follower forward on 5 and 1 1/2 counterclockwise turn led with L-L
1,2,3,5,6,7 L-L hat for leader and CBL with R-L led (at waist level on 6) free 1 1/2 counterclockwise traveling turn for follower
end with a shine for leader followed by a shine for follower
Chris now has a talking part in classes (same as last week). If you're giving instructions in class as part of the lesson…
leader’s shine
1,2,3 start with Mambo basic and turn 1/4 counterclockwise for 2,3,
5,6,7 Suzy Q (second half)
8 L foot cross over in front of R foot on heel
1,2,3,4 shuffle alternative feet in small movements R, L, R, L
5,6,7 big wide steps with swerve R, L, R – follow with Mambo basic back facing the follower
You never know how an evening will turn out. I did not feel a particularly good vibe going in. I coasted through the lessons. I wasn't feeling down or anything but I was particularly inspired either. So when I sat down and decided to chill for the second hour of lessons, I had no high expectations about dancing tonight.
I found myself chatting with a small group of people including Vishal during the second hour of lessons. Topics included music, DJing, business, vacations, practice (or lack of) - pretty innocuous stuff dealing with various aspects of Salsa and other matters. We met some newcomers from abroad. I did a little of practice of today's routine and related material from Monday classes for a short time - maybe 5 min at most.
Dancing started eventually. I sat out during the first song then started dancing without taking very few breaks. In no time, I had strung together half dozen pretty good dances and found myself in a reasonably good form. This was followed by more than dozen dances with increasing intensity. I found myself leading a move that surprised me more than a few times - some people follow so well that it's almost feels like they know what I am going to lead before I know what's going to happen. Chris for one thought I was in a very good form tonight, and I did dance well with pretty much everyone. I suspect I led some dances that were at considerably higher level than some people are used to and do this without it becoming absolutely overwhelming - exhausting but not overwhelming. Who knows how it (positive feedback loop resulting in having better and better dances as night progresses) happens, but one might as well enjoy it when it happens. I was complaining about lack of workout from dancing lately. I wouldn't say I exhausted myself (not even close) tonight but it was a pretty good workout.
Intermediate - Sally with Chris - Pure Salsa
1,2,3,5,6,7 Mambo basic
1,2,3,5,6,7 CBL end extended (follower does shoulder wiggle)
1,2,3,5,6,7 follower is brought closer on 2,3 and lead double turn for follower with R-L with R-L coming down after the first turn (pulling the zipper) to get R-L behind follower’s back R waist
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break and bring follower along on the right side with L hand offered behind leader’s backside to connect L-R and lead follower into 1 1/2 clockwise turn ending with tight closed hold
1,2,3,5,6,7 keep follower on the spot on 1 (as opposed to stepping back) and rotate as a unit counterclockwise for rotating CBL ending with cross pass (essentially hook turn for leader to face follower) and change to R-R
1,2,3,5,6,7 R-R Copa stopping follower’s motion aided with R forearm on follower’s back – connect L-L in front of follower’s L shoulder and lead follower forward on 5 and 1 1/2 counterclockwise turn led with L-L
1,2,3,5,6,7 L-L hat for leader and CBL with R-L led (at waist level on 6) free 1 1/2 counterclockwise traveling turn for follower
end with a shine for leader followed by a shine for follower
Chris now has a talking part in classes (same as last week). If you're giving instructions in class as part of the lesson…
leader’s shine
1,2,3 start with Mambo basic and turn 1/4 counterclockwise for 2,3,
5,6,7 Suzy Q (second half)
8 L foot cross over in front of R foot on heel
1,2,3,4 shuffle alternative feet in small movements R, L, R, L
5,6,7 big wide steps with swerve R, L, R – follow with Mambo basic back facing the follower
You never know how an evening will turn out. I did not feel a particularly good vibe going in. I coasted through the lessons. I wasn't feeling down or anything but I was particularly inspired either. So when I sat down and decided to chill for the second hour of lessons, I had no high expectations about dancing tonight.
I found myself chatting with a small group of people including Vishal during the second hour of lessons. Topics included music, DJing, business, vacations, practice (or lack of) - pretty innocuous stuff dealing with various aspects of Salsa and other matters. We met some newcomers from abroad. I did a little of practice of today's routine and related material from Monday classes for a short time - maybe 5 min at most.
Dancing started eventually. I sat out during the first song then started dancing without taking very few breaks. In no time, I had strung together half dozen pretty good dances and found myself in a reasonably good form. This was followed by more than dozen dances with increasing intensity. I found myself leading a move that surprised me more than a few times - some people follow so well that it's almost feels like they know what I am going to lead before I know what's going to happen. Chris for one thought I was in a very good form tonight, and I did dance well with pretty much everyone. I suspect I led some dances that were at considerably higher level than some people are used to and do this without it becoming absolutely overwhelming - exhausting but not overwhelming. Who knows how it (positive feedback loop resulting in having better and better dances as night progresses) happens, but one might as well enjoy it when it happens. I was complaining about lack of workout from dancing lately. I wouldn't say I exhausted myself (not even close) tonight but it was a pretty good workout.
Temporary lifting of the Salsa music ban
April 12, 2006 (and part of April 13, 2006)
I was hooked up to my iPod when a colleague said something to me. I turned off my music and took off my earphones to hear the comment again.
"I'm going to put on some Salsa music."
"Oh. Okay."
I put my iPod back on and continued listening to Goldberg Variations. After all, my ban is still in effect.
Few hours later, I am at Club Salsa. Cristian’s classes are still as popular as ever. It takes another 10-15 min before the classes end. The club stays quite crowded for a while once again. It's a mix of dance and chitchat night for me.
I think it has been a long time since I felt that I was exhausted from dancing and that I had enough. There have been many fun nights at Club Salsa this year, but I don’t think I ever ended a night in Cambridge feeling that I couldn’t have handled another dozen dances or even more. I danced myself to exhaustion at the Brit Salsafest, and I had thoroughly satisfied myself with quality and quantity of dancing at SOS on a few occasions (but not this year). However, I almost always leave most nights wanting more. Perhaps Scala Latina this weekend will do the job (although a red flag was raised prompted by a comment made to me about Scala being too crowded).
At one point, Cristian made an announcement saying that Club Salsa will be open this Friday and Saturday. My reaction was, "Okay. Is this news?"
Only at lunch next day at the cafeteria did the reason for the announcement became clear. I noticed that they were serving fish and chips, which is usually a Friday fare. I asked the server about this anomaly (this being Thursday) and the answer was that they will be closed for Good Friday. Oh. A lot of things make sense all of sudden, including someone else's comment about taking only 4 days off while going away for 10 days.
Back at my desk, another colleague exclaims, "I'm bored."
A second colleague turns to me and says, "Hey, maybe you should put some Salsa music on."
Oh well. There goes my ban. First album on is Ray Barretto's "Latino." Next up. Cal Tjader's "Soul Sauce."
I was hooked up to my iPod when a colleague said something to me. I turned off my music and took off my earphones to hear the comment again.
"I'm going to put on some Salsa music."
"Oh. Okay."
I put my iPod back on and continued listening to Goldberg Variations. After all, my ban is still in effect.
Few hours later, I am at Club Salsa. Cristian’s classes are still as popular as ever. It takes another 10-15 min before the classes end. The club stays quite crowded for a while once again. It's a mix of dance and chitchat night for me.
I think it has been a long time since I felt that I was exhausted from dancing and that I had enough. There have been many fun nights at Club Salsa this year, but I don’t think I ever ended a night in Cambridge feeling that I couldn’t have handled another dozen dances or even more. I danced myself to exhaustion at the Brit Salsafest, and I had thoroughly satisfied myself with quality and quantity of dancing at SOS on a few occasions (but not this year). However, I almost always leave most nights wanting more. Perhaps Scala Latina this weekend will do the job (although a red flag was raised prompted by a comment made to me about Scala being too crowded).
At one point, Cristian made an announcement saying that Club Salsa will be open this Friday and Saturday. My reaction was, "Okay. Is this news?"
Only at lunch next day at the cafeteria did the reason for the announcement became clear. I noticed that they were serving fish and chips, which is usually a Friday fare. I asked the server about this anomaly (this being Thursday) and the answer was that they will be closed for Good Friday. Oh. A lot of things make sense all of sudden, including someone else's comment about taking only 4 days off while going away for 10 days.
Back at my desk, another colleague exclaims, "I'm bored."
A second colleague turns to me and says, "Hey, maybe you should put some Salsa music on."
Oh well. There goes my ban. First album on is Ray Barretto's "Latino." Next up. Cal Tjader's "Soul Sauce."
Improvers feels like Intermediate and Intermediate feels impossible
April 10, 2006
Intermediate - Joe Davids of Latin Collective
1,2,3,5,6,7 basic Mambo
1,2,3,5,6,7 CBL cross pass ending facing follower (follower is in front and to right)
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break and get around behind follower and into CBL position – this would have been fairly difficult except I already use a similar routine regularly in my social dancing – R hand on follower’s stomach/belly on 2, both hands on follower’s waists on 3 as leader gets behind follower, R hand on follower’s back somewhere between 5 and 7, L hand is offered in front by 7 for L-R connection (follower is facing the same direction the whole time without turning and ideally should be doing haircomb with her L hand at the end to get back to closed hold)
1,2,3,5,6,7,1,2,3 the aim here is lead follower to do something that might be called cross-walk. Using L-R (possibly with help of R on her back), lead follower to step crossed back on 1 and cross in front on 3 (thus lead is back on 1 and forward on 3), then follower to do cross-cross-cross (thus lead is push-pull-push … or maybe lead follower toward her right-left-right), then another cross-cross-cross (lead here is pull-push-pull) – there is a bit about R foot in front, which might help to block her path forward but depending on the follower’s movement, leader might have to inch forward to accommodate her movement … this will need some practice
5,6,7 get that R foot out of follower’s path and lead follower into traveling counterclockwise 1 1/2 turn while leader also does counterclockwise turn to get back to facing the follower – I am so bad with these simultaneous turn and I tend to wait until follower is pretty much done turning … because most followers are pretty slow with their turns and will often do something to cause me to lose my balance if I try to turn at the same time. This means I end up giving myself very little time and thus leaving me no time to recover for next part
1,2,3,5,6,7 bring L-R down and offer R to reconnect R-L at follower’s shoulder level – open break (?) and bring follower forward on 2,3 – keep R-L essentially on follower’s shoulder as follower is led into 1/2 clockwise traveling turn – I think L-R is briefly raised during follower’s turn
1,2,3,5,6,7 hmmm. I’m really unsure about this part. I think it might be leader’s pivot turn to get into CBL position followed by something - this wasn't the most difficult part but least practiced
Not exactly impossible but very challenging even at slow speed.
Improvers
1,2,3,5,6,7 basic Mambo
1,2,3,5,6,7 high cross pass – step in place on 1 maybe and step to side on 2,3 – L-R is positioned so that leader’s L arm is pointing up near leader’s body with the L hand and fingers pointing away from leader’s body to make a gate for the follower – lead follower through the gate using R hand on follower’s back to lead her forward on 5 (normal CBL steps for follower), while a modified hook turn is used by the leader to get back facing the follower
1,2,3,5,6,7 connect R-L – basic on 1,2,3 with hands coming down – lead follower into broken left turn – lead is to left on 5 and slowly raising both hands and positioned to follower’s right side by 7 – follower’s turn is completed during 1,2,3 [note: timing for broken left for follower is 5,6,7,1,2,3 rather than leader’s timing of 1,2,3,5,6,7.]
option 1
1,2,3,5,6,7 as follower completes her broken left turn, leader does a full pivot clockwise turn (L-R is lowered to shoulder level around 2 as follower’s turn is completed while R-L is still dancing up and down for clearance – R-L hat is possible although I would need a lot more practice for this maneuver – if this hat works, CBL can be done. Otherwise, get the R-L hat done at a later time for a more leisurely CBL on next 1,2,3,5,6,7
option 2
1,2,3,5,6,7 as follower completes her broken left turn, leader does a 1/2 pivot clockwise turn and split connections and bring them down to leader’s waist level (R-L on L side and L-R on R side) followed by 1/2 counterclockwise turn on 5,6,7 while maintaining R-L connection and briefly disconnecting L-R before reconnecting
1,2,3,5,6,7 start of Copa – let go R-L and step forward on 5 with raised R hand clearing follower and do a 1 1/2 counterclockwise turn with L-R also let go after the first 1/2 turn
1,2,3,5,6,7 get back into CBL position and into closed hold position and end with simple CBL
Last week’s improvers class wasn’t a stroll on the beach either. This was the biggest Monday class to date. There won’t be a Monday class next week – presumably because of Scala Latina.
Sergio’s broken left is still difficult but no longer feels impossible. A key fact, which I did not understand fully last week, is that the swivel turn is initiated immediately after 3 rather than on 4. This is how it goes with emphasis on staying in balance throughout.
modified broken left as described by Sergio
1 L foot forward
2 R foot in place
3 L foot back (straight back so that it is slightly to L of and behind R foot) – start swivel turn right away – keep head looking forward until the last moment and presumably until swivel turn is essentially over – immediately start turning counterclockwise on L foot as head is turned around and is sneaking to look forward again – all this is happening from beat 3 (or 3.5 or whatever) and goes through 4 and just before 5
5 head is looking forward again – R foot is on toes (or on balls of the foot) slightly to R and behind L foot – all or most of weight is on L foot
7 L foot forward (so that positioning would be back to the original position on 1)
traditional broken left (to help compare and contrast with the modified version above)
1 L foot forward
2 R foot in place
3 L foot back (pointing backwards or 6 o'clock so the body is turned 1/4 counterclockwise already and one could be facing backwards so that head is turned 1/2 counterclockwise)
5 R foot step slightly in front of L foot (pointing to ~ 3 o'clock)
6 step on L foot but now pointing to 12 o'clock
7 R foot together with L foot to get back to original position
So the modified version entails a faster turnaround and more time spent facing the follower. This could make leading of broken left different - leader would have to be ready for a slow turn of traditional and faster turn. I wasn't sure how the followers in the improvers class were dealing with broken left tonight but many were done with their turn before 1 - almost certainly because they were anticipating the lead and started turning before 7 (they might have started turning on 6).
I am now committed to attending the Scala Latina on Sunday, but transportation method is now completely up in the air as the plan for a coach has fell through. Driving is always an option, but perhaps I also should consider joining another group on the train too. Scala Latina might give me a nice assessment of how my dancing is coming along. Most followers in Cambridge are either too familiar with my moves and/or are too inexperienced so the quality of my leads is a bit tricky to assess. Also there haven’t been very many opportunities to try dancing at my maximum capacity without feeling tentative for extended amount of time recently.
Core Beat
step on 1, 3, 5, 7
Pachanga
starting with feet apart, slide in and out on 1, 3, 5, 7
Double Right
pivot turn on 1,2,3 and hook turn on 5,6,7
Double Left
1 forward
2 in place
3 turn 1/2 counterclockwise as step back (toes pointing back)
4,5,6,7,8 1 1/2 counterclockwise turn on L foot on the spot
Intermediate - Joe Davids of Latin Collective
1,2,3,5,6,7 basic Mambo
1,2,3,5,6,7 CBL cross pass ending facing follower (follower is in front and to right)
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break and get around behind follower and into CBL position – this would have been fairly difficult except I already use a similar routine regularly in my social dancing – R hand on follower’s stomach/belly on 2, both hands on follower’s waists on 3 as leader gets behind follower, R hand on follower’s back somewhere between 5 and 7, L hand is offered in front by 7 for L-R connection (follower is facing the same direction the whole time without turning and ideally should be doing haircomb with her L hand at the end to get back to closed hold)
1,2,3,5,6,7,1,2,3 the aim here is lead follower to do something that might be called cross-walk. Using L-R (possibly with help of R on her back), lead follower to step crossed back on 1 and cross in front on 3 (thus lead is back on 1 and forward on 3), then follower to do cross-cross-cross (thus lead is push-pull-push … or maybe lead follower toward her right-left-right), then another cross-cross-cross (lead here is pull-push-pull) – there is a bit about R foot in front, which might help to block her path forward but depending on the follower’s movement, leader might have to inch forward to accommodate her movement … this will need some practice
5,6,7 get that R foot out of follower’s path and lead follower into traveling counterclockwise 1 1/2 turn while leader also does counterclockwise turn to get back to facing the follower – I am so bad with these simultaneous turn and I tend to wait until follower is pretty much done turning … because most followers are pretty slow with their turns and will often do something to cause me to lose my balance if I try to turn at the same time. This means I end up giving myself very little time and thus leaving me no time to recover for next part
1,2,3,5,6,7 bring L-R down and offer R to reconnect R-L at follower’s shoulder level – open break (?) and bring follower forward on 2,3 – keep R-L essentially on follower’s shoulder as follower is led into 1/2 clockwise traveling turn – I think L-R is briefly raised during follower’s turn
1,2,3,5,6,7 hmmm. I’m really unsure about this part. I think it might be leader’s pivot turn to get into CBL position followed by something - this wasn't the most difficult part but least practiced
Not exactly impossible but very challenging even at slow speed.
Improvers
1,2,3,5,6,7 basic Mambo
1,2,3,5,6,7 high cross pass – step in place on 1 maybe and step to side on 2,3 – L-R is positioned so that leader’s L arm is pointing up near leader’s body with the L hand and fingers pointing away from leader’s body to make a gate for the follower – lead follower through the gate using R hand on follower’s back to lead her forward on 5 (normal CBL steps for follower), while a modified hook turn is used by the leader to get back facing the follower
1,2,3,5,6,7 connect R-L – basic on 1,2,3 with hands coming down – lead follower into broken left turn – lead is to left on 5 and slowly raising both hands and positioned to follower’s right side by 7 – follower’s turn is completed during 1,2,3 [note: timing for broken left for follower is 5,6,7,1,2,3 rather than leader’s timing of 1,2,3,5,6,7.]
option 1
1,2,3,5,6,7 as follower completes her broken left turn, leader does a full pivot clockwise turn (L-R is lowered to shoulder level around 2 as follower’s turn is completed while R-L is still dancing up and down for clearance – R-L hat is possible although I would need a lot more practice for this maneuver – if this hat works, CBL can be done. Otherwise, get the R-L hat done at a later time for a more leisurely CBL on next 1,2,3,5,6,7
option 2
1,2,3,5,6,7 as follower completes her broken left turn, leader does a 1/2 pivot clockwise turn and split connections and bring them down to leader’s waist level (R-L on L side and L-R on R side) followed by 1/2 counterclockwise turn on 5,6,7 while maintaining R-L connection and briefly disconnecting L-R before reconnecting
1,2,3,5,6,7 start of Copa – let go R-L and step forward on 5 with raised R hand clearing follower and do a 1 1/2 counterclockwise turn with L-R also let go after the first 1/2 turn
1,2,3,5,6,7 get back into CBL position and into closed hold position and end with simple CBL
Last week’s improvers class wasn’t a stroll on the beach either. This was the biggest Monday class to date. There won’t be a Monday class next week – presumably because of Scala Latina.
Sergio’s broken left is still difficult but no longer feels impossible. A key fact, which I did not understand fully last week, is that the swivel turn is initiated immediately after 3 rather than on 4. This is how it goes with emphasis on staying in balance throughout.
modified broken left as described by Sergio
1 L foot forward
2 R foot in place
3 L foot back (straight back so that it is slightly to L of and behind R foot) – start swivel turn right away – keep head looking forward until the last moment and presumably until swivel turn is essentially over – immediately start turning counterclockwise on L foot as head is turned around and is sneaking to look forward again – all this is happening from beat 3 (or 3.5 or whatever) and goes through 4 and just before 5
5 head is looking forward again – R foot is on toes (or on balls of the foot) slightly to R and behind L foot – all or most of weight is on L foot
7 L foot forward (so that positioning would be back to the original position on 1)
traditional broken left (to help compare and contrast with the modified version above)
1 L foot forward
2 R foot in place
3 L foot back (pointing backwards or 6 o'clock so the body is turned 1/4 counterclockwise already and one could be facing backwards so that head is turned 1/2 counterclockwise)
5 R foot step slightly in front of L foot (pointing to ~ 3 o'clock)
6 step on L foot but now pointing to 12 o'clock
7 R foot together with L foot to get back to original position
So the modified version entails a faster turnaround and more time spent facing the follower. This could make leading of broken left different - leader would have to be ready for a slow turn of traditional and faster turn. I wasn't sure how the followers in the improvers class were dealing with broken left tonight but many were done with their turn before 1 - almost certainly because they were anticipating the lead and started turning before 7 (they might have started turning on 6).
I am now committed to attending the Scala Latina on Sunday, but transportation method is now completely up in the air as the plan for a coach has fell through. Driving is always an option, but perhaps I also should consider joining another group on the train too. Scala Latina might give me a nice assessment of how my dancing is coming along. Most followers in Cambridge are either too familiar with my moves and/or are too inexperienced so the quality of my leads is a bit tricky to assess. Also there haven’t been very many opportunities to try dancing at my maximum capacity without feeling tentative for extended amount of time recently.
Core Beat
step on 1, 3, 5, 7
Pachanga
starting with feet apart, slide in and out on 1, 3, 5, 7
Double Right
pivot turn on 1,2,3 and hook turn on 5,6,7
Double Left
1 forward
2 in place
3 turn 1/2 counterclockwise as step back (toes pointing back)
4,5,6,7,8 1 1/2 counterclockwise turn on L foot on the spot
A solution to a dilemma
April 9, 2006
I have been talking about cutting down, but cutting down on my visits to Club Salsa is not a good option until Tony & Daniela workshop is finished. Still I need to find a way to not think about Salsa so much. My solution? I will stop listening to Salsa music (or any Latin music) while I'm at work for next 10 days or more.
I have been talking about cutting down, but cutting down on my visits to Club Salsa is not a good option until Tony & Daniela workshop is finished. Still I need to find a way to not think about Salsa so much. My solution? I will stop listening to Salsa music (or any Latin music) while I'm at work for next 10 days or more.
Short stint as DJ on a weird Friday
April 7, 2006
The idea was Enrique would do a set first and then I would follow. I was expecting to start around or after midnight, but the actual start time was around 11:20 PM. By this point, Enrique had gone through a set of Salsa, couple of Bachata, another set of Salsa, a trio of Merengue, and at least one more Salsa (ending with a 7 min long Gran Combo song). I thought I had about 2 hours to play with. Originally, I was thinking of starting with a long set of Tito Puente (or as long as possible) after a Merengue set, but I decided against this when Enrique decided upon a Gran Combo selection as his swan song.
Playlist
Eddie Palmieri – Nunca Contigo (1)
Eddie Palmieri – Puerto Rico (2)
Ray Barretto – El Hijo De Obtala (3)
Ray Barretto – Soy Dichoso
Orchestra Harlow – Abran Paso (4)
Orchestra Harlow – El Jardinero Del Amor (5)
Markolino Dimond & Frankie Dante – Los Rumberos
Markolino Dimond & Frankie Dante – Porque Adore (6)
Domenic Marte – La Quiero
Toque D’ Keda – Quiero Hacerte El Amor (7)
Tito Puente – Hong Kong Mambo
Tito Puente – Picadillo A Lo Puente
Tito Puente – Fiesta A La King (8)
Tommy Olivencia – No Tires La Primera Piedra (9)
(1) Switching from Enrique’s laptop-based DJ software/hardware system to CD based system was new to me and gave me an extra thing to worry about. I made a little goofy mistake while Gran Combo was on and lost the sound for a split second before I corrected the problem. Sally seemed mildly amused to see me looking tense as I was getting ready to start, and she tried to be reassuring and supportive.
(2) More accidents happen. I notice that the second CD player was not set the way I wanted it to be (set so that songs are cued automatically rather than starts immediately). I asked Cristian for help, and he showed me how to toggle between two settings (actually I’m not quite sure how it worked even though I have shown this twice now). Cristian accidentally moved a lever and caused loss of sound once again for a split second before I recovered.
(3) This was probably my least favorite selection. It’s popular with some people on the forum. I thought I would see how it would be received. It was okay.
(4) This was a recommendation I got from the previous night. Du-dum.
(5) I had wanted to play this for a few weeks now. It worked very well.
(6) “That’s a lot of Markolino. Pretty ballsy.”
(7) It was supposed to be Lamento Boliviano. I had the wrong track on. No big deal.
(8) This was another experimental track chosen deliberately to get people used to this type of sound. Then again, none of the songs I played thus far except for Hong Kong Mambo is a regular part of Club Salsa playlist. Okay. It’s more experimental than others. I thought I might as well go out swinging. Still, the number of people dancing to this song was about the same as the number of people dancing to the third Merengue song earlier in the evening.
(9) The last song and the first compromise. On second thought, I might have been better off ending with a Tito Puente live version of Ran Kan Kan. I guess it’s not exactly a big part of the regular rotation though.
Again, I couldn’t get more than three Tito Puente songs in a row; I was aiming for as many as six or seven in a row. By the time I had Abran Paso on, some people were clamoring for more Merengue (after getting just 6 Salsa in a row after 3 Merengue! Is this the norm?). I of course have not a single Merengue song in my collection. I would have been okay with playing some Merengue, but Vishal happened to be nearby at this time and he told me with confidence that I don’t have to play any Merengue. By the time I had Hong Kong Mambo on, Vishal seemed more worried and was ready to take over. By the time I had Picadillo A Lo Puente on, I heard a complaint that I was playing too much Mambo. Hmm. What is Mambo and what is Salsa? Tito Puente referred to his music as Cuban music not Salsa, but I thought pretty much everything else I played was/is marketed as Salsa or maybe Latin Jazz. Whatever – for some more than one Mambo or Tito Puente is one too many. Most of my Salsa selections were from the 70’s by the way.
The dance floor was filled most of the times but didn’t seem overcrowded while I was in charge of the DJ booth. An interesting thing that happened was that many of the more experienced dancers took over the main floor rather than dancing in the fringes to escape the overcrowded main floor. However, the main dance floor certainly was not limited to the best dancers or one style of Salsa dancers (i.e. both Cuban and CBL were present). Hmm. I wonder if that is considered a bad sign – as opposed to seeing drunkards on the main floor holding and spilling their drinks as they try to dance (and do not come back after being told to keep drinks off the dance floor)? Oh well. I probably cost Vishal a bit of money because people who buy alcohol and want to dance Merengue left early. Combining this with surprising number of experienced dancers staying late made this Friday a very unusual one.
By the time Vishal took over, damage seemed to have been done. Many people who would have stayed late for Merengue were gone while hard core Salsa crowd stayed behind. Aside from a few Reggaeton, Bachata and Merengue, Vishal ended up playing a lot more Salsa than it has been customary after 1 AM.
After my DJ duties, I got around to dancing a little (as I did before I moved into the DJ booth). Right now, I’m a little frustrated with my dancing because I feel like I’m stuck doing same old easy things but not necessarily doing it well all the time. I have no problem trying to help people get better, but getting an opportunity where I can try more complicated moves is becoming scarce. I might get one or two opportunities at a time with someone fairly competent without overwhelming my partner or making the dance feel like an exercise. These opportunities occur maybe 3-4 times at most on a given night. The days when practically every dance was an opportunity work on trying every new move feels like ancient history. Now it’s more about picking appropriate times to try to refine technique while hoping that my partner will react appropriately if I lead something properly. This has feel of one of those transitional phases.
I often find myself dancing with people who find things I consider very easy to be very difficult. These things include not only turns and basic footwork but also timing (many of the beginners and improvers seem to be executing moves learned in class with almost complete disregard for speed of the music – music is simply a background noise). Because large number of hurdles needs to be cleared for someone to become a proficient social dancer (not the least of which is quantity and quality of practice one gets), it’s no surprise that very few people get past beginner/improver state.
Rest of the time was spent on working on things like Sergio’s broken left turn – this is becoming a much bigger challenge than I expected. I tried breaking it down to many small parts as well as trying it whole. Either way, I’m off balance at least half the time – assuming I executed the turn more or less approximately as described and shown by Sergio (and I know I don’t always get that far!). By Sergio’s definition, I’m guessing that I’m off balance as often as I’m well balanced on my feet at all times and usually off balance whenever I’m spinning. Ouch. I think I just found another reason not to enter dance competitions.
Club Salsa was open til 2:30 AM. I ended up staying up until much later talking about music, etc. I would not be too surprised if it will be a while before I get asked to DJ on Friday again but who knows for sure? I thought tonight’s selections were received about as well as I expected; I was fully prepared for chilly reception from many people. I guess it helps that I don’t have a great financial stake on the matter but rather consider this an opportunity to try to move the scene and treating it as fun and play. I probably would have played more songs by newer generation of musicians if I had more time – somewhat similar to last time I worked the DJ booth on a Friday but in a less haphazard fashion.
The idea was Enrique would do a set first and then I would follow. I was expecting to start around or after midnight, but the actual start time was around 11:20 PM. By this point, Enrique had gone through a set of Salsa, couple of Bachata, another set of Salsa, a trio of Merengue, and at least one more Salsa (ending with a 7 min long Gran Combo song). I thought I had about 2 hours to play with. Originally, I was thinking of starting with a long set of Tito Puente (or as long as possible) after a Merengue set, but I decided against this when Enrique decided upon a Gran Combo selection as his swan song.
Playlist
Eddie Palmieri – Nunca Contigo (1)
Eddie Palmieri – Puerto Rico (2)
Ray Barretto – El Hijo De Obtala (3)
Ray Barretto – Soy Dichoso
Orchestra Harlow – Abran Paso (4)
Orchestra Harlow – El Jardinero Del Amor (5)
Markolino Dimond & Frankie Dante – Los Rumberos
Markolino Dimond & Frankie Dante – Porque Adore (6)
Domenic Marte – La Quiero
Toque D’ Keda – Quiero Hacerte El Amor (7)
Tito Puente – Hong Kong Mambo
Tito Puente – Picadillo A Lo Puente
Tito Puente – Fiesta A La King (8)
Tommy Olivencia – No Tires La Primera Piedra (9)
(1) Switching from Enrique’s laptop-based DJ software/hardware system to CD based system was new to me and gave me an extra thing to worry about. I made a little goofy mistake while Gran Combo was on and lost the sound for a split second before I corrected the problem. Sally seemed mildly amused to see me looking tense as I was getting ready to start, and she tried to be reassuring and supportive.
(2) More accidents happen. I notice that the second CD player was not set the way I wanted it to be (set so that songs are cued automatically rather than starts immediately). I asked Cristian for help, and he showed me how to toggle between two settings (actually I’m not quite sure how it worked even though I have shown this twice now). Cristian accidentally moved a lever and caused loss of sound once again for a split second before I recovered.
(3) This was probably my least favorite selection. It’s popular with some people on the forum. I thought I would see how it would be received. It was okay.
(4) This was a recommendation I got from the previous night. Du-dum.
(5) I had wanted to play this for a few weeks now. It worked very well.
(6) “That’s a lot of Markolino. Pretty ballsy.”
(7) It was supposed to be Lamento Boliviano. I had the wrong track on. No big deal.
(8) This was another experimental track chosen deliberately to get people used to this type of sound. Then again, none of the songs I played thus far except for Hong Kong Mambo is a regular part of Club Salsa playlist. Okay. It’s more experimental than others. I thought I might as well go out swinging. Still, the number of people dancing to this song was about the same as the number of people dancing to the third Merengue song earlier in the evening.
(9) The last song and the first compromise. On second thought, I might have been better off ending with a Tito Puente live version of Ran Kan Kan. I guess it’s not exactly a big part of the regular rotation though.
Again, I couldn’t get more than three Tito Puente songs in a row; I was aiming for as many as six or seven in a row. By the time I had Abran Paso on, some people were clamoring for more Merengue (after getting just 6 Salsa in a row after 3 Merengue! Is this the norm?). I of course have not a single Merengue song in my collection. I would have been okay with playing some Merengue, but Vishal happened to be nearby at this time and he told me with confidence that I don’t have to play any Merengue. By the time I had Hong Kong Mambo on, Vishal seemed more worried and was ready to take over. By the time I had Picadillo A Lo Puente on, I heard a complaint that I was playing too much Mambo. Hmm. What is Mambo and what is Salsa? Tito Puente referred to his music as Cuban music not Salsa, but I thought pretty much everything else I played was/is marketed as Salsa or maybe Latin Jazz. Whatever – for some more than one Mambo or Tito Puente is one too many. Most of my Salsa selections were from the 70’s by the way.
The dance floor was filled most of the times but didn’t seem overcrowded while I was in charge of the DJ booth. An interesting thing that happened was that many of the more experienced dancers took over the main floor rather than dancing in the fringes to escape the overcrowded main floor. However, the main dance floor certainly was not limited to the best dancers or one style of Salsa dancers (i.e. both Cuban and CBL were present). Hmm. I wonder if that is considered a bad sign – as opposed to seeing drunkards on the main floor holding and spilling their drinks as they try to dance (and do not come back after being told to keep drinks off the dance floor)? Oh well. I probably cost Vishal a bit of money because people who buy alcohol and want to dance Merengue left early. Combining this with surprising number of experienced dancers staying late made this Friday a very unusual one.
By the time Vishal took over, damage seemed to have been done. Many people who would have stayed late for Merengue were gone while hard core Salsa crowd stayed behind. Aside from a few Reggaeton, Bachata and Merengue, Vishal ended up playing a lot more Salsa than it has been customary after 1 AM.
After my DJ duties, I got around to dancing a little (as I did before I moved into the DJ booth). Right now, I’m a little frustrated with my dancing because I feel like I’m stuck doing same old easy things but not necessarily doing it well all the time. I have no problem trying to help people get better, but getting an opportunity where I can try more complicated moves is becoming scarce. I might get one or two opportunities at a time with someone fairly competent without overwhelming my partner or making the dance feel like an exercise. These opportunities occur maybe 3-4 times at most on a given night. The days when practically every dance was an opportunity work on trying every new move feels like ancient history. Now it’s more about picking appropriate times to try to refine technique while hoping that my partner will react appropriately if I lead something properly. This has feel of one of those transitional phases.
I often find myself dancing with people who find things I consider very easy to be very difficult. These things include not only turns and basic footwork but also timing (many of the beginners and improvers seem to be executing moves learned in class with almost complete disregard for speed of the music – music is simply a background noise). Because large number of hurdles needs to be cleared for someone to become a proficient social dancer (not the least of which is quantity and quality of practice one gets), it’s no surprise that very few people get past beginner/improver state.
Rest of the time was spent on working on things like Sergio’s broken left turn – this is becoming a much bigger challenge than I expected. I tried breaking it down to many small parts as well as trying it whole. Either way, I’m off balance at least half the time – assuming I executed the turn more or less approximately as described and shown by Sergio (and I know I don’t always get that far!). By Sergio’s definition, I’m guessing that I’m off balance as often as I’m well balanced on my feet at all times and usually off balance whenever I’m spinning. Ouch. I think I just found another reason not to enter dance competitions.
Club Salsa was open til 2:30 AM. I ended up staying up until much later talking about music, etc. I would not be too surprised if it will be a while before I get asked to DJ on Friday again but who knows for sure? I thought tonight’s selections were received about as well as I expected; I was fully prepared for chilly reception from many people. I guess it helps that I don’t have a great financial stake on the matter but rather consider this an opportunity to try to move the scene and treating it as fun and play. I probably would have played more songs by newer generation of musicians if I had more time – somewhat similar to last time I worked the DJ booth on a Friday but in a less haphazard fashion.
Back to the drawing board
April 6, 2006
Intermediate with Pure Salsa - Sally
1,2,3,5,6,7 CBL end with L-R
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break on 1, lead follower forward on right side as L-R goes over leader’s head on 2,3 – windmill-like lead for follower to turn 1 1/2 clockwise
1,2,3,5,6,7 pivot half turn for leader on 1,2,3 and switch to R-R early (as early as 1), follower is twisted or turned 1/2 clockwise on 5 (with R-R going around follower’s head) and led to turn counterclockwise instead
1,2,3,5,6,7 R-R hat for follower while leader gets into CBL position with L-L connection made in front of follower and follower is led into traveling full counterclockwise turn, which is stopped with R hand on follower’s R shoulder
1,2,3,5,6,7 prepare and lead follower to a stationary 1 1/2 clockwise turn with L-L pulled straight down after follower turns 1/2 (Joe would call it pulling down the zipper… it would seem I still need to concentrate on not letting L-L move too much to my L during the early part of the pull down) so that L-L ends behind follower’s back R waist – switch to R-L
1,2,3,5,6,7 Copa and lead follower back into a free 1 1/2 counterclockwise turn
1,2,3,5,6,7 CBL into open hold
1,2,3,5,6,7 prepare and lead follower to double stationary clockwise turn with L-R high and R-L low (R-L is let go briefly after follower’s L hand is placed behind her back R waist)
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break and lead follower forward on right side as L-R goes over behind leader’s head on 2,3 into back-to-back crucifix position – R-L is used to lead follower into 1 1/2 traveling clockwise turn (let go L-R)
1,2,3,5,6,7 R-L engancha (leader's elbow over follower's elbow and back to closed hold) and CBL
Second hour of the class was spent gabbing with some newcomers to the scene. Towards the end of the classes, Sergio and Ivan showed up. This led to on and off discussion about technique, tension, timing etc throughout the night. What have I learned? Regarding tension, I feel as if I’m back to the drawing board. It was very illuminating to have Sergio demonstrate tension on the fingers he used for leading. I’m certainly no expert in following (I was guilty of anticipating at one point and was apparently “heavy” to lead at least at the outset), but his lead felt clear enough. This led me to try changing the way I lead with particular attention paid to tension in my fingers – I only got one practice of this but this could be a fairly quick fix job. What else? I need to work on my basic footwork, broken left turn and spotting in general (or pretty much everything that was examined or talked about). Body movement - this could take more than a lifetime. I guess these tinkering will never end. I have an impression that Sergio's idea of basic also has evolved over last 6 months or however long it was since I was last involved in talking about this topic. Moreover I apparently need to know more about percussion instruments and their timing in Salsa music. Voila!
Intermediate with Pure Salsa - Sally
1,2,3,5,6,7 CBL end with L-R
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break on 1, lead follower forward on right side as L-R goes over leader’s head on 2,3 – windmill-like lead for follower to turn 1 1/2 clockwise
1,2,3,5,6,7 pivot half turn for leader on 1,2,3 and switch to R-R early (as early as 1), follower is twisted or turned 1/2 clockwise on 5 (with R-R going around follower’s head) and led to turn counterclockwise instead
1,2,3,5,6,7 R-R hat for follower while leader gets into CBL position with L-L connection made in front of follower and follower is led into traveling full counterclockwise turn, which is stopped with R hand on follower’s R shoulder
1,2,3,5,6,7 prepare and lead follower to a stationary 1 1/2 clockwise turn with L-L pulled straight down after follower turns 1/2 (Joe would call it pulling down the zipper… it would seem I still need to concentrate on not letting L-L move too much to my L during the early part of the pull down) so that L-L ends behind follower’s back R waist – switch to R-L
1,2,3,5,6,7 Copa and lead follower back into a free 1 1/2 counterclockwise turn
1,2,3,5,6,7 CBL into open hold
1,2,3,5,6,7 prepare and lead follower to double stationary clockwise turn with L-R high and R-L low (R-L is let go briefly after follower’s L hand is placed behind her back R waist)
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break and lead follower forward on right side as L-R goes over behind leader’s head on 2,3 into back-to-back crucifix position – R-L is used to lead follower into 1 1/2 traveling clockwise turn (let go L-R)
1,2,3,5,6,7 R-L engancha (leader's elbow over follower's elbow and back to closed hold) and CBL
Second hour of the class was spent gabbing with some newcomers to the scene. Towards the end of the classes, Sergio and Ivan showed up. This led to on and off discussion about technique, tension, timing etc throughout the night. What have I learned? Regarding tension, I feel as if I’m back to the drawing board. It was very illuminating to have Sergio demonstrate tension on the fingers he used for leading. I’m certainly no expert in following (I was guilty of anticipating at one point and was apparently “heavy” to lead at least at the outset), but his lead felt clear enough. This led me to try changing the way I lead with particular attention paid to tension in my fingers – I only got one practice of this but this could be a fairly quick fix job. What else? I need to work on my basic footwork, broken left turn and spotting in general (or pretty much everything that was examined or talked about). Body movement - this could take more than a lifetime. I guess these tinkering will never end. I have an impression that Sergio's idea of basic also has evolved over last 6 months or however long it was since I was last involved in talking about this topic. Moreover I apparently need to know more about percussion instruments and their timing in Salsa music. Voila!
Wednesday as new Friday
April 5, 2006
At least for tonight, Wednesday had a feel of Friday – except that Friday no longer feels like Friday much of the time. The dance floor was packed for quite some time – over an hour – rather than for just few songs at the beginning of the night. Many of the Cambridge’s finest Salsa dancers were present – many of who were present to bid farewell to one of the Salsa team member going on a long overseas trip. The party lasted to nearly one in the morning. I would have called it a very good night for me except for an unusual string of bad luck (or perhaps a punishment for hubris or perhaps because I simply couldn’t pick decisively with there being so many choices with pros and cons to mull over) that led to me not dancing at all for the last hour or so. On the bright side, I did socialize more than usual.
Another Bachatathon happened when Vishal took over including another stretch of four Bachata songs in a row. At one level, it was interesting and even nice to see how much influence I was exerting on the choice of music. Fairly large number of people was still dancing during the fourth Bachata song. At another level, I was cringing and was feeling quite embarrassed and was thinking, “Oh no! What have I done?” What followed was essentially a repeat of Monday except with a lot more people participating, watching and recording the spectacle. My aforementioned dance draught had started sometime before the start of this Bachatathon and it unfortunately did not end when Salsa made its return.
Speaking of Bachata, I received an e-mail from Tony Lara this afternoon. He informed me that Claudia is not going to be able to make the tour due to an unforeseen circumstance. In her place, another professional dancer named Daniela De Francesco will step in. Daniela is one of the teacher and/or performer for London Heathrow 5 Star Congress at the end of April, and Tony assures me that she will be excellent. Anyhow, I started informing people of this change, but I don’t think I will be making new posters, etc. By the way, this news was spread and distributed even faster than I predicted.
One of the Salsa-related news I heard tonight was about the Salsa dance competition held at Peterborough last weekend. Because I never made it to any of these Peterborough events organized by Cristian, Dee, et al., I was barely aware of the competition. Apparently, there were 7 couples in the competition in the beginning. After the first round, the number was reduced to 5 couples for semi-finals and then to 3 couples for the finals. Now that I think about it, people have been giving me hints me about this competition but I guess I was too dense or preoccupied to figure it out. I guess I don’t really care much about these competitions, and my emphasis is more on becoming an adept social dancer who would be considered fun to dance with anywhere in the world (a big reason to learn on-2 would be to dance in New York). I suppose entering a competition might be fun too, except I probably would take it too seriously and trying to find a suitable partner alone might be more trouble than it’s worth. The winners by the way were Lindsey and Chris.
Vishal talked to me about possibility of me DJing on Friday after Enrique finishes his set. I told him that I will think about it. My main reservation is that by the time Enrique is done, often there are not many Salsa dancers left to take advantage of what I might want to play. Of course, it might be interesting to see is if playing Salsa very late at night would keep people dancing.
Vishal is organizing a coach to take people to and back from Scala Latina. I suspect I will be quite satiated with quality and quantity of dancing there. Several people have spoken to him about the coach already so it seems quite likely to happen. With the roadwork on M11, I don’t feel like driving to London very much. One speeding ticket (on the way to the Rocket last month) a year is more than enough.
At least for tonight, Wednesday had a feel of Friday – except that Friday no longer feels like Friday much of the time. The dance floor was packed for quite some time – over an hour – rather than for just few songs at the beginning of the night. Many of the Cambridge’s finest Salsa dancers were present – many of who were present to bid farewell to one of the Salsa team member going on a long overseas trip. The party lasted to nearly one in the morning. I would have called it a very good night for me except for an unusual string of bad luck (or perhaps a punishment for hubris or perhaps because I simply couldn’t pick decisively with there being so many choices with pros and cons to mull over) that led to me not dancing at all for the last hour or so. On the bright side, I did socialize more than usual.
Another Bachatathon happened when Vishal took over including another stretch of four Bachata songs in a row. At one level, it was interesting and even nice to see how much influence I was exerting on the choice of music. Fairly large number of people was still dancing during the fourth Bachata song. At another level, I was cringing and was feeling quite embarrassed and was thinking, “Oh no! What have I done?” What followed was essentially a repeat of Monday except with a lot more people participating, watching and recording the spectacle. My aforementioned dance draught had started sometime before the start of this Bachatathon and it unfortunately did not end when Salsa made its return.
Speaking of Bachata, I received an e-mail from Tony Lara this afternoon. He informed me that Claudia is not going to be able to make the tour due to an unforeseen circumstance. In her place, another professional dancer named Daniela De Francesco will step in. Daniela is one of the teacher and/or performer for London Heathrow 5 Star Congress at the end of April, and Tony assures me that she will be excellent. Anyhow, I started informing people of this change, but I don’t think I will be making new posters, etc. By the way, this news was spread and distributed even faster than I predicted.
One of the Salsa-related news I heard tonight was about the Salsa dance competition held at Peterborough last weekend. Because I never made it to any of these Peterborough events organized by Cristian, Dee, et al., I was barely aware of the competition. Apparently, there were 7 couples in the competition in the beginning. After the first round, the number was reduced to 5 couples for semi-finals and then to 3 couples for the finals. Now that I think about it, people have been giving me hints me about this competition but I guess I was too dense or preoccupied to figure it out. I guess I don’t really care much about these competitions, and my emphasis is more on becoming an adept social dancer who would be considered fun to dance with anywhere in the world (a big reason to learn on-2 would be to dance in New York). I suppose entering a competition might be fun too, except I probably would take it too seriously and trying to find a suitable partner alone might be more trouble than it’s worth. The winners by the way were Lindsey and Chris.
Vishal talked to me about possibility of me DJing on Friday after Enrique finishes his set. I told him that I will think about it. My main reservation is that by the time Enrique is done, often there are not many Salsa dancers left to take advantage of what I might want to play. Of course, it might be interesting to see is if playing Salsa very late at night would keep people dancing.
Vishal is organizing a coach to take people to and back from Scala Latina. I suspect I will be quite satiated with quality and quantity of dancing there. Several people have spoken to him about the coach already so it seems quite likely to happen. With the roadwork on M11, I don’t feel like driving to London very much. One speeding ticket (on the way to the Rocket last month) a year is more than enough.
Follow Me Bachata Party
April 3, 2006
It has been a while since anything but Salsa was played on Mondays, but that changed tonight. First a little back story…
Vishal had been one of the people who had been asking me about Lamento Boliviano by Toque D’ Keda. He tried to find a way to download the song from internet and he wasn’t able to do so (I wasn’t surprised by this). He asked me whether I would be willing make him a copy of the song. Recently I had been giving fair amount of thought about piracy, especially of songs written and performed by struggling musicians, and I have come to a conclusion that I didn’t really want to be part of the piracy culture. In any case, I generally enjoy listening to music I feel I “own” rightfully much more than music I borrowed from others or music someone else thrust upon me. My solution therefore was to give my original CD of Picante Alador by Toque D’ Keda to Vishal as a gift while buying myself another copy. This way, the band is not losing any money and I get to have more Bachata played at Club Salsa.
Ladies and Gentlemen: Expect to hear Lamento Boliviano at Club Salsa pretty much every night from now on until everyone gets sick of it.
My gift had an immediate effect tonight – when Vishal took over DJ duty from Joe, he immediately used the Toque D’ Keda CD. One thing led to another, and with a very small crowd still remaining, a small Bachata party materialized where about half dozen Bachata songs were played in course of about half an hour, including a stretch of 4 songs in a row at the end. I’m not going to give any details but it became a bit of spectacle towards the end and my jaw dropped a few times in amazement as I observed some of the performance, including some demonstrations that seemed to me a pretty darn good imitation of Tony Lara.
Anyway, to the lessons…
Intermediate – Joe Davids of Latin Collective (with Dawn tonight)
1,2,3,5,6,7 Mambo basic
1,2,3,5,6,7 CBL with cross pass with L-R at waist level (leader turns 1/2 clockwise to face away from the line) – L-R ends behind leader’s back R waist
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break on 1 and bring follower forward on 2 and turn her 1/4 counterclockwise on 3 with L-R going over (leader turns 1/2 counterclockwise on 2/3) for Copa – follower is lead back into 1 1/2 counterclockwise Copa turn on 5,6,7 as leader walk around 1/2 counterclockwise into CBL position with R hand getting a good hold across follower’s back waist (R hand is placed essentially on follower’s back R waist for good leverage (leaning)
1,2,3,5,6,7 walk backwards (leaning) to have the couple rotate together counterclockwise (follower is walking forward in circles)
1,2,3,5,6,7 Dile que no finish is okay – or follower could be led out of rotating circle without preparatory Dile que no step (on 1,2,3) on 5,6,7
Improvers – Joe Davids
1,2,3,5,6,7 Mambo basic
1,2,3,5,6,7 CBL into open position
1,2,3,5,6,7 simple preparation and lead follower for a single clockwise stationary turn ending with drop catch on R side for R-R connection at leader’s R waist
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break and lead follower forward with R-R going above and L hand showing early for L-L connection by 3 – lead follower forward and into a simple 1/2 turn clockwise with L-L leading follower forward on 5 and turning on 6
1,2,3,5,6,7 broken left turn for leader (with R-R lowered and L-L high) and L-L hat for leader on 7
1,2,3,5,6,7 CBL (in order let go L-L behind leader’s neck, L hand goes to follower’s shoulder/arm, R hand goes to follower’s back as L hand slides down follower’s arm to make L-R connection during 1,2,3)
Decent sized class. For some reason, the number of leaders for the class and club was considerably smaller than the number of followers. Otherwise, it would have been really lively. It still was a very good night of dancing for me. It feels as if I’m getting something akin to a home field advantage on Mondays at Club Salsa.
It used to be that there were more men at Club Salsa compared to women on most nights. This still happens now and then, but the opposite feels true more often than not. What’s going on? A small part of the equation may be that I seemingly have a sterling reputation as being a good and fun lead (even if I’m far from perfect), but I don’t think this explains all. I’m doing my best to keep as many women occupied and dancing but I can only dance with one person at a time! (I don’t think I am or will ever be ready for 3-some.)
More on the Tony & Claudia workshop. I really need to work on recruiting more men for the workshops. It’s getting to a point where I’m almost afraid to talk women into taking the classes. Because I have had so much trouble with getting the “old guard” to sign up, my best bet (aside from people who already took classes with Tony & Claudia in the past) might be to search among new bloods.
On a slightly different topic, I wonder if I would benefit more from having a regular practice partner for Bachata more than I would from having a regular practice partner for Salsa. At current rate, I’ll never find out – I might enjoy being a “dance slut” too much (I suppose gigolo might be a better fit technically but the word slut fits really well too and is more amusing). Also it’s quite amusing to me that body contact and body leads are coming into equation a lot more with my Salsa dancing compared to my Bachata dancing, especially considering the popular (and largely accurate) perception of these two dances regarding sensual nature, eroticism and such. Perhaps I can’t handle embracing relentlessly intimate part of Bachata needed in order to dance it to its full capacity.
It has been a while since anything but Salsa was played on Mondays, but that changed tonight. First a little back story…
Vishal had been one of the people who had been asking me about Lamento Boliviano by Toque D’ Keda. He tried to find a way to download the song from internet and he wasn’t able to do so (I wasn’t surprised by this). He asked me whether I would be willing make him a copy of the song. Recently I had been giving fair amount of thought about piracy, especially of songs written and performed by struggling musicians, and I have come to a conclusion that I didn’t really want to be part of the piracy culture. In any case, I generally enjoy listening to music I feel I “own” rightfully much more than music I borrowed from others or music someone else thrust upon me. My solution therefore was to give my original CD of Picante Alador by Toque D’ Keda to Vishal as a gift while buying myself another copy. This way, the band is not losing any money and I get to have more Bachata played at Club Salsa.
Ladies and Gentlemen: Expect to hear Lamento Boliviano at Club Salsa pretty much every night from now on until everyone gets sick of it.
My gift had an immediate effect tonight – when Vishal took over DJ duty from Joe, he immediately used the Toque D’ Keda CD. One thing led to another, and with a very small crowd still remaining, a small Bachata party materialized where about half dozen Bachata songs were played in course of about half an hour, including a stretch of 4 songs in a row at the end. I’m not going to give any details but it became a bit of spectacle towards the end and my jaw dropped a few times in amazement as I observed some of the performance, including some demonstrations that seemed to me a pretty darn good imitation of Tony Lara.
Anyway, to the lessons…
Intermediate – Joe Davids of Latin Collective (with Dawn tonight)
1,2,3,5,6,7 Mambo basic
1,2,3,5,6,7 CBL with cross pass with L-R at waist level (leader turns 1/2 clockwise to face away from the line) – L-R ends behind leader’s back R waist
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break on 1 and bring follower forward on 2 and turn her 1/4 counterclockwise on 3 with L-R going over (leader turns 1/2 counterclockwise on 2/3) for Copa – follower is lead back into 1 1/2 counterclockwise Copa turn on 5,6,7 as leader walk around 1/2 counterclockwise into CBL position with R hand getting a good hold across follower’s back waist (R hand is placed essentially on follower’s back R waist for good leverage (leaning)
1,2,3,5,6,7 walk backwards (leaning) to have the couple rotate together counterclockwise (follower is walking forward in circles)
1,2,3,5,6,7 Dile que no finish is okay – or follower could be led out of rotating circle without preparatory Dile que no step (on 1,2,3) on 5,6,7
Improvers – Joe Davids
1,2,3,5,6,7 Mambo basic
1,2,3,5,6,7 CBL into open position
1,2,3,5,6,7 simple preparation and lead follower for a single clockwise stationary turn ending with drop catch on R side for R-R connection at leader’s R waist
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break and lead follower forward with R-R going above and L hand showing early for L-L connection by 3 – lead follower forward and into a simple 1/2 turn clockwise with L-L leading follower forward on 5 and turning on 6
1,2,3,5,6,7 broken left turn for leader (with R-R lowered and L-L high) and L-L hat for leader on 7
1,2,3,5,6,7 CBL (in order let go L-L behind leader’s neck, L hand goes to follower’s shoulder/arm, R hand goes to follower’s back as L hand slides down follower’s arm to make L-R connection during 1,2,3)
Decent sized class. For some reason, the number of leaders for the class and club was considerably smaller than the number of followers. Otherwise, it would have been really lively. It still was a very good night of dancing for me. It feels as if I’m getting something akin to a home field advantage on Mondays at Club Salsa.
It used to be that there were more men at Club Salsa compared to women on most nights. This still happens now and then, but the opposite feels true more often than not. What’s going on? A small part of the equation may be that I seemingly have a sterling reputation as being a good and fun lead (even if I’m far from perfect), but I don’t think this explains all. I’m doing my best to keep as many women occupied and dancing but I can only dance with one person at a time! (I don’t think I am or will ever be ready for 3-some.)
More on the Tony & Claudia workshop. I really need to work on recruiting more men for the workshops. It’s getting to a point where I’m almost afraid to talk women into taking the classes. Because I have had so much trouble with getting the “old guard” to sign up, my best bet (aside from people who already took classes with Tony & Claudia in the past) might be to search among new bloods.
On a slightly different topic, I wonder if I would benefit more from having a regular practice partner for Bachata more than I would from having a regular practice partner for Salsa. At current rate, I’ll never find out – I might enjoy being a “dance slut” too much (I suppose gigolo might be a better fit technically but the word slut fits really well too and is more amusing). Also it’s quite amusing to me that body contact and body leads are coming into equation a lot more with my Salsa dancing compared to my Bachata dancing, especially considering the popular (and largely accurate) perception of these two dances regarding sensual nature, eroticism and such. Perhaps I can’t handle embracing relentlessly intimate part of Bachata needed in order to dance it to its full capacity.
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