September 1, 2007
I woke up at 6:15 AM local time. A little over 6 hours of sleep is an improvement over less than 4 hours of sleep the evening before. My flight was due to depart at 8:20. When I discovered that the only seats were middle seats, I opted to pay an extra $68 (money just flies away) for a minor upgrade resulting in slightly more legroom and a window seat and an aisle seat for the rest of the trip to Portland.
The first leg was to Denver. The biggest annoyance was a young boy behind me who screamed for the first half of the trip while kicking the back of my seat – it took some bite out of supposed additional comfort provided by the more expensive seats. The movie was Fracture starring Anthony Hopkins and Ryan Gosling. I think I have seen parts of it before. It still was more diverting than any of the movies from yesterday.
At the Denver airport (layover of just over an hour), I picked a place slightly out of the main thoroughfare called Mexican Grille for lunch. It was surprisingly expensive (a burrito and water cost $9.30), but it was also quite decent. To me it ranked as one of better burritos I tasted with caveat that in my experience the best burritos with drinks would have cost $6-7 in California or in Boston. Still I get a feeling that the quality of airport food may have increased considerably. I speculate if the fact that airlines stopped providing complimentary food in domestic flights is helping to drive this trend.
Before boarding the second airplane taking me finally to Portland, I went to the gate desk to ask whereabouts of my checked-in luggage. I was relieved to learn that it was safely stowed in the airline storage in Portland. Finally things were becoming like the way it should be – no more dramas – the most alarming happening being a very heavy woman sitting in front of me and causing quite a lot of shaking whenever she got up or sat down – or for that matter whenever she stirred. No movies for the Denver-to-Portland leg, but there were no screaming kids either. Because the battery for my iPod was running low, I used my laptop for listening to music.
Finding my luggage was pretty simple – it took less than 2 minutes. I was a bit annoyed when I found that considerable amount shampoo leaked out of the container. Fortunately, it did not reach any of the clothes. It’s not over until it’s over.
After the rehearsal party, croquet and brief stop at the hotel, I decided to head off to Aztec Willie’s early. It was only 9:30 and the free beginner class was supposed to have started only then. I didn’t feel like hanging around in the hotel – mostly because I thought I would have better chance of staying awake.
I decided to have a little snack while watching the beginner instruction. It was surprisingly heavy on shines. The instructor also went through surprisingly large amount of partner work too by concentrating on steps and foregoing on technique. I was most surprised by there being no partner rotation.
There was a fair amount of space – the main dance floor was equivalent of the LeL without the columns in the middle of the space in LeL. One of the girls mentioned that it was a quiet night because of Labor day – thus the space was not a big issue. At its busiest, I would estimate there were 30-40 couples dancing. The busiest time was around midnight to 1 AM.
The composition of the crowd was like having a typical Thursday Club Salsa crowd and an extremely busy Friday night crowd and add in an extra dozen plus men watching on the sidelines without a partner. There were a couple of people seemingly dancing On2 at fairly rudimentary level. The top leads were leading multiple turns quite a lot, but no one really impressed much until I saw one guy dancing (just once) well after 1 AM – he reminded me of Domenic – similar emphasis on musicality. And then I realized that this was the guy who hosted the local Salsa dance competition back in June 2005. I think the winner of that competition was the instructor for the beginner class.
Finding followers who seemed capable of staying on time on their own was something of a challenge. I think there were 8 of them, and I danced with 7 – in most cases twice each. I wasn’t paying attention to people dancing Cuban style, but I don’t think they were any better with timing. According to one of my partner, my lead is considerably gentler than what she’s used to. She struggled a bit the first time, but did better second time around with me leading fairly simple things throughout.
I think I had 4-5 declines tonight. In all but 2 cases, they had to dance with someone else and I subsequently danced with them later. One other case seemed to be because of lack of confidence. The last case – no idea although lack of experience is the prime suspect – she was probably number 7 on my list of 8 who seemed aware of proper timing and be able to stay on time while doing turns and spins. This is quite typical in events outside Cambridge excluding very small and very big events. I guess it’s notable only for things staying in form 8 time zones away.
Songs heard at Aztec Willie’s include Perico Macona (Angel Canales), Hay Craneo (Tito Rodriguez), Brujeria (El Gran Combo), Y No Hago Mas Na’ (some remix), Tres Dias De Carnaval (Celia Cruz & Johnny Pacheco), Anacaona (2 versions – first one was Cheo Feliciano), Alejate (Hector Lavoe), Salsa Y Control (Isidro Infante).
Portland Redux - Part 2
August 31, 2007
Continued from previous post…
The customs line at Dulles was massive but brisk moving. I still was not worried because of long layover time. I was most amused by the fact that we had to pick up our check-in baggage only to drop it off at another station about 30 meters away after another line. I guess this was because they might want to do a search in between the two places. With so many people and with delayed flights, it did not look like they were going to do very many searches but what do I know? I was back in the concourses before 4 PM local time. My next flight was scheduled for departure at 5:57 PM, but there was already a call for delayed departure time of 6:18 PM.
Even in a flight lasting 5+ hours, the only meal being offered was for purchase. I figured that the fare inside the plane was going to rate as choice so I decided to find something better in the airport. After going through essentially the all of the concourse, I settled on a place called Potbelly Sandwich Works – it sounded like a decent bet, and it was pretty good. I had a something called Spicy Italian with extra meat (Salami, Pepperoni and another spiced meat) with Provolone cheese, which was toasted first before toppings (in my case mustard, lettuce, onions, tomatoes, pickle, Italian seasoning and some oil. It was a little greasy but not too much so. With drinks, it all only cost $5.50. I took the sandwich and drink to the gate adjacent to mine (because there were fewer people). Feeling quite sated I got up and went back to my gate. It was now 5 PM local time or 10 PM in England.
My flight was cancelled. Now what? I was told to go to one of the information booths. The line nearby seemed very long so I went to the other one. It was even longer. I checked the automated machine to see if I could figure out quickly what my options were. My default option was to take another flight leaving tomorrow morning at 6 AM. Another possibility was to get on a standby for a flight (not a direct flight) that would not arrive in Portland until after 1 AM. Oh great. I decided to go back to the original information booth. The line had grown even longer. Perfect. I decided to get on the line and wait.
I was on the line for over two hours. I passed the time talking to a guy next to me. He was travelling to Portland also but coming from New York. We talked about backpacking and other hiking and mountain climbing trips we had. We also talked about Boston where both of us had lived at about the same time. Other topics included grad school, law school, experiences in Thailand, India and England. I also got boxed in my ears by an 8-year old flailing around while being carried by her father behind me on the line. Between his phone calls to his friends to apprise them of his situation, he lent me his mobile phone so that I could make a short call to my parents to let them know that I’m stuck in Dulles and that I might not be able to get on another plane until tomorrow morning and that I will try to stay with them overnight instead of going to a hotel.
When I finally reached one of the desk I tried to get two things from the airline right away. First I asked if I could fly out of Baltimore (BWI) instead of Dulles – it would be more convenient starting from my parents’ place. No problem. Second I wanted to see if I could get an upgrade in seats in lieu of expenses for hotel and taxi. Instead they gave me a $100 discount voucher for another flight to be used within a year – extendable for another year. I’m not sure if I would ever get around to using this voucher – I would have preferred an instant gratification instead. That’s the short story. The woman who was helping me was quite inept so even after half an hour, we were not close to wrapping things up. She was spending a lot of time talking to pair of adolescent girls playing next to her – one of the girls was the one who boxed my ears earlier while I was waiting in the line. It took a second worker, who was much more efficient, to finish the work in another 5-10 minutes. If I had the second person from the outset, I’m pretty sure the whole thing could have ended in half the time. Finally the last thing on the item was my checked-in baggage. She told me it was in San Francisco. Don’t ask me how. Hopefully it will be in Portland when I get there tomorrow afternoon.
When it was all over it was 8:30 PM. My parents were not answering their landline phone and I couldn’t call their mobile phone using my credit card or by collect call. Only after taking another 30 minutes to get out of my terminal and reaching the information booth at the baggage claim I was able to call them on their mobile phone. They had blindly ventured to Dulles without any information and were on their way back home when I finally reached them. Half an hour later they found me, and another half an hour later my journey for the day was over. No Salsa.
Continued from previous post…
The customs line at Dulles was massive but brisk moving. I still was not worried because of long layover time. I was most amused by the fact that we had to pick up our check-in baggage only to drop it off at another station about 30 meters away after another line. I guess this was because they might want to do a search in between the two places. With so many people and with delayed flights, it did not look like they were going to do very many searches but what do I know? I was back in the concourses before 4 PM local time. My next flight was scheduled for departure at 5:57 PM, but there was already a call for delayed departure time of 6:18 PM.
Even in a flight lasting 5+ hours, the only meal being offered was for purchase. I figured that the fare inside the plane was going to rate as choice so I decided to find something better in the airport. After going through essentially the all of the concourse, I settled on a place called Potbelly Sandwich Works – it sounded like a decent bet, and it was pretty good. I had a something called Spicy Italian with extra meat (Salami, Pepperoni and another spiced meat) with Provolone cheese, which was toasted first before toppings (in my case mustard, lettuce, onions, tomatoes, pickle, Italian seasoning and some oil. It was a little greasy but not too much so. With drinks, it all only cost $5.50. I took the sandwich and drink to the gate adjacent to mine (because there were fewer people). Feeling quite sated I got up and went back to my gate. It was now 5 PM local time or 10 PM in England.
My flight was cancelled. Now what? I was told to go to one of the information booths. The line nearby seemed very long so I went to the other one. It was even longer. I checked the automated machine to see if I could figure out quickly what my options were. My default option was to take another flight leaving tomorrow morning at 6 AM. Another possibility was to get on a standby for a flight (not a direct flight) that would not arrive in Portland until after 1 AM. Oh great. I decided to go back to the original information booth. The line had grown even longer. Perfect. I decided to get on the line and wait.
I was on the line for over two hours. I passed the time talking to a guy next to me. He was travelling to Portland also but coming from New York. We talked about backpacking and other hiking and mountain climbing trips we had. We also talked about Boston where both of us had lived at about the same time. Other topics included grad school, law school, experiences in Thailand, India and England. I also got boxed in my ears by an 8-year old flailing around while being carried by her father behind me on the line. Between his phone calls to his friends to apprise them of his situation, he lent me his mobile phone so that I could make a short call to my parents to let them know that I’m stuck in Dulles and that I might not be able to get on another plane until tomorrow morning and that I will try to stay with them overnight instead of going to a hotel.
When I finally reached one of the desk I tried to get two things from the airline right away. First I asked if I could fly out of Baltimore (BWI) instead of Dulles – it would be more convenient starting from my parents’ place. No problem. Second I wanted to see if I could get an upgrade in seats in lieu of expenses for hotel and taxi. Instead they gave me a $100 discount voucher for another flight to be used within a year – extendable for another year. I’m not sure if I would ever get around to using this voucher – I would have preferred an instant gratification instead. That’s the short story. The woman who was helping me was quite inept so even after half an hour, we were not close to wrapping things up. She was spending a lot of time talking to pair of adolescent girls playing next to her – one of the girls was the one who boxed my ears earlier while I was waiting in the line. It took a second worker, who was much more efficient, to finish the work in another 5-10 minutes. If I had the second person from the outset, I’m pretty sure the whole thing could have ended in half the time. Finally the last thing on the item was my checked-in baggage. She told me it was in San Francisco. Don’t ask me how. Hopefully it will be in Portland when I get there tomorrow afternoon.
When it was all over it was 8:30 PM. My parents were not answering their landline phone and I couldn’t call their mobile phone using my credit card or by collect call. Only after taking another 30 minutes to get out of my terminal and reaching the information booth at the baggage claim I was able to call them on their mobile phone. They had blindly ventured to Dulles without any information and were on their way back home when I finally reached them. Half an hour later they found me, and another half an hour later my journey for the day was over. No Salsa.
Portland Redux - Part 1
August 31, 2007
Misadventures in travels continues. The alarm went off at 4:55. Shower. Finish packing. Call taxi company at 5:30. Breakfast. Taxi arrives a bit later than expected at 5:42 or 5:43 outside their 5-10 minute estimate. Arrival at National Express station at 5:47 by my watch. There’s a coach leaving – no obvious destination sign. Mine should leave at 5:50. There’s another coach waiting but it’s not the right one. I pay the cab driver and go talk to the driver on the other coach. The coach driver thinks I missed my coach, and the taxi is leaving. Uh oh. I ponder my options. Taking the next coach sounds too risky – it would not get to Heathrow bus station until 9:45, and without a taxi ready I would not be able to catch up with the coach at Trumpington. I call the taxi company again. Hmm. There’s another taxi dropping off someone else so I hang up (but I would have to call the same company again in order to use this taxi – ugh).
Train station at 6. I have to ask the attendant about price difference between taking the Heathrow Express and the Underground one-way and return, and he wonders why I did not know how I would want to get to Heathrow until that moment. Okay so I did not do this perfectly but that doesn’t mean I’m a complete idiot. As the attendant waited for credit card approval for my one-way (single) trip via underground, I replied that I was going to take the coach but that the coach drove off as my taxi got to the station. He turned slightly more sympathetic and asked if I had already bought the ticket for the coach. I replied that return ticket is still good (right?). Of course all this could have been avoided if I called the taxi company 5-10 minutes before I actually did. I boarded 6:15 to Kings Cross.
Arrival at Heathrow at 8:25 or approximately 50 minutes earlier than if I had caught the coach on time. Heathrow is a mess – terminal 3 right now is undergoing renovation so it’s even worse than usual. Check-in took longer than expected, but I was still managed to get past all the security points by 9:05 or before the scheduled time for my coach’s arrival. The gate was not going to be open for a while – the departure time for my plane is 10:50. The only things I lost were money and possibly sleep.
Because of some other airplane having to make an emergency landing (this sounds familiar, no?), the takeoff was delayed by over an hour. Thus at 1:20 PM (still in the same time zone) or almost 8 hours after leaving my house, I was merely flying over Ireland with well over 3200 miles to Washington D.C. and another 2300+ miles to Portland. The only good thing is that I had nearly 3 1/2 hours of layover in Washington so an one-hour delay likely will not cause a problem. A factoid of interest only to me – going from London to Portland via D.C., I am supposed to have a total flight time of 13 hours 57 minutes (8 h 29 m + 5 h 28 m) while the return journey via San Francisco needs only 11 hours 54 minutes (1 h 45 m + 10 h 9 m). Gotta love the jetstream. The layover in San Francisco is under 1 1/2 hours too.
Arguably the most annoying issue is with boredom. My old iPod battery is down to <40% capacity with over 12 hours of journey left to go. The in-flight entertainment option for movies were so poor that I chose to watch a TV program – House M.D. first followed by a sitcom I had never seen before. During the next cycle, I picked Shrek the Third – it was horrendously bad – much worse than the first two Shrek movies. The remaining options are The Hoax (starring Richard Gere), The Last Mimzy (starring Rainn Wilson), Premonition (starring Sandra Bullock), Hot Fuzz (starring Simon Pegg), Next (starring Nicolas Cage), Blind Dating (starring Chris Pine), and the Disney Channel. This has to be by far the worst set of airline movie choices I have ever seen. The eastbound planes has at least 3 movies that sounds more interesting (in no particular order Spider-Man 3, Blades of Glory (Will Ferrell figure skating comedy) and Waitress (Keri Russell drama). Next up for a diversion is a British comedy Hot Fuzz. If all else fails, there’s always the book – The Girl At The Lion D’Or (Sebastian Faulks).
By the way, I’m bothering to write all this because I’m figuring that the day will end with Salsa dancing.
I rarely fall asleep while watching movies – at a theatre or at home. It has happened twice before. The first movie was The Player, which was directed by Robert Altman (he also directed M*A*S*H and Nashville among other movies). The second movie was Bob Roberts starring Tim Robbins, who was also one of main actors in The Player. Both movies are comedy – a satire with subtle humor rather than a slapstick or raunchy obvious comedy. I think I fell asleep to Bob Roberts twice. Or was it The Player? Hot Fuzz now joins that short list. I am not saying that it was a terrible movie. It was probably the least annoying movie I watched today, but it was also the only one I fell asleep to. The third movie was Blind Dating – it was a complete crapshoot. This one was occasionally engaging but ultimately turned out to be quite bad at many levels. I can’t decide which one between Blind Dating and Shrek The Third was worse as far as the scriptwriting was concerned. Combination of bad food and bad entertainment with a slight queasy feeling induced by a brief encounter with air turbulence made me feel very welcome about disembarking the plane at Washington Dulles Airport (as well as dreading another 5+ hours in the air).
To be continued.
Misadventures in travels continues. The alarm went off at 4:55. Shower. Finish packing. Call taxi company at 5:30. Breakfast. Taxi arrives a bit later than expected at 5:42 or 5:43 outside their 5-10 minute estimate. Arrival at National Express station at 5:47 by my watch. There’s a coach leaving – no obvious destination sign. Mine should leave at 5:50. There’s another coach waiting but it’s not the right one. I pay the cab driver and go talk to the driver on the other coach. The coach driver thinks I missed my coach, and the taxi is leaving. Uh oh. I ponder my options. Taking the next coach sounds too risky – it would not get to Heathrow bus station until 9:45, and without a taxi ready I would not be able to catch up with the coach at Trumpington. I call the taxi company again. Hmm. There’s another taxi dropping off someone else so I hang up (but I would have to call the same company again in order to use this taxi – ugh).
Train station at 6. I have to ask the attendant about price difference between taking the Heathrow Express and the Underground one-way and return, and he wonders why I did not know how I would want to get to Heathrow until that moment. Okay so I did not do this perfectly but that doesn’t mean I’m a complete idiot. As the attendant waited for credit card approval for my one-way (single) trip via underground, I replied that I was going to take the coach but that the coach drove off as my taxi got to the station. He turned slightly more sympathetic and asked if I had already bought the ticket for the coach. I replied that return ticket is still good (right?). Of course all this could have been avoided if I called the taxi company 5-10 minutes before I actually did. I boarded 6:15 to Kings Cross.
Arrival at Heathrow at 8:25 or approximately 50 minutes earlier than if I had caught the coach on time. Heathrow is a mess – terminal 3 right now is undergoing renovation so it’s even worse than usual. Check-in took longer than expected, but I was still managed to get past all the security points by 9:05 or before the scheduled time for my coach’s arrival. The gate was not going to be open for a while – the departure time for my plane is 10:50. The only things I lost were money and possibly sleep.
Because of some other airplane having to make an emergency landing (this sounds familiar, no?), the takeoff was delayed by over an hour. Thus at 1:20 PM (still in the same time zone) or almost 8 hours after leaving my house, I was merely flying over Ireland with well over 3200 miles to Washington D.C. and another 2300+ miles to Portland. The only good thing is that I had nearly 3 1/2 hours of layover in Washington so an one-hour delay likely will not cause a problem. A factoid of interest only to me – going from London to Portland via D.C., I am supposed to have a total flight time of 13 hours 57 minutes (8 h 29 m + 5 h 28 m) while the return journey via San Francisco needs only 11 hours 54 minutes (1 h 45 m + 10 h 9 m). Gotta love the jetstream. The layover in San Francisco is under 1 1/2 hours too.
Arguably the most annoying issue is with boredom. My old iPod battery is down to <40% capacity with over 12 hours of journey left to go. The in-flight entertainment option for movies were so poor that I chose to watch a TV program – House M.D. first followed by a sitcom I had never seen before. During the next cycle, I picked Shrek the Third – it was horrendously bad – much worse than the first two Shrek movies. The remaining options are The Hoax (starring Richard Gere), The Last Mimzy (starring Rainn Wilson), Premonition (starring Sandra Bullock), Hot Fuzz (starring Simon Pegg), Next (starring Nicolas Cage), Blind Dating (starring Chris Pine), and the Disney Channel. This has to be by far the worst set of airline movie choices I have ever seen. The eastbound planes has at least 3 movies that sounds more interesting (in no particular order Spider-Man 3, Blades of Glory (Will Ferrell figure skating comedy) and Waitress (Keri Russell drama). Next up for a diversion is a British comedy Hot Fuzz. If all else fails, there’s always the book – The Girl At The Lion D’Or (Sebastian Faulks).
By the way, I’m bothering to write all this because I’m figuring that the day will end with Salsa dancing.
I rarely fall asleep while watching movies – at a theatre or at home. It has happened twice before. The first movie was The Player, which was directed by Robert Altman (he also directed M*A*S*H and Nashville among other movies). The second movie was Bob Roberts starring Tim Robbins, who was also one of main actors in The Player. Both movies are comedy – a satire with subtle humor rather than a slapstick or raunchy obvious comedy. I think I fell asleep to Bob Roberts twice. Or was it The Player? Hot Fuzz now joins that short list. I am not saying that it was a terrible movie. It was probably the least annoying movie I watched today, but it was also the only one I fell asleep to. The third movie was Blind Dating – it was a complete crapshoot. This one was occasionally engaging but ultimately turned out to be quite bad at many levels. I can’t decide which one between Blind Dating and Shrek The Third was worse as far as the scriptwriting was concerned. Combination of bad food and bad entertainment with a slight queasy feeling induced by a brief encounter with air turbulence made me feel very welcome about disembarking the plane at Washington Dulles Airport (as well as dreading another 5+ hours in the air).
To be continued.
Night before PDX
August 30, 2007
Time of arrival – approximately 9:45. Time of departure – approximately 11:30. Both times were affected by the scheduled flight tomorrow morning. It was only a slightly better than average summer Thursday, but I enjoyed myself more than that by some margin.
It was a home crowd – Polly, Andrea, Euvian, Nicola, Sharon, Annette, Charlotte, Jane, Allison, Clara and the Spanish gal whose name I never learned. Among men were Sebastian, Rajiv, Ivan, Hayden, William, Steve and several other good leads from the Cambridge scene. An unusual guest was a lead from London – a big guy I have seen many times at SOS and possibly at Bar Latina. I think he came alone – not sure what the occasion was – not that it matters much and it certainly made it more fun for the girls who got to dance with him.
Music was above average as well and included the current standard fares like La Llave, La-La-La, Rumbon Melon as well as songs in rotation like Vasos De Colores, Fuego A La Jicotea (actually heard this for the first time from Sally – at least in a while), Se Formo La Rumbantela (Javier Vazquez), Lluvia Con Nieve and some new ones like Ave Maria Lola (Conjunto Imagen – again first time from Sally or for that matter anyone besides me), Bailadores (SHO) as well as a bunch of songs I did not recognize but liked anyway (including a nice Descarga with a intro similar to Cairo).
I had one On2 dance with Euvian. It worked quiet well – our best one yet. I think she’s in for a treat especially once Haihan returns. I don’t know if Euvian danced On2 with the London dude – I saw him dancing On2 with Sally later in the evening.
Time of arrival – approximately 9:45. Time of departure – approximately 11:30. Both times were affected by the scheduled flight tomorrow morning. It was only a slightly better than average summer Thursday, but I enjoyed myself more than that by some margin.
It was a home crowd – Polly, Andrea, Euvian, Nicola, Sharon, Annette, Charlotte, Jane, Allison, Clara and the Spanish gal whose name I never learned. Among men were Sebastian, Rajiv, Ivan, Hayden, William, Steve and several other good leads from the Cambridge scene. An unusual guest was a lead from London – a big guy I have seen many times at SOS and possibly at Bar Latina. I think he came alone – not sure what the occasion was – not that it matters much and it certainly made it more fun for the girls who got to dance with him.
Music was above average as well and included the current standard fares like La Llave, La-La-La, Rumbon Melon as well as songs in rotation like Vasos De Colores, Fuego A La Jicotea (actually heard this for the first time from Sally – at least in a while), Se Formo La Rumbantela (Javier Vazquez), Lluvia Con Nieve and some new ones like Ave Maria Lola (Conjunto Imagen – again first time from Sally or for that matter anyone besides me), Bailadores (SHO) as well as a bunch of songs I did not recognize but liked anyway (including a nice Descarga with a intro similar to Cairo).
I had one On2 dance with Euvian. It worked quiet well – our best one yet. I think she’s in for a treat especially once Haihan returns. I don’t know if Euvian danced On2 with the London dude – I saw him dancing On2 with Sally later in the evening.
What about the future?
August 27, 2007
It was all isolations and footwork today. We also went into details of isolation enough that at the end after about an hour or so we had not covered anything hips and below.
The way I see it is that any regular practice even if done somewhat haphazardly should be helpful – unless it’s done really poorly. It's also good to be careful and do things properly do avoid injury.
To shines.
Core beat walks on odd beats or even beats
This is in theory simple except the devil was in the details. Don’t keep feet too far apart. Bend your knees as you step on the other beats then straighten on either beat where walk happens. Add in body positioning (maybe file it under body movement – it’s somewhat like doing figure 8s).
Another chassis on 8and1
1,2,3,5,6,7 Mambo basic (On2 of course)
8and R foot back in place (forward) and then L foot step back
1 R foot crossed over in front of L
and back to basic
Now with some turning (quarter and half turns)
1 R basic start – turn or twisting does not happen until after the first step
2 L cross over R turning quarter clockwise and braking
3 R in place – un-twist start a little after 3
5 L basic – now turned about half counterclockwise
6 back break and brake
7 L in place start turning half clockwise
8and chassis with R slightly crossed behind L and then L foot step back
1 R foot cross over in front of L
and back to basic with quarter turn/twist
We’ve seen something similar in Joe’s class
8 R toe next to L
1 R forward
2 L toe next to R turning quarter counterclockwise
3 L back to about the spot on 7 but turning another quarter counterclockwise (so facing back)
4 R toe next to L
5 R forward
6 L toe next to R turning another quarter counterclockwise
7 L back to about the spot on 3 but turning another quarter counterclockwise (back facing forward)
8 R toe crossed behind L
1 R back to basic
This will be the last On2 session for a while. We'll be taking a 2 week break.
It was all isolations and footwork today. We also went into details of isolation enough that at the end after about an hour or so we had not covered anything hips and below.
The way I see it is that any regular practice even if done somewhat haphazardly should be helpful – unless it’s done really poorly. It's also good to be careful and do things properly do avoid injury.
To shines.
Core beat walks on odd beats or even beats
This is in theory simple except the devil was in the details. Don’t keep feet too far apart. Bend your knees as you step on the other beats then straighten on either beat where walk happens. Add in body positioning (maybe file it under body movement – it’s somewhat like doing figure 8s).
Another chassis on 8and1
1,2,3,5,6,7 Mambo basic (On2 of course)
8and R foot back in place (forward) and then L foot step back
1 R foot crossed over in front of L
and back to basic
Now with some turning (quarter and half turns)
1 R basic start – turn or twisting does not happen until after the first step
2 L cross over R turning quarter clockwise and braking
3 R in place – un-twist start a little after 3
5 L basic – now turned about half counterclockwise
6 back break and brake
7 L in place start turning half clockwise
8and chassis with R slightly crossed behind L and then L foot step back
1 R foot cross over in front of L
and back to basic with quarter turn/twist
We’ve seen something similar in Joe’s class
8 R toe next to L
1 R forward
2 L toe next to R turning quarter counterclockwise
3 L back to about the spot on 7 but turning another quarter counterclockwise (so facing back)
4 R toe next to L
5 R forward
6 L toe next to R turning another quarter counterclockwise
7 L back to about the spot on 3 but turning another quarter counterclockwise (back facing forward)
8 R toe crossed behind L
1 R back to basic
This will be the last On2 session for a while. We'll be taking a 2 week break.
Catch her if you can
August 26, 2007
I must have arrived at 9 on the dot. Some people were milling around the Club Salsa entrance, which was closed. Others were standing by the gravel parking space. As I approached the nearest group, I asked if Vishal was here. Apparently he was around but not just then. Just then the coach from Ely appeared and stopped a short distance away. I went to see the drive to make sure it was the one for the Scala. Then I started telling people to board the bus.
I saw Mimi talking with a group including Sebastian, Ed and Rachel in the Sauce. That was a pleasant surprise. She had on a really nice black dress. I think I complimented her and said she looked stunning. I’m not really sure if I said that. In any case she really was. I told them to go grab some seats fast and save a space for me before going off to tell others to do the same.
I went around the Sauce, then to Club Salsa entrance, back to Sauce where I saw Sebastian and all still standing about but without Mimi, who decided to take a detour apparently having been reminded of a fiasco on one of our drives to the Rocket. I think they ended up being one of the last groups of people to claim seats at the front of the coach – Sebastian and Mimi directly behind the driver and Rachel and Ed next row down.
I finally spotted Vishal when I returned to the coach. He asked me to count the number of people in the coach. First I counted 26 then I counted 28. Vishal said he saw 27 and confirmed it himself. Math is hard.
Sally, Lindsey and Charlotte were the last to arrive making it 30. They took seats immediately behind us – Sally and Lindsey a row behind me and Charlotte behind Ed. I believe this was a first London Salsa outing for Charlotte. I ended up in what I could call navigator’s spot next to John. Vishal claimed the back end of the coach, which I guess was like the party central for the coach with drinks flowing and with raucous talking. I don’t think Vish succeeded in getting anyone to sing this time, however – no ready accomplices like Lindsey and Nicola this time in the back row to take up the dare.
At first I talked mostly with Mimi. She told me that she finally found a different job – in Singapore/Australia. That killed me. I felt speechless – at least for a moment or two. I knew that she had been trying to do something like this for a long time. I guess I must have muttered a few things like congratulations and about shorter commute to Hong Kong (~3 hours!) and asked about the new job and happening at the old and so on. Also about the best time to visit – sooner the better – when it’s really awful here if we are talking about the weather. Also the topic somehow spilled into her personality – EQ and all that. God damn it. I’m really going to miss her – I don’t have very many people here I have such easy relationship with. She’s quiet unique really – especially for a girl. I don’t think there was ever a moment when she had any negative feelings about me. Perhaps more important I never felt worried about her being angry, distrustful, annoyed and all that about me. She does get along with most people really well of course.
As drinks were getting passed around, I reminded Sally about the stop the coach made on its last trip to Scala. With 30 people onboard I guess it was inevitable. When the driver complained of the camera flashes – it made him think that it might be a speed camera – so that I walked to the back to relay his request that people stop using their camera, some people asked about a toilet break. I said I’ll talk to the driver about it. The driver remembered the petrol station slash convenience store from the last time. Unfortunately it was closed for construction when we got there. I think the last mile or so must have been a hellacious time – I had no urge to go but I could almost feel the tension from several rows back. It’s going to blow! It held until the coach disembarked right outside Scala.
There were a number of people who arrived independently from Cambridge. No need to mention them all – it’s almost certainly not welcome anyway. I don’t think Rajiv or Richard would mind though. Also not a few former Cambridge people like Natalie and Rico. Chris was also there. I also bumped into and chatted a little with Liam.
Poor old Mimi. She did not have a proper dinner before coming. Because she already paid Vish, she would have to go in with us, and Scala does not allow re-entry. So she took a Snickers bar from me. She asked me to hold some money for her, which involved a conversational gaffe (I’ll skip this) – I also borrowed a twenty from her after discovering that my wallet was not in my pocket. When the social started, we started with a couple of dances – nothing wrong with this. However, within two or three songs she came back to me with a sprained ankle asking for her money back. She said she will take the train back to Cambridge because she didn’t think she could dance anymore. Half an hour or so later though I saw her again – apparently there were no more trains tonight. So she was stuck until the coach was ready to take us home - that was a wait of more than 5 hours.
I brought a couple of extra shirts with me this time. After about an hour or so, I switched to a short-sleeved shirt. I did not find a spot with a nice cool breeze until well after 3 although I ended up not making a big use out of it afterwards.
Coming to London is not as exciting as it used to be. I like it still but it’s not the same. I guess it’s not all about dancing either although it must be a big part of the equation too. Take tonight for instance. Most of the dances were good. Every one with Cambridge-associated people was decent – average at worst and in one instance the best dance I had yet with that particular person. In fact pretty much all of the dances with everyone else was decent too. Some people seemed almost thrilled to dance with me whether from the outset or as the dance wore on. Some appeared pleasantly surprised or at least amused. This is still good but is no longer novel - just a different set of people. So this all sounds good, right? Yes and no. Novelty was not the only thing lacking - I'm not sure if I want to delve into it right now.
On negative side there were a couple of dances, which I thought was led in a bland uninteresting with too much unnecessary moves – it did not help that the song was boring. This is bound to happen. Worse were two dances. One because my partner seemed very unimpressed – it might not have helped that I went in thinking that it probably won’t be any good. Again, this happens to everyone. Some people who are impressed with me might think poorly of one of my friends while another who is impressed with another of my friend might think poorly of my dancing. The other one was more unusual involved my partner collapsing to the ground on her buttocks – I don't know why or how that happened. The scene turned more bizarre because the girl in question became upset and left in tears - not because of pain but perhaps out of frustration or embarrassment. I really don't know. An explanation given to me was that she is very young - I'm unsure what to make of that either except maybe that young people are more likely to lack perspective and thus likely to blow things out of proportion. Perhaps I shouldn't talk about it and will regret having said this much. Also I suppose there was a third dance where I accidentally bumped into Sebastian twice within a minute or so – I have no idea why the collision happened – I don’t think I was moving a lot. This might sound funny but my partner at the time seeming extra cautious about moving might have made it worse – maybe it made me overcompensate. Scala Bank Holidays really does get too crowded. It really does. Perhaps this is not surprising. After all, their main floor has barely more total space for dancing compared to Bar Salsa.
One of the highlights of the event was the dance competition.
The amateur competition was won by the winner of one of the Scala heats I watched earlier this year. At the heat, they were dancing On2 but I wasn’t paying enough attention to see if they were dancing On2 tonight. I liked their music choice the best – the guy sitting next to me complained that it sounded too old but I like the old sound. The winning couple were head and shoulders better than the third place (couple number 1) and the fourth place (couple number 2) in my opinion. The second place finishers (couple number 4) were quite good too and had put on a real crowd pleaser with decent partner work (which I felt the bottom two especially the fourth place showed way too little) thrown in. I actually thought that couple number 4 was going to win and might have rooted for them a little even though the winning couple was better dancing-wise. I think a part of the reason why I did not predict them to win was because the dance seemed too much like plain good social dancing seemingly thrown together with choreography in mind (note: this is different from musicality – they were quite good on that account without being too obvious about it) and I thought the judges would be looking for more than that. It’s rather ironic for me to say this because the way the winning couple danced was by far the closest to the way I would like to dance sans making a visible effort to engage an outside audience (e.g. by making eye contact with the audience or dancing to the audience during shines, etc).
The professional level competition was won by Lee and Shelley. Hooray. The couple who came in second just didn’t grab me aesthetically – I think I have seen them or at least the girl several times before. Third place went to Laith Sami, who my mind I was actively rooting against. Nothing personal against him. For all I know he’s a great guy. In reality I don’t know any of the competitors aside from having few superficial and brief conversations with Lee and Shelley. Laith can put together a fairly entertaining dance routine. What I don’t like is that he seem to represent what I might consider very strong and forceful lead in social dancing, and I didn’t want such to be advocated or become representative of Salsa in England or anywhere else. I guess it’s a bizarre maybe twisted reason for hoping one couple to win over another. For whatever it’s worth, I did like Lee and Shelley’s routine the best – albeit by a rather small margin and the first word that comes to my mind to describe it is ‘clean’ rather than a more grand word like ‘spectacular’ or ‘sublime’.
How about the music? It was typical. Not horrible except for a few patches with really poor sound. There was one song where you could barely hear Conga drums and the bass both rather muffled and essentially nothing else. The system had a hiccup or two on at least two other songs. Generally songs I recognized and liked (e.g. Mambo Mongo, Merecumbe, La Salsa Nunca Se Acaba) were too popular for everyone else too. Other songs I remember being played include Hacha Y Machete (Alfredo De La Fe), Ahora Quien, Contigo (I'm not completely sure), La-La-La (DLI), Otra Oportunidad (I think so, not sure again), a seemingly newer version of Swing La Moderna (the only version on the internet I could find was by Mandingo Y Su Son… not sure if this was it).
Not much else. I found my wallet on my seat back in the coach. Almost everyone was asleep for the trip back and I talked with Ed, who stayed up the whole time.
Book of the moment - Catcher in the Rye - J. D. Salinger (I must be careful or I'll run out of reading material before Friday)
I must have arrived at 9 on the dot. Some people were milling around the Club Salsa entrance, which was closed. Others were standing by the gravel parking space. As I approached the nearest group, I asked if Vishal was here. Apparently he was around but not just then. Just then the coach from Ely appeared and stopped a short distance away. I went to see the drive to make sure it was the one for the Scala. Then I started telling people to board the bus.
I saw Mimi talking with a group including Sebastian, Ed and Rachel in the Sauce. That was a pleasant surprise. She had on a really nice black dress. I think I complimented her and said she looked stunning. I’m not really sure if I said that. In any case she really was. I told them to go grab some seats fast and save a space for me before going off to tell others to do the same.
I went around the Sauce, then to Club Salsa entrance, back to Sauce where I saw Sebastian and all still standing about but without Mimi, who decided to take a detour apparently having been reminded of a fiasco on one of our drives to the Rocket. I think they ended up being one of the last groups of people to claim seats at the front of the coach – Sebastian and Mimi directly behind the driver and Rachel and Ed next row down.
I finally spotted Vishal when I returned to the coach. He asked me to count the number of people in the coach. First I counted 26 then I counted 28. Vishal said he saw 27 and confirmed it himself. Math is hard.
Sally, Lindsey and Charlotte were the last to arrive making it 30. They took seats immediately behind us – Sally and Lindsey a row behind me and Charlotte behind Ed. I believe this was a first London Salsa outing for Charlotte. I ended up in what I could call navigator’s spot next to John. Vishal claimed the back end of the coach, which I guess was like the party central for the coach with drinks flowing and with raucous talking. I don’t think Vish succeeded in getting anyone to sing this time, however – no ready accomplices like Lindsey and Nicola this time in the back row to take up the dare.
At first I talked mostly with Mimi. She told me that she finally found a different job – in Singapore/Australia. That killed me. I felt speechless – at least for a moment or two. I knew that she had been trying to do something like this for a long time. I guess I must have muttered a few things like congratulations and about shorter commute to Hong Kong (~3 hours!) and asked about the new job and happening at the old and so on. Also about the best time to visit – sooner the better – when it’s really awful here if we are talking about the weather. Also the topic somehow spilled into her personality – EQ and all that. God damn it. I’m really going to miss her – I don’t have very many people here I have such easy relationship with. She’s quiet unique really – especially for a girl. I don’t think there was ever a moment when she had any negative feelings about me. Perhaps more important I never felt worried about her being angry, distrustful, annoyed and all that about me. She does get along with most people really well of course.
As drinks were getting passed around, I reminded Sally about the stop the coach made on its last trip to Scala. With 30 people onboard I guess it was inevitable. When the driver complained of the camera flashes – it made him think that it might be a speed camera – so that I walked to the back to relay his request that people stop using their camera, some people asked about a toilet break. I said I’ll talk to the driver about it. The driver remembered the petrol station slash convenience store from the last time. Unfortunately it was closed for construction when we got there. I think the last mile or so must have been a hellacious time – I had no urge to go but I could almost feel the tension from several rows back. It’s going to blow! It held until the coach disembarked right outside Scala.
There were a number of people who arrived independently from Cambridge. No need to mention them all – it’s almost certainly not welcome anyway. I don’t think Rajiv or Richard would mind though. Also not a few former Cambridge people like Natalie and Rico. Chris was also there. I also bumped into and chatted a little with Liam.
Poor old Mimi. She did not have a proper dinner before coming. Because she already paid Vish, she would have to go in with us, and Scala does not allow re-entry. So she took a Snickers bar from me. She asked me to hold some money for her, which involved a conversational gaffe (I’ll skip this) – I also borrowed a twenty from her after discovering that my wallet was not in my pocket. When the social started, we started with a couple of dances – nothing wrong with this. However, within two or three songs she came back to me with a sprained ankle asking for her money back. She said she will take the train back to Cambridge because she didn’t think she could dance anymore. Half an hour or so later though I saw her again – apparently there were no more trains tonight. So she was stuck until the coach was ready to take us home - that was a wait of more than 5 hours.
I brought a couple of extra shirts with me this time. After about an hour or so, I switched to a short-sleeved shirt. I did not find a spot with a nice cool breeze until well after 3 although I ended up not making a big use out of it afterwards.
Coming to London is not as exciting as it used to be. I like it still but it’s not the same. I guess it’s not all about dancing either although it must be a big part of the equation too. Take tonight for instance. Most of the dances were good. Every one with Cambridge-associated people was decent – average at worst and in one instance the best dance I had yet with that particular person. In fact pretty much all of the dances with everyone else was decent too. Some people seemed almost thrilled to dance with me whether from the outset or as the dance wore on. Some appeared pleasantly surprised or at least amused. This is still good but is no longer novel - just a different set of people. So this all sounds good, right? Yes and no. Novelty was not the only thing lacking - I'm not sure if I want to delve into it right now.
On negative side there were a couple of dances, which I thought was led in a bland uninteresting with too much unnecessary moves – it did not help that the song was boring. This is bound to happen. Worse were two dances. One because my partner seemed very unimpressed – it might not have helped that I went in thinking that it probably won’t be any good. Again, this happens to everyone. Some people who are impressed with me might think poorly of one of my friends while another who is impressed with another of my friend might think poorly of my dancing. The other one was more unusual involved my partner collapsing to the ground on her buttocks – I don't know why or how that happened. The scene turned more bizarre because the girl in question became upset and left in tears - not because of pain but perhaps out of frustration or embarrassment. I really don't know. An explanation given to me was that she is very young - I'm unsure what to make of that either except maybe that young people are more likely to lack perspective and thus likely to blow things out of proportion. Perhaps I shouldn't talk about it and will regret having said this much. Also I suppose there was a third dance where I accidentally bumped into Sebastian twice within a minute or so – I have no idea why the collision happened – I don’t think I was moving a lot. This might sound funny but my partner at the time seeming extra cautious about moving might have made it worse – maybe it made me overcompensate. Scala Bank Holidays really does get too crowded. It really does. Perhaps this is not surprising. After all, their main floor has barely more total space for dancing compared to Bar Salsa.
One of the highlights of the event was the dance competition.
The amateur competition was won by the winner of one of the Scala heats I watched earlier this year. At the heat, they were dancing On2 but I wasn’t paying enough attention to see if they were dancing On2 tonight. I liked their music choice the best – the guy sitting next to me complained that it sounded too old but I like the old sound. The winning couple were head and shoulders better than the third place (couple number 1) and the fourth place (couple number 2) in my opinion. The second place finishers (couple number 4) were quite good too and had put on a real crowd pleaser with decent partner work (which I felt the bottom two especially the fourth place showed way too little) thrown in. I actually thought that couple number 4 was going to win and might have rooted for them a little even though the winning couple was better dancing-wise. I think a part of the reason why I did not predict them to win was because the dance seemed too much like plain good social dancing seemingly thrown together with choreography in mind (note: this is different from musicality – they were quite good on that account without being too obvious about it) and I thought the judges would be looking for more than that. It’s rather ironic for me to say this because the way the winning couple danced was by far the closest to the way I would like to dance sans making a visible effort to engage an outside audience (e.g. by making eye contact with the audience or dancing to the audience during shines, etc).
The professional level competition was won by Lee and Shelley. Hooray. The couple who came in second just didn’t grab me aesthetically – I think I have seen them or at least the girl several times before. Third place went to Laith Sami, who my mind I was actively rooting against. Nothing personal against him. For all I know he’s a great guy. In reality I don’t know any of the competitors aside from having few superficial and brief conversations with Lee and Shelley. Laith can put together a fairly entertaining dance routine. What I don’t like is that he seem to represent what I might consider very strong and forceful lead in social dancing, and I didn’t want such to be advocated or become representative of Salsa in England or anywhere else. I guess it’s a bizarre maybe twisted reason for hoping one couple to win over another. For whatever it’s worth, I did like Lee and Shelley’s routine the best – albeit by a rather small margin and the first word that comes to my mind to describe it is ‘clean’ rather than a more grand word like ‘spectacular’ or ‘sublime’.
How about the music? It was typical. Not horrible except for a few patches with really poor sound. There was one song where you could barely hear Conga drums and the bass both rather muffled and essentially nothing else. The system had a hiccup or two on at least two other songs. Generally songs I recognized and liked (e.g. Mambo Mongo, Merecumbe, La Salsa Nunca Se Acaba) were too popular for everyone else too. Other songs I remember being played include Hacha Y Machete (Alfredo De La Fe), Ahora Quien, Contigo (I'm not completely sure), La-La-La (DLI), Otra Oportunidad (I think so, not sure again), a seemingly newer version of Swing La Moderna (the only version on the internet I could find was by Mandingo Y Su Son… not sure if this was it).
Not much else. I found my wallet on my seat back in the coach. Almost everyone was asleep for the trip back and I talked with Ed, who stayed up the whole time.
Book of the moment - Catcher in the Rye - J. D. Salinger (I must be careful or I'll run out of reading material before Friday)
Can't wait for...
August 24, 2007
It was a rather quiet night perhaps because people are saving themselves for the big weekend. I'm guessing I had about eight dances. People tell me things will be back to normal more or less next week. I suppose I'll be here on Thursday to see if this will be true but not on Friday thanks to a friend's wedding. Also Johnny and Serap should return at some point, which should help to restore normalcy. And the start of Michaelmas term should lead to a spike of interest. Some of the more amusing things I did include showing some basic bachata steps to a newbie and talking about and showing some leading technique with Sharon. There was a dance for Robert - I'm guessing it was a birthday dance but I'm not completely sure - it might have been a farewell dance too.
According to Vish, around 30 people signed up for the Scala coach. 9 to 5… It's going to be exhausting. Vishal also mentioned that Tony Lara is booked for November.
Book of the moment - The Outsider by Albert Camus.
It was a rather quiet night perhaps because people are saving themselves for the big weekend. I'm guessing I had about eight dances. People tell me things will be back to normal more or less next week. I suppose I'll be here on Thursday to see if this will be true but not on Friday thanks to a friend's wedding. Also Johnny and Serap should return at some point, which should help to restore normalcy. And the start of Michaelmas term should lead to a spike of interest. Some of the more amusing things I did include showing some basic bachata steps to a newbie and talking about and showing some leading technique with Sharon. There was a dance for Robert - I'm guessing it was a birthday dance but I'm not completely sure - it might have been a farewell dance too.
According to Vish, around 30 people signed up for the Scala coach. 9 to 5… It's going to be exhausting. Vishal also mentioned that Tony Lara is booked for November.
Book of the moment - The Outsider by Albert Camus.
My so-called summer
August 23, 2007
What's with the weather? I wore short sleeved shirt for less than 2 weeks this year. People were wearing winter coats Monday. Many still are. It was very warm in April. Of course I had to spend much of warm April in cold Madrid. Boston was no picnic, but I think I must saw more really nice pleasant days than in Cambridge. And Portland - it had glorious summers. Maybe I will look back and think it wasn't that bad when I am long gone from here. I don't think this so-called summer will be the highlight though.
When I arrived at Club Salsa, I found the door locked. There was a lesson going on downstairs but no one was there to man the collection booth. So with Sebastian (who arrived right after me) in tow, I went back to Sauce - which I earlier abandoned because the table occupied by Rajiv, Polly et al had no room left at all. After getting our drinks, Sebastian and I joined a table occupied by Steve and Kirsty instead. The main topic was "what do we do?" dwelling most on Steve.
No Sergio today - once again. Blame it on House. No Cyrille either. No idea what's going on there. Others were gone on the account of being done with Master's (belated congratulations - now for the next degree), coughing lungs out (or post viva withdrawal perhaps? - it's a great summer), commute & S.O., being more than 10000 kilometers away (and enjoying hot weather), France, Germany, etc. Still it felt quite crowded once again, and I managed to squeeze in a couple of On2 dances thanks to EV.
My dancing was (or could be described as) energetic, spontaneous, rough, messy, showy, nutty and/or selfish. Not sure if it was good but it was fun.
What's with the weather? I wore short sleeved shirt for less than 2 weeks this year. People were wearing winter coats Monday. Many still are. It was very warm in April. Of course I had to spend much of warm April in cold Madrid. Boston was no picnic, but I think I must saw more really nice pleasant days than in Cambridge. And Portland - it had glorious summers. Maybe I will look back and think it wasn't that bad when I am long gone from here. I don't think this so-called summer will be the highlight though.
When I arrived at Club Salsa, I found the door locked. There was a lesson going on downstairs but no one was there to man the collection booth. So with Sebastian (who arrived right after me) in tow, I went back to Sauce - which I earlier abandoned because the table occupied by Rajiv, Polly et al had no room left at all. After getting our drinks, Sebastian and I joined a table occupied by Steve and Kirsty instead. The main topic was "what do we do?" dwelling most on Steve.
No Sergio today - once again. Blame it on House. No Cyrille either. No idea what's going on there. Others were gone on the account of being done with Master's (belated congratulations - now for the next degree), coughing lungs out (or post viva withdrawal perhaps? - it's a great summer), commute & S.O., being more than 10000 kilometers away (and enjoying hot weather), France, Germany, etc. Still it felt quite crowded once again, and I managed to squeeze in a couple of On2 dances thanks to EV.
My dancing was (or could be described as) energetic, spontaneous, rough, messy, showy, nutty and/or selfish. Not sure if it was good but it was fun.
My chest is sore
August 20, 2007
Tonight’s session – with a slightly late start – began with timing or calling time on various beats whether it’s 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 or one of those -and (e.g. 4-and and 8-and) beats or calling some combinations (1,3,5,7 or 2,4,6,8 or 2,4,4-and,6,8,8-and, etc). People of different musical background would have differing level of difficulty with Salsa music timing, but the solution likely is the same for everyone – a lot of active listening to many different songs of many variety.
The isolation segment went back to basics. It was more about making adjustments to make sure the movement exercises were done more properly. One would think that this might have made the session less intense. Not so. I was getting exhausted and sore especially doing chest movements. Right now I would say that I find some aspects of neck movements most difficult (I’m not sure if I want to try hard to get better at this because the idea of neck injury scares me too much). I would rate chest movement as the next most difficult, followed by shoulders, then feet, then hips. I’m not completely sure but I imagine moving hips is one of the easier ones for everyone. If it weren’t for the fact that Sergio doesn’t think I don’t have weight transfers and such down pat, I would have said that feet is easy. As it is I have no idea how my feet are doing – just no idea what kind of assessment would be reasonable. Umm. My chest hurts as I type.
There were too many shines. The ones I remember are as follows.
2 L cross over R with 1/4 turn clockwise
3 R in place
4 L backwards charge with 1/4 turn counterclockwise and doing a Cha Cha chassis with…
5 L ending slightly ahead of R
6 R behind L closer
7 L slightly forward
8 Cha Cha chassis with…
1 R foot
2,3 forward basic
1,2,3 forward basic
4and5 Cha cha chassis
5and R foot quick in front of L
6 R foot back in place
6and L foot quick in front of R
7 L foot back in place
8and1 Cha cha chassis
2,3 forward basic
There was a third one but I was feeling a little too overloaded.
6,7,1,2,3,5 CBL and switch to R-R
6,7,1,2,3 prepare and lead follower to single right turn (clockwise) stationary
5,6,7 step to L with R foot on 5 and proceed to do a walking turn counterclockwise getting to or near CBL position with only L-L connection left intact
1,2,3 lead follower into travelling counterclockwise turn (follower slightly facing away from leader on 2 with leader’s free R hand on follower’s back (for some signalling purpose?) before leading counterclockwise turn on 3
5 L-L is brought close to leader at about his L shoulder as leader turns (swivel turn on R foot – I was getting confused by the distance issue here – perhaps needlessly … I was probably turning way too late – not exactly sure where but I usually ended up a beat or two slow by the end)
6 continue to turn clockwise… only need be turned full by now to face follower – on L foot now – there’s also a brief disconnect and reconnect with L-L
7 on R foot now with another half turn clockwise switching to R-L low
1 possibly CBL position or maybe not – getting ready to lead follower to a free travelling counterclockwise turn
Tonight’s session – with a slightly late start – began with timing or calling time on various beats whether it’s 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 or one of those -and (e.g. 4-and and 8-and) beats or calling some combinations (1,3,5,7 or 2,4,6,8 or 2,4,4-and,6,8,8-and, etc). People of different musical background would have differing level of difficulty with Salsa music timing, but the solution likely is the same for everyone – a lot of active listening to many different songs of many variety.
The isolation segment went back to basics. It was more about making adjustments to make sure the movement exercises were done more properly. One would think that this might have made the session less intense. Not so. I was getting exhausted and sore especially doing chest movements. Right now I would say that I find some aspects of neck movements most difficult (I’m not sure if I want to try hard to get better at this because the idea of neck injury scares me too much). I would rate chest movement as the next most difficult, followed by shoulders, then feet, then hips. I’m not completely sure but I imagine moving hips is one of the easier ones for everyone. If it weren’t for the fact that Sergio doesn’t think I don’t have weight transfers and such down pat, I would have said that feet is easy. As it is I have no idea how my feet are doing – just no idea what kind of assessment would be reasonable. Umm. My chest hurts as I type.
There were too many shines. The ones I remember are as follows.
2 L cross over R with 1/4 turn clockwise
3 R in place
4 L backwards charge with 1/4 turn counterclockwise and doing a Cha Cha chassis with…
5 L ending slightly ahead of R
6 R behind L closer
7 L slightly forward
8 Cha Cha chassis with…
1 R foot
2,3 forward basic
1,2,3 forward basic
4and5 Cha cha chassis
5and R foot quick in front of L
6 R foot back in place
6and L foot quick in front of R
7 L foot back in place
8and1 Cha cha chassis
2,3 forward basic
There was a third one but I was feeling a little too overloaded.
6,7,1,2,3,5 CBL and switch to R-R
6,7,1,2,3 prepare and lead follower to single right turn (clockwise) stationary
5,6,7 step to L with R foot on 5 and proceed to do a walking turn counterclockwise getting to or near CBL position with only L-L connection left intact
1,2,3 lead follower into travelling counterclockwise turn (follower slightly facing away from leader on 2 with leader’s free R hand on follower’s back (for some signalling purpose?) before leading counterclockwise turn on 3
5 L-L is brought close to leader at about his L shoulder as leader turns (swivel turn on R foot – I was getting confused by the distance issue here – perhaps needlessly … I was probably turning way too late – not exactly sure where but I usually ended up a beat or two slow by the end)
6 continue to turn clockwise… only need be turned full by now to face follower – on L foot now – there’s also a brief disconnect and reconnect with L-L
7 on R foot now with another half turn clockwise switching to R-L low
1 possibly CBL position or maybe not – getting ready to lead follower to a free travelling counterclockwise turn
Treading water
August 19, 2007
It wasn’t a sure thing. I hesitated before departing. There was not much of a motivation - aside from feeling of having danced not very much for much of the month. I ended up leaving from work around 6:40 without having a dinner beforehand.
SOS is still being held at the Royal Sonesta Hotel. The walls separating the two rooms on the north side was removed completely thus improving the circulation. There was one fan placed on the north side by the northwest corner of the wooden floor.
I spotted three people I associate with Cambridge – Ed, Laura and Liam, and chatted with each of them over the course of the evening. I find it somewhat amusing that in case of Laura and Liam, the last time I spoke to either of them was in London many weeks ago.
I think I had about 15-20 dances tonight. It was nice dancing with different people and to different music – although the music was very up and down in quality. I mostly asked people who I was surer of being interested in dancing with me. This meant I was mostly avoiding people who struck me as being stuck-up even if they might be marginally better. It also meant avoiding anyone who I felt gave me remotest sign of negativity real or imagined. I think I might have been a little self-conscious tonight and felt a bit second or even third class. It feels like aside from getting somewhat better at adding musical interpretation to my dancing, I haven’t improved very much with dancing On1. Then again, it feels like my dancing On2 is improving at a glacier pace too.
Songs I recognized and remember include Chanchullo (Fania All-Stars?? not sure), La Muerte (El Gran Combo), El Paso De Encarnacion (not sure which version but I think I heard Tony play the same version before), Cuando Te Vea (Tito Puente), Puerto Rico-Adoracion Medley (Eddie Palmieri???), A Gozar Con Mi Combo (Cachao), Lady (some new version), Caballo Viejo (Roberto Torres). The song selections were okay but not great – I would have preferred to have some of the named songs not played.
I ended up chatting with Liam a bit at the end of the evening. During this conversation, we were handed a flier for a Salsa event. I think this event is worth mentioning for Cambridge folks.
--
Breast Cancer Salsa Charity Event
All the sponsors, organizers, performers and instructors, fliers, venue, etc are provided free for this event. All proceeds will go to Breakthrough Breast Cancer Charity (www.breakthrough.org.uk). They are hoping to raise £4000 through this event.
Date: Bank Holiday Monday August 27th (i.e. the day after Scala all-nighter)
Location: The Corn Exchange, 31 Market Place, Hitchin, Herts SG5 1DY (~20 minute drive from Cambridge)
Guest Instructors: Laith Sami and Miriam Oppel (styling classes 7:20-7:55 PM, advanced partner work 8-9 PM)
Performers: Shelley & Lee, Diablo Dance Company, and three other couples performing Blues, Cha Cha and Tango.
Entry: minimum donation of £10 per person.
For more detail, go to www.salsamachine.co.uk
So at the very worst, the money will go to a good cause. They must be hoping for at least 300 people to attend the event so the party might be of decent quality (assuming any profit from drinks go to charity as well). Club Salsa won’t be open that day so it’s not like there will be another Salsa option in Cambridge.
--
Speaking of Bank Holiday, Vish asked me to talk about signing up for the coach to Scala. If you are interested in going, taking the coach seems like the sane way to go. So talk to him and don’t wait until Sunday – do it by Weds, Thurs or surely Friday by latest.
It wasn’t a sure thing. I hesitated before departing. There was not much of a motivation - aside from feeling of having danced not very much for much of the month. I ended up leaving from work around 6:40 without having a dinner beforehand.
SOS is still being held at the Royal Sonesta Hotel. The walls separating the two rooms on the north side was removed completely thus improving the circulation. There was one fan placed on the north side by the northwest corner of the wooden floor.
I spotted three people I associate with Cambridge – Ed, Laura and Liam, and chatted with each of them over the course of the evening. I find it somewhat amusing that in case of Laura and Liam, the last time I spoke to either of them was in London many weeks ago.
I think I had about 15-20 dances tonight. It was nice dancing with different people and to different music – although the music was very up and down in quality. I mostly asked people who I was surer of being interested in dancing with me. This meant I was mostly avoiding people who struck me as being stuck-up even if they might be marginally better. It also meant avoiding anyone who I felt gave me remotest sign of negativity real or imagined. I think I might have been a little self-conscious tonight and felt a bit second or even third class. It feels like aside from getting somewhat better at adding musical interpretation to my dancing, I haven’t improved very much with dancing On1. Then again, it feels like my dancing On2 is improving at a glacier pace too.
Songs I recognized and remember include Chanchullo (Fania All-Stars?? not sure), La Muerte (El Gran Combo), El Paso De Encarnacion (not sure which version but I think I heard Tony play the same version before), Cuando Te Vea (Tito Puente), Puerto Rico-Adoracion Medley (Eddie Palmieri???), A Gozar Con Mi Combo (Cachao), Lady (some new version), Caballo Viejo (Roberto Torres). The song selections were okay but not great – I would have preferred to have some of the named songs not played.
I ended up chatting with Liam a bit at the end of the evening. During this conversation, we were handed a flier for a Salsa event. I think this event is worth mentioning for Cambridge folks.
--
Breast Cancer Salsa Charity Event
All the sponsors, organizers, performers and instructors, fliers, venue, etc are provided free for this event. All proceeds will go to Breakthrough Breast Cancer Charity (www.breakthrough.org.uk). They are hoping to raise £4000 through this event.
Date: Bank Holiday Monday August 27th (i.e. the day after Scala all-nighter)
Location: The Corn Exchange, 31 Market Place, Hitchin, Herts SG5 1DY (~20 minute drive from Cambridge)
Guest Instructors: Laith Sami and Miriam Oppel (styling classes 7:20-7:55 PM, advanced partner work 8-9 PM)
Performers: Shelley & Lee, Diablo Dance Company, and three other couples performing Blues, Cha Cha and Tango.
Entry: minimum donation of £10 per person.
For more detail, go to www.salsamachine.co.uk
So at the very worst, the money will go to a good cause. They must be hoping for at least 300 people to attend the event so the party might be of decent quality (assuming any profit from drinks go to charity as well). Club Salsa won’t be open that day so it’s not like there will be another Salsa option in Cambridge.
--
Speaking of Bank Holiday, Vish asked me to talk about signing up for the coach to Scala. If you are interested in going, taking the coach seems like the sane way to go. So talk to him and don’t wait until Sunday – do it by Weds, Thurs or surely Friday by latest.
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