Belfast

Spent the tail end of last week at a conference in Belfast (oops, that's blown my cover - mentioned it to a couple of people in the Toad last night) which luckily coincided with their Fiesta Latina. Saturday night's charity salsa disco was a great way of working off the frustrations of listening to several days of waffle in English and French.

The standard of the women was very high and nobody seemed to have a diva attitude - I danced with some of the best women there and they were all friendly (should have expected that, as Anne who's originally from Ballymena was responsible from getting me into salsa in the first place). All CBL style, none of this strange dancing round in circles (sorry Clare!) The music was very good too, with the exception of the Cha Cha Slide (thought I'd heard the last of that now Paul has promised to bin his copy).

Didn't pay too much attention to the standard of the men: some were very good, and the guy who beat us in the Mario/Maria competition definitely deserved to win - but there were a lot of beginners around because they were running a 'learn salsa in a weekend' series of classes. More women than men, which was good for me (I hardly stopped dancing) but must be a bit frustrating for the girls. As in Cardiff there are a few women learning to lead in order not to spend half the evening hanging around.

Thanks to the organisers SalsaBelfast, the extremely friendly and welcoming crowd, and to Helen, an excellent dancer who I was lucky enough to get in the Mario/Maria. I was also impressed with the workshop on Sunday by Chris who teaches at the university on Tuesdays: very clear, only taught three measures over an hour which to my mind is how salsa should be taught. Also meant that I came back to Cardiff with a move that nobody else does. (Mind you, hardly anyone can follow it so I need to refine it a bit!)