Another Saturday night

Last Thursday was subdued for obvious reasons. Main item of interest was the Amazon sisters: very tall, young and friendly, and only one of them was obviously attached so the other one was targeted by le(e)ches. Some people never learn that the etiquette is pretty straightforward in these cases: ask her for one dance, thank your lucky stars that she dances with you, dance with her nicely then say thank you. Wait for her to ask you for another dance. Don't monopolise her for several dances while her smile becomes fixed...I once encountered a woman hiding behind a pillar in the Toad to try and avoid having to dance with one of these people.

Other good things about Thursday: dancing with Carol again (good to see her back into salsa: triathlon's loss is salsa's gain) and a nice dance with VaguelyCuban whose name I've forgotten (dark hair and glasses). She's really good: precise, fast and graceful, seems to glide across the floor. Gets the LA switches of direction with no problem, but she instantly revealed her Cuban dance background the first time I tried a wristlock half turn and back: LA girls will turn more or less on the spot, Cuban dancers walk back and forth. (Learnt that one from dancing with you, Clare.)

Saturday I went to Tall Paul's event at the David Lloyd centre, after debating whether to go to the Samba Gales event instead. Paul's obviously put a lot of effort into organising it but it wasn't the greatest salsa night ever. Points against: room with little atmosphere, intermittently dodgy music. Paul does tend to favour cheesy stuff with lyrics in English, though there was some good stuff as well. Very few of the usual Cardiff gang there - mostly Paul's students from the David Lloyd centre. Points in favour: Joe Lantelli's class was entertaining, though I have to admit I rarely pick up anything I'm actually going to use from his lessons. Spectacular dance display from Joe and Siobhan (I found out why Joe has that unusual haircut - I won't spoil the surprise for anyone who hasn't seen the show, but the display has a kung fu theme). Got to dance with Siobhan who was great, and felt very chuffed when she complimented me on my moves. Identified a couple of good dancers who I hadn't danced with before, (if anyone reading this was there, they were the woman in the pink trousers and the smiling woman in black - though I think she might be over from Bristol).

As it was winding down I thought I'd try Andy's Latin night in La Tasca, the tapas restaurant in Cardiff's Old Brewery quarter. (Good food, but I hadn't danced there before). Almost didn't go as I wasn't feeling that inspired and Cardiff on a Saturday night is not my favourite place. But the top of St Mary Street was less like a zoo than usual, which made me feel optimistic. Got upstairs to a compact dance floor which was almost empty. Andy assured me that people would be there later: and at about a quarter to twelve, there they all were - Lucy, Katy, the Constantinou sisters and the woman who first tried to teach me the cross-body lead in Life a very long time ago. Plus a substantial Latin contingent. The atmosphere was great: good dancers but everyone just having fun. Katy, Chris and Rene doing their line dancing - sorry, styling routines ; ) Bloody crowded: at one point I found myself dancing in a very narrow gap between the DJ booth and someone's table, which was very good practice for keeping to my line, and at another point I was attempting to dance in circles in the entrance to the gent's toilet. (Must learn to dance Cuban-style properly if I'm going to ask Spanish women to dance). Music was great: mostly good salsa, a bit of merengue, I think I recognised some punta. I thought it was the best atmosphere in Cardiff since Journeys ended.