Bristol dance day

Not as many Cardiff people I expected in Bristol on Saturday, but we met some friendly Bristol dancers.

Got off to a slow start: Nigel turned up very late (and with no explanation) for his merengue/bachata class, by which time Martin had started it but couldn't get the sound system working. So we did a bit of merengue but I didn't get to learn any bachata which was the reason I'd opted for it.

Things really picked up in the second class - Styling'n'Attitude with Helena and Mo. Really refreshing, with the emphasis on varying the pace, and on men doing simple styling to give the woman space to do their own thing (rather than constantly doing learnt sequences, or 'exercises' as Mo called them). They also had a really neat trick where the woman takes control and stops a cross-body lead halfway through to do a body roll - I can just imagine how that would go down with those men who already complain about styling, but I thought it was great.

For the third session I went for Nigel's salsa/hip-hop, thinking that would be less strenous than samba. Big mistake: I've still got stiff legs two days later. But I did learn how to make a certain Cardiff dancer scream when I tried out one of the moves on her later! (I should point out that it was what she thought I was going to do, rather than the move itself, that made her scream...)

Fourth was Helena and Mo again: clear teaching and a good straightforward sequence.

Rather than doing Maurizio's advanced class, I thought I'd cool down with some gentle rueda, but I found Ulisse and Cressida's class frustrating. I think if you're teaching rueda with beginners in the class you should teach some standard moves and then get them swapping partners fairly early on and focusing on the rhythm. Instead of which we got some non-standard and cheesy stuff, which was amusing but not very useful. When we did eventually get going the timing of his calling was all over the place. (Apparently Maurizio's class was very good.)

I was tired by the evening. Good floor and good music, but I wasn't dancing very well. Militsa and the gang's samba show was good. Later there was a flamenco display, which was impressive but went on a bit, disrupting the salsa atmosphere. Then Ulisse did an interminable rueda at which point I decided it was time to go.

Verdict? The best workshops were really good, but I think I'd have had a better time if I'd just gone for the day, come home for a shower, and then gone to La Tasca.