Thursday, December 29, 2005

Blwyddyn Newydd Dda

Merry (belated) Xmas and a Happy New Year to you all. Just a quick one for anyone suffering from cold turkey - while there isn't a class on Tuesday on Cuba it is open and Andy will be DJing. Might try and get there if I don't manage to get out before then. I've got an NYE party to go to in Penarth but I'm going to see if I can get to La Tasca for an hour first.

Friday, December 23, 2005

Fiesta Havana Xmas Party

What a great time we had. Yes, it was hot and it wasn't always easy to find room to dance, but it was a terrific atmosphere with good music and plenty of good partners for both the girls and the boys. Loads of Cardiff people there, though it's funny how much more fun it is dancing with the usual suspects in a different context. Actually I only danced with three non-Cardiff women all night, which is hardly entering into the spirit of things. One was someone who I used to look forward to dancing with when I came over to Bristol or Bath, but who I hadn't seen for about two years. Really nice to dance with her again.

I took to the stage a few times just to get some space. Which was normally OK, except that at one point I got up on the stage to dance bachata with one of the Cardiff girls and nobody else joined us. I don't mind bachata in La Tasca when it's too crowded for anyone to see how rubbish my dancing is, but it really isn't good enough for public display (particularly as I could see people out of the corner of my eye who were dancing it really well).

Even though I was enjoying myself I wasn't doing anything particularly interesting. Then I had the usual peak just before the slump: a couple of dances where I really seemed to be at my best, and then on the next dance I'd completely lost it and was going through the motions. (So had the woman I was dancing with - or so she said, though her dancing seemed to be fine to me).

The three women I'd travelled down with all left enthusing about the standard of dancing being better in Bristol. I think that's certainly the case with the men, though the overall standard of women dancers in Cardiff has really improved over the last year. And, in fact, the couple I enjoyed watching most was Kevin and Tammi.

I left feeling nicely relaxed and better than I had for weeks, even though I'd been feeling rubbish all day and would have had second thoughts about coming if I hadn't agreed to drive. It was a really good way to get into the festive spirit. Thanks Stevie, definitely one not to be missed next year.

I think there are going to be a few New Year's resolutions about getting over to Bristol on Wednesdays more often. It's not that easy for me - I can't afford to be knackered in work two days a week, whereas I can usually get away with being a bit spaced out on Fridays - but I'm going to try and get over now and again.

I had plans to get to the Toad last night but I was just too knackered after getting to bed at 3am, so that's salsa over for me until New Year's Eve. New Year's resolution is to get a couple of private lessons and to do some more practising. I've also asked Tammi to teach me that flashy lift she does, and I've now found someone who's brave enough to try it and light enough to do it without too much risk to either of us. (Well, she was brave enough when I asked her on Wednesday night - she'll probably have come to her senses by the next time I see her!)

Friday, December 16, 2005

Dancefloor hazards: The Prat in the Hat

(I'm not actually sure that he always wears a hat, but he was wearing one last night and anyone who was unfortunate enough to be dancing near him in the Toad will know who I mean.)

An infrequent visitor, this individual believes that the entire dancefloor is his personal territory. I did hear that a few years ago one veteran Cardiff dancer got so fed up with him that he refused to give ground when the PITH decided to move into his dancing space, and the PITH tripped over him and ended up on the floor. Wish I'd been there to see it...

Monday, December 12, 2005

Echnos*

11pm is a pretty disreputable time to start your Saturday night, but then La Tasca is Spanish for a disreputable gaming house or tavern. So, fortified by a half hour power nap and an extra strength Ibuprofen for my creaky toe I set out to get some sleep deprivation. I did wonder what time I was finally going to get there when I hit traffic chaos on Penarth Road, and Cardiff city centre itself was looking pretty disreputable after the big gig.

It was a while since I'd been: it takes some willpower to resist the temptation to stay in with a bottle of wine on Saturday night. On my previous visit the dance floor was fairly empty early on, but this time it was a matter of trying to carve out space among the drinkers right from the start. Cramped space is OK for close-up bachata and merengue but a bit limiting for salsa, though as the night went on I got better at fitting more elaborate moves into tiny and fluctuating spaces. Rachel told me "that was brave" after I successfully slotted in one of my trademark sequences, though I thought she was the brave one for letting me do it!

In these kind of circumstances what you really need are partners who will get on with enjoying themselves and let you take care of checking that there's space and keeping them safe from drunks and backsteppers. So it was great to dance with Sofia again - she's particularly good at dancing with style and enthusiasm in hardly any space. There were quite a lot of other good dancers there, including Sarah who turned up dressed fetchingly as a Red Indian squaw.

Andy played a good, varied selection of music, from salsa to merengue, bachata and reggaeton. Though I have to admit that a quarter of an hour of reggaeton eventually persuaded me it was time to go home at half past one. Which is probably a good thing as otherwise I might have stayed til the end and felt even more knackered yesterday.

I might even go to La Tasca again next week. I'm also looking forward to post-Christmas when there should be plenty of dancers – trying to get back into it after the break – and fewer drinkers. I must remember to take a spare T-shirt next time:
it was seriously hot and sweaty (and pretty smoky - I'm looking forward to the public smoking ban).

*Welsh for 'the night before last' .

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

Confidence

There's a recent discussion on Salsacity about how to get the courage to ask people to dance, started by Elena who's obviously been put off by some of the gits who go to salsa in order to patronise women.

I liked the posting from Nathalie about how even an experienced and talented dancer/teacher like her still gets nervous about asking some people to dance. She would probably be amused to know that she used to be one of the people I wouldn't dare to ask...

Toucan

Good news on the Toucan front - they're taking over Journeys, in Newport Road, in the New Year. Let's hope they get the occasional Latin band in.

Christmas and New Year

A quick update: Andy's posted details of opening times for his venues at www.dancalatina.com/xmas.html.

O'Neills ends with a party on the 19th and restarts on the 9th January.

There's a Christmas party at Fiesta Havana on the 21st which should be good.

There are New Year's Eve parties both at the Claverton Rooms and La Tasca. I gather the biggest and best NYE party is the LatinMotion event in Birmingham. It has cheap accommodation (as does the Claverton Rooms) but it's a bit far for me.

I've also noticed that Bonghy-bos in Bath is now on Saturdays, with a Christmas party on 17 December. (Never been to their events, I wonder if they're any good?)

All told there's less of a salsa desert this year so I shouldn't get too rusty. Shame the Wharf isn't open on New Year's Day, but you can't have everything.

Running on empty

Knackered again, and thanks to the late train I didn't manage to get to see Lady Salsa after the bachata workshop last night. Hope it was good.

Having missed a couple of nights salsa I went out on Tuesday last week. I thought I'd try learning some Cuban stuff at the Great Western but the class seemed to be just for beginners, so I thought I'd try Cuba instead. On the way I passed Zync which didn't look too enticing (the music, both times I went past, was either Brazilian or reggaeton). Cuba, though, was much more civilised than it was the previous time I went. Not nearly as many dodgy drunks, and not too crowded (though still a bit smoky). There were only a handful of good dancers there, though.

I hear Brean Sands was good this year, with a better balance of men and women. Texted one dancer who replied that she wasn't going to be at O'Neills because she hadn't got to bed until 6am (wimp...) A bit frustrating not being able to go - next year I'm going to have to be more ruthless about making sure that salsa takes priority! I had to miss the Wharf on Sunday due to a demanding day in work on Monday. I went to O'Neills with no great expectations but had a surprisingly good time: John's got some new music which was interesting (interesting in a good way, not just wierd and cheesy) and I had several enjoyable dances. But I could have done without Peter telling me that I'd obviously been to Pontins, because I looked so knackered...