Christmas

John's leaving event at O'Neills was good fun and I had some really enjoyable dances. Charlotte will be taking over from January. I've only every been to one of her workshops, at least four years ago: I thought it was really good with a lot of useful detail, and I hear that her classes in Swansea are popular.

This year there's salsa in Christmas week (hooray). Anna Constantinou will be running her Wednesday class at La Tasca on the 27th, with free dancing afterwards from 10-11.30.

Hope to see most of you at Irene's party on Friday.

ScalaLatina

While I was at O'Neills last night I picked up a flyer for a salsa trip to London organised by Bathsalsa on May 6th/7th. Basically it's a coach trip (from Bristol and Bath) to the huge ScalaLatina salsa night, with four-star accommodation and salsa workshops the afternoon before and the afternooon after. Quite tempting - click on the post title for more information.

End of an era

John Pamplin, who runs Monday nights, is leaving after Christmas. He's been teaching in Cardiff longer than anyone else, and I, along with a lot of others, are grateful to him for getting us started with salsa. Good luck for the future, John. Not sure what the future of Monday nights will be, but as it's a popular night I assume it will continue.

Christmas closing

Andy's just posted Christmas closing details on his site. Last Risa until 4th January is next week, 14 December. La Tasca keeps going until the 23rd, though. Don't forget Irene's party at the Electricity Club on 22 December.

DancaLatina's Christmas Party

How to confuse the person you're dancing with, number one: use a language she doesn't speak. I was so tired last Thursday that I started talking to Nuria in what was intended to be Spanish, then I thought about what I'd said and realised half of it was in Welsh... (I had been working through the medium of Welsh all day.) Nice dance, despite the linguistic confusion, to a long, gentle Latin jazz track. Andy's playing some really good stuff later on a Thursday night now.

This Thursday's Risa is the DancaLatina Xmas Party, with Santa fancy dress, Tony Lara's bachata class, and a Mario and Maria competition. Should be fun, and this week I haven't got to be in Swansea at 8.30 the following day so I should be able to stay late. Andy's been adding bachata to the end of the Thursday classes to get people up to speed for Tony's class. Good move, I think - I'd far rather do bachata than shines. (It's nice to mix up the beginners with the other dancers, as well.) Let's hope he makes it a regular feature.