Seis de Mayo

There's a special Cinco de Mayo celebration at Chiquito's next Sunday (the 6th of May) after Anna's class.

Irish salsa congress

Now this (click on post title) looks interesting, and I'm actually free that weekend. Anyone else from Cardiff planning to go?

Chiquito's

If you want to know what Anna Constantinou's new Sunday night venue is like, you can see in this video of her and Shahid dancing. (You need the free QuickTime plugin to play it.) I'm going to scrutinise the video closely when I have time to see if I can nick some of his moves.

Chiquito's has the potential to be a nice venue once a few more people know about it: I went for the free dancing and would only have had Anna to dance with if she hadn't strongarmed a couple of her students into staying around and dancing with me and Shahid. (I had a couple of nice dances with Anna herself as well.) Maybe some of the Wharf/Burleigh Academy regulars would like to try it? It's very convenient, being in the middle of town and with free dancing starting early so you can get there and back by bus.

I hear Andy's out of action for a while after a mountain biking mishap - hope you recover fully soon, Andy.

I'm up in Gogland again until Thursday this week, and I probably won't get back in time for Risa. If I've got any energy left on Friday I might finally get round to giving Cafe Mambo in Swansea a go.

Instant Karma

Big fun last night. A blissfully smoke-free La Tasca on Saturday had helped to get me back on form (really nice to dance with Lisa again, even if we were wedged precariously into a very tight corner between the edge of the dancefloor and two veteran Cardiff men neither of whom are known for their compact style).

I'm afraid I don't always dance with my fair share of beginners at Risa, but last night at O'Neills I topped up my karma by dancing with several inexperienced dancers. It paid off: I had an inspiring dance with Cardiff's smallest leader which made me move up a gear. She's great: technically superb, fast, lots of style, and best of all she always seems to be enjoying herself.

I also danced with someone new who was a lot of fun and has the right attitude and a lot of potential. I stayed later than usual as I'm not working today (taking my daughter back to college) and finished my night with a very long, very sweaty, and very exhilarating dance to 'Tim Pop con Birdland' with Debbie. Great.

Has anyone else found that they're sleeping better since the smoking ban? I used to put the lack of sleep after a night's dancing down to exercise and the buzz of dancing, but I think actually other people's nicotine had a lot to do with it.

Bachata video

Away working on a training course this week so I'm missing Risa tonight. Fortunately I found another salsa dancer among the delegates, who I introduced to bachata. (If you've got a slow connection I wouldn't bother clicking the link - it's not the most exciting dance video you'll ever have seen.)

Missing out

Just when I thought things were going really well I miss dancing for a fortnight. It was only supposed to be a week but that didn't work out. So my leading was pretty sloppy in Risa on Thursday - it doesn't take long to lose that edge.

Things got better later: quite amusing too, trying to follow Kate's rueda calling when she was a little borracha. I called one myself later on and was relieved that it was a lot better than the one I tried in O'Neills a couple of weeks ago. (That one ended in chaos with Miranda in hysterics. I don't think it was entirely my fault: it does help if everyone in the circle can remember what 'dos' and 'por abajo' mean...)

I hope Andy finds a new Sunday night venue soon: I could really do with a dance tonight. I'm away again until Friday, so next weekend I'm going to have to get to either Cafe Mambo or La Tasca.

PS Did anybody else spot Nathalie in the first of the new series of Doctor Who?

Swansea

Following my previous post on the subject a couple of weeks ago, I've just heard that Friday night salsa in Swansea has now moved back to Cafe Mambo in Kingsway.