A good contingent from Cardiff (including two Cubans) to see Los Van Van at the Roundhouse on Saturday. It was very full, though - very little room to dance. When we arrived we made our way over to one of the pillars to dump our gear (with the exception of the Cuban flag which Marlen and Damarys had brought, which wasn't allowed to touch the ground and which did service during the evening variously as a skirt and as a shelter from the rain). I looked round and right next to us was Anna who used to dance in Cardiff: I knew she was going but had given up hope of finding her in the scrum. So she was pulled straight in to our first rueda.
It took me a while to get into it. The sound wasn't great which didn't help the vibe (for example, the thrilling piano of 'Tim Pop con Birdland' was buried in the mix) and my lack of sleep over the previous week was taking its toll. Some of us headed to the back of the venue to find space to dance, though there wasn't much space even there. I got complimented on my dancing by one of the guys on the door after a dance with Sabina (I should have told him that it was her that really deserved the compliment).
They played a two-hour set which took a while to build up steam but the latter part was good, with 'Esto te Pone la Cabeza Mala' as an exciting encore. The DJ carried on for an hour after the band had finished, and as a lot of the audience had left by then there was space for real dancing and a couple of ruedas.
More Cuban salsa fun on 27/29 March in Bournemouth: unfortunately I'm working on the Saturday. Also a substantial part of the Cardiff Cuban salsa crew will be away experiencing the real thing.
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