Digital story

Anyone who has a digital TV and who fancies a laugh might like to watch 'Your stories' on BBCi tomorrow, Wednesday 30th. (You need to press the red button while watching a BBC channel).

Look out for a two-minute film called 'How I got my groove back': it's one of four that will be shown on a continuous loop through the day. You'll see why the video camera was in O'Neills a few months back.

Don't worry, the only dancers apart from me who can be recognised are Anne and Charlotte, and they both agreed to appear.

K8

Kate James is off to the States for three months, so this Thursday I imagine she'll be danced off her feet. Hope you have a good time, Kate - look forward to learning any new rueda moves you pick up...

Back on track

Finally back on track, I hope: work has really got in the way of dancing recently. I went to O'Neills last night after only managing to get to salsa twice in the previous month. (I usually reckon I miss it if I go less than twice a week). Women a bit thin on the ground (several people I'd expect to dance with were away) but an hour or so's relaxed dancing has made me feel a lot better.

I never used to take salsa seriously as exercise, but I've noticed a drop in fitness. I recently did a little sum for those of you who are trying to justify your addiction: most salsa is around 45-55 bars per minute. 3 steps to a bar means an average of 150 steps a minute. So 67 minutes of salsa gets you the ten thousand steps needed to maintain basic fitness.

"I'm so glad you told me that, I hate aerobics!" (dancer in the Toad a few weeks ago).

Toad reprieved : ))

The Toad is back in business until May at least, as they didn't get a licence to refurbish it. Gives Andy and Kate some time to find an alternative.

Claverton (Bed)Rooms

Visited Salsajive the other day to check the dates of the next Claverton Rooms salsa nights (26 March and 16 April) and I noticed that you can now get on-site accommodation through the university (beds@bath.ac.uk). It costs £30.50 plus VAT a night. A lot more attractive than driving back to Cardiff in a daze and getting to bed at half past three. It even makes it possible to avoid using the car altogether - take a train over, spend an afternoon in Bath and then head back at a civilised time in the morning.

No more Toad : (((((

This Thursday (10th) is the last night at the Toad (and I'm going to miss it because I'll be on the road between London and West Wales). It's a real disaster as it's been the best salsa night in Cardiff for a long time. I can imagine finding another venue won't be that easy - three classes running simultaneously needs a lot of space, and the Toad was barely big enough.

Not sure what we're going to do for an alternative in the meantime. I think La Tasca is going to get busier, and I imagine a few of us will be going to Bristol on Wednesdays (clashes with my Spanish class, unfortunately). At least I'll get a bit more work done on Fridays...

Autres langues/Otras idiomas/Ieithoedd eraill

J'ai vu (des 'statistiques') que quelqu'un de France a visité cherchant renseignements sur 'salsa a cardiff'. Si vous voulez poser des questions (en Français, en Español ou en Gallois (!)) appuyez sur 'Comments' - j'essaierai a traduire y repondre a votres questions.

Si quiere preguntar algo en Español, usa 'Comments' - yo intentera a contestar en Español.

I noticed from the stats that someone from France has visited a couple of times looking for information about 'salsa a Cardiff'. If you want to ask questions in French, Spanish (or Welsh!) click on 'Comments' and I'll try and reply (you're unlikely to get a response that's grammatically correct, as you've probably worked out from the first two paragraphs). I've also got a friend who's fluent in German, so I'll forward any questions in German to her.

Got my fix

God, I needed that last night! I usually reckon twice a week is a minimum, and the combination of work and a virus meant I'd missed it for a fortnight. I wasn't really dancing at my best but had some dances with some nice people. Danced with Harriet early on, who's far too good for most of us, and it was great to see Charlotte back in action (and surprisingly unrusty for someone who hasn't danced for six weeks).

***** told me with a very straight face in mid-dance "I'm a bit worried about dancing with you.". When I asked why she said "I've just discovered your website". She was joking (the bit about being worried) or at least she said she was...

La Linea

The London latin festival is on again at the beginning of April (link in the title of this post). Highlights are Los Van Van on 1st April and Orishas on 8th April. Doubt if I'll manage to get to either, unfortunately.

Got a work trip to Glasgow coming up soon, though, so I'm hoping to catch Farah's excellent Cuban class again.

Salsa trio

Than's salsa trio at the Wharf last night was good fun. It looked as if it was going to be a bit of a disaster as there were only three women to start off with, but eventually enough joined in to make up the numbers. Neat and stylish moves that are actually very simple but need precision to do with two women.

It also helps if the women have similar styles. It doesn't really matter if they both have light following styles or both have heavy following styles; but one pair I had required very different strengths of lead. It worked OK but took a bit more thought: I had visions of mixing them up and failing to budge one while projecting the other halfway across the room!

There were some very promising improvers there, but unfortunately there weren't a lot of people later on. Let's hope it starts picking up soon: it's got good teaching, a good sound system and good music - and the free dancing is now literally free.

Embarrassing moments

Having just mentioned someone else's most embarrassing moment, here's mine: I'd just been taught how to stop dancing and 'brace' to let the woman do a shine, but I hadn't been warned what else the woman might do. So when I tried it out in Bath I was a bit shocked as the woman concerned dived feet-first between my legs, and then shouted out "Get me up!" from her position on the floor...

Salsa trio

Not sure whether I'll go to bachata in Bristol on Sunday as Than is doing a Salsa Trio (one man dancing with two women) lesson at the Wharf. Than is one of the very few people who I've seen doing this well.

Though I did once see Anna doing a pretty good job of leading two men. A better job, at least, than one formerly prominent Cardiff dancer who famously managed to drop Anna and Lee and then fall on top of them...

(Just in case their namesakes get confused I should point out that I'm referring here to Anna and Lee the scientists. Confusing how common some first names are on the salsa scene: I recently encountered a third talented dancer called Kate).

La rueda

Great to get some rueda going again in the Toad, even if most of us were incredibly rusty: hope the promised refresher course starts soon! As usual with Kate leading it was really dynamic.

Rueda always intrigues non-dancing onlookers, though not usually to the extent of the character on Thursday who somehow ended up observing the spectacle with rapt fascination from inside the circle...

In the Zone/Bachata

Surprised myself by entering the Zone last night: that state of grace where everything works better than usual and the moves just seem to flow without thinking. Haven't been there for a while: hope I manage to revisit it soon.

I've just spotted that Heber, who ran an excellent bachata workshop at Pontins, is now doing monthly workshops in different latin dance styles on a Sunday afternoon in Bristol. The first is on February 13th at the Southville Centre. More details on the 'Special Events' page on salsajive. (The web link from there just goes to the Club Cubana website which doesn't actually have any information that I could find about the workshop). The first one is Bachata and Lamba-Zouk. Subsequent months carry on the Lamba-Zouk while offering tasters in other Brazilian dances. Worth a try, I think.

Not worthy...

Filling in a tax return isn't the best preparation for a night's dancing; but I was out early last night. I was determined to actually get there in time for Andy's class last night, having seen the tail end of a class with some really interesting moves the previous week.

Not really wide awake in the class, which was a shame as it some really useful stuff in it. But in the free dancing I got to dance twice with H******: ) What a remarkably poised, precise and controlled dancer she is. I gather she learnt salsa from the same teacher as Andy, which figures. The dancefloor was crowded and chaotic, but she made it easy to dance in a cramped spot by the wall: I could predict exactly where she would go when I led a move. Only problem is dancing with someone as good as that makes me very aware of my own limitations.

Had a major deadline to meet today which meant I didn't manage to stay beyond 11 - I even missed out on dancing with Charlotte. Frustrating, but I knew if I stayed beyond half eleven I'd get my second wind, stay til half twelve, and then be unable to sleep. Has anyone worked out an efficient way of winding down after a night's salsa?

Hilarity

Monday nights are definitely picking up. Loads of nice people to dance with this week: extending it til midnight was definitely a good idea, even though staying til midnight wouldn't be (well, not if you've got the deadline I'm trying to meet this week).

Welcome reappearance - on a flying visit - of someone I used to dance with regularly, even though she was amused by being a bit rusty: at one point I did a move that involved walking her round behind me, turned to pick up her hip only to see her doubled up with laughter about six feet away. I didn't think my leading was that funny. Fortunately there was plenty of space so we weren't dancing near anybody.

I also danced with a very talented beginner (on Keith's recommendation - good to see him back on the scene). It's amazing how some women 'get' following immediately. She'd just done the one lesson but will obviously be a very good dancer with a bit of practice. What will complicate matters for blogging purposes is that she shares a first name with two of Cardiff's most talented dancers.

Pretentious crap (again)

Thinking about it over the weekend, I can't really justify the comments I made (see post below). They weren't intended to be quite as critical and dismissive as they came across, but that's no excuse. Memo to self: think before posting next time.

Reality bites

Oops, thought this blog might get me into trouble once people realised who I was (and I've left enough clues for anyone who can be bothered to work it out). This week I was confronted by someone who told me that the blog is 'pretentious crap', presumably because they had been the subject of some mildly critical comments.

I've removed the comments. I've also amended this post as the previous version may have made the identity of the person concerned a bit too obvious.

Otherwise it's been a pretty good week for dancing. The later finish (midnight) on Monday seems to be attracting more dancers. Even though I don't stay much later than I did before, it's nice to leave when the joint is still jumping (as it were) as opposed to winding down. Music was pretty good this week too. Thursday was good too (as usual) and didn't wrap up until twenty to one. Good for dancing, not good for productivity on Friday.

Get out and dance!

Felt great after Thursday at the Toad, so I thought I'd try the Wharf again last night. It was quiet again, but there were a couple of good dancers there so the evening wasn't wasted.

Frustratingly, there's one woman who does the class and is obviously a very talented dancer but can't be persuaded to stay around for the free dancing (though I once saw Andy 'persuade' her by picking her up and carrying her onto the dance floor). I don't think she realises how good she is - maybe she's selfconscious about not knowing all the moves, but that doesn't matter if you have her natural ability.

Back in the swing

The Toad was at its best on Thursday night: not that many people there, but most of them were good to dance with. Dancing with Charlotte made me feel like a dancer, rather than a lump with two left feet, for the first time in weeks.

Everybody was complaining about being out of practice, but I had a really good time and felt surprisingly unrusty. Nice relaxed atmosphere as well: a good start to the dancing year.