Monday, September 25, 2006

Irene, Nathalie and Lisa

Irene's just asked me to post details of the salsa night she's organising at Pontyclun Rugby Club, Llantrisant Way on Friday 20th October:
Beginners class 8pm
Shines class 9pm
Performance show
Freestye till 12.
Tickets £7.50 nibbles included.
Contact her on 07877375317 for a ticket

Also Nathalie is back at Abercynon for one night only on 9th October. She'll be teaching with Lisa who'll be running it from then on. I've never seen Lisa teach but she's one of the best dancers in Cardiff so I'm sure it'll be good.

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Anna's site

Anna Constantinou has a rather well-designed site which advertises the salsa courses that she and her sisters run in various venues in Cardiff - see link above. There's some handy advice for beginners as well.

Rueda at last

Kate's la rueda course is finally going ahead! It's at Que Pasa on Wednesdays from October 18 until November 15, 7.30-9pm, £25 by advance booking. To book, contact Kate by email or mobile (07870 248827).

It's aimed at rueda beginners and improvers, but she's planning to run a follow-up course if there's enough interest. You need to be at least improvers level salsa: the crucial thing is being able to dance on time.

I did the course she ran a couple of years ago (and have been hassling her to repeat it ever since). If you've tried rueda before and not enjoyed it you might like it the way Kate teaches it. Her style of rueda is really dynamic, with plenty of changes of speed and direction. Some other teachers I've seen put too much emphasis on elaborate or jokey moves and forget about pace.

Apart from being fun, rueda is good for honing your sense of rhythm and also for giving you a repertoire of Cuban moves which make it easier to dance with Spanish or Latin American dancers.

Friday, September 15, 2006

Mirror neurons

I really needed Risa after yesterday in work. It's amazing how the stress vanishes with a few good dances.

Kevin was there last night for the first time in a long time, and I watched him and Lisa dancing together. He's one of the few men in Cardiff who I really enjoy watching dance: he's extremely smooth and precise. I keep meaning to ask him if he'd mind me filming him on my cameraphone so I can nick some of his moves.

He makes it look easy, but his dancing is the product of a lot of thought and practice - I know because I once inadvertently had a private lesson with him. (I say 'inadvertently' - he was teaching a class, and me and a talented female beginner were the only two people who turned up.) He taught me some unique details to leads for standard moves which I've never encountered from anyone else.

But here's a thing: after watching him and Lisa, my next dance was vastly better than the ones I'd had early that evening. Even though I hadn't consciously changed my dancing I felt much more subtle and relaxed. Which is really surprising considering that the next dance was bachata. It was 'Lamento Boliviano', inevitably, danced with Debbie (also inevitably): she reckoned it was our best yet.

The same thing happened to me once before after watching another smooth and precise dancer. I put it down to mirror neurons. They're the circuits in our brain that fire whether we're watching someone else do something or doing it ourselves, which means that watching someone else dancing really well is almost as good as practising doing it yourself.

Unfortunately the effect didn't last that long as overheating and tiredness soon dragged my dancing back to its usual late Thursday night level : (

One other good thing last night: I finally got a positive response ("lovely!") to the 'surprising' move Andy taught me the other week. All it needed was the right partner.

Monday, September 11, 2006

Mi Casa es Su Casa

Well, not literally (it means 'my house is your house'). They're a latin jazz band who'll be playing at a monthly latin night which starts this Wednesday in Cafe Jazz in St Mary Street. It starts at 8.30pm. I might check it out, though I'm not sure that there's much of a dancefloor there.

Burleigh Academy

I went to Andy's new night in Newport - the replacement for the Wharf - last night. Only 30 minutes from Penarth, probably 15-20 from Cardiff.

I joined in halfway through the improvers' class as they were short of men. Actually there were some experienced dancers in the improvers' class. They's obviously sussed that even in an improvers' class you can learn something new when Andy's teaching.

The numbers were about right. Unfortunately I was absolutely exhausted, due to organising the big annual event in work which ended the day before.

Good moves in the intermediate class as well, starting with 'ocho' –not the same as the rueda one – and carrying on into more Cuban-type armtwisting. Or rather, how to do those kind of moves without armtwisting. Nice to learn something different.

One thing about the venue didn't impress me. At the bar I asked for a soft drink and a pint of water and was handed a bottle of water. When I requested tap water I was told "we don't do that any more". At £1 a bottle, if I'd drunk as much as I should have I'd have ended up paying more for water than for the teaching.

I know salsa nights depend on bar sales, which is why I always buy a soft drink. But refusing to provide tap water at all is unacceptable.

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Salsa Noir

For anyone who fancies a trip to Bristol, El Diablito has got another of his monthly 'quality' salsa nights at the Filton Holiday Inn on Friday. This month's event looks really good with MoeFlex and Angelique teaching. Unfortunately I can't make it.

I'm going to try to get to the Cuban one on 10th November with Yanet and Raphael - I've never seen them but teachers I respect have said good things about them, and I really want to get better at Cuban style.

Irene's classes

Irene Constantinou has just sent me a list of all the classes she runs (she's a busy girl).

Monday - Llandaff North Rugby Club Beginners 7.00-8.00
Tuesday - Fitness First Llanishen Beginners 7.30, Improvers 8.30
Thursday - Fitness First Ely Beginners 5.30-6.30
Thursday - Pontyclun Athletic club Beginners 7.30-8.15, Improvers 8.15-9.00
Friday (Brand new this week) Maes y coed community centre Beginners 8.30

All classes are £4.

Saturday, September 02, 2006

Addiction

Now this is getting a bit worrying really. Until Thursday I was definitely planning to go to a party in Abergavenny tonight and drink too much red wine, but I felt so good after Bar Risa that I've decided I need to get to La Tasca instead.

Thursday was incredibly hot and sweaty. I tried out my 'surprising' move - it certainly proved surprising, but in a "what on earth are you trying to do?" instead of a "wow, that was cool" sense : (

Apart from that I definitely felt the benefit of Monday's private lesson - I had to adjust the mirror when I got back to the car because my posture had dramatically improved.

Thursday also saw the welcome return of Lee the astrophysicist, who I haven't danced with for years. She was claiming to be rusty but she's still great to dance with.