By Duncan on 08 July 2008 17:46

One of my dances is salsa, at which I'd love to be a lot better. At the moment I make most of it up as I go along, pulling moves from years of other dances and attempting them to the basic beat of salsa. I attend the odd lesson, but not enough. This is talking about the Cross body style (or New York, or LA, or...).

So when I heard someone was starting cuban salsa classes for complete beginners in Exeter, I went along to have a look.

Cuban style is a lot looser, instead of dancing in a slot, its a more circular pattern and is more about feeling the music. We've concentrated on isolating head, shoulders and chest, trying to move them in time to the cuban rhythm. We've learnt some basic steps but have yet to actually do any partner dancing. Its been hard, but lots of fun and well worth it.

If anyone wants to come along, lessons are 7.30-9 at Gino's (by the Iron Bridge) in Exeter, with a freestyle afterwards.

 

By Duncan on 19 May 2008 16:19

Last night I went to see a band with a friend. I'm not normally a great one for going to see bands (unless you can jive or salsa to them), as I would rather spend the evening dancing or rolling dice. But a change is good [usually, but not always].

Skindred at the megacomplex known as the Phoenix Arts Centre in Exeter. Fits 300 at least . Lots of tattoos, piercings and black clothing on display.

There were three warm-up acts, which got progressively better. The lead-singer of the second band actually had a fairly good voice, at least when she stopped screaming. The third was an Exeter band, Idiom, which I quite liked too.

And then Skindred came on. I hadn't heard any of their stuff until I borrowed their albums, and they are definately better live than through an ipod. The change in atmosphere was quite noticable, with everyone up and jumping but sadly ruined by some fool setting...

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By Duncan on 07 February 2008 16:02

Don't know why it's taken me so long to write about this.

My dance weekend in Southport (hosted by jive addiction) was amazing, with by best-ever dances and great music. The atmosphere was buzzing in the latin quarter, the blues room and the main dance hall, with a good range of dancers and dances in each.

The music in the blues room had definite influence from the west coast swing going on, but I loved dancing to pretty much all of it. Our chalet was great once again, and there were many familiar faces from Exeter and elsewhere in the southwest. Somewhere I have photos of Party Nick's 20th celebration at our chalet.

The only disappointing part of the weekend was two of the lessons. The tango (taught by the replacements for Vincent and Flavia) was too crowded and the dips and drops was too late on a sunday afternoon.

Already booked for June and planning on September as well!

By Duncan on 18 January 2008 20:30

Last night there was no jive in Exeter, due to the floor being redone in the Corn Exchange. So instead met in the Hog's Head for some drinks, after some hasty organisation on my part via Facebook.

I saw a few faces I hadn't seen for a while and got to know some people who'd I'd only danced with in the past.  Chatting while dancing isn't normally the best way to meet people. We talked of dance weekenders and work, of other dancers and more, while even a couple of non-dancers joined us.

The hardcore of us moved on to Rococos as the others drifted off (or had to be up early the next morning). Cheesy pop and dance was on the bill at the club, as well as some entertainment provided by an inexpert but enthusiastic pole dancer. Half a dozen of us stayed for a couple more hours of chat, drinking and dancing, to end a good night for jivers not jiving.

Back to normal next Thursday .

By Duncan on 07 January 2008 19:25

Fancy dress once more on Saturday. This time the theme was "Shocking", quite a strange one really. I went with more "garish" and "vibrant", with lots of colour. Bright trousers with flowers and matching waistcoat, bracelets, bandanna and a hawaiian shirt completed the outfit. There's probably a picture on facebook somewhere.

We went to a fish and chip restaurant beforehand, with massively big fish to weigh us down before the dancing. The evening of dance in Newquay (actually Indian Queens) was great, with some lovely dances and only a few people I knew. There was a quartet of punks, a man with light bulbs around him and one disturbing man in a bra, tights, speedos and a zombie mask.

The mix of music was great and its always nice to go somewhere new, where you aren't known, and get some suprising dances.

Hopefully I'll be back there soon!

 

By Duncan on 11 December 2007 12:34

Had a good time at my first salsa weekender. Met some new dancers, learnt some actual salsa moves and did more lessons than any of my jive weekenders this year.

And I did my first piece of Reggaeton.

Its a dance to Reggaeton music, popular in central and latin america, with much in common with hip-hop. The actual dance is lively and fast, although the bits we did were more choreographed than leadable.

Somewhere among my stuff I have a CD of Reggaeton music as well.

 

In other news, still no sign of my table football :(

By Duncan on 13 November 2007 18:11

The weekend just gone was Warmwell, a dance event of three nights and two days in a holiday park near Dorchester. Possibly my favourite of the weekenders, it was another mass of live bands, great dances and friends old and new. What makes Warmwell special is the large groups of dance friends which come from Newquay, Kent, Essex and other places, giving the whole place a party atmosphere.

Exeter had its fair share of dancers, around twenty of us in all. From Friday night until Monday morning the weekend was a blur of tacky cabaret, frenetic dances, new shoes, weekender virgins, fancy dress, fry-ups, swing bands and the dance competition (won by someone from Exeter, of course!). I'm still buzzing from the whole weekend now, on Tuesday evening.

My only concern is that this makes my ninth dance weekender of the year, with one left to go. Maybe I'm slightly addicted to dancing?

At least I get to feed the addiction again this weekend,  with dance events in Exeter on Thurs, Fri, Sat and Sunday.

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By Duncan on 06 September 2007 11:15

My dabbling in salsa continues, with my dancing a little rusty after a month's break. Bar Venezia down on Exeter Quay is my favourite place to salsa at the moment, with a friendly atmosphere and some great dancers.

Last Friday I went up with my friend Kash to a dance in Barnstaple, a leaving do for a salsa teacher there called Martin. An amazing dancer who recently one 2nd in a national amateur's salsa contest. He actually leaves at the end of September, so we still see him for another month.

We got there a little late, and were expecing a normal freestyle. After a couple of songs, there was a break (at about 10) for a buffet meal, with the queue leading onto the dancefloor. A little unusual to have food so late, but some dancing continued. The night continued, with the songs interrupted by a going-away dance for Martin, belly dancers, an impromptu striptease, a cabaret of Martin and Naomi's winning routine and a raffle [No, I didn't win]. It was quite a surreal night, not helped by the DJ's dodgy...

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By Duncan on 13 August 2007 12:17

I had another great weekend just gone, dancing down in Falmouth and Newquay (Indian Queens).

Our host holds a BBQ every year, allowing campers in his garden and building a custom dance floor. This was my first year and he'd put up a massive sail to cover the dance floor and surrounding area. Apparently it had enough tension in it to allow someone to walk on top of it.

I had great dances on Friday night at Newquay, and Saturday night at our host's. The atmosphere was great and food was plentiful. There was even a brief cabaret. I expect to be back next year!

The one downside came on Sunday morning, when my mobile's screen died. It would still turn on and ring, but I couldn't actually see what was happening. I bought a new one yesterday in Exeter, but lost all the numbers stored on the phone. After many failed attempts to connect PC to phone, I finally managed this morning, and stopped cursing my phone to update my new phone.

By Duncan on 16 July 2007 11:54

Instead of lunch at lunchtime on Saturday, I was instead dancing in the middle of a busy Exeter High Street, demonstrating for a local jive night. It wasn't what I had had planned when I woke up in the morning!

After receiving an email at half ten saying they were desperately short of people to demonstrate, I turned up wandering if any friends would see me prancing around in broad daylight. The answer was yes, as one sent me a photo on my mobile phone that afternoon, wondering what I had been doing in the high street.

For most of it, there was only two of us dancing, trying to focus on the basics as curious passers-by paused to watch. Its a lot different to a normal evening with a sprung dance floor and lots of others jiving at the same time. There were others with us, but most just handed out flyers, not wanting to be seen jiving in public.

It was a strange experience, but at least I didn't drop anyone onto the concrete paving.