Duplessey Monday Morning

When I arrived in NY late Sunday afternoon I went straight to the Piel Canela social, and after two hours there I continued to the Mojito Sundays at club Iguana. Lots of good dancing both places and many familiar faces.

Next morning I woke up at dawn as usual (after approx 4 hrs sleep) and went out to explore NY. At 11am I had an appointment with Duplessey-Monic Walker for a private salsa lesson, and "Wow!" did she do me good. She gave me loads of tips and exercises, and she did not let me relax for one moment. I could feel it afterwards, and I am sure the changes are visible in my dancing.

Monday evening it was my intention to go drop in to some classes and then go dancing at Session 73, but at nine pm I fell asleep on my bed in the hostel and slept as a stone till next morning. Duplessey sure worked me good.

Photo courtesy: salsanewyork.com

Salsa Tipica on YouTube

It had to happen: at last you can find a video from the Salsa Tipica social salsa dancing on YouTube. And according to Dj Yuchi, more will be online soon!

sleepy week

The whole week has been a characterized by a jet-lag-like sleepiness. However, I am convinced that the six hour time difference from NY to AMS is not the source of my tiredness, rather I think the cause is the whole week of the messed up sleep pattern I practised in New York. Everything comes with a cost, and the cost of making the most of my time in New York, both in terms of dancing, socialising and site-seeing was the consistent lack of sleep. Now I am back in Nijmegen, and more or less back in my old routine...

Pre-party cruise

Tuesday evening the congress pre-party started as a cruise on the Circle Line. While the sun faded and the city lit up, we cruised on the Hudson round Manhattan. On the passenger deck the salsa band Ocho y Mas! played a great salsa beat all through the trip and the passengers enjoyed the challenge of dancing on a tilting carpeted floor. In the breaks between dancing we could see the Manhattan skyline and a close up look at the Statue of Liberty by night. Afterwards the party continued at the Link Lounge, hosted by Marlon Int'l.

Fun fact: today I tried my first ever coffee containing beverage at Starbucks - a Pumpkin Spice Frappucino.

Photo courtesy: Haleymonster.com

Taj Lounge

Taking it easy, strolling slowly through a street market in the afternoon, shopping useless items and souvenirs, ... and dancing all night long!

The NYC salsa congress has arranged for a whole week of pre-congress parties with entry free of charge for congress full pass holders. Saturday the party was at the Harlem YMCA, Sunday it was Piel Canelas Sunday social, and yesterday the party was on at Session 73. However, yesterday was also the After Work Salsa Mondays at the Taj Lounge with DJ Henry Knowles and live salsa band and show by Ismael and Shani. I went there to enjoy the music and the exotic lounge, and the dancing of course, before I went of to join my fellow congress participants at Session 73.

Tip of the day: Henry Knowles is an amazing DJ!

Photo courtesy: Taj Lounge

Salsa in Vancouver

Thanks to salsavancouver.net and the website of Bravura Dance Company I realised quickly that Vancouver is one of those cities where it is possible to go salsa dancing virtually every day(night). On Saturday night I met up with Laureano who writes for salsavancouver.net, to go dancing at the
Howard Johnson Hotel, and on the Sunday afternoon I brought my sis along to the big social event Sunday Afternoon Salsa at Robson Square. It is an outdoor event, with a big and very good polished cement dance floor and good music from 3pm onwards. The last two days in Vancouver I spent my evenings trying out the local salsa classes: a ladies styling and spinning session with Nina and dropped in a partnerwork class with Roger Chen.

Salsa Groupie

Since I started dancing L.A. style salsa (summer 2006) I have been a frequent visitor at the SalsaTipica parties and practice mondays. This easter I finally signed up for a course, so now I am an official SalsaTipica groupie. Not only does it give a discount at Tipica parties, but also other advantages, such as being part of the crowd cheering for Manoah and Femke at the Dutch Open Salsa Championships. Wish them success for the competition tonight!

Photo courtesy: Kati van Helden

Time-out

This past week I had a cold, and the cold brought a cough, and the cough caught on, to the point of asthmatic cough. Friday I gave in and took some asthma medicine, which I hate, because it makes me shaky. So both Friday and Saturday I did not go dancing. I just stayed at home, relaxing, tidying up.
This morning, feeling better, I did one hour of spinning to make up for the missed exercise. That turned out to be a very good idea. I have not taken any more asthma medicine since last night, and now I feel like dancing again, yipee!

3rd pair of dance shoes

Ok, so I am a salsa geek too. Yesterday I got my third pair of dance shoes in two weeks. I did not exactly plan to have three pairs, but I could not resist buying two pairs on sale when visiting World Tone Shoes in NY. The third pair I ordered many weeks ago, but they did not arrive until yesterday.

Photo courtesy: World Tone Dance Shoes

Where to go dancing next?

I think one should ask Matt on where to go dancing next. Watch his video! Then watch the outtakes...

Saturday salsa

I spent the whole afternoon at the Santo Rico dance school, first practising spinning and footwork with Lisette, and then joining an intermediate partnerwork workshop. In the evening I went to the 'Salsa VIP' party at Stepping Out Studios (even though the flyer said 'dress to impress' most people were wearing jeans). Two great live performances took place, first the Masacote show group from Boston in their white suits and black/white hairstyles, and then a spectacular show by Mambo D! That guy really knows how to move his feet!

Friday salsa

Another big social in NY: Mambo Fateegz Salsa Friday. Big place, good music and lots of dancers. Now I seem to be running into the same people over and over again, it seems I have met or seen all the regulars at least once during this week. ;)

Thursday salsa

Dropped-in at Cynthias spinning and salsa3 lesson and went with the crowd to Gonzales y Gonzales to eat and listen(dance) to live music. Later I got a ride to Club Cache, where I saw the best crowd of dancers so far, all advanced and on2. Great dancing!

Wednesday salsa

I went to the Ripley-Grier studios where I did a private lesson in spinning and styling on2 with Cynthia La China. That was really the worth it. Cynthia is very good at noticing points for correction while smiling and giving encouraging comments at the same time.

Straight after that, only stopping for something to eat, I went to LQ (the former Latin Quarter) to dance and watch Eddie Palmieri perform live.

Photo courtesy: NYsalsababy.com

Tuesday sights, work and salsa

I went for a walk past the World Trade Center site, and continued to the very south of Manhattan, where I wiggled my toes at the Statue of Liberty. It was a beautiful sunny day, so I shot a lot of nice photos, mostly of tourists in the sun.

In the afternoon I visited the Computational Biology unit at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center where I gave a talk on microarray chip design.

Straight after that I went to the famous Copa Cabana club, where Oscar d'Leon was playing. I made the mistake of walking all day in hard boots and then wearing new dance shoes in the evening. Result? Sore feet and blisters, and painful dancing. It is a beautiful club, very big, and with a huge dance floor. Unfortunately for dance enthousiasts it is rather too crowded to move around, and most of the people there come for the atmosphere and the music rather than dancing.

Monday salsa

I visited the Santo Rico Dance School to drop in on a styling and partnerwork lesson 7pm-9pm. After hanging out, chatting salsa and practising a bit I went back to my hostel and from there directly to the Taj Lounge. Unfortunately it had been an early night at the Taj, so people were leaving when I arrived. So I went on to Session 73, a small and cosy club on 73rd street. It was not really crowded, but there were some good dancers there.

Sunday salsa

I went to the Sunday social 'Latin Sundays Party' at Dance Manhattan Studios. I guess I arrived around 6pm, and the place was already filled with on2 dancers. Nice big place for a social, and a fair deal of good dancers there. They closed at 9pm, and after a Chai Latte break at Starbucks, I went to 'Mojito Sundays' at Wish 26. It is a smaller place, which does not look like it was designed for dancing. The floor was wobbly in places, and the light very dim, so it was actually not a good place for practising new moves. Nice atmosphere though.

Sleep patterns

I do not sleep enough. My problem is that I wake up with the daylight in the morning, no matter how late I went to bed. And since I often go out dancing in the evening and till late at night, I often do not get enough sleep. When possible, I take a nap in the afternoon before going out dancing but it is just not the same as sleeping in.
Today I slept for two hours in the afternoon, but I was tired when I arrived at the party in the evening. I gradually woke up, and now I am wide awake, three hours before I would normally wake up. It is a dilemma of salsa rhythms versus sleep rhythm. Setting the clock tonight at least make it look like I get up later...

Tips for NY

I registered for the conference, I booked my ticket, found a place to stay and now I am getting really excited about my trip to New York March 28 to April 8. If you have ever been to New York I could use some firsthand tips on what to see and where (not) to go, what to try while I am there etc.
If you answer that it depends on my interests, I can tell you that my main interests for this trip are: arts of all kinds, photography, meeting people and salsa dancing. Any good ideas? :)

Illustration courtesy: olucas.wordpress.com

New haircut

This is it. I finally gathered courage to do what I should have done years ago: I got my hair cut.
It was about time too, it was five years ago I last went to the hairdressers, and in the meantime, my hair grew incredibly long. The good thing about it was that my hair started to curl at the ends, giving me a more feminine look, but at the same time, wearing my hair in a ponytail all the time, just letting it grow, was very boring and very geek-like.
In the end it was so long that I could not wear it loose while dancing (it would get caught all the time) and I could not wear it up in a nice way while dancing witout the elastic bands falling out every few minutes. This might not sound like a big problem to you, but if you go dancing five or six times a week, you will understand my frustration.
So I went to the hairdressers and asked her to cut my hair, so it would still be long, but with some layers in front. She said that she would have to cut it quite a bit shorter to make it look nice with the layer effect and she showed me some pictures in a magazine to illustrate her idea. I agreed to let her take of a good deal of the length, and she cut the end of the ponytail for me to keep. When she finished cutting, I saw that it was quite a lot shorter than what she had shown me on the photos, almost half a meter shorter than it used to be. I am a bit sad that it she made it that short, and I miss my curly ponytail. However, the layer effect is nice, and suits my face much better than just straight hair drawn back. Even better, I can wear it loose and it will still look nice, so I can dance like crazy without worrying about my hair. So now I will enjoy all the advantages of my new haircut, and if I continue to miss my curls, I will just let my hair grow long again...

Shakes from Shakies

I have a weakness for fresh fruit shakes. Especially if I am a bit tired after a long days work or after dancing all night, I love to pass by the station and grab a fresh shake as a treat to myself. Mmmm delicious!

Visit Shakies at www.shakies.nl 

Double Life

I love my job. It challenges me and I am having fun while working. I love salsa. It challenges me and I am having great fun while dancing. I need the dancing to get my mind of my work, and at the same time I need my work to give me a break from dancing. So I do a combination of both 24/7 and I love it.

I like a good fight

I hardly ever get into arguments with people and I certainly never start a fight over some disagreement, but I like fighting for fun. I enjoy wrestling with my friends or a quick fist fight to see who's tough. I used to fight the older boys at school until the time when the boys grew real muscles and it was not hip for a girl to collect bruises.

Actually, I think it is the action-reaction part that I like. I am crazy about games like paintball, I love fast badminton, and of course you know my passion is partner dancing, especially salsa.

Photo courtesy: John Nasche