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 as a sport

As has also been the case in Denmark for some years now, the Dutch ministry of health has put a special focus on the health of children and young people, in an effort to work against the growing obesity being reported ever more often. In this project the ministry published a folder 'Time for sport' highlighting the health benefits of sporting, and the initiatives undertaken by the public sector to increase active participation in sports. The Dutch association of dance teachers were surprised that no dance was mentioned as a sport. As a result the ministry ordered a scientific investigation of the sport intensity of a number of popular dances. It turned out that many dances qualify as high intensity sports. Salsa, for instance, has a mean metabolic equivalent (MET) above that of a single player match of tennis. This means that salsa is now not only officially accepted as a sport, but also many dance schools and teachers are now entitled to apply for financial support for a number of activities.

Read the summary (in Dutch) on: Sport KnowHow XL

Salsa show at Tipica

Finally, yesterday was showtime! The premiere of our show at Salsa Tipica. We were nervous, the crowd went wild and we made a hell of a show.

Big thanks to all my friends who were there to cheer and support, I really appreciated your presence, you made the experience even better.

Excitement

Lots of stuff going on at the moment: Tomorrow is the exam for my driving license, and on Friday is the premiere of our salsa show at Salsa Tipica.

Yes I am excited!

Photo courtesy: Corporate Canvas

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!

Eddie Torres

The Mambo King, the master of footwork, is sooo fast! Check out his footwork shines and try to follow in the rhythm - it is not as easy as he makes it look.

Sore feet

I guess you could see it coming - my feet are sore! Dancing all week since I arrived on Saturday, walking all day every day sightseeing NY, wearing new dance shoes for the whole evening Tuesday, using every last bit of energy for dancing at Club Cache on Wednesday, starting the NYSC survival challenge training Thursday, and then again a night of dancing!
Now I seriously consider one of those foot massages from the small chinese nail-spa-massage shops.

Edie 'The Salsa Freak' has experienced nearly any kind of foot, knee and hip pain in connection with dancing. Read her great tips on how to prevent and aid your sore dancing feet:
Sore feet solutions from Edie, The Salsa Freak

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 anticorrelation

Yesterday Radek introduced me to a new concept: anticorrelated abilities. Think of the ability to be really good in languages or really good in math. Radeks hypothesis is that the co-occurence of these two abilities is smaller than expected by chance if the abilities were independent. To illustrate his point he told me that he has observed multiple examples of anticorrelation between being a good salsa dancer and the ability to ride a bike well...
This is of course just a hypothesis, and I do not have any examples myself to strengthen or disprove it, but I must say that I am delighted to be introduced to such a interestingly new point of view on salsa.

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.

Frankie Martinez

A tip from Stanley made me look up Frankie Martinez on YouTube. Until now I thought the best footwork I ever saw was that of Mambo D (which I saw perform live in NY), but this guy Frankie sure has some moves too. Really smooth dancing!

Check out this solo performance from the 2003 West Coast Salsa Congress

New York, New York

I bought the ticket, booked a hostel, yes, you got me right, I am going to New York again! This time for the NY salsa congress August 30 to September 2!

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

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

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

Sightseeing

A colleague asked me the other day about which parts of Holland I have been sightseeing during my time here. I had to answer him honestly: I have mostly seen the big cities that host the good salsa parties. And then of course, I have only seen the cities by night.  

Photo: www.typicaltropical.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.

Farlig tiger

Rotterdam Film Festival is finished for this time. Unfortunately, I missed it again, because I chose to dance salsa instead. Yesterday the usual Salsa Under the Bridge was relocated to IMAX instead of Prachtig. Fotos from the party are available at www.typicaltropical.nl

If I had... a digicam

I would take a picture of my feet after every salsa party, to show exactly how often you get bruises on your feet, i.e. how dangerous a sport salsa really is.