I Feeeeeel Good

I do, I do, and do you know why?

Because I can wear my flip flop, and walk

around the garden with no shoes on, and

lie on my hammock (not a real hammock,

a free standing one from Tesco.  Have you

ever tried to get out of a real hammock with

your dignity intact and without the aid of

the Fire Brigade?)

Sorry, drifted then.  But this lovely

summery spell has made me think.  Salsa

makes you feel you're on holiday in a hot

country every time a new piece of music

comes on.  Sometimes I forget this as

I'm in salsa clubs on a fairly regular basis

but all I have to do is hear yet another

vibrant, sassy track and there I am,

sipping sangria, flirting outrageously in

a holiday kinda way, and dancing sitting

down.

So, the question is - does salsa put you

in the holiday spirit every time you walk through the club door? Are we dedicated

salseros almost permanently on holiday

- in one part of our brain at least - and

that is why we are quite often in an

almost irritatingly good mood: we know

we are on holiday for two hours on

Tuesday night, maybe Wednesday,

possibly Saturday - just for a few hours

and we dont even have to go through

passport control.

"So, anyway" (a direct quote from one

of my favourite songs), onto what our

favourite Sunshine salsa teachers, Terry and Yolande, have been getting up to.

Well, after the lead up, the excitement, the wow! It's nearly Planet Salsa....

Planet Salsa has happenned!!!. And do you know what - it was fabulous! I could only get there for the Saturday night, but via thorough research - i.e. talking to my

friends - I have discovered that the whole

weekend was a triumph.  I mean, you

know the classes have been good when people around you are practicing them

despite SSF - Severe Salsa

Fatigue. The demon salsa had taken

posession of their salsa souls and the Had No Control.  That's a good congress.  And if you want to know who

went, they could be passing you in the street and mambo-ing,not walking.  That's the sign.

 

 

 

And looking back, Miguel and Mayana.

Did you see Mayana's dress???? Did you. I want one.

And looking back twice - Ignite Dance

Company. I granned Giles and had a chat

with him, too - more of that next month.

And the lovely Frank Santos - interviewing

him was such a chore..not!

Firstly, the ever-glam, Miguel and Mayana.

I first met the dress hanging up as they were getting ready for their show in

Chelmsford in March - on their two-year

teaching/performing anniversary, no less -

and The Dress gave me a clue as to the

tone of the show.

Explained Miguel,

"We don't want to be scared to try new

things. We want people to think, What are

these guys going to do next?

"We do two shows a year.  We take so much time to choreograph, and want to

make things clear.

"It's an old track, from the 1960's - Xavier

Cougat and his Orchestra, the kind of

thing Gene Kelly and Fred Astair used to

dance to.

"We found this track and hope we have

done justice to it. It's a combination

between modern and old. I am an old

fashioned guy.

"And for the salsa crowd we want the

costume to fit the music."

Continued Mayana,

"We have gone back in time to the

Hollywood old glamour.

"We listen to all the music and we see in

our eyes and our head theshow, and then

come the costumes.  We draw pictures for

months and monhts and "

months, and this is the debut of this dress - it is the first time

I have performed in this costume.

 

Said Miguel,

"The costume is from Russia - it's the

BMW of costume fitting."

Mayana,

"There is so much precision and detail.  All

the stones are Swarovski - the light stays

inside the stones, as soon as the light gets

there it stays in."

Miguel,

"We train every day even with injuries and

pulled muscles.  We want to entertain the

crowd as we are entertainers and we

want people to think, aahh, we have seen

something from the movies. We want to be

both different, innovative and authentic."

And I tell you, the routine was fabulous -

graceful, romantic, and full of old

Hollywood glamour, as stated.

Continuing the high-class guest teacher

theme that Terry and Yolande provide

month after month, May saw a visit by

Frank Santos and his new dance partner,

Celine.

A thoroughly enjoyable class was followed

by a lovely show.  I don't normally use the

word lovely when i think about shows, but it was.  It was lovely.

And I managed to grab a few words with

Frank before he managed to dance with

half the ladies in Marconi that night.

So, then, Frank - how do you decide what

you are going to teach?

"I try to see the people, start with something everyone can do, then build

up to something a bit harder.  I try to give

people what they need.  I like to leave the

place knowing that not everybody will

remember the routine, but I will have

changed something in the way they dance."

What do you get out of teaching salsa?

"I like to see people feel the music the way I feel it.  I never stop studying.  You try to make people believe what you do.  The dance floor is like your own world and when you see people understand your world and share with you the passion and the way you see it - share the passion - it's fantastic."

What about the choreography of the dance?

"I've been studying contemporary

choreography since I was a child, and this

dance is the story of a guy who is really in

love with a girl, but he is shy, but in the end he makes his way.  It is really contemporary choreography - people can understand what's goin on."

When performing, how do you feel?

 

"I feel really nervous - I learned to get into the character.  Every show i do there is a character and I try to believe it.  And if I believe it, people will do it, too.

Copyright Chris Penhall 2009

www.chrispenhall.co.uk

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