Friday 5/28/04:
In what became a pattern for the weekend, I spent much of the day either sleeping or making use of the free wireless internet at the Hilton lobby. I hadn’t registered for the workshops this year because in the past they’ve been too crowded to be useful. I suspect they might not have been crowded after all on account of their being at Salsa Land and not convenient to the hotel.
Friday’s performances were solid and my personal favorites were Ana & Joel Masacote (Boston), Del Este & Mayan (Korea), Eddie Torres Dancers (NY), Edwin Rivera’s tribute to Roberto Roena (LA), Hacha Y Machete (Boston), Harmony Project (San Francisco), Latin Symbolics (San Francisco), and Salsamania’s Semi-Pro Team (San Francisco).
The two bands on Saturday were even more excellent than the night before. It was my first time seeing either Africando or Roberto Roena Y Su Apollo Sound live and I thoroughly enjoyed their music.
I can’t say the same for my social dancing experience that night which was largely similar to the night before. With one lady it was clear from the first measure that things weren’t going to go well. It seemed there were extra kicks going on down there, but I didn’t want to look down. Then she said something which sounded like “you are Russian”. I said, “what?” and she said “you are rushing.” I said I’m dancing on2 and she replied “I know but your are still rushing.” It’s a cardinal sin in my book to “correct” someone while social dancing, not to mention that she was wrong in this instance. I took advantage of a break in music (near but not quite the end of the song) and walked her off the dance floor to our mutual relief.
I was less angry and more sorry for her later when I noticed her standing and not dancing most of the time. Once when she did accept a dance (with an on1 dancer), they aborted it less than a minute into it.
The winner of the lame excuse award later that night was a lady that said “no, I want to watch my [girl] friend”. I pointed out that she had better get closer to the dance floor if she wanted to do that (she was standing at least 15 feet away from the dance floor with several rows of people in between).