Salsa in London

I went to the Sheffield Chemoinformatics conference a few weeks ago in, umm, Sheffield. I left Sweden a few days earlier to visit dance friends of mine in Oxford. On Friday we went to London for salsa dancing, and on Saturday we stayed in Oxford for tango.

Salsa in England has been a bit strange for me. I say "England" because I went salsa dancing once in Scotland and that was normal, so it's not a UK thing. When I've danced with English women I've often felt like something isn't quite there in the connection. It was about 1.5 years ago when I first danced salsa in the UK, both in London ("SOS" = "Salsa On Sunday") and in Cambridge. I couldn't figure out what it was; a timing thing? Cuban vs. L.A. style? Craig (UK Craig, who reintroduced me to salsa years ago) was there too and pointed out that I look at my partner, and English women don't like that.

I've born that in mind, and indeed it seems that my favorite dances in England were with non-English woman. The two I liked best at SOS were with a Swiss woman and with an American.

This time it was salsa at the Ealing town hall (organized by Mambo City). Good venue, with high, high ceilings so it didn't get hot quickly. They also had powerful blowers set up around the floor to get some breeze going. There were, what, 150-200 people there, almost all L.A. style/on-1, which is the style I dance. At SOS I noticed that there was a gradation, with the better dancers near the stage. Here, not so much. Just a lot of good dancers.

I jokingly say that I have an accent when I dance. It's not a joke though - people learn moves and styles based in part on teachers and the local dance community. People coming to Santa Fe could tell that several of the leads had the same dance background. I say it's "Santa Fe style salsa". Not as showy as the LA style they do in Gothenburg, and smooth. Thank you Santiago!

And just like talking to someone with a different accent, dancing with someone used to another style can cause some oopsies. Which happend, of course. Not quite as bad as "what do you mean 'you'll knock me up in the morning'?".

Of the people I danced with, the two I had the most fun with were .. with non-English women. One was a native Spanish speaker. Technically not as good as some of the others (it was a good crowd), but she had fun with the dance, which more than made up for it. The other, which was the last, was with an Australian woman. Also fun, with smiles and expressiveness.

Compare with an English woman I danced with (I assume based on accent) who just kinda looked another direction when we danced, and didn't crack a smile. Strange those English women.

Another cultural observation: in most places I've been it's okay to ask for another dance. That is, with salsa the custom is 1 dance, plus one more if either side wants to continue. Depending on the place, that can continue for a few more dances. At Ealing it was always one dance and only one dance.