Salsa Sam’s Rantings

Oi!!

I miss the old days when where I went and what I did… didn’t bother anyone. In the old days, in between meetings, I’d just be think about cool moves I’d try in a Salsa club, and then rush to finish work - albiet do a proper job that is - and just get to the club as soon as I could. At the time I was training to be a Trader in PETRONAS, sometimes, I’d get to La Rouge (and then it was El Nino) by about 9 or 10pm. Sigh! And that was early, when I was trying to prove myself to the Senior Traders.

I’d get there and of course I’d see Fasil, Pat, and Altay dancing on the floor. There weren’t too many Salseros (i.e. Leaders) at that time, so it was non-stop dancing for me. Great dance. Thank you. Next partner. Thank you. Great song, look for anyone closest to me, and just get on the floor. At the end of the night, all the sweaty men (actually for a long time it was Altay and me) would talk about bringing extra shirts or he’d smoke (I was a closet smoker then) but then get dragged on floor by someone.

Sigh.

El Nino used to be almost every night, man, usually Tuesdays to Fridays. Saturdays would be wake up late day and catch up with sleep day. Until Juanita in PJ opened up. But it had a wee small floor. But who cares. When some big-stepped Salsero got on the floor, we were either careful and just danced, bumped, and kept on dancing. Hmmm, maybe I’m just opinionated nowadays, but when someone does not keep to their dance space and just tramples over someone I’m dancing with, my arms kinda rise up and block unwanted trashers.

There was this one time earlier this year, my partner was heeled on the edge of her toe-nails, and I just kept my rhythm, my body facing my partner, and I just turned and stared at the guy. I didn’t care if it was his partner’s fault or his foot, I just glared. Heh heh… not the nicest thing to do, but I think it had a great effect. After the song was over, I was sitting down sipping my coke and the guy came up to my partner (who was consoling her feet) and apologised profusely. Then it got me thinking that maybe it might be him or his dance partner. But frankly, in an R&B club, unless you’re a super-star dancer doing cool hip-hop moves that look like MTV and you’re grooving like crazy, no-one would give a second to close around you and take space. Hmmm…..

Anyway, Altay and I are in touch sometimes. He actually misses KL. After being whisked away by Lever Brothers to Dubai and then to his home country Turkiye, he’s actually been working real hard - no word, no contact, and for him (yikes!) no Salsa - for at least 2 years. Then for the past 2-3 years, he’s been taking 1, 2, or 3 trips a year to KL for his holidays, and really go all out with his Salsa dancing. He’s lost a lot of weight, maybe ‘cos they don’t have mamak in Turkiye. But the Bakhlava’s are heavenly. Just the thing before a long night of …. anyway!

Enough reminiscing. Me weekend Monday is over. Time to get some shut-eye and then start the day at 8am. This is my New Year Resolution - just in case you didn’t know, for me, the year ends with a trip to the Los Angeles Salsa Congress. It’s almost like my X’Mas and New Years’ Eve party. All my year’s worth of Salsa experimentation gets tested in LA. And last month (27th May, to be exact), Team Malaysia performed beautifully. I would not have had it turn out any other way. One to two weeks before LA, two of my best dancers and Team members were down - one with slipdisc, another with an appendix operation. But in the end, they picked themselves up and all 11 of us performed, probably the biggest performance of our lives. It was over to quickly, and at the end, we actually wanted to do it again! But the Malaysian Flag was flying proudly in American and Los Angeles Salsa wind, and that was a sight I’d never forget.

Good night, Miss Blog. I’ll talk to you tomorrow then…

*big hug*

Salsa Sam