swannieuk

When is your preffered date for BadgerLAN

How likely are you in coming along?

Hello!

At the moment my living room looks like a bomb's hit it as I upgrade my computers :-) I've not been able to process any photos from the clubs and parties for this week so I'll keep things brief.

I did manage to get out dancing 6 days out 7 last week and things are looking good for 7 / 7 this week!

Notable evenings included Bray Cricket Club, La Tasca and the new Bachata evening at Bar Risa.

I hadn't been to Bray for about 2½ years but bumped into a friend who suggested I come back. The numbers are good, the downstairs floor has been completely replaced, the parking is still awkward :-) I plan on trying it regularly.

Sunday night at Bar Risa, Reading had to move to La Tasca for the night. It's a good venue, the floor may be sticky but the place has an intimacy about it.

Bar Risa, Reading also saw the start of the first Bachata only evening in the area. Katerina taught beginners and then a more advanced class. I went along for the dancing after the classes and had an enjoyable time.

Last week I listed a party that had been cancelled. I've been told the organisers only gave a couple of days notice and I certainly wasn't aware of it. I'm sorry if anyone attended based on my listings.

When I looked into it, it became obvious that the organiser had cancelled all their parties at one venue and all their Friday night parties. Previously I've just removed these parties from the listings. But now I think I'll be a little more pro-active.

Rather than just remove the listing and leave people wondering if it's on or off, I'll be attaching a prominent CANCELLED notice. The party will appear in the listings, calendar, news feeds but you'll know it's not running. I hope this helps.

¡Hola!

Bruce & Puja

Last week's Newsletter (here) about why I think clubs are short-changing dancers by running late got a massive positive response.

  Totally agree about clubs running late. I know some clubs where the organisers wait until most people have arrived before they start the lessons - so guess what - it gets gradually later every week. I've been to new clubs on several occasions at exactly the time advertised on the web site - to stand by myself for 45 minutes before anything happens.

And as for classes over-running and eating into the limited dancing time - too right - very common and very annoying. When I have pointed this out to organisers they normally come back with some excuse about "salsa time" - but I notice that this does not seem to apply at the end of the evening - they always finish very promptly when it suits them.  

Djamila & Richard

That was a busy weekend :-)

I drove up to the Park Inn, Heathrow with Puja for the evening, well, early morning of bachata and salsa. The birds were singing when we left, Gotta love the decadence.

I had consistently high quality dances, both salsa and bachata. But for me, while the dancing was great, there wasn't a "buzz" to the evening. One thing I noticed were the DJs mixing the bachata tracks into one another. Just as with salsa, I don't like this. As you get to know the music, I believe many dancers try for a "finish" to the dance. In salsa, I try for a lean or a dip, in bachata I try to end with a wrap. But this goes out the window when the track are mixed.

A warning for the future, car parking at Heathrow is expensive. Some organisers arrange to waive it, others don't. In addition to the £15 entrance there was a £12 parking fee :-(

Saturday was the start of a latin night at La Parada restaurant in Reading.

It's not a club, it is a restaurant & bar. It's great to sit around and talk and then have a dance. Maybe a bit disconcerting to have waiters dodging across the floor.

I'll be going back as it made a refreshing change from the club atmosphere.

Hello!

Jennifer

I recently visited a club to dance after the lessons. Arriving on time for 1½ hours of dancing, I was disappointed to sit there, waiting and waiting and waiting. The class finished 30 minutes late.

During that time I was thinking that the cost of dancing had increased from £2 per hour to £3. Yes, I know I over-analyse :-) But that's me, that's why I'm a computer programmer. As soon as the classes finished, people were throwing on coats and leaving.

That's when I realised there were only 6 - 7 advanced women dancers left. I'm thinking that's only 30 minutes of full-on dancing. Trust me, I'm not "getting at" intermediates and beginners, I'm saying I use the appropriate moves to the level of the dancer.

And with only 30 minutes of dancing, my cost per hour has risen to £6. As I was still waiting to pay, I decided to leave.

Clubs that don't run on time are short changing everyone that attends. And they're increasing their chances of failure. Here's my thinking…

Stanley

As I see it, these are the people attending club nights.

1. Dancers who do the lessons and stay all night
2. Dancers who do the lessons and leave immediately
3. Dancers who stay for a couple of dances
4. Dancers who come along just to dance

Clubs that start late increase the cost per hour to every dancer. If you always stay to dance, you'll have less time. If you come just to dance, you'll have less time. Less time dancing equals increased cost. Less value for money.

If you don't stay to dance there's a good reason. You have to get home, you're a parent, whatever. If the club runs late these people will be annoyed or, worse, decide not to come in future.

If you stay for a few dances, running late may make you leave after fewer dances. The fewer dances you have, the less likely you are to come next time. The fewer dancers, the more likely the club will fail.

Running late, clubs run the risk of alienating people.

Whatever you feel about my arguments, I'm pretty sure no-one stopped coming to a club that ran on time.

And I'm pretty sure I won't be going back to the club that overran.

Hi there!

When I started my job, 6 years ago, I was out dancing 4-5 nights a week (oh wait, I still am!).

I started to get some grief from my boss. Not timekeeping but questions about my sexuality :-)

Shuga, Spice Room launch night

Completely inappropriate and, given the manager, pointless in engaging him in an argument.

My solution was not to argue but to put up photos on the padded walls of my cubicle.

Photos of me and the gorgeous ladies of salsa :-)

End of questions.

Hello!

Palenke live

Welcome to the 2nd week of the new-look Newsletter.

Please drop me a line if you know of anyone having problems receiving the emails and I'll see what I can do.

As for why the email problems? Well, no one pays me and I'm trying to do it as cheaply as possible. I recommend a mail service (Constant Contact) for any of the organisers that ask me. But I'd be faced with a monthly bill of $30.

Strictly Salsa, High Wycombe held a good evening with Palenke playing a wide range of tracks. Always professional, Palenke kept the tracks "Dancer friendly" in both length and tempo.

Tracy and John

It was also a night that saw many "old-hands" returning to the floor. Good to see them again.

First Friday, Viva Salsa's party evening at Loudwater was as busy as I've ever seen it. Following their change to the seating area - YAY! - there is more room on the floor.

This month the DJ's were on fire - people were chatting, saying how good they thought the music was!

La Parada

There have been no screams following last week's review the club listings. After removing clubs that no longer appear to be running and some long distance clubs no-one has told me differently.

If you do hear of a club changing, or even shutting, I appreciate you dropping me a line.

The most recent Newsletter should always be available as http://www.davidsugarman.co.uk/news.html.