Jailbait

Halo

My first weekend when I'm not on call or sick or detained by some other dumb reason. Tonight I elected to check out a new Salsa place called Halo. Strangely enough there was no bouncer at the door. Almost did that awkward thing where you think someone is the bouncer and then they're not.

Up the stairs, and there's not much signage. Bonus points for being pseudo-hidden: great place to take a girl. Up top, I pay my $7. They don't bother stamping my hand. Still no one has checked my I.D. I look around and see no bar. I sit down and put my dance shoes on. The shoes I walk in have too much traction for dancing, and the shoes I dance in get all torn up if I wear them outside. Before leaving for Halo I actually sat down and debated how to get my shoes to the dance club, and in the absence of bags that wouldn't look ridiculous, I elected to just carry them all 10 blocks or whatever. I need to figure out how dancer guys do it. Maybe a tiny duffel bag? Could throw in there an extra shirt too.

To my left I see some kids dancing--like high school age. They look cute. I like it when someone brings some kids--start 'em early. Then I stand up, mindful of trying to look cool and I survey the room looking for an open girl. The girls here are more attractive than the ones at the other club I've been to, Century Ballroom. Suspiciously more attractive. It took about 1 or 2 dances for me to realize that almost everyone was in high school. Being alarmingly close to the elderly age of 30, I not only had to worry about dancing good and figuring how which girls are good dancers, but also somehow not be a creepy old guy. And there's a bunch of high school guys that dance better than me. And I had no real motivation to meet anyone.

Most of the kids aren't good dancers. I spotted one or two. This isn't a bad thing, since I need to work on my beginner moves, but a lot of the girls were too unstable to really dance with. Bonus points for trying. Too bad all that extra kid shyness makes it even less likely that girls will save me some effort and ask me to dance.

On the bright side, there is a lot of room there, and the guy to girl ratio wasn't terrible. And, again, the girls, while illegal, were at least better looking than the ones at century ballroom. If I brought my own girls, like at least two good ones (a Seattle version of Nicole and Cassie), it could be an awesome place to go dancing. The music was decent, and there was plenty of room, and no creepy guys. And I need to go dancing...all my skills have atrophied. Most of my good moves have faded, and I'm not sure I'll ever be able to do the awesome cross body lead again (it only worked with Nicole anyway).

I miss Brasils.


Salsa Move of the Week

This is really more for my reference than anyone else's. In three week's worth of material at the salsa class I'm taking I've learned one move that I can use when I'm out dancing socially. It's really just a cross body lead, but looks fancy cause its one where the guy turns to the right. You can do it from closed position. On count 5, instead of stepping in place with your right foot, you actually step back towards your left (I don't know why this works) and turn to the right...stepping forward with your left on 6, turning more on 7. Around count 5ish put the girls hand on your shoulder, and she should let it slide around you as you spin, coming down your front and you can catch it with your left hand again.

Not impressive, but the girl is just doing a cross body lead, so its a move you can throw in there with beginners, and also with advanced girls if you spin one too much and need to give them a break.