I finally got my Netherdrake mount In World of Warcraft! Took me long enough, but I have it now. And it rocks!!

 

 

On to the next challenge, though I'll be there faster, 380% faster to be exact. :) And when I beat that one race I'll get it up to 300%.

This is a 3-part blog I kept during my weekend at the Tipica Salsa Weekend organised by Femke & Manoah from Salsa Tipica. It was awesome! No, it was beyond awesome!

 

Sunday March 16th

10:45 We overslept. Was to be expected, but still a bummer. So we decided to skip the workshop by Mushi & Emma, men styling & lady styling on 1 We’re going to grab some breakfast and then head for Victor & Burju’s chachacha workshop. It’s advanced and chachacha isn’t my strongest point, so I wonder how it’ll go.

 

The chachacha workshop went ok, though Victor messed with my timing (his words) We missed the first shine, but we did our best to pick it up. If i see it back on video I think I’ll be able to do it. The partnering was doable for me at least. Burju had some crazy styling going on. They teach really well. Fun, but educational. Funny stuff: Mautje busted out some gum and Victor asked for one while running back to Burju after turning on the music.  But the packet didn’t open completely so Mautje was struggling to get the gum out. Finally the gum pops out and he rushes to Burju to start the sequence to music So as Victor is standing their he suddenly says into the microphone: Hey, you gave me your nail!! Apparently one of Mautje’s nails came off as she tried to get the gum out the packet. Embarrassing, & FUN! J

 

As I anticipated, the workshop jazzy shines by Big Spenders incorporated quite a lot of contemporary moves. Which is nice as it teaches me use of my body in ways in which I don’t normallyuse it. I sad it down by the end. I like the combination of professionalism & humbleness of these guys.

Last one by Victor & Burju : Advanced partnering on 2. It had some pretty challenging parts, but it was quite doable to me, apart from a guy’s double turn. Having learned on2 on the dance floor I find that I need to understand what the move is rather than count it out.

 

A big plus for us is that we are getting some recognition by established dancers/teachers about our skills & level. Burju said I was awesome. Gabi from Matanza said to Mautje that she can do more than she realizes. I got Maisanne to smile during dancing. J Salima, the other member of big spenders thought I was great. And Manoah said we were good dancers. A lot of ego-stroking but we are very much going to stay humble and let our dancing speak for us. But coming from an environment that doesn’t stimulate us in a salsa way, it’s good to hear some positive criticism from the pros.

 

Funny story about Manoah. He was like: where are you guys from? And we go: Maastricht. And you could almost see the wheels in his head turning and then he went: But you guys are good, are there any good schools in Maastricht?? J Apparently the words Maastricht/Limburg & Good dancers don’t fit in one sentence. J He asked how we got to this level, after which I replied: Stay objective and as a leader make it about the lady. Later on Mautje told him that we have a small dance school and Gerald from Salsipuedes confirmed that the level is quite low and that we were the only on2 dancers there. (he meant Musica Mundial in Heerlen) Nice to confirmation that I am not CRAZY!

 

The proof that we are on the right track also comes from the stuff the teachers said during the workshops. We say the same things, so we are teaching the correct things. Victor said that advanced is not so much about complicated turn patters but more about being conscious of your steps &movement (individually & in partnering) Mitchell from Tambo Project talked about the rawness (anger) & the melodic parts in Salsa, as did we a couple of weeks ago.

 

It really feels good to have confirmation that we are on the right track. Now we just have to keep growing up as dancers, as a school and as individuals of course.

On a last note: It was grat because of the great people, not jsut great dancers. One of the last songs was el cantante by Hector Lavoe, at which point Victor grabbed the mic and sang alon the whole song. it was awesome.....

This is a 3-part blog I kept during my weekend at the Tipica Salsa Weekend organised by Femke & Manoah from Salsa Tipica. It was awesome! No, it was beyond awesome!

 

 

Saturday March 15th

 

Went to bed at 4:00, got up at 8:30 to get some breakfast.  We were wrecked! But ready to get our learn on. Got some breakfast, saw Burju & Victor rehearsing their workshop in the lobby and grabbed a cab to Salsa Tipica.  First workshop by Brian & Mechteld started of with a little shine which had a little timing challenge in it for me. The figure was cool, I had it down at the end of the workshop except for the last part, which was a little fast for me.  Crazy!

 

Next workshop was by Frantz from Big Spenders, Men Styling. Though I could handle the shine pretty easy, I am pretty sure I need to work on my execution.  The warm-up contained a couple of things though that I will definitely practice.

 

Next workshop: Afro Modern by Mitchel from Tambo project. Both parts of this shine workshop were pretty challenging. Two new Afro Cuban movements and the Modern dancing is very new to me , so you know I look like a fool doing it. But I liked that he emphasized the music by doing the shine on the music. His explanation of modern dance was also nice. Clear & easily to follow, as was his Afro Cuban. I like that he explained that salsa has a raw/angry part. (afro) and a softer melodic part, like the piano and/or trumpets. Since we explained the same thing a couple of weeks ago at video night, it means we are on the right track.

 

Next workshop: Men Styling by Victor. You can tell that he is experienced in teaching. A relaxed fun class, but still we learned a whole lot. I can do all 3 of his shines, but I need to practice them. Especially if I want to add the body movement parts. He challenged us to link all 3 shines together and wasn’t afraid of screwing up himself.  I like how he put the body movement as optional and cited Burju for the body movement. Mautje bought the body movement dvd as well as the partnering dvd. It seems that her workshop was total madness. J

 

Last workshop of the day: Mushi & Emma from the UK. Nice clear explanation. Fun too. I thought I had seen it all in regards to salsa partnering but man is this a difficult one. I also am not used to counting while dancing on 2, so I got a couple of timing parts wrong. After I left out the hook turn I was able to properly lead it. It isn’t quite smooth yet, but we’re getting there. Judging from the ladies in the workshop (we kept rotating) I could guess that the guys were having some problems leading it as well. I like how they gave me a new dimension in leading now. There is always something to learn. We learned an important thing: When doing a double inside turn, the inside turn changes to a spin on the left foot. Didn’t know that.

Got home with Mandy, fell asleep almost immediately. We missed an appointment to eat together with Milenthy. Bummer, but I think it was for the better. We were worn out.

 

The party was off the hook. You come in and you want to dance your soul off. I know I am totally in to it when I do stuff I don’t even knew I could do. Did part of the Mushi figure and a part of Victor’s shines during social dancing. Didn’t get to dance with the “Salsa-celebrities, but half way through the party I was done. Wanted to, but just couldn’t keep dancing. But watching really made me happy as well. It’s very nice to see a whole room of dancers hit a break, damn! I am also slowly falling in love with Ritmo Kombina, merengue-esque music from the Antilles. I like. We also saw Winnie after almost a year. Good to see our old colleague and partner in crime again. She has only started dancing again for two weeks. I knew she’d be back. J

It is now 5:30 am,  and I have to get back up at 9:30, so off to bed. Tomorrow is going to be awesome again.

 

 

This is a 3-part blog I kept during my weekend at the Tipica Salsa Weekend organised by Femke & Manoah from Salsa Tipica. It was awesome! No, it was beyond awesome!

 

Day 1:

Friday March 14th

 

We were supposed to leave at 16:23 but we left at 16:57 in order to leave in a state of peace. Bought a new hat, cut my hair and started packing at about 14:00-ish. I went to pick up our train tickets beforehand and decided to upgrade to 1st class. Hey, it was only 10 Euros. And Mautje bought a HUGE bag.

 

14:30 Cab came at 14:30 and we were very much on time at the train station. The nice train-conductor let Mautje’s sister travel in first class too, even though she didn’t have  a first class ticket. Score 1 for the Hous-Leckie team J

 

18:00 If you thought NS was bad, Veolia is even worse. Apart from an extra stop with half an hour extra waiting-time in the cold, the trains are just way too small for all the passengers. The hunch to pay extra for 1st class paid off well, though not for the last part of the trip. The train was so full hat people spilled over into first class. There goes your extra 10 Euros. Oh well, at least the first part of the journey was very comfortable

 

19:30 Arrived in Nijmegen, found the hotel pretty quickly, got settled and then went out for some food We saw a good pasta-place, but ended up at Burger King. Go figure. Tomorrow we are testing out the pasta place and Sunday the Chinese place we saw. The hotel-room is a bit small, big bed, but comfortable.

 

22:15 Drinking my first of probably many cups of coffee to get through this weekend. I am excited, but controlled. J Mautje is sleeping, but she got up at 8:00 this morning, where as I was up at 12:00.

 

22:30 Just woke her up, we are leaving soon. (listening to a very special song at the moment, can’t say much more about it though J)

 

(I also bought a game for the train, which I didn’t get to play at all)

 

3:41 The party can be summed up in one sentence: Food for te soul! The energy from so many great dancers is incredible. Tambo Project had a great afro/modern show and Hache y Machete was awesome. Great perfomers. During the party you can’t help but smile, whether you are dancing or just watching. Brian Libier’s dancing baffles me and Rayonell’s spins are crazy. He really works the ladies as opposed to my relaxed style of dancing. (Learning-moment for myself to not get used to my style of dancing too much) Maybe we should head north more often? I danced with Maisanne from France and with a friend of her who is also an awesome dancer. (her name is Salima and she complimented Mautje before we even knew each other. She’s a very sweet girl. Actually, the whole of the Big Spenders team is very nice, professional and humble) and last but not least Burju from Hache y Machete. Whoa, that was great. And she said I was awesome. JJ I feel an ego coming up.....Always stay humble though. I am very very grateful for this experience. All parties need to be like this. Tomorrow workshops start at 10:00am, so I’d better get some sleep. It was also great fun with Milenthy,  Anja and Irene too. Great dancers and Irene has really really grown. Oh and a funny thing happened. I ran across the room to ask Burju and I was a split second too late. Somebody else asked her, but then Victor saw what happened and got up and asked me to dance.  So I also danced with Victor for half a song. J The one thing that really stuck with me was that I saw a professional dance with somebody of intermediate level and having great fun.

AS IT SHOULD BE!

Last time I reported getting a flying mount in World of Warcraft, which was was awesome when I finally could fly through outland.

 

But now, after some heavy questing, skinning animals and selling my leatherworking products through the auction-house, I have finally acquired the epic swift flying mount!

 

It's armored too. :P Though lots of people have acquired this baby pretty quicky, I only just acquired this mount due to time constraints. I just can't devote so many hours one after another to the game. So I play when I can. The old mount flew at 60% walking speed, but this one cuts through the air at almost 300% walking speed. it's crazy!!! And I likez. No more running from me puny alliance.....

 

I am already working on the next mount, which is a dragon...a netherdragon to be exact. It can't get much cooler than that.