Cuban Carousel and Salsa Ball (25th April 2009)
Christian and I bought tickets to see the one-night only dance show, Cuban Carousel, at The Opera House this evening at 8pm. Cost us $60 per person for the ticket and we had the best seats in the house – dress circle (upstairs), front row! Awesome, Christian, for snagging such good seats!!
Cuban Carousel is a dance show directed and choreographed by Vivio and Greydis (Cuban dancers based in Auckland, both well-respected teachers and international dancers both in NZ and abroad) featuring 6 world-class Cuban dancers with an accompaniment of local contemporary dancers. The dance recounts the historical journey of Cuba from the first inhabitants to modern day, described in a magical carousel fantasy and Cuban rhythms.
Honestly, I wasn’t surprised that not many of the regular salsa dancers were here tonight. Vivio and Greydis are amazing dancers but most of us had seen the same choreographed dances several times that I supposed it was the reason why the majority decided not to see this show. Personally, the show was good and beautiful to watch (so many dances and costume changes) but there was something missing, lacking in wow factor of some sort. There were lots more contemporary dancing in this show (including flamenco and tap dancing) and dances performed by the Cubans which I’ve never seen before. Hmm, perhaps more salsa or cha-cha flair to it might have been better? Still, I have to hand it to them for being able to dance so much in the 2-hour show with a 15 minutes interval in between. Great effort and look forward to see more new choreographs by Vivio and Greydis.
10.15pm…oh-o, we had better run…Christian was DJ-ing tonight at the salsa ball in St James Theatre and we had less than 10 minutes to walk there! I wasn’t really planning to go to the ball but after watching Cuban Carousel, I had my groove on and was ready to burn the dance floor! Had lots of awesome dances tonight, some with new faces I’ve not seen. Perhaps it has to do with my bright red dress, getting all the attention haha…or the fact that I’m feeling better now so was back to being the social me and flitting around talking to friends and dancing in between. Nelson, my new Cuban friend, is so cute when he dances because he has a tendency to stick out his tongue with a cheeky smile when dancing and that makes me laugh! Him, being Cuban, has his own salsa dance style – watching his feet move throws me off quite a bit but still fun to dance with.
Eww, Claus, you are all sweaty…I could see sweat patches on his top…eww, eww, eww…“Don’t come near me, you,” I warned and next thing I knew, he was hugging me and not letting me go on purpose. ARGH!!!!
“So, how’s your swing class? You like swing, huh?” he asked, with a glint in his eyes with a sex connotation, to which I cheekily responded, “Oh yeah, I’m enjoying swing, even more so in a large group, guys and girls swapping partners frequently,” and we both cracked up laughing.
Tonight was also Andrea’s last night in town. She heads home to Germany tomorrow and we’ll get to see her again around Christmas. Was lovely to catch up with you during your time here, sweetie. Take care, safe flight home and keep in touch!
Left the ball around 1pm. Good god, when I stopped dancing and sat down, damn, my feet were sore! Thankfully it’s Sunday tomorrow – a whole day to rest up :) Photos taken tonight: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8070917@N05/sets/72157617326319110/detail/
Cuban Carousel is a dance show directed and choreographed by Vivio and Greydis (Cuban dancers based in Auckland, both well-respected teachers and international dancers both in NZ and abroad) featuring 6 world-class Cuban dancers with an accompaniment of local contemporary dancers. The dance recounts the historical journey of Cuba from the first inhabitants to modern day, described in a magical carousel fantasy and Cuban rhythms.
Honestly, I wasn’t surprised that not many of the regular salsa dancers were here tonight. Vivio and Greydis are amazing dancers but most of us had seen the same choreographed dances several times that I supposed it was the reason why the majority decided not to see this show. Personally, the show was good and beautiful to watch (so many dances and costume changes) but there was something missing, lacking in wow factor of some sort. There were lots more contemporary dancing in this show (including flamenco and tap dancing) and dances performed by the Cubans which I’ve never seen before. Hmm, perhaps more salsa or cha-cha flair to it might have been better? Still, I have to hand it to them for being able to dance so much in the 2-hour show with a 15 minutes interval in between. Great effort and look forward to see more new choreographs by Vivio and Greydis.
10.15pm…oh-o, we had better run…Christian was DJ-ing tonight at the salsa ball in St James Theatre and we had less than 10 minutes to walk there! I wasn’t really planning to go to the ball but after watching Cuban Carousel, I had my groove on and was ready to burn the dance floor! Had lots of awesome dances tonight, some with new faces I’ve not seen. Perhaps it has to do with my bright red dress, getting all the attention haha…or the fact that I’m feeling better now so was back to being the social me and flitting around talking to friends and dancing in between. Nelson, my new Cuban friend, is so cute when he dances because he has a tendency to stick out his tongue with a cheeky smile when dancing and that makes me laugh! Him, being Cuban, has his own salsa dance style – watching his feet move throws me off quite a bit but still fun to dance with.
Eww, Claus, you are all sweaty…I could see sweat patches on his top…eww, eww, eww…“Don’t come near me, you,” I warned and next thing I knew, he was hugging me and not letting me go on purpose. ARGH!!!!
“So, how’s your swing class? You like swing, huh?” he asked, with a glint in his eyes with a sex connotation, to which I cheekily responded, “Oh yeah, I’m enjoying swing, even more so in a large group, guys and girls swapping partners frequently,” and we both cracked up laughing.
Tonight was also Andrea’s last night in town. She heads home to Germany tomorrow and we’ll get to see her again around Christmas. Was lovely to catch up with you during your time here, sweetie. Take care, safe flight home and keep in touch!
Left the ball around 1pm. Good god, when I stopped dancing and sat down, damn, my feet were sore! Thankfully it’s Sunday tomorrow – a whole day to rest up :) Photos taken tonight: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8070917@N05/sets/72157617326319110/detail/
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