Before the Storm that's called the Fringe

T minus seven (London), or should that be F minus seven as in Fringe minus seven days?
This time next week (F-1) I'll be in Edinburgh on my last evening before show day number One! (F1) a nice gentle day consisting of Mambalsa Pop-Up Flash Class 10-11
Flyering 11-12
Camden Comedy Show 12.15-1.15pm
Flyering for Mambalsa Show 1.30-3pm
Mambalsa show 3-4pm
Flyering various dance events until
12am a tight five with Late with Kate!
I'm knackered already! 
Then repeat for twenty something days on the trot!! ... And I'm doing this for fun?
I've already got that feeling in the pit of my stomach. An angst that's easy to attribute and hard to get away from. Angsttttt!
Today was spent getting the social media together. Tonight it goes out and maybe people will share. I said "MAYBE PEOPLE WILL SHARE!"

So far I've an e-flyer (see right):
and changed the facebook banner
 




 and added a link picture for the video clips on Youtube. 
I've also set up a small facebook advert to promote the link to the clips.

 







So what's left....  A bespoke newsletter to my salsa list; A special mail shot to Scottish dance teachers/ clubs;  A press mail out to magazines that might cover this story:
In short tons and tons of work of which I have little or no experience.  Angsttttttt! By the way a big thank you to Debbie Rose who tweaked my press release. What a star.

Tomorrow I've the last salsa 1-Day Intensive until September! Sunday is the last i.2.i course which feels like I've left the house unlocked with all the windows open. Angsttttt!

So here's a bunch of links and details of the show ... did I mention sharing?

Video Clips:






Edinburgh Show trailer:


https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLH0PmCOHtRTSvcSh2E2nHdc9NCKSlrULs






Pop-Up Flash-Mob Mambalsa Strut :


https://youtu.be/IsbIJNjonjM?list=PLH0PmCOHtRTSvcSh2E2nHdc9NCKSlrULs






Besame Mucho at London’s Kings Cross Station:


https://youtu.be/jhm6Wj4erj8?list=PLH0PmCOHtRTSvcSh2E2nHdc9NCKSlrULs






Mambalsa.com http://www.mambalsa.com/



Meetup http://www.meetup.com/mambalsa/



Twitter https://twitter.com/mambalsa



Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mambalsa/933953896632393



Blog: http://mambalsa.blogspot.co.uk/



 
Edinburgh Fringe Show Details:


Mambalsa- One Man's Quest to Create a New Partner Dance


FREE! 3pm-4pm 8-29th Aug. venue 100, Pilgrim,


3 Robertson's Cl. EH1 1LY map at https://goo.gl/maps/0iZUz






Pop-Up Flash-Mob Mambalsa Meetup Strut


10am daily on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile


see mambalsa.com for location

Besame Muchos Mambalsa at Kings Cross Station

Besame Muchos Mambalsa at Kings Cross Station

One of my highlights of this year so far was a beautiful dance I had with Miranda Bild in Kings Cross Station.

We danced to the beautiful bolero Besame Mucho is sung by Fabian Velez accompanied by my wife Felicity Sadler on violin. Their concert at the Venezuelan Embassy in 2010 was in part the inspiration for me to create Mambalsa, a dance where you can dance slow and romantically as well as fast and funky.

I believe that when you dance a slow dance, a magic bubble is created around you. People glance but seldom intrude.
To test this we danced Mambalsa to Besame Mucho at London's Kings Cross station. We filmed for twenty minutes with no permits and were not interrupted once :-)
 

We filmed other scenes to create a plot (which I will get around to editing some day!)... They met one last time. Chatted and had fun at a cafe where they danced by the tables. They said their goodbyes outside the station and she walks away. After a few moments of loneliness he impulsively follows her in the station and they dance one last time. .... 

The dance is an analogy for a kiss or is a kiss an analogy for a dance?

I always have been a little over cautious of authority and tend to use it as an excuse not to try things. This clip broke through that fear for me so I've added it to the eXtream Mambalsa playlist.

enjoy. Alastair

Mambalsa is the new partner dance that I created in 2014. Info and on-line tutorial at mambalsa.com
It works to any 4:4 time music from very fast rock and pop down to the slowest boleros.
Twitter @mambalsa facebook group Mambalsa.
I host popup fash mob classes at meetup.com/mambalsa

Flash Pop Up Mambalsa Development Workshop Sunday 31/5/2015

“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!” - ― Hunter S. Thompson

And what a ride it was! a week after a fear busting Ally Pally experience and we are off!
The plan for the day was simple:
Mambalsa Dev w/s;
Walk down to the river;
Have something to eat from the stalls behind the Royal Festival Hall;
Enjoy the Thames Salsa Cruise with a bunch of friends.

Development w/s
We were in the small room/ studio Two/ The cloak room! at bar Salsa! which is pros and cons. Pro's being good light and a black curtain for filming, Cons being no air-con!
About ten us doing some moves then filming them in our make shift studio. My aim is not to film slick dvd quality clips but create a rough and ready pile of clips that can be added to by the Mambalsa dancers. I feel the slicker the clips the more inhibited the Mambalsa Crowd will be in filming their own and uploading.

We quickly got into a move, film, move, film, routine which allowed for breathing and oxygen breaks.
Hot sticky but fun. The three hours slipped away as did the rain outside.

Ok lets do some outside! And off we went with a moments hesitation as I stumbled on the stairs leading up and out of bar Salsa! into the light and into the real world.  "Here be dragons" it said on the map. Well here be public and they are way more scary to me! First location, in between Macaris Guitar shop and bar Salsa!
Make a pile of the bags and off we go. Uptown Funk to us but "What the hell are they doing" to everyone walking past. I didn't see any frowns of disapproval but smiles as people saw us doing something a bit different.










Next location Trafalgar Square. Two shots, one with Nelson in the background then over to the square where there was a real dj "Grandad DJ"  pumping out some dance music. A few quid in his bucket and off we danced.








Millennium Bridge. It may be called the Wobbly Bridge but we didn't, this was fun!
A few shots dancing along and leaning over the edge. People walking past some aware of us some not. I was at the front and Leigh was at the back so by the time they got to him curiosity had gripped them. One group got chatting and yes they are going to the Edinburgh Fringe!

Finally in front of Festival Pier by the Royal Festival Hall. One or to people clearly would have joined in if we had time but energy was flagging. Hugs and claps and I almost well up thanking those fearless few for coming with me. Then off for food and a beer!

Then the Thames Salsa Cruise. One hundred and thirty people ready to party. Great fun and a great start to the season.

Miranda and I dance to Dos Gardenias on the rear deck while everyone else danced salsa.

 Sooooo tired but an amazing day.

Pop Up Silent Disco Steet Mambalsa Meetup and fear!

The Walk of fear to Ally Pally

Another first at Ally Pally

There's a lot of books written about fear. How it can shape our lives and distort out view on the world.
Today I won an important battle with my fear.
My fear was exposing myself to the public as a dance teacher. Of putting myself out there, approaching people.

I've always hated flyering with a passion. To hand out a flyer about me would send me into a tailspin of negativity. I once employed a bubbly girl called Louisa to flyer outside Kings Cross Station. Off she goes with a smile and a carefree attitude. Meanwhile I had to stand at least 20 metres away just to stop the palpitations and sweats. I have tried it in the past outside Farrindon tube. All I could see in the eyes of the disgruntled commuters was 'I hate your intrusion into my space!' Last summer in Edinburgh I help Gary Shaw for a few minutes outside his comedy venue. His company and the idea that if I ever wanted to run a show I need to do this helps me through.

Today I strapped on my Mambalsa Bag and armed with silent disco headphones I strolled up to Alexandra Palace where they hold a farmers market every Sunday. A great place to meet humans! As I strolled the length of the stalls I felt my fear growing and my confidence ebbing. Every person was not right to approach. Too tall, too old, too fat , to disabled, too child-carer-ish!
Get a grip man!! Isn't that the problem? I don't see myself as 'Mr Mambalsa' the dance teacher so I'm not seeing it others.
I get to the end and start to come back. There's a trendy thirty something couple! 1 2 3 and chat.
He's totally not into dance. What I now call a 'Never, Not Now, Not Ever' she did ballet when she was young.  Nice but no dancing Mambalsa for them.
Couple no 2:  She's got Green Hair and not English. 'What dance would you do? .... The Waltz
The Waltz! What century are you in girl! I can't wait for the 1800's to start! You've got green hair and the dance of you dreams is the Waltz!
THE ONLY MUSIC YOU CAN@T MAMBALSA TO IS THE SODDING WALTZ!

Breath.

Arlene moments before we get going!

Two pretty twenty something girls.
Do you dance? 'a bit of salsa'
Where?  'there's a club called Salsa'
I teach there! (you are now in my power!)
Head phones on and our trio is Mambalsa-ing along the stalls! Our own little bubble of silent dance to Uptown Funk.

Yes!

'What was it you were doing?' a stall holder asks. blah blah blah I reply
'My daughters' an artistic directer at the Fringe' chat chat chat
'I'll do it!' next stall holder says who's called Arlene.
Headphones on and pow we're away!
Four approaches and two conversions! 50% !

Recover :-)

It's doable people! Fear beaten for now and so on to the next battle with fear!

Spring Update

There's a bunch of progress to report on the Mambalsa front so here goes:
Edinburgh: The show is approved, and the copy is in the big fat Fringe brochure.
I've titled the show 'Mambalsa- One Man's Quest to Create a New Partner Dance.'
The venue's good and the shows about half written which is only a couple of weeks behind schedule.
I've started performing chunks of it in open mic comedy nights to bring the performance up to scratch.
Accommodation is proving tricky but its not to late to fix.
The silent disco headphones have arrived and I took them out for the first time last Tuesday.
In the middle of my salsa club (Salsa Camden) I danced Mambalsa with various partners to completely different music than was playing in the club. It was good to see the curiosity it provoked and encouraging how ready most were to try it. One lady didn't and I think she didn't know me so there will be more resistance with the general public as the Salsa Camden know me and are already dancers. I need to find the best way of dealing with the 'no thanks'.

What struck me was that there's a simple way to simplify the learning process of Mambalsa.
Call it level one Partner work (working title) - Mirrored  FWS with very few moves. i.e. the minimum needed to dance Mambalsa on the floor.
By empowering the dancers to participate on the floor without any expectation of moves they consolidate FWS and enjoy the dance. Moves come later.
I've just had the idea for the title 'Mambalsa Pow!' Pow as in empowered.
 By using Mambalsa Pow as a snowball exercise ie teach one then get them to show others while you teach the next etc. It becomes social, and proves they understand FWS and Mirroring.

The Dancing in the street idea for the Edinburgh Fringe is to promote the dance and the show in the Royal Mile by approaching the public and teaching them Mambalsa. The goal is to turn a small group of public into a roving demo team who dance and dish out flyers. Think Harri Krishna with headphones.  I'm thinking a lot of branding and sunshine will help this.

Jan Feb 2015 Winter Blues

Saturday morning in cafe Nero before my full day salsa course at bar Salsa.
Yesterday I have a steroid injection into my shoulder. After months of pain  I finally went to the doctor and he said 'frozen shoulder'. Stage one of the fix is remover the pain, three injections monthly should do it then physio to regain flexibility. I'm happy its curable and doesn't stop me doing that much.

what's getting frustrating is the lack of progress in the Edinburgh Fringe show organising. Two applications with P B H are pending. and there's no word for Edinburgh council re the pop up dance classes in the Grassmarket.
more calls next week!
I tried to contact the Big London squares like Broardgate, Kings Cross and Canary Wharf but didn't get a single reply! Try again next week.
The fall back is to go ferel and busk. It's sort of non busking with no exchange of money, no noise just a group of people doing dancing in silence.

Update Feb March 2015
It's looking less and less likely re Grassmarkets. It's just too slow to organise with nothing to suggest it will even work.
Good news re silent disco gear. Because it works on the same frequency as my radio mic , I should be able to use the belt pack transmitters, saving a lot of weight and expense.

Very little interest in the development workshops at the moment. Three problems.
The next one is Mothers Day
Spring is breaking so everyone wants to be
Me! I'm just not pushing it. arrrrrrr

Finnish on an up note.... Every Saturday I'm showing Mambalsa to my 1-Day Intensive Course students. Each Saturday I get that buzz from their ease at getting it and how well it suits anyone's music.

Dec. Katies Party / Dev w/s

It seems a long time ago but in between Christmas and New year I held dev workshop no 3. This was the pilot of the three hour course aimed at groups and companies.
Katie, a school teacher, who has the fortune or misfortune to have her birthday inbetween Christmas and New Year, invited many of her friends and colleagues come along for a Mambalsa experiernce.

After the basics and exercises I developed a performance routine with the group the results can be seen on this clip
note: because of the track we used (sway - Pussycat Dolls)  it may not play everywhere and on every device.
It 'worked' on several levels. Fun, group cohesion, a visual social media clip.
If I had known how useful the performance routine who be, I would have given more time during the w/s to it to achieve a better clip.
Once again Mambalsa proved to be versatile and fun.
enjoy....

KatiesParty: https://youtu.be/z7b1LYHOYHM