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Mambocity Long Good Friday |
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Written by Mel C
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Monday, 24 March 2008 |
As Easter was early this year and we had a free weekend for a change, Steve and I decided that we needed a break and thought a trip to London would be good.
Now, as our breaks normally end up with me dragging Steve to some sort of salsa event, we decided to pre-empt my ‘dragging’ and booked into the Ramada Hotel in Ealing so we could attend the Mambocity Long Good Friday event.
Steve had bought a new car earlier that week (an Audi A3 Hatchback to be exact) and was eager to test it out on a good run (I personally think this was the only reason he had agreed to go to London for the weekend...) I went to get my hair done in the morning (i’m allowed if we’re not flying anywhere!) and we left for London about 2:30pm on Friday afternoon.
We got there in good time (the new car is a definite improvement on Steve’s old Golf and my ickle Nissan Micra!) and I left Steve to grab the stuff out of the car while I dashed to the loo (I have a sore throat, too much water on the way there!) I bumped into Mauro and Aiste on the way in (gorgeous couple, taught a fab cha cha class that day) and got sent the wrong way to the loo (I remember what you look like dude!)
Apparently, in my eagerness to get to the 'bathroom' as the americans call it, I ran straight past the latest edition to the Mambocity Team, 'Mambo Van'! I cannot even begin to describe Mambo Van, seeing is believing, so check out the pic!
Jean was waiting at the top of the stairs doing the whole meet and greet thing (she’s so good at that!) we said hi, had a quick look at the timetable so we could check out which classes we had to film/take shots of and got to it.
Ealing Town Hall has two main rooms, The Princess and The Victoria, Mambocity rotate between both rooms on their party nights, the big parties being held in the Princess Room upstairs. Both have great floors and the atmosphere is always great!
Four classes were running at the same time, we got footage of Mo T’s Shines class and Andrea Stewarts styling class, then ran downstairs to catch Wyn Morris Merengue class and Mauro and Aiste’s Cha Cha class.
Next lot of classes up were Andrea’s Reggaeton class (highlight for me was Franklyn from Manchester getting down and dirty in the class, wicked!) a Rueda Class, Marchant and Davina’s Intermediate Turn Pattern class and Simon’s (Seraphim) Bachata class.
All of the classes were well attended and seemed to be enjoyed by all, (you can see some of the class footage in the video section).
We went and had dinner at a place called Chico’s with Andrea, nice little restaurant, very reasonable and you got 10% off with a Mambocity flyer, bargain! Andrea had to shoot off as she had rehearsal and we had to check into our hotel.
Just enough time to check in, shower and head back out to the venue in time for the shows to start. There were four shows that night: Mambata, Duende, Adeyemi and Mark and Lisa, Salsa Oxford/Con Tambor.
All of the shows were entertaining, but if I had to pick one that stood out, it would have to be Mambata. They did appear nervous and there were a couple of minor mistakes (apparently, this was only the second time that they had performed,  well done guys!) but this was the best show (in my opinion) that night and I believe that these guys will be the ones to watch in 2008.
Johnny G and DJ Cruz kept the dance floor full for the rest of the night (they will be at the Salsa Central Birthday party if you missed this event!) and they were having to kick people out (us included) by the time 1am came.
I always enjoy the Mambocity events, the atmosphere is always good and I get to dance loads! This was my first time to the Long Good Friday event, I had a great time and will definitely be back next year!
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