| Get leid at the Malaysia Salsa Festival |
 I got laid in Malaysia and fined in Singapore. Well, I didn’t get fined but I did get laid once I stepped off the bus at the Swiss Garden Resort, Malaysia. The Malaysian Salsa Festival was a very well organized event with plenty to remember from amazing social dancing, creative performances, professionalism and an overall warm and welcoming crowd of Malaysian, Singaporeans and more.
Tuesday August 7
I left Newark on a late night Singapore Airlines flight to Singapore. It was a 17 hour flight but Singapore Airlines is great. I had an electrical outlet to plug in my laptop – every seat had one. All of the seats in Excecutive Economy had leg rests, foot rests and plenty of space and cushioning. Not to mention the food and the service was excellent. Thanks to Lin Hamid for booking me on this flight, it made the long trip much more bearable.Thursday August 9
After 33 hours of travel I finally arrived at the Swiss-Garden Resort. I was initially scheduled to teach a Musicality workshop at 5pm but considering I was arriving at that time, Lin organized something else. Thank goodness. I got checked in a rested a little before heading to the beach for a BBQ. After the BBQ everyone headed into the ballroom for some social dancing. The ballroom was grand with 3 huge dance floors, high ceilings, and plenty of space for people to dance, mingle and cool off. I, as usual, danced all night long. The dancers from Singapore and Malaysia Once everyone got more comfortable they really started to “dance.” I had some fantastic dances with Zee, Jason, Kaytee, Hitesh, Gavin and many others. I even had a chance to practice my lead with Mona and Charissa. The party ended around 2:30am; most people went to the after party at the pool but I was too exhausted so I returned to my room to crash. were all a lot of fun to dance with. Friday August 10
My first workshop was “Introduction to New York Style On2.” It was a packed workshop and we covered quite a few things:
Everyone picked up the material very well and it was great to see that the workshop broadened their understanding of not only dancing On2 New York Style but also the music and the various ways of interpretation. At the end of the class I let everyone know about the new Body Movement DVD and I got rushed for copies. That was a great feeling. For anyone who didn’t get a copy, you can order it here. My second workshop was “Energizing Your Movements.” Because the workshops were only 45 minutes long, I had to really restrict the amount of material that was covered. The room that I had was much too small for the number of people to fit comfortably. It was the same case for the first workshop. But we made do with it and everyone learned a lot. We covered:
The class was fun and although I would have liked to cover more I’m glad that everyone left the room with a much greater understanding of where the movement in their body originates.After the workshop I had a quick private and then I headed to my room to rest before the evening’s performances and parties. The performances started exactly as scheduled and they had a lot of very creative routines. A few of the performances that stood out were those of Two Left Feet, Gavin & Sali, Leon & Susana. Even the Cuban Ambassador was there to enjoy the performances and support the event. Once the performances were over, the resort staff and Ground Crew quickly cleared the room and prepared it for a nice night of social dancing. I was able to dance with a bunch of new dancers on Friday night all with their own flavour and skill. I had a great time and around 3:00am when the party ended, I headed back to my room to check emails and take a nap. Saturday August 10
Our first stop was at a turtle park. The place had a few shallow pools; the smaller pools had baby turtles and the large pool had some pretty big turtles. Apparently, there are white turtles as well but they were borrowed for Malaysia’s Independence Day celebrations. The stay at the turtle pool was short and after about 15 minutes we headed to the village for some food and souvenir shopping. I managed to grab all the souvenirs I needed from one store which also gave me 10 free mosquito bites. Ugh The one day I decided to wear shorts and a sleeveless top and I was eaten alive by mosquitoes; the bites were very big too. After shopping we all grabbed a quick bite to eat at a local eatery. Everyone had fresh coconut juice right out of the coconut and some fresh fruit. Around 11:00am We had a few encounters with the wildlife in Malaysia on our way back; we saw a dead lizard on the road and a pack of monkeys in the tree. I’ve had a traumatizing experience with monkeys when I was younger in India so I kept my distance. Lol we headed back to the resort. We got back just in time for me to me 5 minutes late for my first private of the day which was with 3 of Shiva’s ladies. After the private I was off to my musicality workshop (the one that was postponed from Thursday evening). In class we used the song “Donde Estabas Tu ?” by Tito Puente to practice musical interpretation and prediction. We covered:
The class thoroughly enjoyed the class and found it to be very eye opening not only in understanding the music but also discovering different ways to move the body to follow the music. The following workshop I taught was a Spins workshop. Unfortunately, 45 minutes is not enough to thoroughly cover good technique and have time to drill exercises to build comfort in the class. And yet, the entire class picked up very well. Charissa was really helpful and took plenty of pictures and video of the class. It was nice to see everyone’s progress from not much balance in the beginning of the class to much more control by the end. At the end of the class I took a moment aside to distribute the remaining DVDs I had. I had completely sold out of the Body Movement DVDs, Advanced Patterns with Shaka Brown, and only had a handful of Spins DVDs left which also moved quite quickly. If you did not have a chance to pick up a DVD, you can order one here. After the workshop, I had one last private with Leon and then I had chance to get some rest before the evening’s gala dinner. The gala dinner was a nice touch to ending a fabulous weekend. They had awards prepared for all of the instructors and the presentation of the ballroom as well as the professionalism in presenting the awards exceeded my expectations. I was quite impressed by the overall cooperation of the organizing committee, the ground crew, and all of the other volunteers; the weekend event was without any glitches. After the dinner was finished the performances began. It was another night of impressionable performances, some of which included Leon & Susana, Kaytee, Salsa Bali, Gavin’s group, and Attitude’s Dance Group. After the shows was the last night of social dancing at the Malaysian Salsa Festival. I made sure I took as many pictures as I could and danced as much as I could. People were surprised, as usual, by the fact that after a weekend of very little sleep I still managed to have so much energy. I danced until the very last song of the night which was a really nice dance with Gavin to Buena Vista Social Club’s “Cham Cham.”
Everyone headed to their rooms and returned to the pool for an after party. I figured since I had no commitments the following day, I might as well do the same. I spent the majority of the time in the pool with Divia, Mona, Ash, Rebecca and Fernando finding skits for Ash (an actor in India) and Mona (a voice over artist) to do. It was quite a laugh. By the time we headed back to our rooms it was already 6:00am. So, I decided against sleep and just decided to pack instead. Divia stayed in my room and we chatted while I got my things ready and at 7:30am we got together with Mona and grabbed breakfast. Sunday August 11The morning was very tranquil and very hazy. There weren’t many people at breakfast so it was very quiet as well. I had two big plates of food; one plate was just bread pudding with vanilla sauce. That had to be my favourite breakfast food of the weekend. Mona, was so tired that she had difficulty sitting up straight so we ate quickly and Mona and Divia returned to their rooms to get some rest.
Finally, around 9:30 we arrived at Newton Circus. Rachel, Suman and I took a taxi back to Suman’s place and then quickly headed back out to Sin Hoi San eating place for some late night food. I tried barbequed sting ray and cold barley drink for the first time both of which were very good. The weather was great when we arrived but while we were eating it changed instantly to monsoon like rain. If I had more time in Singapore I probably would have run out into the rain. Since I was a child I’ve always loved heavy rain especially when the weather is hot and humid. The rain subsided before we finished our meal and we headed back to Suman’s to finally try and get a decent night’s rest. Monday August 13
Time flew by. When we finished shopping it was already 5 and there was still a lot that we had to do that evening so we drove back to Suman’s. We quickly got ready at Suman’s and headed back out, this time to Two Left Feet Dance Studio. I got to finally meet Wendy’s brother, Kelvin, who is a true salsa-holic. We took plenty of pictures and I even had a chance to dance with Kelvin in the studio; he’s a very good lead. In a rush from there, Wendy, Isabel, Carol and I left to Newton Circus to meet up with Haihan, Speedy and Josie for dinner. We had more sting ray and a variety of other dishes including snails that had to be sucked out of their shell. Dinner was fun; Newton Circus is like a circus but instead of clowns, it’s swarming with tons and tons of people.
Tuesday August 14I was up at 6:30am and ready to head out. Wendy arrived by taxi around 7:15am and Tze-yi and Gupson arrived soon after. Tze-yi was kind of enough to take me to the airport and Wendy and Gupson were equally kind enough to accompany me. Gupson tried to use his Singapore Airline privileges to get me access to the SA Executive Lounge to no avail. He did however get my bag tagged priority so hopefully I will not be waiting a long time at baggage claim in Newark. We were all starving so we went to a restaurant at Changi Airport and grabbed some food. Jerinne joined us after her class. We spent so much time casually chatting about a variety of things that before we knew it, it was time for me to board; the Executive Lounge would never have been as satisfying as the time spent with them. They walked me to the gate and after 3 rounds of hugs we finally parted ways. My flight to Newark went by quickly; probably because of the fact that I was able to get work done, including this review. Heheh I love having an electrical outlet to power up my gadgets on long flights. The weekend in Malaysia and Singapore was fantastic. It was great to finally meet some people in person like Haihan who I had been chatting with for almost a year over MSN. And it was great to spend quality time with others who I typically just crossed paths with quickly in the past like Charissa, Wendy and Gupson. It was also nice to make new friends like Tze-yi, Jean, Kelvin and many others and it was nice to spend some time with Jerinne and Jason and not be sick to my stomach as I was in India. Lin, her organizing committee and her Ground Crew did a fantastic job in hosting a professional, well organized and fun filled weekend of salsa dancing, workshops and performances. I hope to return again next year and perhaps for a longer stay. CLICK FOR VIDEOS
|
I arrived at Singapore Airport at 5:00am and passed through customs and immigration fairly quickly. Unfortunately, my flight from Singapore to Penang, Malaysia wasn’t departing until 11:05am. So, I bought a couple of hours of internet time and worked on my website and organized my photos. The flight to Penang was only 1.5 hours so that wasn’t too bad. I arrived to meet Lily and Speedy from Singapore and about 16 other people who were waiting for a coach to go the resort. We stood around and talked about tourism, alcohol and DJing and then hopped onto the coach bus at 2:00pm. The bus ride was long and bumpy. I had initially sat in a chair that was broken. Had that not been pointed out I think I would have enjoyed the rocking chair motion. Lol
I woke up nice and early and called Hitesh to go for breakfast. I was surprised to see the entire dining area full of dancers. Apparently there are about 300 rooms reserved for just salsa dancers at this event. Only 20 or so rooms are for non-salsa dancers. Given such a large number of people, the organization of the event ran very smoothly. Kaytee, Mona, Divia and Shani joined us for breakfast and then we all headed back to our rooms. I took some time to prepare for my workshops before I headed back to the ballroom area.
Saturday I woke up around 8:00am and called Hitesh and Mona for breakfast. By the time we arrived at the buffet hall it was about 9:00am. At that moment Lin informed me of a bus tour that was heading into the city. Of course, not wanting to miss out on the opportunity to actually see more of Malaysia than the resort, I said I would go. I grabbed some breakfast to go and hopped onto the coach. There weren’t that many people on the bus; probably because it was quite early and everyone was partying late. It was just Suman, Rachel, Ash, Rebecca, Susana, her husband, Mona and I. 
I checked out and brought my luggage to the lobby. The coach bus to Singapore arrived around 9:30am and off we went. The bus was relatively comfortable with reclining seats and plenty of leg room (unless the person in front of you was also reclining). I shared the ride back with Haihan, Suman, Rachel and a few others so we had plenty of time to converse about the weekend, dance, Singapore, etc. After about an hour we made our first stop at a local eatery for some food. I really didn’t need to eat anymore but I did anyway and when I got back on the bus I passed out. I slept through the following rest stops and only woke up when we arrived at Malaysian Immigration. Malaysian immigration was incredibly chaotic; it reminded me of India. There were no lines and how quickly you got to the front depended on how hard you pushed your way through. Right after Malaysian Immigration, we made a stop at Singapore Immigration which was much more orderly but very timely. 
I woke up bright and early on Monday feeling much better because after 2 weeks, I was finally able to lie down and sleep for 8 hours. At 12:00pm Wendy came by and picked me up and we headed to Bugis Junction to grab lunch. We had Singapore’s specialty: Chicken Rice. We also ordered a popular breakfast dish of oyster with egg and popiah. For drinks I had a tasty rose flavoured drink called bandung; another thing that reminded me of India. I had grown up on Roohafza and milk or cold water. After lunch we headed across the street to Bugis Village for some souvenir shopping. I bought a stack of “Singapore is a fine city” t-shirts, a bunch of earrings and some really nice belts for a very good price. Then we headed over to Somerset to meet up with Jean. Wendy had an appointment so Jean took over the tour guide roll. We drove down Orchard Road (a famous shopping road) and then to Far East Plaza where I bought more belts, tops and bracelets. Both Wendy and Jean bought me a bracelet as a gift; they are so sweet! 
Around 9:15 we had to leave to meet up with Suman at a dance studio in Orchard to do a video interview for Suman’s online magazine, DanceChic. The interview went by quickly. We talked about my history in dance, my attitude towards the scene and where it’s heading, my inspirations, and how I got to where I am today as an instructor, performer and dancer. As soon as the interview was finished we were all off to Union Square in Hotel Amara; a local salsa spot that features a local band called Latinos and the very amicable and talented DJ, DJ Jean. We arrived at 10:30pm just in time to take a hundred pictures and then dance a little. We stayed until the last song at 1:00am and then headed out to Sin Hoi San for “supper.” Before going there, Tze-yi took Gupson, Wendy and I for a speedy ride around Marina South. After the mini race with time, we met up with Jerinne, Jason and Suman and had some Indonesian chicken, black pepper chicken and some interestingly flavoured salted fish fried rice for supper. We sat and chatted there until 3:00am, made a few plan for the following morning and headed home. I had just enough time to pack everything I bought, shower and nap for an hour or two.