I've been saying for a long time now that I'm in terrible shape. My dance endurance has dwindled, to the point where anything over 200 bpm leaves me wheezing and panting. (Of course, to anyone who doesn't lindy hop, 200 bpm is quite respectable, but in lindy, that's where things are just *starting* to get fast ( Read more... )

The Atlanta History Center turns out to be right down the road from us, and they were hosting a Day of the Dead festival this weekend. Hey, skeletons and multi-culturalism, right up my alley, so I dressed both Z and me in our skeleton shirts and set out to eat a little pan de muerte. (Gosh, that sounds better in Spanish. "Death bread" really has ( Read more... )

Wow, I'm glad I'm not trying to make a living as an actor ( Read more... )

Reading-wise, I've been on an early 20th century kick lately. I started with Norma Miller's autobiography, Swingin' at the Savoy, continued with Flapper, by Joshua Zeitz, a history of the Jazz Era, then moved on to Art Spiegelman's Maus comics about the experiences of an Auschwitz survivor (where the Jews are drawn as mice and the Nazis as cats), ( Read more... )

I've got nothing against taking kids to the movies. Disney has produced some great films. The Harry Potter movies are gorgeous, and the Narnia movie was pure gold ( Read more... )

I did mention there were a bunch of other famous dancers at the Century Masters weekend, right?

I also attended a jazz workshop with Chazz Young. This is Frankie Manning's son, so naturally, he's younger--only 75. You'll notice he has his dad's smile!

Another jazz workshop with Chester Whitmore. Well, half a workshop, actually--it was moving ( Read more... )

Monday night I went home, took Nyquil, and slept about 12 hours, waking up briefly to say hello to Aaron's cousins who were passing through on their way to Jacksonville. I had a slightly longer conversation with them yesterday morning, but since I was on my way to the train station, it was still pretty brief ( Read more... )

There is a strange alchemy at work that makes the dance instructor look cute and perky and energetic, yet makes me look like a big, gangly dork, when executing the exact same dance moves. *sigh*

But, gosh, it's fun!

This month's dance lessons started with a vernacular jazz class, where we're learning the choreography to a routine called the Shim Sham. Yes, it's a line dance. But it's a jazz line dance. So that makes it cooler than, say, the Achey Breaky.

Next up: partner Charleston on Thursday!