Dances of Note
I've been dancing a lot the last few months. Apart from a bit of contra here and there,
- Ballroom Tea Dance at Glen Echo (Spanish Ballroom), a Sunday afternoon: the orchestra was fun, but the best dance was a half-time leisurely blues/swing (recorded music) with a really good lead.
- Blues at Glen Echo (Ballroom Annex), a Sunday night: Good instruction (Donna and Mike), good band, too loud (I didn't bring my full dance bag w' emergency earplugs). A variety of good dances, though not as good as at the one a few months ago. I want to make it there some Thursday night (lesson 8:15-9, recorded music after), but haven't yet.
- Cajun at Glen Echo (Bumper Car pavilion, thank you dhs ), a Friday night(?): It's been years since I've had Cajun lessons, so I was annoyed that the two-step instruction was conflicted/muddled, but the one-step instruction had a very illuminating "broke-leg" analogy/demonstration. Fun band, songs did not sound all the same (as Cajun does sometimes, to me), even if they hadn't had two different-styled vocalists.
- Rooftop Swing, a Sunday night in my very own town: They had one of those temporary wooden-tile floors and a little swing combo, with a bar on the side (I was happy to buy water there). I wore my shiny dress and ankle boots (not my good dance shoes), and a good thing I did, re the boots, since my dance partners kept preferring the cement part of the rooftop where there was more room. Punishing, but a fun dance for every once in a while. I recognized and danced with some contra dancers there, and one of them told me about another regular dance I'd missed:
- Ballroom in Sandy Spring (near Olney), 7:30-10 Monday nights: Dave Greene leads a dance at the local Friends Community Center (17715 Meetinghouse Road, across from their meeting house). Dance is standard (not vintage) American ballroom with the occasional line dance when Dave thinks we need a little rousing up or confidence-building. His teaching style is choreography-based (not super-long sequences, but where the feet go rather than lead-follow), so not for everyone, but it has a nice wooden floor (smaller than Oella) a pleasant crowd (maybe 15 or so dancers), and rhumba, which I don't get anywhere else. I plan to go back there after Thanksgiving when my CSA farm share ends (Monday night pick-ups and splitting with turtleduck ).
- Oella Vintage Dance (near Ellicott City), 1st/3rd Sundays: several nice nights there, and I'm especially glad that my nieces and squishydish enjoyed it when I took them with me. The contra dancer (from above) has also come a couple of times, but I'm not as sure that he's enjoying it (don't know why).