Boston Tea Party
Okay, it's saturday night. Food should be arriving from whatever italian joint we ordered from at 10:30, right in time to watch some more invitational competitions down in the grand ballroom. But I am not as much of a dancer as most here, so I'm going to save my energy for the midnight dance and write this in the next half hour.
What. A. Rush.
Holy crap, this weekend has been SO much fun. I suppose conventions in general are, but it's so cool to have a convention about dancing. Workshops aren't lectures, they're exercise (though some people still take notes). Presentations aren't campy, they're breathtaking. And the competition? Oh yeah, I probably haven't been this psyched since Science Bowl (even if I'm nowhere near as good at dancing as I was at buzzing in). And watching the pros compete? I don't even care that the DVD is $75 (cough cough, okay, maybe a little), that sucker is mine.
What's even more awesome is that I have been dancing West Coast Swing (Westie or WCS) all weekend, a dance that for every definition I am a complete beginner. I walked in the door halfway through the first beginner workshop, and 8 hours of workshops later I tried my hand at the newcomer Jack and Jill (random partner) competition. I did well (enough) until people started asking me how long I'd been dancing WCS... I distinctly remember telling one "would you believe two days," and her response was "no." "Okay, don't believe it then." Yeah, the ones that were worried about how good their parter was were the hardest to dance with, at least from my point of view.
Okay, but I'm getting ahead of myself chronologically. Four hours of workshops on Friday (4-8), then TGIF's for dinner (good company, also good to remember why I don't go there very often), then back in time to watch the invitational Lindy and Westie comps. Both were... just friggin awesome. I personally like watching Westie more because (since they dance to contemporary music) I find them to be much more musically interesting, but both just blew my socks off. And they were competing, so they weren't even pulling off their craziest moves (lindy hoppers got some crazy-ass arials, though... one just wrapped the girl around himself what must have been three times).
Just, ohmigosh. Hehe, and social dancing is fuuunnnn when you know you'll never see half of these people again. I'm always so worried that at the Russian or Blues Underground that I'm going to ask some really amazing follow for a dance and just suck it up, and they'll hate me forever and even if I ever manage to get decent at this they'll never dance with me (wah!) But yeah, no such worries here. Also, one of the Olin kids remarked that there was a noticable age difference between the Lindy room and the Westie room (about 20 years was the estimate). I personally don't care how old whoever I'm dancing with is, but if they're happy to be dancing with a (dare I say) handsome, young, smiling man like me, more power to them. It at least makes up for some of my dancing (oh, fourth right side pass in a row? well, if you insist).
Yeah, it did take me a while to get out on the floor (had to use Katie as a crutch to get my first dance in once again), but I'm definitely dancing longer and with less downtime than usual, and I hope this trend continues. Yes, my back is tweaking out (need to visit doctor BEFORE insurance stops). Yes, my right knee is still killing me (but that knee brace works wonders, thanks Dad!). And they aren't getting any better by dancing more. But, I still remember from Northwest Balboa Fest that if I change the way I think about moving, I can stop hurting altogether. (there it turned out that if I though of moving my legs as lifting my knee rather than moving my feet... probably should try more of that tonight.)
Okay, that's all for this post, I'm late for the last set of invitational comps. But, before I forget, I need to look up a Pete from West Seattle, he was in the West Coast All Stars competition, and apparently he dances Lindy too? Might be someone worth looking up if I'm interested in private lessons, because he looked Damn good out there on the floor (it was like the other couples weren't even dancing).
What. A. Rush.
Holy crap, this weekend has been SO much fun. I suppose conventions in general are, but it's so cool to have a convention about dancing. Workshops aren't lectures, they're exercise (though some people still take notes). Presentations aren't campy, they're breathtaking. And the competition? Oh yeah, I probably haven't been this psyched since Science Bowl (even if I'm nowhere near as good at dancing as I was at buzzing in). And watching the pros compete? I don't even care that the DVD is $75 (cough cough, okay, maybe a little), that sucker is mine.
What's even more awesome is that I have been dancing West Coast Swing (Westie or WCS) all weekend, a dance that for every definition I am a complete beginner. I walked in the door halfway through the first beginner workshop, and 8 hours of workshops later I tried my hand at the newcomer Jack and Jill (random partner) competition. I did well (enough) until people started asking me how long I'd been dancing WCS... I distinctly remember telling one "would you believe two days," and her response was "no." "Okay, don't believe it then." Yeah, the ones that were worried about how good their parter was were the hardest to dance with, at least from my point of view.
Okay, but I'm getting ahead of myself chronologically. Four hours of workshops on Friday (4-8), then TGIF's for dinner (good company, also good to remember why I don't go there very often), then back in time to watch the invitational Lindy and Westie comps. Both were... just friggin awesome. I personally like watching Westie more because (since they dance to contemporary music) I find them to be much more musically interesting, but both just blew my socks off. And they were competing, so they weren't even pulling off their craziest moves (lindy hoppers got some crazy-ass arials, though... one just wrapped the girl around himself what must have been three times).
Just, ohmigosh. Hehe, and social dancing is fuuunnnn when you know you'll never see half of these people again. I'm always so worried that at the Russian or Blues Underground that I'm going to ask some really amazing follow for a dance and just suck it up, and they'll hate me forever and even if I ever manage to get decent at this they'll never dance with me (wah!) But yeah, no such worries here. Also, one of the Olin kids remarked that there was a noticable age difference between the Lindy room and the Westie room (about 20 years was the estimate). I personally don't care how old whoever I'm dancing with is, but if they're happy to be dancing with a (dare I say) handsome, young, smiling man like me, more power to them. It at least makes up for some of my dancing (oh, fourth right side pass in a row? well, if you insist).
Yeah, it did take me a while to get out on the floor (had to use Katie as a crutch to get my first dance in once again), but I'm definitely dancing longer and with less downtime than usual, and I hope this trend continues. Yes, my back is tweaking out (need to visit doctor BEFORE insurance stops). Yes, my right knee is still killing me (but that knee brace works wonders, thanks Dad!). And they aren't getting any better by dancing more. But, I still remember from Northwest Balboa Fest that if I change the way I think about moving, I can stop hurting altogether. (there it turned out that if I though of moving my legs as lifting my knee rather than moving my feet... probably should try more of that tonight.)
Okay, that's all for this post, I'm late for the last set of invitational comps. But, before I forget, I need to look up a Pete from West Seattle, he was in the West Coast All Stars competition, and apparently he dances Lindy too? Might be someone worth looking up if I'm interested in private lessons, because he looked Damn good out there on the floor (it was like the other couples weren't even dancing).