Saturday, December 01, 2007

Adventure #1: Blues Dancing

First thing's first...this Wikipedia article attempts to explain what Blues dancing is. Trying to explain it myself made me feel like a dork. There's a certain degree to which you just have to see the dance. (If you decide to YouTube something, you shouldn't automatically assume I'm dancing at the same distance as those people...Just thought I'd clear myself right now on that one.) Last Tuesday I went out blues dancing with some people from the Swing club. It was pretty awesome. It took about a total of 5 hours, from leaving from UP to returning.

When we got there, there was about an hourlong lesson followed by about three hours of dance.
I got to dance with some people I hadn't ever even met yet, which was actually not the best experience in the world. From one of those dances, I'm convinced that I'd rather have someone say they don't want to dance with me if they don't want to, because I had someone agree to dance, and then make it really obvious that they weren't 'into it' (my phrasing) which made it not really fun for me either. So yeah. But there was another person I danced with a couple of times and she was pretty chill.

I was however appreciative of the people I came with, as far as dancing goes. I learned, a little bit, how to "dip" a follow, which was cool. I'm still not very practiced at it, but I'm all for learning new moves. I also pulled off a move I didn't quite expect to pull with someone from Swing club; I'm not sure quite how to describe it here, but if you're reading this there's a good chance I'll... Oh yes. I just remembered I have MS Paint on this computer.

Okay, hopefully that gives you a better idea. On the left is the connection (two-handed connection) I started with, the right is where I went with it. It might not look like much but I think it might be a little harder to communicate than it looks, or maybe I just felt really hardcore for nothing special. Whatever.

Anyway, I learned a lot, and it was a fun experience, and I am definitely glad for the people I went with because it's easier to try new things with people you know than with people you don't.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Way cool.

Anonymous said...

I got to dance with some people I hadn't ever even met yet, which was actually not the best experience in the world. From one of those dances, I'm convinced that I'd rather have someone say they don't want to dance with me if they don't want to, because I had someone agree to dance, and then make it really obvious that they weren't 'into it' (my phrasing) which made it not really fun for me either.

Ouch. Been there. Of course, dancing with me requires a waiver from your insurance company first. Dangerous game.

I love your clarification that we should not assume you are dancing as close as the people in the videos.

What should we assume?

Kind of a non-denial denial there, friend. :)

Anonymous said...

first of all what are you doing up at 3:01 a.m. you have got to get some sleep you stud. how is the hair growin? so you went dancing, huh. very proud of you. you are taking chances and putting yourself out there. not an easy thing to do. takes guts. not everyone is going to appreciate you the way your auntie does, but that is their loss. so :-P to them.

kerpo said...

p.s. go to bed earlier. and then go see Once at the St. John's Pub/Theatre McMennamin's. You will really enjoy. I would even take you!