Emerald City Solo Jam 2018

Emerald City Solo Jam.

It. Was. Awesome.

I ended up having a last minute opportunity to attend the event, which made me super excited. When I went last year, it was my first dance event ever, so it definitely holds a special place in my heart because of that. Plus is hosted by Eastside Stomp, now part of the Syncopation Foundation, and is a weekend filled with solo dancing, something I've been working more on lately.

Because I didn't know I was going until last minute (like a couple days before the event) I had to work both Saturday and Sunday mornings which meant not only was I dancing all weekend, but on my feet at work as well. Even with all the work and dancing I held up pretty well, thanks to lots of cal/mag tablets, arnica gel, and tacos.

The instructors where the same as last year: Nathan Bugh and Gaby Cook. I'm not sure how it's possible, but they were even better than last year.

Friday night was the kickoff dance at Eastside Stomp. The Jen Hodge All-Stars were playing and the lineup was fabulous:
Jen Hodge - bass and vocals
Jonathan Doyle - reeds
Sky Lambourne - trombone and vocals 
Josh Roberts - guitar 
Julian MacDonough - drums

I did a little solo stuff, but mostly lindy hop that night and really enjoyed myself. During the first band break we had a performance from the Syncopators, who rocked it like they always do. Then Nathan and Gaby did an instructors demo and oh. my. goodness. Watching those two do their thing is so incredibly amazing and inspiring. Seeing that kind of skill and talent in person is something you can't really describe, you just have to be there to fully get it. Ahhhh, it's was all just soooooo good!

Since I had to work early the next morning, I headed out the door about 10:45pm, so I missed the prelims for the competition. The next morning after work I dashed off to Crescendo for classes. Classes started at 1pm, though I wasn't able to get there until 2pm each day. I was in the beginner track which I worked out well as there were only 10 of us compared to the advanced track that had around 40 students.

Our first half of classes were with Gaby where we learned a routine. This was probably my favorite routine of the weekend, as I really liked the choreography and was actually able to remember most of it. It had some fun kicks, fall of the log, and charleston.

After a break, we got to start our classes with Nathan. The first half he taught us a combination that he had just taught to the advanced class. It was slower and bluesy and he really broke down the complected turn. That's something I love about how Nathan teaches: he breaks everything down into tiny pieces that you completely understand what's happening, even if you're having trouble getting your body to cooperate.

The second half we did different jazz moves and put them into a combination. We worked on Susie Q's, jump charleston, Charleston with a drag, and eagle slides. My Susie Q's to the left are pretty decent, but even after all this time doing them to the right is still so challenging! The charleston moves we did were good as I "knew" them, but breaking them down and knowing the timing makes a big difference. The jump charleston he taught us was a bit tricking on the timing for me and definitely something to work on. The eagle slides were my favorite that day. I never knew the prep for them and now having that with the timing it all makes a lot more sense.

I got to the dance venue a bit early so I could change into my outfit for the evening. The Syncopators were practicing for their performance later that evening which was fun to watch, especially since I had to leave before seeing them perform it for real. I also went over some of the content we'd learned in classes. Before I knew it, the band was starting! We got to dance to Jonathan Doyle's Swingtet all night. Doesn't get much better than that! The thing about that venue, though, is that the floors are super slippery. It's the same ballroom where the advanced track was and I'm not sure how they took classes for two days in that room; it was super slick!

The band line up:
Jonathan Doyle - reeds Chris Davis - trumpet Dave Loomis - trombone Jen Hodge - bass Josh Roberts: - guitar Julian MacDonough - drums



After the first band break was the contest finals. The finalists were Samantha Nguyen, Nika Jin, Damian Cade, Christina Nourmiev, Elaine Buchignani, and Bailey McCully. So much crazy skill on the floor that night! Watching everyone giving it their all was so exciting and inspiring. Plus the energy in the room was crazy high with lots of cheering and excitement from everyone watching. That's probably the best part about watching competitions in person.

Since I had to be up at work the next morning, I headed home right after the finals. I was sad to leave early, but I definitely needed the sleep.

Sunday's classes started with Nathan. Since I was late I missed the first hour which apparently they went over basic music theory for dancers which I was sad to miss out on. But the second half we broke down more jazz moves and created a new combination. This time we worked on Shorty George, apple jacks, and fall off the log. I really enjoyed the breakdown for apple jacks and it definitely helped me improve them. Once again we put them into a little combo.

Our last couple hours with Gaby were super fun. All of the classes during the weekend were fun, but the this was on the next level. We went over boogie forwards and all did 8 counts of boogie forwards then 8 counts of shortie George as a group, or gang of dancers as Gaby said. She was in the front the first time and was pretty much begging others to come and "lead" the pack, saying how powerful she felt. lol! It was great! We also did knee slaps and spank the baby. While going over the boogie forwards we ended up with some James Bond inside jokes that you just had to be there for.

After we did a thing that I can't remember what it's called, but where everyone stands in two lines and one person from each side at the top go down the middle and show off their best stuff. I'm gonna be honest and say that I was really nervous at first, but I ended up having so much fun and letting the nervousness just melt away. Besides, who wouldn't be happy dancing to Boogie Shoes?

The last hour was spent doing another routine. By this point my brain was melted and the choreography definitely wasn't sticking, but I stuck with it. I ended up learning some good tips on my turns, which I really appreciated as that's a place where my technique is really bad.

And that was the end of Emerald City Solo Jam 2018! It was such an incredible weekend filed with lots of solo awesome-ness, the best live music, amazing classes, getting to know people better, and making new friends. Couldn't have asked for a better weekend.

Go Get It || Greg Ruby & the Rhythm Runners

Do remember back in May that I got to be a part of the latest video for Greg Ruby and the Rhythm Runners during Camp Jitterbug? Well the video was released recently and I can't believe I haven't shared it until now! Talented musicians from across the country and lots of awesome Seattle dancers. What's not to love?!?

Camp Jitterbug 2017

This past weekend I got to attend my first Camp Jitterbug. Talk about exciting! Even though I only went to a few of the dances, I had such a fun time, and can't wait till next year when I can go for the whole weekend.

The event kicked off Friday night at Century Ballroom with Close Shave, which were awesome. One of the songs they played was Blue Skies, which is one of my all time favorites, so I was just standing at the edge of the room, watching everyone dance, and a huge grin on my face. 

That day was also the birthday of Frankie Manning, so during the first band break everyone did the shim-sham and later The Big Apple happened; that's a routine I wanna learn some time! The balboa finals happened that night, which were fun to watch.

I ended up staying till about 1am; I would had loved to stay till 2am, when the band ended, but I had been up since six that morning, so my body definitely wanted to go to bed at that point. 

Saturday afternoon they were filming some scenes with dancers for the upcoming Greg Ruby & the Rhythm Runners music video, which I got to be a part of. They filmed at Washington Hall, where they would be performing later that evening, and after getting shots of the band they had us do some social dancing and filmed us. I also ended up with a cool little part with Gordon, the trumpet player, which I'm not going to say more about so I don't spoil it! It was really warm out that day, in the low 80's, so between that, the lights for filming, and the dancing it was way to warm in that building! Totally worth it though.

Photo via Stefan Huynh

Photo via Jason Warner

A few hours later was the main dance with Greg Ruby & the Rhythm Runners. It. Was Awesome! So much great dancing, some amazing competition finals, the band killin' it, and just an all around awesome time. The Lindy Hop Social Finals were also on Saturday and oh. my. gosh. Everyone was killing it out on that floor! Especially Ariel. So dang good. And highly inspirational!

One of the coolest parts though was that the music the band was playing was originally written by Frank Waldron. Back in the 20's and 30's he wrote a music book, Syncopated Classics, which Greg Ruby arranged into the songs on the album of the same name and Washington Hall Stomp. And Frank Waldron wrote those songs just blocks away from Washington hall, so being able to dance to those songs in that venue was such a unique experience!

Seriously though. I didn't want the night to end. 

B'ham Swing Jam 2017

Photo via Natalie Lang

Last weekend was the first ever B'ham Swing Jam in Bellingham and it was a blast! Great classes, lots of dancing, fun competitions, new friends, fabulous bands; it was all really awesome.

Friday afternoon I was heading home to pick up my stuff before leaving town when I accidentally ran a red light and got ran into. Thankfully I was perfectly fine, though the side of my car definitely wasn't. I was able to get a ride with another dancer that was staying at the same host as I, for which I am really grateful for! We arrived in Bellingham around 8:00pm and headed straight to The Majestic Ballroom. I'd never been there before, but I quickly fell in love with the venue; it's the most adorable place! The event kicked off with Bellingham's own band, Hot House and everyone danced, danced, danced until midnight.


The next morning Chelsea and I got up and ready and stopped at the food co-op for breakfast; they had a lot of good gluten-free options there, which made me really happy! I grabbed a oat brownie bar (so healthy, I know) and a smoothie, then we headed to The Majestic for classes. I was in the intermediate/advanced class which started with Ann and Ryan. We spent most of the time working on our tension and compression and learned a couple moves that really focused on that. Our time with Ariel and Leo where we kept adding more and more breaks and once we were at the bare basics built it up from there. This was something I really appreciated as this is something I've struggled with and I now have a lot of inspiration and encouragement for stuff to practice on the social floor.

There was also an elective solo jazz class which I went to that day. It was Ariel's day to teach and we learned the second half of the routine that would be performed Sunday night; a lot of the moves I hadn't done before, so I was really happy to learn some new ones! But by the end of the class everyone was so exhausted. There were several of us just sitting on the floor chillin' afterwards 'cause we didn't want to move. Ha!

Photo via Natalie Lang

After grabbing dinner with some other dancers and relaxing for a little bit the best night of dancing began. We danced to the fabulous Jen Hodge All-Stars for hours; there were a lot of Seattle and Canada dancers that night, so the floor was filled for a fun night. After the band ended at midnight, the late night dance and competitions began. The first was an ambidextrous Jack 'n Jill where dancers had to both lead and follow. Throughout the wee hours of the night Lily, who was DJing, kept playing fast songs and kept saying she wasn't trying to kill us. Not sure I believed her. ;) The second comp was another Jack 'n Jill, but instead of being scored by judges we judged the person we just danced with; I thought that was a fun twist! I competed in this one and had a blast, specially on the last song, Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go, which was so. much. fun. And then the finals were just as fun to watch. There were two couples and about half way through the song Nika (one of the finalists) cut in and grabbed the other follow and danced a good portion of the song with each others partners! It was so much fun. Some people somehow had energy to do the Big Apple at 2am, then at some point we did the Cha Cha Slide. I know I've used this word so many times already, but it was all so much fun! The night ended with the final competition, which was left a surprise until we did it. Follows got three paper flags to stick on the back of themselves then once the music started we were only allowed to swing out and follows tried to grab flags from other followers and the couple with the most flags at the end win. That was a blast and super creative! And that my friends is how the day of awesome-ness ended.

Bailey, who made this event possible, and the instructors! Photo credit: Seafoam Photography

Sunday ended up being a pretty chill day for me. Classes were shorter, for which I was incredibly grateful for as I was so incredibly sore. Between the classes, dance, and late night there was 12 hours of dancing the day prior! I got breakfast/lunch (classes didn't start till 1pm) at the food co-op again before heading to class. During class with Ann and Ryan we used there lindy hop step cards and would make different patterns to dance to; some of them were really challenging! There was one where we did rock step, triple step, step, rock step, step. That one was really challenging for me. The whole class was really good as it gets one using brain muscles that often get forgotten when dancing in autopilot mode. And then we had class with Leo and Ariel, in which we spent most of the time doing charleston variations. It was so exhausting as I was already super tried and sore from the day prior and then we did it for nearly the whole class. It was good though as I got some good feedback form the leads to help hone my technique.

After class there was a small break before the second solo jazz class with Kevin Buster, so I ended up sitting on one of the couches and chilling. Samantha and I started talking and decided to skip class. To many sore muscles! I'm so glad we both skipped it though as we got to hang out and get to know each other better, well, when we weren't laughing over random nonsense because we were both sleep deprived and exhausted. Ha! We also discovered that we both love Fred Meyer, have similar food allergies, and both listen to Greg Ruby in the car. We're practically twins. Once we decided we were hungry enough that it was worth walking, we went and got dinner at the co-op again (told you I went there a lot) and grabbed some must needed nourishment. Then we pretty much chilled, ate, and watched dance videos before heading to the final dance.

The final danced featured the always fabulous Greg Ruby. This night I was only able to stay till 10:30pm as that's when my ride home left. But even so I was still able to fit in a lot of dances. The solo jazz class also performed and totally rocked it!

Here's a playlist of all the videos I took:

Social Dancing: 4/4 Edition - The Tiny Jam Circle

This past Friday was one of my favorite nights for dancing, which is kinda funny considering Eastside Stomp was much emptier than usual. Like a good third to half as many people per usual. It was weird, but there were still plenty of people to dance with and the band Washboard Cutups, who I don't think I've heard play before, were really awesome so I ended up having a really fun night.

I've decided I want to be able to dance comfortably in heels so I started bringing them and wearing them at the beginning of the night. Since I'm so not used to dancing in them, I can only last about 2-3 songs before my feet start getting sore and I slip back into my canvas flats, but I figure slowing building up my dancing-in-heels stamina I'll eventually be able to dance longer in them. Then one day I'll get a pretty pair to wear on the dance floor, preferably the silver Balboa heel from Re-Mix Vintage; those are so much prettier than my plain tan Capezio heels I'm currently using.

Something that I've been feeling like I've improved a lot on is being able to show my goofy side and just show my happiness when dancing. Being the quiet introvert type (well, at least with new people) I've always been a bit self-conscious about that kinda stuff, but I've been learning to just let it go and let your personality shine! I have so much more fun when I do and I feel like I'm being more real with my partner as I'm showing off who I really am. 

Something cool about this past week was that there was a lot of solo jazz going on, which is always inspiring as my solo jazz skills are nearly non-existent. There a lot of people individually dancing, a solo jazz circle going on for a song or two, plus a half a dozen people or so having fun dancing together by the mirrors for the last hour. And despite the lack of attendance last week, there were a lot more people that stayed after the band left. That eventually lead to about a dozen of us having a little mini jam circle where everyone had fun goofing off, lindy hopper style obviously. Everyone was having such a fun time and that was technically my first time going in a jam circle. It was such a fun night!

Alive and Dancing

So I just spend all this time writing this post, but for some reason it didn't save and now I have to write it all over again... *sigh*  

So you probably won't be seeing many posts here for the next several months. That's because I'm in week 3 of a 14 week coding bootcamp. It's been going really well so far, but it doesn't leave a bunch of free time, so my dancing is limited to social dancing once a week. No classes, events, etc for months, which is really sad, though I'm definitely thankful that I'm able to social dance still. Once I land a job my first dance priority will be to take lindy and balboa classes for sure, no doubt about that!

The last couple Friday's have been pretty great. The 24th included a first for me: competing in my first Jack 'n Jill! When they announced the week prior that they were going to have one I was super stoked as I'd been wondering if Eastside Stomp was going to have another one soon as I really wanted to enter. I knew I wouldn't make it to finals, but have been wanting to compete for the experience and because it's fun. I definitely enjoyed it, even if my dancing felt rougher than normal. It was really fun watching all the finalist; they were all really great!

Photo via Eastside Stomp

That night, since there was no one with a birthday, we did the snowball. I didn't even know that was a thing, but switching partners every couple minutes is pretty fun. Solomon Douglas was playing that night, which always makes it a good night.

Then there was this past Friday, which was just overall a really lovely night. Since my birthday is tomorrow I got to join my first birthday jam, which really fun. Then we did the shim sham, but in a circle instead of facing the mirror; I wasn't sure at first, but I think it was a fun change. Casey McGill and his Pals were playing; they're pretty much an Eastside Stomp staple.

The last few weeks I've danced with Ben White (who runs Eastside Stomp) who is always a pleasure to dance with he always has some really fun and different moves and is crazy good. I always walk away thinking "Woah, I have no idea what we were doing almost the whole time, but I'm able to follow it!" and super inspired to keep on lindy hopping.

Keep on dancing, friends!

Emerald City Solo Jam 2017

This past weekend was Emerald City Solo Jam and guys, it was fabulous. 

Friday night was the kickoff dance at Eastside Stomp which included live music from Casey MacGill, teacher demos by Nathan Bugh and Gaby Cook, and the preliminaries for the Emerald City Solo Jam competition. Saturday was classes that didn't start till 1pm (Thank you for having late classes!) followed by another dance featuring the Rex Quartet and the contest finals. Sunday was more classes and the option to go to Century afterwards, but since I was so beat and that dance didn't start till four hours after classes ended, I went home and got some rest.

So Friday night was fabulous, even if for a large part of the night I was in a bit of a dance funk for some reason. I was having the hardest time keeping beat and following feel kinda rough, but I still managed to have a few really good dances. There were a couple in particular that I felt really good about and one went really well and I just feel like I hit all the timing right (a miracle that night!) and made me feel like I've made some improvement over the last few months.

Watching the prelims was awesome. I ended up watching from the front row, dead center, and watching everyone show of there best stuff was really fun. There were some really skilled dancers that were just a joy to watch. By the end my hands stung from clapping and applauding so much that I had "clap rash". Basically my arm starts looking rash-like from my wrist down after a lot of clapping. Does that happen to anyone else?

Saturday morning, after a rough night of sleep, I made my way to the ballroom for classes. When I arrived I found Ben outside of the venue waiting for the guy with the keys. 15 minutes before classes were supposed to start. But despite that and all of the last minute things that happened (judges being sick, bridge closures, etc) it all turned out great. So back to the ballroom, we finally get in and it's freezing, so I was happy when we finally started class and got the blood flowing! 

So each day we worked with both instructors for two hours which meant us beginners started with Nathan and finished with Gaby. So we started our first class with Nathan and followed him with some basic moves to warm up. Durring that he realized we weren't good at fishtails, so he decided to teach us how to do them. I definitely improved on them, but I still need to practice the twisting and then moving the feet, as it feels really unnatural to me right now. Shorty George and boogie forward were next, both moves I "knew" but learned a lot on how to refine them and do them properly. 

Next we moved on to charleston, where he asked us what the oddest kind of charleston is and proceeded to tell us how it's weird that most lindy hoppers learn side by side early on when it's not even the real way that charleston is done. It was also at this point that Nathan pulled me over to demonstrate the different types of swing charleston (which turned into a trend that weekend).

So we refined our charleston form, as we all pretty much knew it and used it to go into a break with a pause and some foot tapping. We also went over the scarecrow which included Nathan telling us that when performing it to make it a sudden surprise to the audience, but that it should almost surprise ourselves as well. Then we learned a turn that used a step-kick-ball change before crossing the legs and turning. That's one I have the concept down for, but need to practice the turning part a lot as I keep putting my weight on the wrong leg. And that was the end of our first class with Nathan!

There was a half hour between classes with each instructor and on the first day it was definitely needed as they decided to switch venues for the beginner and intermediate/advanced classes as the larger advanced class was in the smaller studio. Remember how I said it was freezing in the ballroom? Well we got to trade that for a warm studio.

We started warming up with Gaby and then we went through the whole shim sham with some stylization on certain steps. I've known the shim sham for a while, but just the very basic version, so I'm excited to have some style to add to it on Friday nights when we do it. One of the new moves I really like is the part on the break when you toe tap with your left foot then jump left, jump right, then apart then together (I have no idea if it has a name). After that we did some partnering where one person would do 16 counts of something and then the other would have to do something that contrasted it. That kinda stuff always makes me nervous, as I'm especially bad at anything improv related, but being pushed out of my comfort zone.

That was the end of classes on day one. There were three hours to kill between the end of class and the beginning of the dance and since some of us were hungry we went and ate together. Ben had mentioned that the Mexican place in the shopping center where the ballroom was had good food, so that's where we went. I got the chicken tacos, which were fabulous! Thank you Ben for the recommendation! After that there was still a bit of time, so I went to Safeway and Trader Joe's and bought some snacks, as I was starving the night prior after dancing all night and didn't want to do that again.

The dance went really well. We had more live music, the competition finals, a performance from the advanced class, and an encore that turned into a jam circle. I got to bed a quarter after 1am and I slept way better Saturday night, though I guess it was already Sunday at that point. Ha! 

The first day of classes were great, but Sunday's classes were even better. The first couple hours with Nathan went by way to fast. he was inspired by the sound of the floor and small room to we started off with some tap. He had us form a circle and showed us all the different ways to use our feet to make tap sounds Then we went into a tap combo, which was one of my favorite parts, even though I'm still struggling a part of it. It was funny because he took a slow song and made it even slooowwwer, so we could get the pattern down, which was good because I'm not sure if I could do it any faster, but seriously. It was so slow! Ha! 

Afterwards we partnered up and did a mirroring exercise in which Nathan used me to demonstrate again which was fun. We did the exercise with several different people and I have to say it was pretty fun! Then he showed us a couple more common moves and their names before we spent the rest of the time working on our Susie Q's. We went over all the nitty gritty of the move and I'm fairly comfortable with them now at slower speeds. And then I was really sad because our time with Nathan was already over.

After downing a Cliff Protein Bar and some granola on break we started our class with Gaby. She decided to show us the first part of The Big Apple, which made me really excited I've been wanting to learn it especially after watching a lot of videos of it recently! We started from the beginning and made it through the jump charleston and transition steps. There were a lot of moves that we did that I really liked, one of those being apple jacks. Doing the kick prep and then the move makes me feel really fancy and like I know what I'm doing. The jump charleston was also another favorite. 

After that there wasn't a whole lot of time left, so Gaby answered some questions, Gaby had me help demonstrate as she answered one of those questions (She said my Little Mermaid shirt spoke to her) and went over a couple little combos. Like I said earlier, I skipped going to Century in place of sleep, but I did stop for some more tacos before leaving. And that is the end of Emerald City Solo Jam 2017.

I'd watched many video of Nathan and Gaby performing on YouTube, but seeing that much skill in person brings a whole new element of appreciation. Plus it's just way more fun. I could just sit and watch Nathan dance forever; every little movement is just memorizing. His teaching style was my favorite as I liked the way he broke down every little bit and had us repeat it many times. That combined combined with his personality makes for a great time in class. Then there's Gaby with her inspiring style of movement that makes me wanna dance better. Every movement was like a work of art. Also her clothing choices are adorable and she has the best jackets. I kinda want her wardrobe now...

And to end off this post I'd like to give a big thank you to Ben and everyone that helped him put on this fabulous event. You're all awesome. 

Social Dancing: 1/20 Edition - Can't Stop Smiling

Do you ever have one of those nights dancing where nothing out of the ordinary really happened, but you just feel really good about your dancing, even if it wasn't perfect? And you can't stop smiling and are just on cloud 9 the next day even? Last night was one of those nights for me.

It was a long day at work for me, so my goal was just to stay awake the whole night! Since this month is the last of the beginner lindy classes, I'm at the ballroom for class and then an hour and a half afterwards killing time till the dance starts and usually it's a struggle to stay awake between class and dancing, but I made it with ease.

Class went really well. We reviewed and refined our side-by-side Charleston and kick through. I'm definitely feeling really comfortable with it now. After that we went into skip ups, which though simple are going to take a bit more practice before they become second nature. In class all of the leads were barely moving forward on their kicks at first which made it challenging since I was all gong-ho and ready to put it all in. Our class has about eight of us, so four couples, and I we all were having fun and you could feel it in the air.

Social dancing was really, really good. The band, Good Co, was new to Eastside Stomp and they were amazing! Then I had a lot of wonderful dances. After feeling like I was in a bit of a funk the week prior I was hoping to feel more confident last night and I definitely did. There were a lot of dances I just had a lot of fun with and couldn't help but grin from ear to ear the whole time. Those nights make me so happy and thankful to be able to dance every week. There were a couple dances that I impressed myself with my styling and musicality, two things I need great help with, but they mustn't have looked too shabby as I received a couple complements on them. I usually just wing it and try and look cool, but I honestly have no idea if I look like I know what I'm doing or if it just looks odd. Ha!

Also, I made a little bit of small-talk with a couple people. Baby steps, but it's better than nothing.

Oh, and note to self: BRING SNACKS! Particularly protein filled ones. Dancing has a way of starving a girl.

Slow Drag Workshop with Peter Flahiff and Lauren Smith

Photo via Eastside Stomp

Last Saturday was an exciting day as I got to participate in my first dance workshop! I got to spend four hours learning Slow Drag from Peter Flahiff and Lauren Smith and it was amazing. Like floating on a cloud of happiness afterwards amazing. It was so much fun and I learned a lot.

For those not familiar, slow drag is a type of dancing done to slower swing music and is similar to blues dancing. Here's a video of Peter and Lauren doing a demo at Treasure State Slow Drag earlier this year:

Being that I had no experience on how to do slower dances on the social floor, I was pretty excited when I heard about the workshop. And I was even more happy when I realized I already had the day off from work. Whoop whoop! 

Since this was an complete beginner course, we started at the very beginning with close embrace. From there we went on to footwork, which is actually pretty simple as you move forward or backwards on either every beat or every other beat. From there we learned pivots, drags, and a couple different follow styling, one of which I can do pretty decently, the other I'm going to need to practice the footwork on before it becomes natural.

It was crazy how soon the four hours were over. Peter and Lauren's teaching is very easy to follow and to the point, plus they're quite the entertaining pair, so the time just flew by. I'm excited to put some of my new skills to the test on the social floor. Maybe I can look like I know what I'm doing on those slow songs now. That would be a plus. ;)

I have to say though, this workshop has me so incredibly excited to go to some dance events next year. Since I haven't been to one yet, days filled with classes, competitions, and dances sounds like a total blast. So far I'm planning on Camp Jitterbug and Jitterbug Weekend; we'll just have to see what else my dance future holds.