Social Dancing: 10/6 Edition - Balhalla Kickoff

Ah, it's been a while. Here on the blog that is. I've still been dancing every Friday I've been in town, though I haven't taken any photos or video in ages, thus feeling like I have no content to share. But even with my lack of clips of the awesome bands I've had the pleasure of dancing to recently, how could I not share about this past Friday, the kickoff for Balhalla?!

Now the sad part is I wasn't actually able to attend Balhalla Weekend (boo!), as much as I would have liked to. Being that I'm only employed part time right now the budget is super tight. The good news was that the Friday night dance for the event was hosted at Eastside Stomp which meant that I at least got to enjoy a part of it, which made me happy.

The week prior I had taken a Balboa Mini-Workshop with Jim and Emily. It was aimed at those that have taken Balboa 1 and still felt under confident in their abilities and wanted to refine what they know (AKA me when it comes to bal). I really enjoyed it as it was great going over moves that I was familiar with, but was able to fine tune and polish what I already knew. Plus it made me feel more confident about wanting to dance it socially.

Anyways, back to the Balhalla kickoff. Slipped Disc was playing and they were awesome. I'd heard great things about them and they totally lived up to my expectations. This was also the first time I was at a dance focused on bal and dancing it so much in one night really left me encouraged and inspired to keep learning more. Yup, I definitely need more balboa in my life.

One of my favorite dances of the night was near the end when the band was playing a slow song. I got asked to dance slow bal and though I don't always enjoy slower dances as much (mostly because I have no idea what I'm doing) this one was an absolute dream. Sometimes you just have such a great connection with your partner that even when you don't do anything fancy it's perfect anyways. It all just felt so good. Days later and I'm still thinking about how lovely that dance was.

Another great thing is that Samantha came down from Canada and we went to the dance together and she crashed at my place afterwards. It's great having someone to gush about dancing and bal and events and all that fun stuff. 

Social Dancing: 8/4 Edition

Last Friday night we had the pleasure of dancing to Silk Road Swing featuring Jonathan Ng. The music was awesome and it was a great night of dancing, even if it was crazy hot outside. Seriously, I felt like a slime monster by the end of the night. Beautiful, I know.

A Year of Swing

Crazy to think it's only been a year since I dived full-force into the world of swing. And what a wonderful year it's been.

When I think about all the amazing opportunities I've had the past twelve months, I feel so thankful and blessed to be able to do something that brings me so much joy. I've been able to go to Eastside Stomp almost every week. I entered my first competition. I got to dance in a Greg Ruby music video; talk about awesome! Danced till 3am at the B'ham Swing Jam. An insane amount of competition videos watched on YouTube. Got a tad bit more comfortable doing solo jazz. Took lots of classes and learned lots of new skills. Went to my first, plus several other, dance events. Started learning Balboa. Had the opportunity to dance to dozens of amazing bands. Made new friends. Performed choreography from Chester's class at Jitterbug Weekend. Listened to new-to-me jazz musicians on my commute. Took classes from some amazing instructors. Got really sweaty.

Because of swing dance I've been pushed out of my comfort zone. Things that used to intimidate me, particularly ones that made me feel weird or silly in public, don't bother me nearly as much as they used to. Or being able to mess up a move, but not caring because you're both having fun and that fun doesn't depend on you being "perfect". Asking people to dance used to intimidate the heck out of me, but now it's no big deal.

Thank you for everyone who's danced with me, taught me, played music that I danced to, or have met in the lindy community. And especially everyone at Eastside. Being at Aria is like being home.

The Night I Danced to Jonathan Stout

For those who have been in the swing community for any amount of time have likely heard of Jonathan Stout. He's a well known band leader in the scene known for his Jonathan Stout and his Campus Five albums featuring Hillary Alexander and his orchestra that's played at many of the big lindy events. Those albums are awesome and I listen to them all the time. So when I heard that they were going to playing at the Seattle Lindy Extravaganza, it was like a dream came true.

I wasn't able to attend the whole weekend, but I was able to attend the Friday night dance at Washington Hall. It was fantastic! The band was amazing, so say the least. There was a jam circle during Jammin' the Blues and the band was killing it. So much energy in the room!

First Two Weeks of Followers Technique

I've recently had the opportunity to to take one of the series at Eastside, particularly Follower's Technique. It's two hours a week for seven weeks right before social dancing at Eastside and it's taught by Elaine and Stefan. So far it's been amazing!

The first week we focus solely on body placement and how that translates to interacting with our partner. Lots of feeling where our weight was, moving the proper parts at the right time, getting a correct stretch with our partner. Lots of really good stuff.

The second week we did some similar exercises, but did a lot of them with the followers eyes closed. Honestly, this was a challenge for me as I've been realizing how much I try and predict things before they happen. We also started applying what we've been learning to actual dancing. And honestly, having proper alignment and what not has made a huge difference in my dancing already. Especially on my swing outs.