Also me, minutes later: Films myself doing Trickeration and totally fumbles through parts.
I couldn't pass up the opportunity to dance at Fort Casey while on a day trip with sisters and friends.
Solo jazz is the hardest kind of dancing for me. Remembering solo choreography is challenging and connecting moves together when I'm freestyling is still hard. That's why I'm putting in a lot of effort to improve my solo skills this year. My goal is to feel comortable enough to enter the contest at Emerald City Solo Jam next year and I feel like I'm on a good track to reaching that goal.
On the lindy hop team I'm a part of, we just finished learning all of the choreography for Trickeration. At this point I have the first half down pretty well, but the second half get's a little fuzzy when I run through the whole thing. Just gotta keep working on it until the movements become second nature.
Or "The super epic weekend filled with so many magical moments I don't know what to do with myself". But ya know, that title was a little too long. ;)
Camp Jitterbug was amazing.
I could end it there, but that would be boring. So let's get down to the real nitty gritty.
Sorry friends, I can't seem to help myself. Friday Night
The night it all began. Check-in at Knights of Columbus started at 6pm and being the typical Sereina that I am, I was there a little bit before that. I checked in, got my wristband, and most importantly bought a Camp Jitterbug t-shirt. I feel super legit now, friends.
While I was putting on my shoes (or after? I really have no idea.) I met Jamee. He's an awesome guy, great dancer, and can become friends with anyone pretty much instantly. We danced a few songs to warm up, then it was time for an our long collegiate shag class. Heck yeah! If you know me, you know that collegiate shag is something I'm really interested in and have practiced a bit on my own, but had never actually had a real class. Until now. Dun, dun, duuuunnnn (If you don't make that sound dramatic in your head, I might be disappointed).
Photo by Marc Dodobara
The instructors where Nick and Laura. I'd never had a class with them before, but now I'm a fan. They're both great dancers and really fun in class. We learned the basic shag footwork and how to do a turn. A lot of people came out to the class too, which was really great to see!
** I'm going to take a moment here and pause, because I just remembered that told Kendall I would send her photos and I sent her nothing. #fail I'm sorry, Kendall. You're still my favorite! **
The Balboa Social prelims were immediately after, which were fun to watch, then it was off to Century for the first dance of the weekend. You can't go wrong with Michael Gamble and the Rhythm Serenades and it was an amazing band to start the event off with! I've listed to his alubums many a time, so it was dreamy to dance to him live. I danced, and danced, and danced some more, then there was the Balboa Social finals, followed by more dancing. I think headed home about 12:30am? Some things are just a blur.
Photo by Marc Dodobara
Saturday Morning
At a too-early 11am, we had our first class of the weekend. I was in the advanced track (I originally registered for intermediate plus, but Ben told me I should be in the advanced track, so I switched 'cause Ben knows what's up). We started with two hours with Christian and Jenny, both new-to-me instructors that I've watched on YouTube many a time. We worked on a comination that included swingouts, a texas tommy, and some four count moves and really refined and fine tuned them. Definitely a good start off to classes!
After that it was time for lunch. I got some Chipotle, before the lunchtime lecture with Chester, which was super educational and entertaining. I don't remember specifically what he talked about (I seriously need to take notes next time), expect that it was really good. He has so many incredible stories and there's never enough time to hear them all!
Once our lunch was over, we had an hour with Ann and Ryan. I'd taken classes with them before and I really like there emphasis on breaking free from doing the same patterns again and again and being goofy. Literally the whole class was spent doing rhythm stuff which was a great exercise in getting out of the rut of doing the same patterns all the time. Then we had our last class of the day with Nick and Laura. We focused on doing an arm slide turn and really broke it down and did some fun stuff with it.
Photo by Marc Dodobara
That afternoon was the prelims for the Beginner Social and Open Social competitions. Watching the Beginner Social was great, as everyone had so much energy and was having such a great time. Then right after I got to compete in the Open Social. It was my first big competition and I had a lot of fun, even though it definitely wasn't my best dancing. The last song was, unsurprisingly, a fast one and I nearly lost my glasses! They slipped most of the way off my face (from all of that sweat, no doubt), but I was able to by some miracle push them back on while dancing like crazy. Then since the contest was short on followers, I got to do it again, without being judged, in the third heat. Gotta love some extra competition practice!
(I'm in heat one with the blue top and black twirly skirt. Oh, and the bright red hair bow and shoes.)
Also, something that kinda surprised myself was that I wasn't nervous leading up to or during the prelims. Like, at all. When I first started dancing the thought of doing something like that seemed exciting, but made me really nervous. Now it apparently doesn't even phase me. There was such a great energy from the crowd that it just made me more excited and made me smile more. Love how enthusiastic the lindy hop community is about everyone and everything!
After the prelims, there was a few hours until the evening dance. After I let the sweat simmer down a bit (seriously, KofC gets so stinkin' hot and muggy) I ended up meeting and grabbing dinner with Cale, who I met while leaving the venue. We chatted about all sorts of dance stuff (always a good time) and got some food before heading back to KofC for the dance.
Saturday Night
On Saturday night we had the pleasure of dancing to The Greg Ruby Six. Being a local, I'm spoiled by getting to dance to Grey Ruby on a regular basis, but the lineup that night was perfection. It didn't take long for the room to become incredibly muggy from all us dancers having a fun time. Before long it was time for the Beginner Social and Open Social finals, which were both so much fun to watch! I was really impressed with how many different styles there were in the Open Social. They were all so dang amazing. That night we also did the Shim Sham and had an amazing performance from Chester's Advanced Plus class. Uhhhhh, amazing much?!?!?!?
That night I was sweating so much (is telling you I felt like a slimy fish TMI?) that I couldn't keep hydrated fast enough. The only water fountain was upstairs in the men's bathroom, so hooray for guys who don't mind filling up water bottles for dehydrated dancers such as myself. (You dah best, Jamee!)
The dance ended at 11:30pm and the late night started at midnight at Century, but I was feeling pretty wiped and decided to go home and catch some z's. Plus I needed drive the half hour home safely.
Sunday Morning
After a stop at Emerald City Smoothie for a gigantic protein powder filled smoothie (if I could live on those, I would), it was off to KofC for morning classes. I woke up a bit swungover and with a headache, but was hoping some liquid gel Aleve would help (spoiler: it didn't). Us advanced track peeps got to spend two hours with Michael and Evita morning. Couldn't ask for a better way to start of the start the day. We worked on a lot of good stuff, but there was a lot of focus on turns (all different types) that was really, really good. Oh, and many pro tips (if you where there, you know what I mean).
Once lunchtime rolled around I grabbed some pad thai from Ting Tong Thai, the restaurant they have cater at KofC, before Chester's lecture, this time on the history of jazz music (which was phenomenal and once again, highly entertaining). For several of the styles he got volunteers to dance, who were all really awesome. Shelby and Lily did the cakewalk and looked wonderful, Shane and Nika did lindy with breakaways (their energy is amazing), and Ryan and Jenny did some blues stuff which was great. Definitely the best lunch break of the weekend.
Photo via Tonya Morris
Right after lunch we had class with Chester. Now, going into this we knew we were going to perform. And being Chester, I knew it would probably be something fast. But let's be real, I wasn't expecting White Heat fast. Though I have to say, the more the routine started coming together, the more I fell in love with it. The choreography was just so fun. Plus we were so go, go, go that I couldn't feel my achy feet and that headache I had was finally gone. Now I know Chester's classes work better than painkillers.
Our last class was with Andy and Ann. We worked on a couple "moves" to practice allowing the follows to be creative and influence the dance with our partners. It was really good practice for me to do something and really follow through with it (ha, pun not intended). When Ann asked if any follows wanted to try what we were doing with Andy, I couldn't get my hand up fast enough. I was tempted to ask to try it with him just a few minutes before, so that ended up working out well!
After classes there were more competition prelims, this time the Lindy Hop Couples and Short Showcases. Dang, those dancers in the couples comp were so amazing! And the showcases were really good, with a lot of great choreography. For a little bit afterwards, before we had to be out of the venue, I practiced some of the White Heat routine with a couple of awesome ladies I met. One of them was Darcie (Hi, Darcie! Excited to see you in Portland in a few weeks.) and another lady who's name I unfortunately don't remember (you're awesome!).
Sunday Night
Between the classes and evening dance Roberto invited a bunch of people to a rooftop BBQ and jam at his place. The weather was perfect for it too: the sun was shining and there wasn't a cloud in sight. It was great to just relax and socialize with other people, especially with the ones who were visiting from out of town. There was lots music and laughter that evening, which made it pretty much perfect. This was also the point the the weekend when Jamee realized he'd been missing out on lime tortilla chips his whole life and couldn't stop talking about them. I'm legit going to give him a bag of lime chips the next time I see him, because how can I not.
Photo via Jason Warner
Before we knew it, it was time to make our way back to Century to dance on our incredibly sore feet. 'Cause that's what dancers do. We dance till we die. And that reminds me: someone, I don't remember who, commented that pain makes you know you're alive, to which I replied, I must be very, very alive then, 'cause my feet were sore as heck!
Before the band started, Chester did a short class where we did a 10 minute song dancing through the decades. Tons of fun and a great way to kick off the night. Then the band started, The Casey MacGill Orchestra. They were on fire! As per usual I danced, danced, and danced some more. Some of us locals performed some choreography to Swing Nation. I only kinda knew what I was doing, but we all seemed to have a blast. Then we watched in awe as the finalists from the Lindy Hop Couples contest threw down their best stuff. Always super inspiring.
Photo by Marc Dodobara
After the finals, Casey decided to do the Shim Sham, literally right after they played a super long song for the finals. Definitely can't complain about that! During the second half when you're partnered I got to dance with Ann and she was just as fun and goofy to dance with as you think she would be! Then it was out to the hallway to go over choreography with Chester. He got the instructors involved and they were practicing their stuff while we practiced ours. Going over choreography with Chester in the hallway is pretty much a tradition at this point: All of us dancers crowded together, blocking traffic, trying to clean up the routine. Then it was time to perform. Oh. my. goodness. I never had so much fun performing in my life. Yeah, I totally messed up a couple parts, but I was having the time of my life out there and it was awesome.
The last competition of the event was the Slow Strictly, at 12:30am. It was really fun to watch (I know, I sound like a broken record by now), and those finalists were crazy good. I danced a bit more before heading home at 1:30am, on a dancy cloud of happiness.
Monday
The last day. Super sad because the event is practically over, but happy because my feet can stop complaining. This was also the best night of sleep I got all weekend and didn't really feel swungover, which surprised me.
Monday was electives day, which I spent with Michael and Evita because A) they're awesome, and B) I'm lazy and don't want to change venues. Keepin' it real folks.
The first class was called Games of Rhythm, where we learned three different swing out styling. The next elective I didn't do, but watched, was an aerials class. I've obviously seen aerials before, but I'd never seen how they were broken down and taught, so just watching was definitely educational. And the very last class of the weekend was Seamless Conversations. In this one we didn't learn any moves, but did some exercises on feeling connected to your partner, both as a lead and as a follow, and how both roles can be involved in influencing how the dance proceeded. This was such a good class and made me aware of things I can to do improve my connection and communicate with my partner better.
Thankfully for those of us who didn't have to head out of town right away (perks of being a local), there was the final dance with the Jonathan Doyle Quintet, another local favorite, and with a crazy sweet lineup. I had some really good dances, which surprised me, given how exhausted I was at that point. There was one dance it particular with Ben where I felt like a million bucks. He's always so much fun to dance with and is always pushing me with more and more advanced stuff, which I really awesome. Not long after there was jam circle (which I was happy about, because I missed the one on Sunday night when we were practicing choreography with Chester in the hallway. That was a sad moment. I love jam circles.) and Lily and I got to start it. That was a first for me, and super awesome, especially since it was with Lily.
And that's pretty much the end of my Camp Jitterbug weekend.
To sum it up: IT WAS AMAZING.
The classes and instructors were so good. The bands blew me away every night. The competitions were super inspiring. I got to spend time with lots of my favorite people + make a ton of new friends from near and far. Really though, this event wouldn't be the same without all the wonderful people. I love you all and can't wait to do it again next year for the 20th anniversary.
Life is good. Very busy, but very good. Especially when it comes to dancing.
A lot has happened since I last chatted with you. I though it was about time to catch you up on things.
To start things off, I'm now part of a dance team lead by Ben and Ariel. This past Monday we had our third practice and it's been a great experience already. We've been learning parts of Trickeration every week, along with practicing partnered stuff. At our last practice we a lot about competitions and learned a ton of good stuff that I can't wait to apply at Camp Jitterbug and the Mix and Match at Eastside Stomp next week.
Speaking of Camp Jitterbug, it starts tomorrow!!!!!!!!!! To say I'm excited would be an understatement. I'm excited for all the awesome instructors, competitions, bands, and dances. It's going to be a grand time! I'm registered for the advanced track and one of the competitions, which should be fun.
Then a few Saturday's ago I finally made it to Revival Rhythm in Fremont. So. Much. Fun. Seriously, I was on cloud nine all night. They have a blues room, balboa room, and a lindy hop room which makes it super fun and unique. I did the blues drop-in lesson beforehand, which was great, and had a wonderful time dancing the night away. Later in the night they have an informal jam too, which was awesome.
Beyond that, regular Friday nights at Eastside have been wonderful, like usual. I feel like I've reached a new level in my dancing in regards to creativity and have been having a lot of fun experimenting with styling on the dance floor. This past Friday I got to take photos, which I really enjoyed. I haven't had a lot of time to do much photography lately, but it felt so good to get those creative juices flowing and capture everyone having such a fun night.
It's been a while since I've updated this little corner of the internet! A lot has been happening in my life the last few months. Things like getting into the LEAP Apprenticeship at Microsoft, moving out of my childhood home, buying a car, starting the LEAP Program and doing fun stuff with my cohort, and my family moving out of state.
But that's not what this post is about. I'm here to talk about the most wonderful time I had this past Friday. It was amazing!
Before spending the night at Eastside, I went bowling with a bunch of people from my cohort. Tons of fun, but I'm not gonna lie, I'm still sore from that. So my day was already off to a great start. Then after fueling with MOD Pizza and catching up with dance friends, the night of dancing began.
One of the magical parts about Friday was the band playing, which included some special out of town guests: The Brothers Arntzen, Evan and Arnt. The rest of the line up included the wonderful Jen Hodge, the piano and ukulele master Casey MacGill, and the always amazing Julian McDonough. How can you go wrong with that line up?!?! And the band was on. fire. Seriously. The crowd at Eastside is know for always giving the band a lot of love, but the enjoyment and enthusiasm that night was through the roof, and rightfully so. They were amazing and so fun to dance to!
Then there was the dancing, which was wonderful. The floor was full of people having a great time and I had a lot of really fun dances. One of the highlights of the night was dancing collegiate shag for the first time. You have no idea how happy that made me! I was out on the dance floor when my partner asked if I knew any shag. I said a tiny bit and we started dancing it and a minute or two in he asked "what's up with you only knowing a tiny bit?!" and I told him how I've practiced a lot on my own, but had never actually danced it with a partner. Oh my goodness, it was so much fun and it made me so happy! I definitely need more shag in my life. The next morning I had to DM Kendall, my biggest collegiate shag inspiration, to share as she's always so encouraging and I knew she's be excited as well (and she definitely was). Love all the awesome people in the dance community!
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.
