I think I mentioned that we were heading to Memphis TN to attend the Memphis Bop Club's get together at the Gold Strike Casino this past weekend. I don't know if I did or not – I'd like to blame this forgetfulness on getting older but to be honest I've been forgetful pretty much all my life! Regardless, we spent April 3, 4, and 5th attending another club-related get together and taking a few classes to expand our swing vocabulary. Even though this session was thrown by the Memphis Bop Club it was held in Tunica Mississippi in the Gold Strike Casino, part of the gambling complex that pretty much is the city of Tunica. There are a couple of things to know if you live up north (somewhere like Indianapolis) and you're heading down south (say Tunica, MS).Firstly, the trip to Tunica takes FOREVER. Don't think you're going to get down there, get settled in, and do something – even if you press the speed limits you're still going to need at least 8 hours of travel time. When you arrive you might be up for a little fun, but eight hours in a car doesn't make one ready to dance once they've dumped their luggage and freshened up. Well, maybe if you're nineteen and don't have old, creaky legs like mine but in general you should plan on taking it easy once you arrive. Secondly, don't try to press the speed limits. The good ol' boy cops may not be what they were back in the 60's but they are THICK. It's not worth the risk. Take your time, stay safe, and plan on the trip taking a long time.
We arrived in Tunica sometime around four o'clock on Friday and got into our room for our ritual post travel decompression. The rooms at least at this casino are great. We didn't get a suite or any sort of upgrade – just a room with a king-size bed (being over 6 feet tall makes that a requirement, not a luxury) – but it was wonderful and a perfect place to relax after a class. We made it to the ballroom around six, I think, and we even got in an hour and a half of dancing.
At this point I'd like to put in a note of caution. Casinos have great food. We visited the 'all you can eat lobster and steak buffet' on Friday evening and though it was pricy it wasn't a disappointment. The problem is the temptation to stuff yourself and to forget you're essentially in the casino to participate in an athletic event. A track star wouldn't get to the arena and raid the corn-dog stand before putting their track shoes on but as a social dancer you're tempted to think of your time dancing as recreation instead of athletic. Swing dancing is athletic. Think of it as jogging and act accordingly and you'll be much better off. I didn't live by this little axiom and I got lucky that we were turning in instead of staying out late to dance. If it'd been the other way around I don't think I could have gotten onto the floor.
On Saturday we attended two classes: East Coast Swing and Alternate Timing and Footwork. Both were absolutely fantastic. In the ECS class we learned a move called 'the tunnel'. I've seen dancers practicing the tunnel but, until this get together, I've never seen it performed on the floor during social dancing. It's an odd looking move that, to be honest, is hard to make look graceful. Think about the lead holding their left arm out, elbow bent and fingers pointing toward the floor to kind of make an upside-down 'U'. Now, the follow ducks and backs through that 'U' to step back in front of the lead and back into the regular dance. It's kind of like pushing a cork through the neck of a bottle in most cases. This Saturday, however, I saw some really good dancers make it work on the floor and make it look good! I'm happy to say we got all the footwork and the timing for the tunnel – now the challenge will be making it look good. The Alternate Timing and Footwork class was great because it opened my eyes to something Kelly and I have been doing without knowing it. We've been pursuing Rockabilly Swing lately but until this weekend we didn't realize that it's similar to an ECS style called 'double-time' swing. I don't think I can describe the footwork without coming off like one of those impenetrable footwork diagrams you occasionally see – you have to have someone show you.
Saturday night we went to the 'party' dance. Every gathering like this has one of these – all the club members get together, there's usually some sort of food, and then they dance 'till the wee hours of the morning. We showed up around seven o'clock with a plan to just stay a couple of hours since we were getting up at five in the morning to start the insane drive again. The dinner buffet was great (and this time I controlled myself) and when the DJ started playing, we had a ringside seat. There were some amazing dancers at this conference. I've never seen people do ECS as well as some of these people. They looked funky, they looked like they were having fun, and lord they had moves! There were a couple of people at the conference that I only hope to emulate one day. The only problem was, like many other venues, the dance floor was too small. After an hour and a half and the free-flowing booze that's present at all casinos the floor-craft got…sloppy and people started to ignore the rules of etiquette. Kelly justly made me leave when I started muttering about stomping someone's foot.
End assessment? I'd go back but the drive to Tunica is onerous. I think there are other events of this nature that will have just as good of instruction sections without the big drive. That said we're driving to southern Indiana this coming Saturday to attend a Tea Dance in West Baden and we'll be driving to Kentucky to dance in an open-air venue in May so apparently the drive wasn't that much of a deterrent!
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