When I was young I had a wonderful babysitter named Mrs. Johnston. She was a feisty, sometimes a bit ribald, older woman who always treated me more like an adult than a child. I loved her for that. We remained friends even when I grew up; I never tired of hearing her stories of playing with a big band. (She even played for USO dances.) She was the essence of cool.
One of my favorite sayings of hers was “get out there and blow off the stink.” She used this expression when she believed I was lolling about the house too much and needed some fresh air and exercise.
Tonight Gary and I are attending a Continentals dance. There won’t be a band, but there will be CDs and lots of dancing. With too many cookies under my belt and a New Year’s Eve marathon just around the corner, my lungs, legs, and feet need a good workout.
It’s always kinda sad to take down the holiday decorations, but it also feels good to get things cleaned up and back to normal. For us, that means dancing several times a week and perhaps a bit less butter and sugar. :-)
Sunday, December 26, 2010
The Best and Worst of 2010
Another year has passed, 365 days nearly gone by and the earth has just about completed one more revolution around our average-sized sun in the unfashionable corner of the universe we call home. It's been another big dance year for Kelly and I; another year of discoveries and lessons, many pleasant and some not so much. Last night after the hubbub of the Yule festivities died down, Kelly and I took a deep breath and enjoyed the peacefulness of our own kitchen for a little bit and as we relaxed the subject of the year gone by naturally came to the fore. Auld Lang Syne always catalyzes a million lists. Probably the most common are the litany of resolutions that most of us voice but never effort. It's easy to swear you'll lose fifty pounds, read all the classics, and start volunteering at local charities but, for most of us, sometime around January eighth we start to realize passing on the pound cake, slugging through Melville, and spending every weekend shoulder-to-the-wheel isn't nearly as easy or fun as it'd sounded while basking in the glow of a saucer of bubbly.
Possibly more popular is the best/worst list. While cruising the TV listings I've noticed one or two 'Best and Worst of 2010' shows cropping up. I feel a little like a 12-stepper for admitting these shows attract me. Not because I sit back nodding in agreement with the self-appointed experts and their assessment of the worth and quality of the various-and-sundry of the year gone by. For me it's a bit more shaking my head and nay-saying the process of comparing disparate things and implying they can be judged against one another. I mean, come on, how can there be a 'best news story of 2010' or a 'greatest sporting moment of the year'? It brings up that whole apples/oranges thing.
Yet, I'll admit, I'm just as list-bound as every other human being on the planet. Yes, I've made some resolutions and as I sit here at my keyboard I'm asking myself "what were the best and worst dance-related events of 2010?" I poured over the blog entries of the last three years only to realize that I haven't done a best/worst list since 2008. The first year of Blue Suede Souls is the only year I authored the list. Part of me wants to stay away from creating a new one. That halo-adorned fellow on my right shoulder is saying, "Dude, let it go." However, the horned gentleman on my left has already tallied up the possible contestants and began ranking them. Who should I listen to?
Best of 2010
10. New Old Venues - Through 2010 we had an opportunity to visit some classic venues that we hadn't had an opportunity to dance before. We visited The Blue Lantern Ballroom in New Carlisle, IN - one of the whistle stops visited by the big bands of the Chicago area back at the beginning of the 20th century. We also had an opportunity to dance at the Irvington Lodge as well as a Valentine dance at the Athenaeum here in Indianapolis.
9. The Moo - Speaking of reviving the old, there was a day when most men in the United States belonged to a fraternal order of some sort. The names range from the imagined sinister (the Masons) to the obscure (the Odd Fellows) to the religiously motivated (the Knights of Columbus) but most men belonged if not for the benefits of the organization, for the social aspects. In 2010, though our dance clubs, we've had the chance to dance at a couple Benevolent Order of Moose lodges in Indianapolis and we're planning on spending our New Year's Eve at one. In general the dance floors have been great (if sometimes small) and the people decent, hard working, and friendly.
8. Reunited - There was a time when I thought we might have taken our last lesson with Dance Masters (aka. Fred Astaire, South). We'd had some rather bad bumps in our relationship and I wondered if we could get back to where we started. When we worked out the issues and re-fashioned our relationship with the studio it felt a lot like coming home again.
7. Clave - In 2010 we decided to try to experience Latin dances within the culture that bred them so, we found Shayne and started learning the Clave. I'm here to say that the Clave is one of the hardest dances I've ever tried and that there's little I'm more proud of than having learned even the basic step of this dance. It bolstered my dance confidence even while it drove me crazy on more than one occasion.
6. Vintage Foxtrot - I'm addicted to anything from the 20's and 30's. I honestly believe in a previous life I had to have been of a certain age in both decades. Late in 2010 we started learning the vintage Foxtrot and I'll never go back to the ballroom variant. The genuine lightness of the vintage dance reminds me that this was a living dance that drew in pieces of other dances to give it vitality long before there were school figures and accepted patterns.
5. Rockabilly - Still, in my opinion, the most fun you can have on the dance floor.
4. Taking to the Air - In 2010 we learned our first aerials, the Number 9 and the Frog Hop. Since then we've started adding the Baby Doll Drop and the Death Drop to our arsenal. Suddenly I feel moderately young again.
3. Terry Lee and his Rockaboogie Band - I'm biased, I'll admit it, however I love a band that can show up and play their music wonderfully every time you see them. Terry and his band never seem to have an off night, their tunes don't drag or race out of control, they're on key, and they're alive. Terry's personable and accessible and he always seems to be up, having fun doing what he does which is nothing short of rocking the joint.
2. Dancing through the Pain - In 2010 I had the misfortune of having to close down the place I worked. I kept a job with the company (that I'm still trying to adjust into) however, I witnessed a lot of good people lose their livelihoods as the economy continued its slow-motion train wreck. Through the misery the two things I could rely on was the understanding of my wife and being able to blow off steam on the dance floor. Dance carried America through the Great Depression and it carried me through mine.
1. Freedom - Through 2010 I think the one thing we learned that will give us the most joy is that dance is freedom. Yes, there are steps to learn and you can even go in for patterns if you want, but in the end you're the artist and the dance floor is your pallet. This isn't paint by numbers, folks. You own your dance and you should do it in a way that makes you happy. If you want to toss tango into your WCS, do it. If you want to dance fast rumbas, dance them. Do whatever the music moves you to do.
Worst of 2010
5. Dancesport (Heartland Dancers) - There's a saying about corporations: the company's culture mimics that of its executives. This means if the executives are unethical, cruel, and egotistical the culture of the company will be…guess what? The same is true of dance clubs. So, when the reaction to our showing up at a Heartland Dancers event was a look down the nose and whispered comments about what sort of shoes we wore, well we knew it wasn't the club for us.
4. No Show - I'm a staunch supporter of local dance venues, big and small. I think that it's important to go out and dance at as many local venues as possible because your patronage makes it possible to have these venues. So, in August, when we went to Mike's Dance Barn to attend the Car Show and Rockabilly Dance that they'd advertized only to find no show and now dance, it a little more than disappointing. We travel over an hour one way to support this venue and to have them simply not show up kind of shook our confidence. I'm not saying that we've stopped supporting the Dance Barn or any other local venue - however when we see an advertisement for one of these functions at the Dance Barn, we're more likely to ask ourselves if we believe it'll really come off or if we'll be sitting in an empty parking lot again.
3. Still with the Manners - Three years after the first Best/Worst list and this one still makes the five worst features of dance. Unfortunately, it seems poor manners have spread from the clods who don't understand how to dance socially and now its invading the gallery. This year we've been seated with people who have moved to a new table after we sat down (without an explanation - but they did move to another EMPTY table so it wasn't to join friends), had our seats usurped by a moron who then had the nerve to ask us to move our stuff, and had another person both badger us to sell tickets for their dance club and flash her ring under our noses asking us how much we thought it cost.
2. Indiana Roof Ballroom's Free-for-All Policy - In the past month there's been an unfortunate trend at the Indiana Roof. Lately the staff has been adding tables to accommodate all who want to attend an event. This is fine if the event in question is a concert but when you're taking away space on the dance floor AT A DANCE so that you can squeeze the admittance fees out of two dozen more patrons, well you've lost sight of the purpose. The quality of the floor at the Roof has steadily declined in parallel with the decline in management's ability to use common sense. I hope the trend doesn't continue, it'd be a shame to see the great old venue go into a new sort of decline.
1. The Demise of the Indy Boogie Dancers - The Indy Boogies quickly became our favorite club both for their music selection and their laid back approach to dance however in 2010 the economy and declining membership took their toll on the club and in October it closed its doors. A faint glimmer of hope lies in the fact the club did have a Christmas dance and we'll keep our fingers crossed that they will return in 2011 both reinvigorated and refreshed.
Possibly more popular is the best/worst list. While cruising the TV listings I've noticed one or two 'Best and Worst of 2010' shows cropping up. I feel a little like a 12-stepper for admitting these shows attract me. Not because I sit back nodding in agreement with the self-appointed experts and their assessment of the worth and quality of the various-and-sundry of the year gone by. For me it's a bit more shaking my head and nay-saying the process of comparing disparate things and implying they can be judged against one another. I mean, come on, how can there be a 'best news story of 2010' or a 'greatest sporting moment of the year'? It brings up that whole apples/oranges thing.
Yet, I'll admit, I'm just as list-bound as every other human being on the planet. Yes, I've made some resolutions and as I sit here at my keyboard I'm asking myself "what were the best and worst dance-related events of 2010?" I poured over the blog entries of the last three years only to realize that I haven't done a best/worst list since 2008. The first year of Blue Suede Souls is the only year I authored the list. Part of me wants to stay away from creating a new one. That halo-adorned fellow on my right shoulder is saying, "Dude, let it go." However, the horned gentleman on my left has already tallied up the possible contestants and began ranking them. Who should I listen to?
Best of 2010
10. New Old Venues - Through 2010 we had an opportunity to visit some classic venues that we hadn't had an opportunity to dance before. We visited The Blue Lantern Ballroom in New Carlisle, IN - one of the whistle stops visited by the big bands of the Chicago area back at the beginning of the 20th century. We also had an opportunity to dance at the Irvington Lodge as well as a Valentine dance at the Athenaeum here in Indianapolis.
9. The Moo - Speaking of reviving the old, there was a day when most men in the United States belonged to a fraternal order of some sort. The names range from the imagined sinister (the Masons) to the obscure (the Odd Fellows) to the religiously motivated (the Knights of Columbus) but most men belonged if not for the benefits of the organization, for the social aspects. In 2010, though our dance clubs, we've had the chance to dance at a couple Benevolent Order of Moose lodges in Indianapolis and we're planning on spending our New Year's Eve at one. In general the dance floors have been great (if sometimes small) and the people decent, hard working, and friendly.
8. Reunited - There was a time when I thought we might have taken our last lesson with Dance Masters (aka. Fred Astaire, South). We'd had some rather bad bumps in our relationship and I wondered if we could get back to where we started. When we worked out the issues and re-fashioned our relationship with the studio it felt a lot like coming home again.
7. Clave - In 2010 we decided to try to experience Latin dances within the culture that bred them so, we found Shayne and started learning the Clave. I'm here to say that the Clave is one of the hardest dances I've ever tried and that there's little I'm more proud of than having learned even the basic step of this dance. It bolstered my dance confidence even while it drove me crazy on more than one occasion.
6. Vintage Foxtrot - I'm addicted to anything from the 20's and 30's. I honestly believe in a previous life I had to have been of a certain age in both decades. Late in 2010 we started learning the vintage Foxtrot and I'll never go back to the ballroom variant. The genuine lightness of the vintage dance reminds me that this was a living dance that drew in pieces of other dances to give it vitality long before there were school figures and accepted patterns.
5. Rockabilly - Still, in my opinion, the most fun you can have on the dance floor.
4. Taking to the Air - In 2010 we learned our first aerials, the Number 9 and the Frog Hop. Since then we've started adding the Baby Doll Drop and the Death Drop to our arsenal. Suddenly I feel moderately young again.
3. Terry Lee and his Rockaboogie Band - I'm biased, I'll admit it, however I love a band that can show up and play their music wonderfully every time you see them. Terry and his band never seem to have an off night, their tunes don't drag or race out of control, they're on key, and they're alive. Terry's personable and accessible and he always seems to be up, having fun doing what he does which is nothing short of rocking the joint.
2. Dancing through the Pain - In 2010 I had the misfortune of having to close down the place I worked. I kept a job with the company (that I'm still trying to adjust into) however, I witnessed a lot of good people lose their livelihoods as the economy continued its slow-motion train wreck. Through the misery the two things I could rely on was the understanding of my wife and being able to blow off steam on the dance floor. Dance carried America through the Great Depression and it carried me through mine.
1. Freedom - Through 2010 I think the one thing we learned that will give us the most joy is that dance is freedom. Yes, there are steps to learn and you can even go in for patterns if you want, but in the end you're the artist and the dance floor is your pallet. This isn't paint by numbers, folks. You own your dance and you should do it in a way that makes you happy. If you want to toss tango into your WCS, do it. If you want to dance fast rumbas, dance them. Do whatever the music moves you to do.
Worst of 2010
5. Dancesport (Heartland Dancers) - There's a saying about corporations: the company's culture mimics that of its executives. This means if the executives are unethical, cruel, and egotistical the culture of the company will be…guess what? The same is true of dance clubs. So, when the reaction to our showing up at a Heartland Dancers event was a look down the nose and whispered comments about what sort of shoes we wore, well we knew it wasn't the club for us.
4. No Show - I'm a staunch supporter of local dance venues, big and small. I think that it's important to go out and dance at as many local venues as possible because your patronage makes it possible to have these venues. So, in August, when we went to Mike's Dance Barn to attend the Car Show and Rockabilly Dance that they'd advertized only to find no show and now dance, it a little more than disappointing. We travel over an hour one way to support this venue and to have them simply not show up kind of shook our confidence. I'm not saying that we've stopped supporting the Dance Barn or any other local venue - however when we see an advertisement for one of these functions at the Dance Barn, we're more likely to ask ourselves if we believe it'll really come off or if we'll be sitting in an empty parking lot again.
3. Still with the Manners - Three years after the first Best/Worst list and this one still makes the five worst features of dance. Unfortunately, it seems poor manners have spread from the clods who don't understand how to dance socially and now its invading the gallery. This year we've been seated with people who have moved to a new table after we sat down (without an explanation - but they did move to another EMPTY table so it wasn't to join friends), had our seats usurped by a moron who then had the nerve to ask us to move our stuff, and had another person both badger us to sell tickets for their dance club and flash her ring under our noses asking us how much we thought it cost.
2. Indiana Roof Ballroom's Free-for-All Policy - In the past month there's been an unfortunate trend at the Indiana Roof. Lately the staff has been adding tables to accommodate all who want to attend an event. This is fine if the event in question is a concert but when you're taking away space on the dance floor AT A DANCE so that you can squeeze the admittance fees out of two dozen more patrons, well you've lost sight of the purpose. The quality of the floor at the Roof has steadily declined in parallel with the decline in management's ability to use common sense. I hope the trend doesn't continue, it'd be a shame to see the great old venue go into a new sort of decline.
1. The Demise of the Indy Boogie Dancers - The Indy Boogies quickly became our favorite club both for their music selection and their laid back approach to dance however in 2010 the economy and declining membership took their toll on the club and in October it closed its doors. A faint glimmer of hope lies in the fact the club did have a Christmas dance and we'll keep our fingers crossed that they will return in 2011 both reinvigorated and refreshed.
Monday, December 20, 2010
The Dance of Life
Saturday morning I was about to write a fun, frivolous post about holiday dance attire; I had collected a Goldilocks assortment of outfits that were too short, too fancy, too tight, too casual…and just right.
Then I got a call from a close friend telling me her mother had died. I forgot all about the post. I even forgot about the holiday dance Gary and I had planned to attend the day of her mother’s calling. When I did remember I wondered if we should go dancing after such a serious and sad event. We could have made the dance if we’d wanted to, even if we stayed until the very end of the calling. And I knew my friend would want time alone after a grueling day.
As it turned out we didn’t go…we were both too worn out emotionally. But we had a nice practice on our own dance floor, just Gary and me. And I’m so glad we did. Dancing is a celebration of life and of our relationship.
I don’t want to think about losing my own parents, but my mother has already told me not to stop dancing after she is gone. She said she would want us to remember her in every step, twirl, and flourish, and that she would be right there with me in spirit. Hopefully that sad day is far into the future, as I believe my mom has many, many more dances left.
At the funeral home I saw a photo of my friend’s parents dancing at her wedding; her mother looked happy, free, and full of joy.
Here’s to you, Lillian…and the best egg dip on the planet.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
The Boogies Return!
Down but not out, The Brickyard Boogie Dance Club arose from the ashes and put on a fabulous holiday dance yesterday.
Gary and I were afraid they might try and change the format too much… the Boogies are a bop/swing club and we worried they might try to compete with other dance clubs in town. We were very glad to see the Boogies are still the Boogies…lots of swing of all varieties, with a sprinkling of other dances mixed in. This time the sprinkling was a bit more liberal…more Texas two step, cha chas, rumbas, waltzes, night club...there were even a few foxtrots.
We both liked it. Hopefully the slightly amended selection will keep ‘em coming.
And Ron still played, as Gary says, the traditional first swing. It’s the same song. Every time. But that’s OK. The song gives us both a warm feeling. It felt really good to be back on the floor with, in our opinion, the best dance club in town…where the music is funky, the people polite and non-critical, and the most fabulous cookies ever, except for Gary’s.
Gary and I were afraid they might try and change the format too much… the Boogies are a bop/swing club and we worried they might try to compete with other dance clubs in town. We were very glad to see the Boogies are still the Boogies…lots of swing of all varieties, with a sprinkling of other dances mixed in. This time the sprinkling was a bit more liberal…more Texas two step, cha chas, rumbas, waltzes, night club...there were even a few foxtrots.
We both liked it. Hopefully the slightly amended selection will keep ‘em coming.
And Ron still played, as Gary says, the traditional first swing. It’s the same song. Every time. But that’s OK. The song gives us both a warm feeling. It felt really good to be back on the floor with, in our opinion, the best dance club in town…where the music is funky, the people polite and non-critical, and the most fabulous cookies ever, except for Gary’s.
Monday, December 6, 2010
Yule Vintage Postcards
I have not lost my love of vintage postcards. :-) Here are some holiday dancing ones for the season:
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