Christmas and Buckets

December is filled with traditions, mistletoe and sleigh rides, jingle bells and Yule logs, dancing and buckets. You’re not familiar with the bucket tradition? Well, it comes around every year with the first snow. Less than an inch of snow and the buckets come out at one of our usual dance venues. They catch the drips that come through the ceiling, creating what I affectionately call a “water feature”. In actuality I think water trap is more like it.

There’s a strange thing that happens whenever there’s any kind of obstruction on the dance floor. The skill of the dancers on a floor is directly proportional to the size of the floor. So, with each inch you lose, people dance worse. That’s amazing, since there are always fewer dancers on the floor when the weather’s bad. Dance physics, I guess.

The Christmas Waltz

Used to be there were many different varieties of the waltz...in this video of Karen Carpenter you can see a few bits of the Skater's Waltz.

Ahhhhh. What lovely way to start the holiday dancing season. I still miss new songs by Karen, but at least we have her marvelous classics.

Time Warp 1960s Concert and Dance

The Time Warp Dance given by The Pride of Indy Jazz Ensemble at the Athenaeum was indeed transportive; I really felt like I was in a 1960’s lounge. The band was fabulous. The song list was varied which I like; they played everything from jazz greats to holiday music. My favorites were Caravan and Santa Baby. And not only were the musicians great, the singers were too, from a couple of band members that did double duty to their guest singer, Brenda Williams. OMG, could that woman belt out a tune! My favorite of hers was At Last, which I think is the hardest song to sing ever.

Gary I enjoy dancing at benefits; for us it combines something we love with being able to help a cause we believe in. I don’t ever want this dance blog to be our own personal soapbox because part of dancing for us is to escape individual and world problems, but let’s just say Gary and I are on the side of groups we believe haven’t always been given a fair shake.

When you think that the band members are all volunteers and so probably all have day jobs as it were, the level of professionalism was pretty amazing. They play for the love and joy of music, the same reason we dance…we clapped for the singers and musicians and they clapped for us.

If you have a chance to catch this band do so. The music is mostly danceable, the people friendly, and they welcome dancers. We will be seeing them again.

Here they are from last year’s event…enjoy.

Thanksgiving Dance at Indy Dancers

I don’t think I’ve ever been in a situation where food wasn’t within an arm’s reach…at home, at friends and family’s homes, at work, at events, everywhere I go there’s food. I’ve never been hungry or without in my life, and although I’m rather embarrassed to say it, never given that much thought.

What hit me at the annual Thanksgiving Day dinner/dance with Indy Dancers was the abundance; there was every kind of dish imaginable. All of it was fabulous, and you could have as much as you wanted. After I finished I sat there watching everyone else enjoy their dinner and felt very blessed to live where I live, to be able to spend time with other dance fanatics, and most of all, to be with Gary.

We’ve had a hard year, but through it all we’ve had each other, good health, plenty to eat, a place to live, and dancing.

I feel very thankful.

Rockaboogie!

I’ve said this before, so I hope you’ll indulge me. I’m always amazed when I see Terry Lee in concert. Terry and his band never seem to have an off night. I’ve had the good fortune to see a number of long-touring big bands and in some great venues and many of them have come across flat. That doesn’t happen with Terry Lee. The band is fantastic, driven; they move you from your seats and onto the dance floor. If you love the music of Jerry Lee Lewis, rockabilly music, our just going out for a good time, go see Terry Lee and his Rockaboogie Band

Halloween Dance at the Atrium

The annual costume dance sponsored by Indy Singles was fab!! It was a packed house, but they opened up another section of the floor so everyone had plenty of room. The costumes were wonderful…my favorite was a Christmas Tree. I’m not sure how she saw outta that thing, but she did manage to dance. And…she won the contest, which Gary and I helped judge. Here she is with a neck-braced Payton Manning. NOT funny, BTW. Kidding. But still. Anyway, here's the tree:



Gary and I were cats this year; in honor of our Ocicat, we went spotty. I made Gary a mouse watch fob which was pretty funny because he kept twirling it like a gangster.



We really did have a great time. It’s nice to know we have so many dancing options even when we don’t leave town. On to Christmas. I’m still dreaming of that perfect winter wonderland to dance in….