Changed My Life

It's been a while since I sat down and penned (or should I say pixeled) a new blog entry so I thought that I'd take the opportunity to do so before we headed off for an evening of dancing. The past few weeks have been pretty dance-heavy for K and me. We've visited a local retirement home - no, not to consider residency and defiantly not to demonstrate how 'it' is done - and we've visited the Indiana Roof Ballroom twice. In fact we've started packing our dance card for the summer and that fact brought about a sort of realization. Dance has really changed the way we live our lives.

Okay, that's kind of a pat thing to say. It's a little cliché to say anything has changed your life because so many people say that about so many innocuous things. I mean Starbucks has changed my life. Work has changed my life. Not falling into a pool of molten magma has changed my life. Yet, at the risk of joining the hyperbole club, dancing really has- yes - changed our lives.

I've got evidence. For instance we spent an hour on Friday going over what's going on in the dance scene in the coming month and deciding what we do and don't want to add to our list. I don't even do that with anything else in my life. Planning for me is knowing I've got socks to wear in the morning - not necessarily matching socks but socks none the less. Yet I can tell you tonight we're dancing with Brickyard Boogies at Starlight Ballroom, tomorrow we're at the Indiana Roof with Dancemasters, and next Friday we're leaving for Tunica, Mississippi for a dance with the Memphis Bop Club. We'll also be attending a Rockabilly Festival this year.

That's changing your life!

Jim and Jacks, Down by the River...

Last weekend we took a little trip to Cincinnati. It's about a two hour drive from our house to Cincinnati, so the city makes a nice jaunt on a weekend when nothing else is planned or when there's some dance event that warrants our attention. This time around it was a visit to Jack and Jim's on the River, a little bar appropriately located, on the Ohio River.

The evening started inauspiciously. Being from Indianapolis, a city known for its absence of geographic features, I forget that some places actually have hills and rivers and other things that generally make navigation - well - a pain in the butt. We ran into this with Jack and Jim's. As I said before, it's located on the river and that means no straight streets. It's also under about six dozen railroad bridges, which means it looks a little more like a weigh station than a bar with a dance floor. But, after some swearing, insane driving, and putting the GPS feature of my cell phone to the ultimate test, we found the place and all was happy.

There's something about dancing at a bar that you don't get when you go to an actual ballroom. It's called liquor. Ah liquor, that wonderful social lubricant and synaptic anesthetic. A little bit of trivia for those of you who aren't so much into the whole bar scene: people will get drunk and when they do, they think they're even better dancers. Oh, by the way, they're wrong - oh so wrong.

I know I'm no good at things like the foxtrot. Apparently, though, if you poured a few shots of bourbon into me I'd become convinced not only that I'm qualified to foxtrot but I'm probably of the caliber that I could give the dolts on Dancing With The Stars a run for their money. I never saw so many people who were unable to keep their place on the dance floor while doing a slot dance. The swing, regardless of coast, is a stationary dance. You may turn around in a circle, you may move up and back, but you're staying generally in the same spot on the floor.

Not this crowd. Maybe the floor was sloped or maybe there was a wind blowing through the bar that I didn't detect. Whatever the case Kell and I kept moving out of the way until we finally gave up and decided we'd hold our ground regardless of who we had to step on. Hey, part of dancing is defending your turf I guess. At least it is when you're dancing in a bar.

Another thing revolves around my last post. Remember the dance floor map I posted? Take a look, I'll wait. You back? Good. So, you know that center part where you're supposed to do slot dances and line dances? Well, reading through the article and keeping in mind the whole subject of etiquette, what do you think you should do if the floor too small to really allow for social and line dancing? Hmm - well, I'd imagine that you'd refrain from lining up seventeen abreast and hogging the whole floor. It's a novel concept, I know, but one that's apparently far less understood than you might believe. The floor was small and crowded but people still lined up to do the stompy dance.

We wound up leaving around eleven thirty. It was a good time - but I think Kelly would agree we've had better. Is Jim and Jack's worth visiting? Well, if you're in Cincinnati and you don't have plans, yes. If you're looking for a destination to dance - I'd give it a pass.

Have a Piece

Midlife and Dancing

I wrote a post awhile back about sometimes feeling out of time, and how I looked young for my age. A royal bitch when you ARE young, and really nice when you are older. I'm older now so I'm in the nice phase. I've also enjoyed good health and still do. However, what I've discovered with dancing is that although my outside may look much younger than fifty, my joints, alas, are every bit 5-0. Sigh.

Here's what that means for dancing. First. Technique is not just about looking pretty. I have to admit I pooh poohed much of "turn your heel that way and swish your hip this way stuff"; I'd relegated most of that advice to the ballroom style, of which Gary and I are most certainly not. We are club dancers. Club dancers can do it any way they want, right? Wrong. For one thing, doing at least some of the correct techniques does make you look better. Second and most importantly, good technique protects your joints. For example, if you do the Cuban hip motion correctly the stress is mostly on your muscles, not your knees. Muscles can take it. Knees cannot. At least mine can't.

And here's another tip for all of you over fifty dancers. If you do decide to embark on a regimen of exercises designed to improve technique, don't do a hundred on each side the first day. Yup, did that. And I'm paying the price. I whined to my wonderful dance teacher Melissa, that I'd never be able to do it right. She smiled and said sure you will...with proper supervision. She's funny. But correct. So a wiser Kelly actually has signed up for individual lessons in addition to Gary and my paired lessons to Get it Right.

If I had to look on the bright side which I usually do, I would say perhaps this is a very good way for me to learn patience. Not a strong point for me. And, maybe something worth having is worth taking the time to do it right. I don't want to be sidelined. And I want to dance until I keel over.

Preferably not from sore knees.

Dance on.

The Flu Stinks

Big news, huh? Maybe it's a sign of my age or something but for the last two winters I've had sicknesses that impeded my ability to dance. 2008 was the worst. I had pneumonia after two back-to-back business trips to the Rockies. I just had time to get well before the third trip which let me hobble through some dancing in Salt Lake City. Now 2009 had rolled around and I'm stuck with a March flu. My head's filled with gunk and my balance is shot not to mention that I have the lung capacity of a ninety year old smoker. In sort, it stinks.

In Praise of West Coast Swing

In Praise of West Coast SwingI admit to more than little trepidation about learning the WCS. I knew it was a slowed down version of the lindy hop, and so I thought that meant, well, boring. Kellys like fast, hoppy, springy dances like the lindy hop and ECS and the salsa. Saying that, you'd think by now I'd understand that sometimes I am actually wrong about things. After all, I was wrong about my now favorite pastime, dancing. But no, I had a bias towards WCS. That's a dance for other people, I thought. You know, those people who don't mind going slow.

I'm happy to say I was wrong. About everything. The WCS can be slow and sexy, but it can also be fast and funky. And it is certainly not boring. In some ways it is more complex than ECS, because the man and the women's parts are different, and...there is more room for improvisation. That means I can add extra flourishes whenever I want, which is really fun. And this dance lends itself to the creation of new steps , which Gary and I love to do. We are both artists, and making up steps is another pallet.

The other thing about WCS is the body control it takes. This dance is all about slinky hips and rippling torsos. It is a dance where the man is the man and the woman is the woman. It is, dare I say, harder to do than hoppy. The WCS is at its heart a drop dead sexy dance. And as much as I love ECS, lindy hop, and rockabilly swing, those are not sexy.

Finally, as I looked into wcs I discovered it too has many, many varieties. There is the slow, slinky kind that we are learning in our dance class. There is a hip hop/WCS fusion that incorporates lots of hip hop jumps and spins. There is a dark swing which is done to goth music...kinda looks like vampires doing the swing. There is swango, a mixture of tango and WCS. Also a kind that blends hustle with it. Some couples even dance WCS to very fast rock and roll that most people would do the ECS to.

So...Gary and I have decided to craft two distinct kinds of WCS; one slow and slinky, the other faster and more hip hop. WCS has become equal in my liking to ECS. Amazing. Maybe next time I balk at a dance I will remember this.

Nah.

Long Time No Write!

Long time, no see!

In January and February I guess I feel a little like Moley in The Wind in the Willows. I get the urge to hole up, to hunker down and slumber until things warm up and the crocuses start pushing their pin-striped heads through the snow. And I like snow! Here in Indiana, though, we're into the season of no snow, just dang cold. Wind and weather, biting nights and blustery days, yeah that can make a fellow want to stay in his flannel pajamas in front of the television or computer screen.

The great thing about having a regular partner to dance with is she won't let me get away with being a slug.

We've been hitting the usual spots. This past Sunday we revisited the Roof for the first time since December. It was good to get out on the hardwood, though I'm going to have to call DC up to have him do another scathing piece about floor etiquette (I'll throw in my instructional take later in this piece). Kell's been harboring the neighborhood flu germ in the past week so we've been less energetic of late. Combine my habit of giving late signals as to what I'd like my partner to do with the fog of the flu and you get some interesting choreography!

So, now that all the excuses and explanations are out of the way it's on to business!

Etiquette is one of those things that kind of gets lumped into the quaint old days along with top hats, monocles, and cigarette holders. I think we like to believe that we're better off for breaking down the barriers that society constructed and (sometimes) enforced through the rigid, complex rituals of etiquette. For the most part, I'm all for tearing down these barriers. I don't feel compelled to doff my cap when I meet someone on the street and I don't feel those younger than I am should address me with 'sir'. I tend to take the same view of etiquette that I take of freedom: your freedom ends where my nose begins and your ability to ignore the rules of etiquette ends where it impacts me.

On a dance floor you're exposed to people at their best and at their worst. You'll see some incredible dancers and you'll see some rotten ones. Both are fine. They're out there having fun and that's what dancing has always been about. On the other hand, I do have a problem with people whose behavior interferes with others' ability to have a good time. That, my friends, is an issue of etiquette.

Maybe the issue is one of education. I'm one of those people who tend to think everyone ought to know the right thing to do. Hey, people have eyes and ears and necks that swivel around to apply those senses to the world they inhabit – why shouldn't they pay attention when they're on the dance floor? Maybe they don't. Maybe they're blissfully bopping around unaware that their actions are impeding others. Okay, it's a stretch but I'm in a generous mood so I'm going to try a tutorial.

DANCE LANES

A dance floor is like a drag strip: there are lanes and you should stay in yours less you cause a wreck. If you take a look you'll see that the floor is divided into three distinct areas. There are two lanes starting at the outside of the floor and working in toward the center of the floor: a fast and a slow lane. These are for traveling – dancers who are doing traveling dances such as the waltz, foxtrot, or quick step should use these lanes. The third area of the floor is for people doing stationary or slot dances. If you want to swing to a fast foxtrot or Lindy Hop to a quickstep, this is your sweet spot.

From the diagram it's obvious that none of the dance lanes cross the center, slot dance zone. That means, regardless if you're stuck behind a 98 year old couple toddling along at half the speed you'd like to go, you don't cross the center of the floor. Kell and I are into swing and Lindy Hop and we spend a lot of time in the middle of the floor. I can't tell you how often I've had some clod foxtrot right across me, causing me to have to pull up or hammer them. Some nights are worse than others – sometimes there's some dolt who just doesn't get it. I usually wind up bring home some ankle meat on my heels when that happens.

You'll also notice that the line of dance is counterclockwise. Those who are traveling should, for the most part, move counterclockwise. I know, there are steps that momentarily take you against the line of dance. I'll deal with the problems these present in social dancing in the next section.

LINE of DANCE

As I've mentioned I'm not much for traveling dances. I really want to learn the foxtrot and we're working on it. Somehow navigating and dancing at the same time turns out to be really daunting. But I digress! I don't know a single dance with a line of dance that's clockwise. Maybe some bizarre sort of ancient Atlantean polka or something will prove me wrong but until it's revealed I'm pretty sure you'll be traveling around the floor making constant left hand turns.

There are steps that run counter this travel direction. I know they exist because I've been the victim of them on more than one occasion. There's nothing like being on a crowded dance floor and having some joker suddenly back up. It shows why cars have those reverse lights.

The thing I guess I'd ask is for everyone to remember they're dancing socially. That means you have to be aware that there are other people on the floor and you have to accommodate them as best you can. If the floor's crowded it's unlikely you're going to be able to exercise your entire repertoire. Yeah, that's a shame. You spend all that money on lessons and all that time practicing but you can't use everything you know every time you dance but I'd actually argue knowing when not to use a move is part of what you're learning. If you want to do a routine – enter a competition; don't bring it onto the social dance floor.

THE DANCE FOOR IS FOR…

Dancing. I know, it's a surprise! After a lot of research I actually discovered that the dance floor isn't a place to stand and chit-chat. Unfortunately this fact is all too often forgotten. I've done it, you finish a number and someone you haven't seen for awhile stops by on his way off the floor and the next thing you know you're involved in a conversation. Try to remember that in the years since dancing's heyday floors have gotten progressively smaller and venues fewer. The three feet you occupy while having your discussion may be a significant part of the real-estate available to other dancers and it'll definitely be problematic if you're in one of the traveling lanes. Please, just move off the floor – entirely off the floor – then talk to your heart's content.

WHERE DO YOU BELONG?

I think that the biggest part of etiquette is being aware of yourself. You've got to be internally honest about your ability to do a particular dance and, therefore, where you belong on the dance floor. Don't mistake this for a jab at people who're just learning to dance. Hey, I'm bad when it comes to the foxtrot. I can twist a grapevine up to the point that it's no longer recognizable! The thing is I know I'm bad and, therefore, I do the foxtrot in the inner lane where slower dancers should dance.

This applies to what my father-in-law would call 'leapers' too. By his definition, leapers are people who dance in what seems to be an overly aggressive, overly fast manner. Leapers (now he's got me doing it), many times, are very good dancers but they need to dance in the outermost ring of the outer lane so that they don't start tailgating slower dancers.

THIS IS SOCIAL DANCING

Wikipedia is far from the authority on anything but I checked the definition of social dancing and it seems pretty accurate:

"Social dance is a major category or classification of dance forms or dance styles, where sociability and socializing are the primary focuses of the dancing.

This compares to other major categories based on purpose (i.e. Ceremonial Dance, Competitive Dance, Erotic Dance, Participation Dance, Performance Dance). Many social dances are partner dances. In fact, quite often when spoken about social dances, ballroom or other partner dances are kept in mind. However it is natural to include in this category such groups of dances as circle dances, line dances, novelty dances, or simply club dancing in solo."

I particularly think the important parts of this definition are the mentions of "Competitive Dance" and "Performance Dance" as things that social dance isn't. This means if you're a part of a competitive couple - even if you've competed in some major contests and won - bring your social chops and leave the pretense in your shoe bag. Too many times I've run into dancers who, come hell or high water, are going to do their routine. It doesn't matter how in the way they get and it doesn't matter whose evening they ruin.

In general I think it's a good idea to know a little about dance etiquette before you get on the floor. I know, some people learn to dance informally - your buddies might not have thought to tell you about the rules of the dance floor so as a human being it's your responsibility to check them out yourself. Come on, you're an adult - right? For the basics I recommend the 'on the floor' section of Elements of Dance Etiquette (http://www.utdallas.edu/~aria/dance/etiquette.html#OnFloor).

Now, after all this harping about the 'right way' to dance I need to say that I don't agree with everything on the dance etiquette sights. I don't think there's a mandatory dance code for every dance, I don't think you have to ask everyone at the event to dance, and I don't think you have to look for every newbie to make them feel 'welcome'. I generally think you ought to pose this simple question to yourself before you act: would I like it if someone did that while I was trying to have a good time? If your answer involves a 'them' (i.e. they will learn something from seeing me do the double-flip-flop-half-pike areal) you shouldn't do whatever it is you're considering.