Irony Instead of Dance

I guess the thing about irony is its unexpectedness. I mean, you can’t really be prepared for irony, there can’t be planned irony. It’s the sort of thing you have to stumble into, that you have to find stuck to the bottom of your shoe. Consider the case of last night’s visit to the Indiana State Fair as an example. With the tragedy of Saturday’s stage collapse fresh in my mind, I expected the crowd to be subdued and the mood to be somewhat somber. No surprises on those points. The irony came with seeing the makeshift memorial to the five persons who lost their lives sandwiched between one of Indy’s swing clubs on the east and Terry Lee and his Rockaboogie Band on the west.

Maybe this is the nature of life. Maybe life recognizes relief has to be contained inside sorrow. I’m not sure and, if I were, this dance blog wouldn’t be the place to expound my views on philosophy. All I can say is that, sitting on a bench in the shade, watching people come to the memorial in ones and twos to leave their tokens behind it felt right to see expressions of joy on both sides. It seemed to say that out of peace and happiness, sorry arises but it ultimately will be replaced by new (if altered) peace and happiness. Things never will be ‘the same’ but then they shouldn’t be. If we shrugged everything off and returned to what had always been normal we’d be a lot like wildebeest – a lion might have taken one of our heard but given time we return to stupidly grazing on the savannah.

The ‘Billy and the Fox

It was a very interesting dance weekend. Interesting…good.

We started off our dancing at Mike’s Dance Barn in Nashville, In., to the fabulous piano playing of Terry Lee and the Rockaboogie band. I know we sound like a broken record, but that band simply does NOT put on a bad show. Every time we’ve seen them they’ve been fab…and that’s not just Terry, but every band member. Rockabilly legend Art Adams was there too; we were sorry to miss him but we had to get up early for the last half of our dancing weekend.

Saturday morning we drove to Cincinnati, Ohio, to be instructed by Rosie Lemkin, a member of the Flying Cloud Vintage Academy of Dance to learn 1920s style Foxtrot. She was a wonderful, patient, and knowledgeable teacher. She packed an unbelievable amount into two hours. We learned a number of moves in two different rhythms.

1920s Foxtrot is very different from ballroom; no reverse poise, and it is much more bouncy. Gary and I both fell in love. Rosie also showed us a vintage style of waltz which we also really liked. But first we want to master the Foxtrot.

Check out the clip below. I posted a 1920s Foxtrot a few weeks back, this one is called The Baltimore, closely related. In fact, we learned a move today that is much like some of the swaying moves in this dance. The cool thing about these dances is that you can mix and match, create, and improvise. And doesn’t it look fun?

OMG, another vein of dance we’ve opened…