April Review

Cutting a track short is like stealing a special moment of my life.
-Ducasi

I started off dancing in April early with the April Fools Party. There was some dress code about dressing up foolishly. Since I felt I didn't need much work to get to that state I just went in what I'd normally wear. The party was very quiet since there was another party going on in Glasgow at the same time. This meant:

• having two rooms felt a little excessive.


• it felt like there were more Edinburgh dancers there than Glasgow ones.

This wasn't bad though it did mean that I felt I wasn't really experiencing a Glasgow party. I had a reasonable night though I had a slightly sore knee so I was careful with the moves I did. Not having dips and drops isn't a huge thing but being careful means you have to add another layer on to leading to make sure you automatically don't just lead a move. They supplied Cream Eggs as well which I ate a lot of... and then felt ill :p.

I didn't really attend that many other parties in April. Red Hot and Blue was good from what I recall. I've totally forgotten about classes. This is what you get for writing things up so late. I didn't do to much West Coast Swing this month as most weeks it wasn't running.

My big weekender for the month was Perth ran by Boogie Nights. It's not a Modern Jive event though there was a lot of Modern Jivers there. It made it interesting as you couldn't guarantee that the person who was following had a clue about even the most basic of move. It also means the weekend wasn't necessarily tailored to MJ music though it did end up taking that focus.

The workshops were a bit mixed. I enjoyed the Line Dancing workshop; it was a silly and a fun way to get into the mood for dancing. I enjoyed the WCS workshops though the mix of ability meant that they kept it a little simpler than I was expecting. However it was Keith and Janey's classes that were really the highlights workshop wise. They focused on some really interesting moves and frame theory which was all really interesting stuff. One issue with these classes is the lack of a definitive level of the classes and the fact that there were only two workshops on at the same time meant that people who really weren't ready for those classes attended them.

Friday night party was good and I certainly had a few really enjoyable dances. It was quite warm (indeed this apparently affected the DJ's equipment) but, as it turns out, cool compared to Saturday night. Saturday night was a much shorter evening for me as I didn't get to the party until late and then went up to the hotel room to get a change and fell asleep! So I got about 2 hours of freestyle in (maybe a little less). The atmosphere did seem good but it was very warm and humid making it difficult to have a dance without feeling like you were melting.

However beyond the workshops and the freestyle the hotel, meals and the really pretty city that is Perth made it a really enjoyable weekend for me to spend with my girlfriend. I had a really good and relaxing time.

Ah well that's April's summary done. May and June should hopefully be soon and then I'll try and stay up to date on posting a summary at least at the end of the month if not at the end of a week.