End of 2006

I've become poor at updating this recently. It could be to do with generally being busy or laziness or a bit of both. Anyway the end of year was an interesting one for me. I decided that the music on a Tuesday night just seemed to be getting to me so I gave up Tuesday dancing (though I might still go to the occasional one like tomorrow). That had an interesting effect though. The last weeks of November and early December I found that I had poor Tuesday night dancing and great Thursday night dancing. Strangely when I gave up Tuesday I didn't have as great time on the Thursday. Do I need a poor night of dancing to remind me what a good night of dancing is?

I've finally got rather good at the penguin walk which is a lovely move. Like any kid with a new toy I've been using it in a lot of my dancing recently. Seeing just how fast I can get it or just how many turns we can do. It's great fun and I can't get enough of it.

Enjoyed the last couple of lessons in WCS a great deal. They had a set of really interesting moves and I had a few good freestyle dances which makes it all worth while.

I also went to the Edinburgh Christmas party which turned out to be great fun... I was worried that with Stirling on as well we would have lost a lot of good dancers to that (and we did) but there was still enough dancers I love dancing with there to make it all worth while. I did the cabaret for the last time. It was probably my best go at it with nothing really going wrong for me (like my horns falling off). Anyway it is good to be putting the nuns outfit aside.

They say you should start a year as you mean to go on (I have no idea who "they" are though) so I started it dancing. There was a New Years Ball (I went to one of these last year) which was enjoyable. It was a little busy for me (in terms of space on the dance floor) though when food was made available I suddenly had space to dance again :D. The cabaret there was also really good fun to watch. The guys doing YMCA seemed especially brave. I didn't enjoy wearing a suit to the event it was far too hot and before long I had changed out of it.

I've gone to one freestyle so far this year (I didn't make it for the lesson) which was very busy (I guess people are missing dancing) but also was good fun. I also went to Red Hot and Blue which was fantastic. They've started teaching a short blues lesson there as well which seemed to result in a lot of people turning up early (including us) which was great as it meant the night felt in full swing at nine rather than me turning up at ten or later. Saying that I did briefly pop to Asda half way through the evening to get some stuff; where I discovered that I am getting married, apparently. They might have gotten the wrong Gary though ;). Anyway good stuff, I'm looking forward to the next one though I have to say that the venue that they are moving to (the Route 66 one) is a little remote for my liking but it is a nice venue.

Anyway loving my time dancing and I'm hoping that this year is filled with exciting freestyle, weekenders and learning new things along with meeting some of the lovely and fantastic people that are part of the dance scene.

Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday

Well quick post about the last couple of weekends which have been pretty fab.

Fife Party

I went to the Fife party to do a smaller version of the Heaven and Hell routine and get some freestyle in. We started out by going to a nice restaurant and having a lovely meal. Then onwards to do our thang. It's great how relaxed it felt doing the routine now, the competition really took the fear out of this performance even though we made some quite big changes to it.

It's was a quite quiet venue; as Bill has only just recently started there this wasn't a huge surprise. They really did a nice job with food and such and there wasn't a bar but soft drinks and water were laid out. It helped make it a nice atmosphere. Not surprising, given the time it has been running, that there are quite a few beginners there but they seemed good followers, Bill is obviously teaching something on the connection and other principles as they often seem to have grasped that. So it was a really nice night of dancing and I had quite a few complements which was lovely.

I got a dance with Bill a bit later on in the night. I like dancing with really proficient leads occasionally as you can feel what makes them such a good lead, something you can't pick up by just watching. Sure enough he was very smooth and I can see why he is so popular.

Tuesday Night Ceroc

I was looking forward to Tuesday night Ceroc as there was a special guest dancer there who I love dancing with. I had some good freestyle dances that evening in spite of the music which was poor and also, for the first time ever in my MJ history, too loud (I found my ears were slightly ringing at the end of the night). Still it was good fun hamming up Can't Take My Eyes Off You. Also there were new moves in the intermediate class and I mean I haven't done any of them before which was a nice surprise. I've forgotten most of them now but... oh well.

Dance Fever

I didn't go to all of Dance Fever just the Saturday workshops and party. Started out with a Lindy Hop class taught by Joseph & Trisha. I had previously done a blues class with them and they seemed a good laugh. They didn't disappoint here and had the crowd laughing loads. It was a fun class though I don't expect to take up Lindy any time soon. Next up was a WCS which was good but was aimed at beginners (which I still am but it was nothing new). I then did Bill and Fran's Blues class. I've done quite a bit of blues but only a couple of lessons. I took things away from that lesson and not just a couple of moves but a better understanding of the fundamentals. I'm always happy to practice my blues dancing. I did the Latin MJ class with Steve and Lindsay which was maybe over all to quickly to get everything in about the style. I missed the next class to relax and then finished with the WCS class to try and balance the numbers as there was a men's style class at the same time. I think I probably should have done the latter though. Steve, who was teaching it, had some interesting things lined up.

Anyway after going back to my lovely host's flat and getting some food I headed back out for a quick rehearsal in the evening before the party started. After some nice freestyle there was a brief Lucky Dip competition (which I didn't get anywhere in but that is expected :D). We did the cabaret (for the last time?) which was probably our best performance yet. There was also a couple of other performances which where amazing for two reasons. First they both looked good and second both of them had very little time to pull them together. Keith & Janey were involved in a car crash the day before and Janey didn't make it up (it's good to know that both of them and their child are ok) so Keith did the routine with someone else. James McLauchlan did a line dance performance with Ross and that was really fantastic to watch. Both men have such style and it was a really fab routine.

After getting glittered up for the glitter ball I danced the rest of the night away. Due to some exceptional dances I had a fantastic night rivalling the better nights I've had at Southport (and that's saying something). When I was dancing with someone she mentioned she wanted to applaud a dance I had with another woman earlier. That was lovely to hear and was interesting that the dance looked good from the outside rather than just feel good. Anyway I can only hope for more party nights like that. Afterwards I headed to my host's place. As I was packing the next day I realised that I forgot my dance trainers. Crisis of epic proportions! I went back to the hall and couldn't find them. Thankfully someone else did later and my trainers are in good hands which is great because I love them.

I couldn't end this without thanking the woman who gave me a place to sleep for the night and cooked me nice food and to all the women (and man) who I danced with for making it such a good evening.

Being A WCS Demo

I've still got the Scottish Competition, Southport and Red Hot and Blue to catch up on for last month and this. I'm sure I shall at some stage but these things take time...

Anyway last night I was the demo at the WCS last night. I've never done any form of demoing (at dancing) before and I always assumed, if I did, it would probably be a modern jive event since I quite good at MJ (I'd say intermediate anyway) whereas I consider myself a beginner at WCS. There are certainly better dancers who attend on a weekly basis and though being a teacher or demo shouldn't be about whether you are a great dancer having a much better understanding of the dance is.

It got worse as someone who doesn't really do classes (he tends to have private tuition instead because he is passed what classes cover) came along. I'm not really sure what information I can give someone like that.

Anyway despite my nervousness I think I did ok. For some reason I also ended up walking through some of the footwork and doing some of the calling out (including counting people in and calling out the moves). I didn't really get to dance with that many people either though the teacher is very good and it was a joy getting to dance with her.

Classes

I've still got to write about the Scottish Competition or Southport but I'm sure I'll get around to both. Recently most class nights have seemed pretty average to me. I figured I needed bigger events to get the same enjoyment that I used to get at a class night. I'm pleased to say this week's classes have be really good though.

I had quite a good time at Ceroc on Tuesday, I think a couple of silly dances really made my evening fun. At West Coast Swing on Wednesday, even though there weren't a whole lot of people there just two really good dances were enough for me to think my dancing is coming on and to make my evening.

Finally Thursday night Ceroc seemed to attract a lot of people I don't often see in regular class nights (and one person I haven't seen in ages). I think I had two bad dances in the evening. I felt on form and rushing to try and get dances with all the women I wanted to dance with. The set seems so much better than what I've come to expect of a class night. I don't think that was just because of my dance high, rather the tracks played were just better.

Anyway it's been such a reassuring week for me. Really good to remember how it should be rather than worrying that my class nights just are short term fixes :D.

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.