I've been swing dancing, and specifically lindy hopping, for just over a decade. I went out regularly when I was in grad school, but then I got a real job and suddenly felt all kinds of guilty not spending all my time marking or planning exciting things for my students to do. After a while, I just got out of the habit of going out.
Part of my problem was that after the regular Wednesday nights at Barcode stopped, the scene sort of fractured. We tried to find a new "regular" night -- you can dance pretty much every night of the week in Toronto, but Wednesday was the night you could definitely expect to see more than a few people you knew. For the past few years when I have gone out, I didn't know if my lindy friends would be there. I didn't really know that many people anymore, "and nobody can ever be introduced in a ball-room."
Anyway, last year I didn't have any of that guilt hanging over me, and I went out a lot more. My natural shyness wore off as I started to see some "new" people more often, and I had old friends to introduce me. I didn't want to fall back into old, hermit-like habits when I went back to work this year, so I signed up for a choreography class with Bees' Knees Dance. It's been kicking my butt for the past few months.
All that build-up to say that we performed our first routine at Swing Out to Victory in Hamilton last Saturday. It was a lot of fun. I even attempted a victory roll.
Video credit: Arthur Lulu
Thursday, 18 November 2010
Tuesday, 2 November 2010
In which PhysicsGirl gets medieval on your charleston
This time last year, all I had ready for my Hallowe'en costume was an un-hemmed, un-beribboned body and one sleeve. I was disappointed.
This year, however, the dress made its debut. It was a huge hit at school, despite the fact I only got to wear it for half a day due to an early closing. The back is challenging to do up by myself; fortunately I did have a tire-woman after all, in the shape of a girl sitting outside the bathroom who offered to tighten my laces for me. After a few hours of fielding the "who are you supposed to be?" question (can't I just be a chick in a medieval dress?), I started answering Christine de Pizan as being a sufficiently obscure response to stop them asking.
This year, however, the dress made its debut. It was a huge hit at school, despite the fact I only got to wear it for half a day due to an early closing. The back is challenging to do up by myself; fortunately I did have a tire-woman after all, in the shape of a girl sitting outside the bathroom who offered to tighten my laces for me. After a few hours of fielding the "who are you supposed to be?" question (can't I just be a chick in a medieval dress?), I started answering Christine de Pizan as being a sufficiently obscure response to stop them asking.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)