Stomping At The Savoy

He Goes:

Good lord, two days later and I'm still tired. Maybe it's my age, or maybe it's the after-effects of the Savoy Ball, where Spoon and me (along with approximately seven hundred other people) spent Saturday evening. By far the biggest swing event I've ever been to, I promised myself I would take it easy before I went, but the pull of three live bands and apparently limitless amounts of follows was enough to make me forget my resolution.

The bands were amazing, putting their own spin on some classic tunes - a fun proposition for a lead, since you can know roughly what's coming up but still have to work a little bit to fit your dance to the music.

Almost as if someone had planned it as a personal antidote to my habit of dancing myself into a swampy ruin, there was also a frankly astounding cabaret from the Attic Cats and a French performance group (whose name I'm afraid to admit I have no idea of) which kept the brain going while the body rested. Existing words and phrases aren't enough to describe the first time you see in the flesh four couples doing a synchronised lamp-post, or someone doing a coochie-toss, and I am forced to resort to a portmanteau: Amazapressing - the state of being simultaneously amazed at a dancer and depressed that you'll never be able to do what they're doing.

I don't know if there's something a bit wrong with me (there's an article with no word-limit - imaginary editor), but I'm always too nervous to get excited about such things beforehand. All of my brain is taken up with the boring administration of how will we get there, how will we get back. I was the same before the Savoy Ball. Contrast with Spoon:

How can you not love that level of enthusiasm?

The thing I love about dancing, though, is that all of that is unimportant when you get where you're going. There's music. There's the floor. There's your partner. The ball was as simple as that, only more so: More music, more floor, more partners! Yep, said the worrying part of my brain the minute I walked into the venue: you know what to do here, just get on with enjoying yourself.

...and I did.

She Goes:

Sorry for the delay in posting this week, I've been having dancegasms all weekend!

The ball though... *sigh*...It really was awesome. I wish I'd danced more and drank more wine- although I worked pretty hard at most of those things throughout the night!

I rather enjoyed the compliments for how well I scrubbed up. Although there is an undercurrent of concern at the note of surprise in those voices who were so flattering!

The Attic Cats were smashing, and we all screamed ourselves hoarse whilest they were performing (well I certainly was!) Having two good friends in the troupe made it all the more special. I had a small insight into how hard they'd been busting their chops for it- and I was- am!- so proud of them. (Aw, you guys!)

The French Grenoble Swing Team (you're welcome, Keith) were sultry and fab and terribly, well, French! There was not an eyebrow unraised by the end their performances... For many good reasons. Most of them being well encased in red cloth... *wink* (find the footage online somewhere!)

As for me? I didn't dance myself into a sweaty mess because a) post-injury I'm a lot more disciplined at pacing myself, b) I had a fabulously glam cloche hat on that I would have caught fire in and/or melted in and c) THERE ARE NEVER ENOUGH LEADS AT THESE THINGS!! I mean, woah there, I had a lot of dances, but I actually heard leads having a good-natured whine about not being able to leave the dance floor!!

It was a cracking night though, and much praise is due to the organiser who brought all the threads together.

See you there next year?

Down South Camp Meeting

This week's post follows a time-honoured tradition: what we did on our summerspring holidays. Although actually it's more like "what she did on her spring holidays, and what he did while she was away on her spring holidays, because he didn't go away".

He Goes:

It's tempting, if you live in London (or on its outskirts, as I do) to forget that there are places outside the city where you can also go dancing. After all, if there are so many socials and classes on that your question is not "is there dancing tonight?" but "which one do I go to?" (and that is certainly the case), there's no real need to look any further.

But there are classes outside London, and socials. From where I am, in the suburbs, it's just as easy to get to Windsor or Reading as it is to get to central London. Since I have a friend in Reading who regularly comes into London to meet up at socials, I returned the favour this weekend and went out to Reading Swing Jam 7.

When you mainly dance in the same places you tend to get used to who to dance with and when. You get used to the idea that W is a brilliant follow but she always has to go early, so you get your dances in as soon as possible after class, that X will stay to the end, that Y will come and ask you for a dance if she's free, but Z will have to be asked. You can get a grip on how to fill your time, and for me personally the only time I'll be sat out is if the night is lead heavy and all the follows are on the floor (which might be a little irksome, but only a proper curmudgeon could be upset about other people having fun - especially the poor follows who have to sit out so many dances under normal circumstances).

Going to somewhere new is like being a beginner dancer again. You have no idea who's going to be good or who you're going to be good enough for - or rather, whose style is going to click with yours and vice versa - and the vexing question of technique means that you can't necessarily even rely on your follow being able to do moves in the same way you're used to. I was incredibly shy when I first started swing dancing - I think it took me two weeks to get from going dancing to asking one person to dance during the night. When I go to a social where I know hardly anyone I feel a little of that coming back. Of course, the general rule of politeness is that you don't turn down dances without a good reason, so once I'm a few dances in I'm usually back on the horse, but the start can be a little shaky.

So worth it, though! There are good times to be had dancing with new follows, clever breaks to be learnt, the joy of showing off a signature move and having your partner experience it for the first time (apologies to my regular follows for all the things that I think are so cool but which you probably have to see from me every week). There are also a few experiences at a pure social that you can't get under normal circumstances - for instance, there were a few people at the social on Saturday who'd never done partnered swing-dancing before (they'd come a long from a solo Charleston workshop early on that afternoon), so I taught three people how to dance while dancing with them - a surprisingly rewarding feeling.

It wasn't a particularly busy event by any means (unusually quiet, my friend tells me), but that was okay. There was enough floorspace for all the couples on the dance floor to be able to swing out, enough people for a decent showing when a Shim-Sham started, and in general a good night. I doubt that anyone reading this needs reminding, but: go to new places sometimes, and dance with new people. You'll (usually) have a blast.

£170 Fri-Mon all inclusive? Seems pretty reasonable...

She Goes:

I just got back from Hep Cats Holiday. Phew, I'm knackered!

It was my first dance holiday, and I booked it mainly to celebrate my first swingiversary and get my social dance on, rather than expand my knowledge.

In hindsight I should have paid more attention to the music line up, as well as the background of the organisation putting the event on, as it was far more rock and rolling than I was originally expecting ( I thought it would be an even mix rather than heavily weighted towards R'n'R). I'm not saying it was a bad thing, just that next time I'm going to think a little more before I decide to go somewhere! It was fun and interesting to immerse myself in a different facet of the vintage dance scene, even if it's not where I'm at personally.

Keith makes a valid point about these sort of events making you feel like a beginner again, when you rock up and know next to nobody. Sadly one of our group had to drop out due to illness, so we were a modest party of 3. Most groups were easily double that, and on the first night there seemed to be very little interaction between the pockets of people. Maybe it's the scene or the age group the music attracts (and I mean that last part in the nicest possible way) but couples tended to stick to themselves and their cliques, and unless you were a known face it was a little unnerving asking for dances (as I sure wasn't getting asked for many!!)

I was so homesick for my regular dance friends I can't even begin to tell you. And I'm a big fan of throwing myself in at the deep end socially, rocking up solo and diving right in... but I missed the familiar faces. It was a weekend long party- it felt strange to not be sharing it with the people I know and love. (I did write about it elsewhere if you want more in-depth half-baked half-caffeinated meanderings)

Doing classes helped to break the ice a bit, and a friend from a different group reintroduced me to a few people I've danced with occassionally, which helped me to ease into it. I hadn't thought I'd feel that way though... I'll be prepared for it next time!

It's undeniable the benefits of dancing with complete strangers though, as Keith has already mentioned, so I won't labour the point on that front. I'm very pleased to say that I danced with 3 of the teachers from the weekend. It took me a little while to work up the nerve (and to drink a couple of rums) but I'm so pleased I did. I tend to feel a bit weary in approaching teachers that I'm not already friends with because I don't want to crowd them. One part of my job is making small talk with complete strangers all day, which is why sometimes in the evening I'm quiet with people I don't know- because I want a break! I imagine dance teachers feel somewhat similar. But then, if they're out socially then surely they are in the mood for a dance? ...I think the thing is to approach in a relaxed manner, after all, everyone will be wanting to ask them! Avoid asking after a particularly fast dance, and ask with a smile, and leave with a smile if someone a) beats you to it or b) they turn you down. And if you do score a dance, chill out! You're not auditioning to be their new dance partner!! AND! Do. Not. Ask. For. Feedback. Unless. It. Is. Offered. The social dancefloor is not the time or the place for such things.

So to sum up; I had a smashing time. I stayed out late and missed lessons because I favoured partying and napping over learning! I danced with lots of old dudes, wore dresses with skirts that flashed my swing pants at every turn (perhaps why I was so popular with the aforementioned gentlemen), learnt to pace myself (well, kind of, in terms of dancing 7 hours a night 3 nights in a row), and break through being psyched out by not knowing anyone.

Things I will remember for next time; get feedback from peers before booking somewhere and break through the fear barrier.

Spoon, over and out.

Introducing the Band

He Goes:

Live bands! Where to begin? There's nothing like the energy of a live band night - a crowded floor (perhaps made a little more crowded by the fact that there's a band set up on part of it), high-energy music, the ultimate in high-def sound.

If you've never danced to live music before, a live band is a revelation. There's a (for want of a better word) liveliness to it that you can't get from recorded music. If you're afraid to be the first on the dance floor you needn't be, because there are already people in the room performing. You needn't be the centre of attention when there are musicians to look at. If you're particularly lucky, as the one couple on the floor you might even get a bit of feedback from the group - not after your dance but during it.

Dancing to live music can be a difficult proposition, though. When you're used to a certain class you get accustomed to particular songs - they're comfortable and predictable, and once you've heard something two or three times you've probably (although you may not know it) memorised the breaks. You'll get no prescient advantage with live music - the arrangements are bound to be different, and if the band is good they may well be able to change it on the fly in order to add in solo sections. You'll have to understand the way that music works - musicality classes might come in handy here, but personally I can never work out during a song what the structure of it is going to be, and I have to rely on cues in the music - crescendos and so forth, which can be misleading (anyone who's ever danced to Glenn Miller's "In the mood" will know just how misleading).

Not only do you need to be responsive to the music, you also need to be much fitter physically to dance to live band sets than to recorded music. When I'm in good form I usually work a two-dance system - two dances with each follow unless she's in a hurry to move on. With recorded music you're typically with the same partner for six or seven minutes. Do the same thing with a band set and you can be dancing with someone non-stop for quarter of an hour. Not that I mind dancing with someone for longer than usual, you understand - I've found very few follows that I'm eager to get away from! But dancing without a break for close to ten minutes is hard on the getaway sticks, and since it takes two to Lindy, a couple is only as fit as the least healthy individual.

Exacerbating this is the fact that some bands only have one setting: light speed. I've been to at least one live band social where the music was so fast that if you weren't competent with Balboa and 20's Charleston or a swing-out superstar all that you could do was to try to keep up. I had to make my apologies to a couple of follows and arrange to meet later, when the beat was a little slower.

For all my moaning about how difficult dancing to a live band can be, though, I do love it. When the whole place is jumping and the band are on fire you're getting the full experience - the music inspiring the dancers and the dance feeding back into the band so that they can see (even feel) the effect of their playing. That's dancing at its finest.

But like anything at its finest, I don't think I could work on a 100% live schedule. Every few weeks seems like roughly the ideal for me - enough time to let me cool down between red hot evenings, to regroup and enjoy some familiar music, but not too infrequent.

Well played boys, well played; the Shirt Tail Stompers

She Goes:

I LOVE LIVE BANDS. You can't beat the buzz in the air and the joy in the ears! I grew up around live music so if I never danced to pre-recorded music again I wouldn't complain.

I'm probably known to have a two-dance system like Keith, but I stick to it even for live music. I get such a high from the music, I want to share it with my lead while I can- as I've noticed that all the leads seem to get snapped up so much quicker on band nights!

I am more likely to sit songs out for band nights though- because they do last that much longer. Plus I do want the opportunity to watch the band and chill out, socialise with the familiar faces drawn out of the woodwork by the temptation of duelling clarinets. (By the by, I saw a three-way clarinet break down with the Shirt Tail Stompers a few months ago- probably one of my happiest moments in dancing-to-live-music-history!)

Keith and I were trying to figure out the pros and cons of dancing to bands. I'm still detirmined that there are no cons. Except when the band has to end and they've run out of encore tracks ;)

Lindy Is Not The Only Fruit

He Goes:

Today something a little different - other dances. As I've mentioned before, I started dancing with ballroom and latin, which led on to Swing due to the enthusiasm of people at one of my regular dance classes. I still do ballroom and latin, but it's a distant second to Lindy Hop.

The main thing about ballroom classes is that where Lindy Hop is a long-term relationship, ballroom is like speed dating. There are roughly ten different dances, and classes tend not to focus long-term on one particular dance. You meet a dance for a couple of weeks, maybe, just long enough to get the basics and perhaps a fancy move or two, and then you move on to the next one. Sometimes this is a blessing (when you get a dance you really don't like - for me, the Foxtrot), sometimes a curse.

The dance I'd say I like best out of all the ballroom and latin dances is the Cha-Cha, and in no small part I think it's because it shares a lot of the great features of Lindy. For one thing, the basic steps are frighteningly similar: anyone who's done an eight-count basic almost has the rhythm for a cha-cha: step, replace, triple-step, step, replace, triple-step. There's a Lindy move I'm told Frankie Manning sometimes taught which he called the cha-cha, even. The cha-cha-cha triple step needs the same fast footwork that a Lindy triple needs, but after it there's the same little respite in the form of the slower step-replace so that it's energetic without being relentless.

It's also eminently leadable, and from the very first I've always been interested in leadable dances. Although in theory all ballroom and latin dances are led, the number of different styles and holds sometimes makes it quite difficult for a follow to know exactly what pattern she's being taken into - not to mention that with so many leads to learn it's even more common in ballroom for leads to just remember their steps and rely on the follows to remember too. Cha-cha has a bunch of nice simple leads, though - lifting the hand up for a turn, sending it across for a new-yorker, palm-to-palm for an outside turn, once you have those three leads down, a lot of the other moves are simply variations on the same thing (leading quicker, or interrupting the follow's movement, that sort of thing).

Again, similar to Lindy, Cha-cha is danced in place, which means that you don't have to worry quite so much about floorcraft (I know floorcraft is pretty important in Lindy, but there's a different quality to it in ballroom, particularly in the progressive dances. It's hard enough focusing on your own dance, without having to dodge through and around a stream of other couples. A crowded ballroom floor full of beginner waltzers can often resemble the asteroid-dodging scene of The Empire Strikes Back more than a dance from a period drama). It's nice to be able to pick a spot and stay there, sometimes.

Finally, it's a nice social dance. It doesn't need much room, it's lively and can be danced to a wide variety of music (like Lindy it's danced to 4/4 time, but it fits modern music a little better), and because of the short moves and easily-led patterns you often actually get to dance it in class where you might not get to do much in the other dances except go through a routine a couple of times.

Of course, it has its disadvantages. Like all ballroom dances, as I say, you do a little bit of cha-cha and then move on. It's also not so easy to be creative, and - not one for the dancers, obviously, but important for motivation - I don't think it looks as good as Lindy. All that said, though - if swing dancing is ever banned in your town in some very specific re-enactment of Footloose, you might do worse than taking a cha-cha-chance on it.

Massive frilly arms and dog are considered optional for modern cha-cha

She Goes:

Keith you won a gold star for referring to Star Wars and then lost it with that awful groaner of a pun at the end!

I don't have as much dance experience as Keith, I dabbled in 'ballroom' as a young teenager and tried salsa a few years ago. The only thing I have to compare and contrast lindy with is blues.

Having said that, I'm now thinking about the differences between salsa and blues... I think there's similarities there. (A basic step with a hip twitch, anyone?) I rather enjoyed salsa, but I always found it difficult dealing with the proximity of my leads. And here I am now, dancing the blues, up close and personal and doing things with my hips with near strangers - and not even batting an eyelash at it!

But yes. Blues and lindy. There are obvious differences such as speed of music, energy, simplicity of steps, and socially there seems to be less peril on the dance floor. (In terms of injury!)... But from this point, for me at least, vast differences appear. I have a different emotional response to a successful blues dance, compared to lindy.

After a bangin' swing sesh I'm buzzing. Excitable, grinning from ear to ear and in all likeliness, a sweaty knackered mess. I get the kind of post Lindy high that I used to get after a particularly strenuous yoga class. Serene. And a bit achey.

After a good bluesing I'm so relaxed it's bordering on ridiculous. I feel extremely chilled out but also alert. I'm less sweating like a horse, more glowing like the embers of an open fire. The post blues high is heightened physical one. I'm aware of each flick of my fingertips, the weight shift from hip to hip, the breeze on my neck from the cool night air.

I also worry less when I dance the blues. Regular readers may have heard me bang on about thinking less and dancing more- this certainly works with blues. Well it currently does. I don't need to worry so much about lead signals being missed because so much is lead with the body. (See, I'm not being a perv, full body contact is a plus!)

Not that I'm fretting frantically when dancing Lindy! I suppose it's a slightly unfair comparison with the two. Lindy is my long term relationship, the thrill and butterflies from anticipating good dance have gone, although the deep satisfaction from being bang on the money stays with me for longer. (Last night i had a couple of smashers with a favourite lead- we haven't had it that good for a little while and we both commented on it afterwards) I miss it when I don't do it. It's a physical ache for it, genuinely like my other half has left for a few days and I can't sleep the first night alone in bed without them.

I'm in the first rushes of love with blues. I get restless with excitement, I wonder what to wear, who I will have the best dances with.

I think I'm going to have to stop here before I spin off into ridiculousness... But I think to sum up I do believe its a good idea to dip your toes into something different from time to time. It helps you break outside the box, and approach your regular style with refreshed eyes.

Ps The Savoy Ball has sold out now! Haven't got your ticket yet?! Oh... Shame... However some tickets maybe be offered up by people who now can't come- stay peeled to the Facebook page and cross your lovely fingers!