dancing!

[aroraborealis]

Thanks to cinnalynn's inspiring presence, I finally hit the Thursday night contra at its new location at Springstep in Medford Square. It was great to get out and dance, and I enjoyed it loads, even though the caller didn't blow me away.

I like the new space, but it's very different, and if I think of it as the same dance as the VFW, I think I wouldn't like it as much. As its own new thing, though, I like it.

The dances we danced tonight ranged from super fun and somewhat unusual to extraordinarily boring. There was one that basically consisted of balancing a ring three times, swinging your partner, balancing the ring again and then moving on. *yawn*

The last dance was my favorite though, even though I don't think my partner and I got it right once! It involved contra corners, which always give me fits, and I can only do them right if there are enough people in the line who know what they're doing so they can grab me and shove me in the right direction. In our line, that wasn't so much happening, but we had a blast, anyway. My partner (Kit? I'm pretty sure that's his name) didn't take it too seriously, and we spent a lot of time running around trying to be in the right place for the parts of the dance that we could do, which involved lots of spinning and twirling, so it was a total blast.

It reminded me, too, just how much a great dance (even if imperfectly executed) leaves me with a massive crush on my partner by the end of it. Foolishly, I didn't get his number.

Comments

[laurenhat.livejournal.com]

The dances we danced tonight ranged from super fun and somewhat unusual to extraordinarily boring. There was one that basically consisted of balancing a ring three times, swinging your partner, balancing the ring again and then moving on. *yawn*

I don't know... I have this great image of you all balancing hula hoops atop your heads over and over, then taking your partner in one arm and hoop in the other and twirling around. I think that would be great! ... but maybe that's not what that phrase means. :)

[aroraborealis.livejournal.com]

That would have been much more fun.

Instead, balancing a ring involves four people holding hands in a circle, stepping forward, stomping, stepping back, stomping. This dance actually involved something called a petronella twirl, too, but even that normally fun move failed to liven up the dance. Oh well. I suppose they can't all be mind-blowingly fun.

[laurenhat.livejournal.com]

Yes, that does sound less fun than my original image, I suppose. I should try contra dancing sometime, just to see what it's like. I know there's a club at MIT and several other local groups.

[wolfkitn.livejournal.com]

the MIT club is welcoming, to be sure -- but fwiw other dance venues might be seen as generally more "fun" after you learn the basics. happy to discuss more any time you like. :) (i met you at rosa's once, btw.)

[wolfkitn.livejournal.com]

Oh well. I suppose they can't all be mind-blowingly fun.

hmph. i will respectfully reserve my rant for a time when i wouldn't be ranting to the choir.

[ceo]

Hmmm. What did he look like?

[aroraborealis.livejournal.com]

He was... 5'10"? Slightly below shoulder-length brown hair, kinda slight, cute. Good dancer! Great smile. :)

[totient]

Are you thinking what I'm thinking?

[aroraborealis.livejournal.com]

*looks suspicious*

[aroraborealis.livejournal.com]

*rofl*

You guys rock. Did he give me this number, or is this all behind the scenes?

[totient]

I asked him what he did last night, and when he said "I went contra dancing" I told him "Rosa wants your number". At which point he said that he was not at all surprised to find that once again everyone knows everyone else, that it'd be fine if I gave it to you, and something about not having a lot of spare time on his hands -- though I think what he means by that is calibrated against people with less going on than you.

[aroraborealis.livejournal.com]

*laugh*

Awesome. Thanks!

[wolfkitn.livejournal.com]

lol. more info to be given from me, to you, on this topic, in the morning.

(btw, plans have changed again -- i'm at home tonight, so i'll call you as planned and we'll figure out how/when to meet up -- hope this is cool? hm, of course i'm unsure if you'll get this before tomorrow am, so it might be of no use to say this here anyway.)

[trom.livejournal.com]

Yes but where am I going to find rubber pants at this time of night....

[macthud]

I should get myself back to Thursday at Springstep...

I've had terribly mixed experiences with it, the four or five times I've been -- mostly due to the different callers, I think, and the degrees to which they manage to speak clearly during the teaching moment, and then to watch whether the dancers have caught on or need ongoing coaching through the round.

The good rounds are great, the bad are just sad -- though the sad can be eased by a good partner, with a good attitude -- and the good partners can make the good rounds fabulous... But you knew all this :-)

(and I know *just* what you mean about the crushes...)