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*happy sigh*.
Nov. 24th, 2005 09:01 ami went dancing last night after all. i'm so glad i did. the dance was at an elks hall up north a bit near my mom's place, and i was a bit nervous because the elks hall could mean anything... in boston, the best dances are held in a VFW hall, but in other areas that kind of venue means everyone's 100 years old. here, it was a real mix of ages, i was on the younger end but it was cool.
i know this sounds kind of dorky, but i had a strategy going in. initially i was just going to go for the dance... then i realized that as a stranger to everyone, no-one would know if i could dance or not, so i'd be standing there for a good chunk of the night (i get really shy about asking people to dance). so i went early for the beginner lesson, figuring that as we all switched partners the leaders would see that i kind of knew what i was doing, and might ask me to dance later. the strategy worked to a degree, there were a few people from the lesson who asked me to dance later. the other dances i had for the most part were with people i stalked... i'd watch everyone dancing, and zero in on someone who looked fun, and then scoot out as soon as the song was over and ask for a dance. it was definitely aggressive for me, but heck, i wanted to get out there and move!
that was the other part of my strategy - dance with the rockstar dancers there, so that they might remember me the next time and i'd have some really good dances each time i'd go out. it was really interesting, the level of dance in philly (at least going off of the crowd last night) is very different from boston. there are maybe 5 or 6 really good dancers, and the rest are much more at a beginner level. there's no playing with the music, it's just doing steps. which is still fun... but there's still nothing like dancing with someone who's great at interpretation. it's a huge high. supposedly the dances in NJ (might have to check them out) have a really high proportion of phenomenal dancers... it's so interesting that an hour away, it's a bunch of rockstars, but here people stare and ooh and aah over the folks who don't do the standard patterns. you'd think with the close proximity, it would bleed over more.
anyway, i met some really nice people last night. there were a few folks who actually recognized me from when i used to go to the kp corral (a country dance place that closed) like 10 years ago, which floored me... and the people who ran the dance were just the nicest, most welcoming people ever. and the dance instructor -- super-cute, super-gay, super-sweet. i wanted to put him in my pocket and take him home, i was so in love with him. we had a great dance, he asked me to dance about halfway through the night and gave me a big grinning hug when it was over... later, as i was leaving, he gave me his card and asked me to e-mail him so he could keep me in the loop about all the dances in the area. how sweet is that??? he asked me where i was from and i told him boston... and he was like, "of COURSE". he told me that he'd watched me during the lesson, and could tell that i knew how to dance, but hadn't learned in philly. *chuckle* i didn't realize there was a boston way of swing dancing. now i know.
so, it was a fun night. good music, some really fun dances, and a really nice group of people who made me feel very welcome. several people told me about some good weekly dances that aren't even advertised (including one on fridays 10 minutes from me... how psyched am i????), and i now have some good dancers to stalk so i can keep raising my level of dance. very, very happy.
oh... and HAPPY TURKEY DAY EVERYONE!
i know this sounds kind of dorky, but i had a strategy going in. initially i was just going to go for the dance... then i realized that as a stranger to everyone, no-one would know if i could dance or not, so i'd be standing there for a good chunk of the night (i get really shy about asking people to dance). so i went early for the beginner lesson, figuring that as we all switched partners the leaders would see that i kind of knew what i was doing, and might ask me to dance later. the strategy worked to a degree, there were a few people from the lesson who asked me to dance later. the other dances i had for the most part were with people i stalked... i'd watch everyone dancing, and zero in on someone who looked fun, and then scoot out as soon as the song was over and ask for a dance. it was definitely aggressive for me, but heck, i wanted to get out there and move!
that was the other part of my strategy - dance with the rockstar dancers there, so that they might remember me the next time and i'd have some really good dances each time i'd go out. it was really interesting, the level of dance in philly (at least going off of the crowd last night) is very different from boston. there are maybe 5 or 6 really good dancers, and the rest are much more at a beginner level. there's no playing with the music, it's just doing steps. which is still fun... but there's still nothing like dancing with someone who's great at interpretation. it's a huge high. supposedly the dances in NJ (might have to check them out) have a really high proportion of phenomenal dancers... it's so interesting that an hour away, it's a bunch of rockstars, but here people stare and ooh and aah over the folks who don't do the standard patterns. you'd think with the close proximity, it would bleed over more.
anyway, i met some really nice people last night. there were a few folks who actually recognized me from when i used to go to the kp corral (a country dance place that closed) like 10 years ago, which floored me... and the people who ran the dance were just the nicest, most welcoming people ever. and the dance instructor -- super-cute, super-gay, super-sweet. i wanted to put him in my pocket and take him home, i was so in love with him. we had a great dance, he asked me to dance about halfway through the night and gave me a big grinning hug when it was over... later, as i was leaving, he gave me his card and asked me to e-mail him so he could keep me in the loop about all the dances in the area. how sweet is that??? he asked me where i was from and i told him boston... and he was like, "of COURSE". he told me that he'd watched me during the lesson, and could tell that i knew how to dance, but hadn't learned in philly. *chuckle* i didn't realize there was a boston way of swing dancing. now i know.
so, it was a fun night. good music, some really fun dances, and a really nice group of people who made me feel very welcome. several people told me about some good weekly dances that aren't even advertised (including one on fridays 10 minutes from me... how psyched am i????), and i now have some good dancers to stalk so i can keep raising my level of dance. very, very happy.
oh... and HAPPY TURKEY DAY EVERYONE!
