"i am the dannncin' queeennn..."
Oct. 2nd, 2004 09:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
swingchickieoh, i had such a fun afternoon! i got a bunch of work done this morning, and watched "eurotrip" over lunch (i didn't want to see it 'cause it looked dumb, but after J kept pestering me to see it, i caved. it was funny as hell). then i looked at the rest of my day and evening, and realized that i had nothing planned. hmmmm. i could do more work... go to the mall and buy an interview suit for if/when i get a call about a promotion... read... nah, nah, nah. so i went online and looked around, and lo and behold, there was a full day of west coast swing workshops taking place in rhode island, with john lindo! ::drool::
for the non-dancers who read this, let me try to explain john lindo. lindo is this 6-foot-something, several-hundred-pound wall of a man, with a gravelly deep new york accented voice like harvey fierstein... and he's by far one of the best west coast swing dancers in the country. you'd never know it to look at him, but then the music comes on and he just moves. and although he can work the total "two snaps up" diva attitude in his dancing, he never considers it beneath him to dance with beginners. in fact, even if you have no sense of rhythm at all, he will dance with you and grin from ear to ear and make you feel like the most wonderful dancer in the world. he's just a doll. so the chance, as a relative beginner, to take 4 hours of classes with him, was just too good to pass up. off to rhode island i went.
well, not only did i get to take his classes... i got to be his assistant for one of them! the third class was on body movement, focusing on using isolations, body rolls, etc. in your dancing... and there were about 5 too many follows for the class. so after we did a few isolation warmups as a group, he took my hand and led me to the center of the circle, i figured to help him show the first few steps of the pattern we'd be learning. but he leaned in to me and whispered, "you're staying here for the lesson." *gulp*. so basically, i got a 90-minute private lesson with a national dance champion, while everyone else rotated partners for the class. it was pretty nerve-wracking, having to follow all the funked-up stuff he was doing with about 80 pairs of eyes on me, but i held my own. AND, he had me stay to tape the video notebook with him too! (non-dancers: sometimes afterwards you'll get a videotape of the steps that were taught, so you don't forget them.) so now everyone who gets the tape will see me on there. eek!
unfortunately, i had to leave after dinner because the tum-tum pain started again. i would have stayed for the final workshop and dance if i'd been okay. but it was still worth it. SO worth it!
for the non-dancers who read this, let me try to explain john lindo. lindo is this 6-foot-something, several-hundred-pound wall of a man, with a gravelly deep new york accented voice like harvey fierstein... and he's by far one of the best west coast swing dancers in the country. you'd never know it to look at him, but then the music comes on and he just moves. and although he can work the total "two snaps up" diva attitude in his dancing, he never considers it beneath him to dance with beginners. in fact, even if you have no sense of rhythm at all, he will dance with you and grin from ear to ear and make you feel like the most wonderful dancer in the world. he's just a doll. so the chance, as a relative beginner, to take 4 hours of classes with him, was just too good to pass up. off to rhode island i went.
well, not only did i get to take his classes... i got to be his assistant for one of them! the third class was on body movement, focusing on using isolations, body rolls, etc. in your dancing... and there were about 5 too many follows for the class. so after we did a few isolation warmups as a group, he took my hand and led me to the center of the circle, i figured to help him show the first few steps of the pattern we'd be learning. but he leaned in to me and whispered, "you're staying here for the lesson." *gulp*. so basically, i got a 90-minute private lesson with a national dance champion, while everyone else rotated partners for the class. it was pretty nerve-wracking, having to follow all the funked-up stuff he was doing with about 80 pairs of eyes on me, but i held my own. AND, he had me stay to tape the video notebook with him too! (non-dancers: sometimes afterwards you'll get a videotape of the steps that were taught, so you don't forget them.) so now everyone who gets the tape will see me on there. eek!
unfortunately, i had to leave after dinner because the tum-tum pain started again. i would have stayed for the final workshop and dance if i'd been okay. but it was still worth it. SO worth it!
