swingchickie | dancin' queen

so, i went to swing city tonight, for the first time in at least 6 months. it was... eh. just... eh. i shouldn't be surprised, my "eh" feeling was what turned me towards west coast swing this spring... i just don't feel that fire when i go to a lindy dance anymore. the band (eight to the bar) was good, the place was packed, but i just couldn't get into it. i danced maybe 6 or 7 songs, and god bless the guys who asked me to dance, because i'm sure my unpracticed follow felt like leading an 18-wheeler with flat tires.

i think a big part of it is that i just miss the "glory days", that chunk of time in the late 90s/early 00s when i couldn't get enough of lindy. there was a dance pretty much every night of the week, and i was one of the better dancers, so there was a certain excitement that came with feeling like you were good... and all of us would get so decked out to go dancing, we were constantly scouring thrift stores for clothes and having stuff custom made. i had at least 20 vintage dresses hanging in my closet, not to mention vintage coats and hats, the whole bit. the whole week i'd figure out what to wear, and then get really dressed up to dance at the roxy on the weekend. and thursday nights there was the upstairs lounge, where

naughtyboy and

davissquarecats would DJ, and everyone knew each other and we'd all drink sidecars and raspberry martinis and dance our asses off. and at the weekend dances, on friday and saturday nights, we'd dance until closing and then everyone would meet up at IHOP for pancakes and coffee, and we'd eat and laugh until like 4am. god, it was so much fun. now, i only recognize a few faces at the dances anymore... several people have gotten married and stopped coming out, people have had babies (although steve and rebecca brought their 2-month-old to the dance tonight, and she's an absolute doll... and how brilliant that these 2 national dance champions named their daughter "grace")... i'm certainly not one of the better dancers these days, and no-one goes out after dancing. it's just... eh. times have changed.