Stayed out late last night, went out and danced a bit at the local swing dance venue. It was nice to get out. I try to get out at least twice a week to break up the humdrum of the work week. Plus I haven't been dancing in a while, it helps to get back in touch with the steps that I thought I had lost.
The crowd has changed quite a bit, which coming from not dancing in a while seems like a misnomer, right? Was it not supposed to change while I was away?
When I started going again, I spent the majority of the time watching the dancers, and determining in my head, "Ok, she's a good dancer, I'll ask her.....she's.....uhhhh...not so great, let's stay away", that kinda thing. It took some time before I was able to actually ask other people to dance, for what reason, I don't know. But I've eventually gotten over it. I think it's the feeling of intimidation. There's a select bunch of girls that really know what they're doing and they pretty much keep to themselves, same goes for the guys, though you don't see it as much. It's more the girls. They stick to their own group, while us guys aimlessly wander about in search of a partner.
Now there's two...actually 3 schools of dancers these days. The ones that actually get it...the ones that kinda get it...and the ones that still don't get it. I give them a medal for trying, but c'mon. The thing that I notice right off the bat is the lack of etiquette, and the lack of counter tension in the dance. Granted that probably is more related to the particular style of swing dancing, but I can tell right off the bat, if the dance is gonna be good, or of it's gonna go south, within the first couple steps. Regardless I do my best so that we both have a good time, during the song.
One thing to watch out for are the people that dress the part. There are still many gals that hide behind the vintage gear to disguise their dancing skills. Not that it's a bad thing, but realize that your'e selling a bill of goods that just isn't right.
Case in point. The other night I was sitting at the bar, when these two girls come up and start chatting away. Both were fairly cute. One was dressed up in the whole vintage get up, tattoos...the whole deal. Very pretty. So I waited for the music to start, and decided to ask this gal to dance. I'm thinking, "Ok this is gonna be a good one." WRONG! It's a shame.....a damn shame. It really was too bad.
It could as well been me too. It could be that the style had changed so much, that, that was why it was weird, but I really don't think so. I had my share of bombs that night, which only meant that I needed to sit out a lil while and resume my anthropological study from the corner of the dance floor. I needed to re-analyze the dancers.
Not much later I asked another gal to dance. I've seen her dance enough before to get a better sense. She was dressed in plain clothes..jeans, shirt, regular clothes. I asked her to dance, and I knew it from the first step, this was the one, the diamond in the rough. Really good follow, had the tension in the arm, perfect.
That was Tuesday night. Last night Friday night, has been mixed. It's mostly big band music, which is tolerable to an extent. Tuesday nights are more bluesy, rock & roll. I can get more out of that style of music than big band these days. On top of that the DJ's on Fridays are assholes. They've got no sense of the crowd.
There's an old dancer that has been showing up the last couple times. He's a nice guy, great dancer, Max.
The DJ kept playing all the faster up tempo stuff that only few people can keep up with and dance to, anymore. The floor was clearing fairly quick. Max went over to the booth and would ask the DJ if he could slow it down. The guy kinda shined him off. I heard him say under his breath, "I don't care, I like it hot". Thanks asshole....why don't you get that on mic next time, so that all the others that paid 10 bucks to dance to your shitty selection, can hear you. What an ass.
Max eventually left, along with the other downtrodden dancers. I stuck around a bit longer then came home.
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