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Lindyfest Weekend Dance Camp »

Mar

16

Probably Should Have Slept A Little More

Filed Under Non-Technical, Swing Dancing |

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Here’s a bit of what my weekend looked like:

Thursday 5p-10a After finishing the last class, explored downtown a bit and found a place called the Flying Saucer for a good Brat while working on wrapping up some work stuff. Then went back to the hotel, packed all my stuff, checked out, and did more work stuff in the lobby while waiting for the madness to begin.
10p-12a Aris, Jame and Kaylyn pick me up from my hotel downtown and we head to the late night. After driving in a big circle we realize we had driven right by the venue.
Friday 12a-2a Stay for all of what’s left of the Thursday night dance.
2:30a-4a Went to House of Pies with a group of people for midnight breakfast. House of Pies is like IHOP but with Pie. Spectacular. Then Kaylyn and I headed over to Ivy’s place to get a few hours sleep.
4a-5a Turns out that Ivy DJ’s and she has a great blues collection. We swap music. (Or actually I just steal a bunch from her since I didn’t have mine with me.)
5a-9a Sleep for a few hours, wake up, take a shower, drive to the JCC for classes.
9:15a-9:45a Tryouts to get into the advanced classes. They just put music on and told us to dance with each other. They’d occasionally tap someone on the shoulder at tell them to go get a green wristband. I got one pretty quickly although there were a few other people who didn’t get one that I definitely think should have.
10a-11:15a Air Steps (Arials) class with Andy and Nina.
11:30a-12:45p Lindy Hop class with Peter and Ramona.
12:45p-2p Lunch at Subway.
2:30p-4p “Culture session” with Frankie Manning. He talked about his own history, the history of the Lindy Hop, and showed a few videos outlining the chronology.
4p-5p I wasn’t interested in any classes so I grabbed my laptop and went to the Aud to work while watching the Stops class. Ended up having a long conversation with a dancer from Ft Worth about this sort of stuff. :)
5:15p-6:30p Lindy Hop class with Steven and Virginie.
6:30p-8:30p Dinner at this AWESOME chinese restaurant! I don’t remember the name…
8:30p-9:30p Back to the JCC to shower and change.
9:30p-1a Drive over to the evening dance just in time for the Instructor Jam, watch the ALHC regional championships, and dance until they kick us out!!
Saturday 1a-5a Late-night dance at the Melody Club.
6a-1p Sleep on a mat at the JCC with about 50 other people who just decided to sleep there (where the classes are).
1p-2p Shower… oops, missed the first class!
2:45p-4p Jam Circle Moves class with Andy and Nina
4:15p-5:30p Got bored with Fast Lindy class so I left and watched the rest of the Lindy Hop “masters” class (I could have done any of those moves, seriously…)
5:45p-7p Advanced Bal with Sylvia and Nick - great class!
7p-10p Dinner at Olive Garden. Spent at least an hour trying to help a new friend from Abilene understand knock-knock jokes. She worked very hard and finally got it… then when she finally heard the punchline she said, “I did all that work just for this joke?” I laughed harder than I have in years.
10p-12a Go straight to Shrine of Arabia ballroom for the Silver Shadows performance then run back to the JCC to get dance gear and change and return to the dance.
Sunday 12a-1a Starbucks stop before the late night dance to get some energy!
1a-6a Late night dance!!
7a-12p SLEEP… oops, missed the first class again! shoot!
12:30p-1:45p Musicality class with Dawn Hampton. BEST CLASS OF THE WEEKEND.
1:45p-2:45p Quick lunch, start packing up.
2:45p-3:15p Catch the beginning of the panel discussion with Frankie Manning, Sugar Sullivan, Dawn Hampton, and Chazz Young.
3:30p-5p Frantically pack the rest of my stuff and try to get to the airport in time to catch my flight back to Chicago!!

Yep… a crazy and yet amazing weekend!


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