Danvers, MA (Boston Tea Party)

Danvers, MA  

"Home of the Boston Tea /Swing-Dance-Crossover-Event/ Party

On Dancing at the BTP:

Great event, good dancers,

Even with the West-Coast-Prancers.

Highlights:

• Having the uber-suite with Marty, Nick, Ria, and David
• Getting 4th place in the Jack and Jill with Andreas Divaris
• Fantastic dancing with incredible leads (despite my ankle still throbbing)
• Making new friends, hanging out with old friends (Gena, Sharon, Juan, Andy, Blake, Kate and Bobby)

Now I'm just waiting with anxious anticipation as to when MORE pictures and MORE videos are going to be up for my entertainment.  Help please?

Oh - And a caveat:  I admire a lot of what good WCS dancers can do.  I also happen to think that Westie Coastie (as Marie Nahnfeldt calls it in her Swedish accent) requires a certain ability to prance, glide, bodyroll, hair-flip, and wiggle (all good things in the right context).   ;)

Moving, Part I

Nashville, TN: "Just a few more hours"

Most of my room is packed up, ready to fit into my Honda. Thank you so much Jenn for your packing expertise.  Cross your fingers that everything fits without too much rearranging!

Tonight was my last photography class teaching at Vanderbilt.  I've taught this class 7 times over the semesters, and it will be strange to leave the darkroom.

What does it mean to leave a place? To rise like Guilliver from the tiny ropes and anchors holding a  giant down. Lifting up sometimes seems impossible. Yet, the earth is shallow, and we are huge. So, I rise.  

A rough poem of alternating quatrains in tetrameter describing some of my thoughts on the move:

  

Moving, Part I

-Abigail Browning

The gravity locations hold
with tiny, strong, translucent ropes,
tied with granny and with hangman folds,
seems macro in my microscope.

The strands: my friends, VU, VR
and dancing at the honky tonks;
But now they're photos in my car,
Or thoughts soon vanishing to honks

From a horn. I can’t see out the back--
Five years in Nashville crowds inside
my car. This hermit crab has packed
her home for the mystic seaward ride.

New haunts? H&M, the Mall,
The Capitol and Dupont, the Spy
Museum, ample urban sprawl
With shops and restaurants to try.

Six hundred miles to drive today.
The destination on my GPS:
“Cecilia’s house,” Great Falls, VA.
My life: an educated guess.

Houston, TX (Lindyfest)

Houston, Texas: Lindyfest (and/or) "Pie House?!?"

It's catch-up time.  Two weeks ago I was in Houston for Lindyfest.  It is one of the biggest Lindy workshop weekends of the year.  Instead of describing the city (since I'm not planning on living there), I'll give you my take on the event.

Pros:

• Countless amazing dancers all in one place.
• Well-tracked classes (levels)
• Great show on Saturday night (23 Skidoo, Ladies of Silver Shadows, Manu & Peter)
• Old timers present (Frankie, Dawn)
• National Draw (people from coast to coast)
• Well run, organized
• Good Housing (thanks Beth and Yossef!)
• High energy at the dances
• Easy to meet people

Cons:

• Classroom floors for workshops were hit or miss (dusty linoleum, weird spongy tile)
• Workshop Classes were far away from each other
• Not much time between end of classes and dances
• Music was a bit too groovy for me at times
• Expensive (but worth it!)

My second year at Lindyfest, I was not disappointed.  This event remains at the top of my list. Even before I started coming to Lindyfest (its in its 12th year!),  I was impressed by the professionalism of HSDS, due to their great organization, attention to detail, choice of instructors,  level testing, competitions, and overall stylization of the event.

Classes I particularly liked:

• Naomi's Body Isolation class, 
  
• Max and Annie's Badass Moves class, 
  
• Peter and Ramona's Master Class, 
  
• Max and Annie's Master Class. 
  
• Andy and Nina's Octopus Arms Master Class.

I unfortunately didn't get to classes from all the instructors due to the plethora of incredible descriptions from which to choose. Similarly, with the inconsistent workshop floors, I stayed away from classes in the odd soft-tile gym and the dusty linoleum floor which clouded up when you started to swing out.

I met some new fun and talented leads - Carlos (MN), Scott (TX), and Carl (NY) at the top of the list.  Despite spraining my ankle on Saturday, I was always inspired to get up and dance "just one more." My traveling crew from Nashville (Beth, Yossef, and Kristy) were incredible people to have around, as they encouraged me to get up and take all of the classes, and stay out through the late nights.    

Overall, a good time.  Not a city I want to live in, but an event I'd certainly go back to providing I can still afford it!

Austin, TX

Austin: "Keep Austin Weird"

Pros:

• Funky college town = lots of young professionals too
• Culturally diverse
• Good food (ethnic, americana, nice price ranges)
• Tons of Live Music
• Outdoors activities (climbing, hiking, etc)
• Fun Downtown (shops, buildings, people)
• Lindy Hop and Blues scene
• Warm weather

Cons:

• Deep in the heart of Texas?
• No family anywhere nearby
• You have to fly to any major city outside of Texas
• Isolated Oasis in the midst of Bush Country

Austin was an eclectic city, reminiscent of Asheville, NC in its diversity, shops, and eateries.  From Trudy's Mex Marts to Amy's Ice Cream, there is something for the whole family.  I particularly enjoyed some fantastic BBQ at Pok-e-Jo's with Keith, Summer, and their two children.

Also ran into a guy (forgive me, I can't remember your name right now) who looks very similar to John Mallard, my first love and high school sweetheart of four years (he's an amazing person who is now rocking out in one of the square states).  

John Mallard is on the LEFT, and my new John-look-alike is on the RIGHT. Bizzare, eh?

Now I'm in Houston at Lindyfest! 

Tulsa, OK

Tulsa: "O-K-L-A-H-O-M-A, Oklahoma, OK!"  (sung)

Although I'm not really considering living in Tornado Alley, I'll go ahead and state some pros and cons.  And, in fact, I'm in Broken Arrow, OK, not Tulsa.

Pros:

• Cost of living is cheap
• Centrally located
• Moderate climate
• SW Airline City
• Awesome sushi place called "Tsunami" (happy hour roll specials!)

Cons:

• It's Oklahoma.
• Flat, uninteresting landscape
• Buckle of the Bible Belt
• Very little cultural exchange
• Invisible Lindy Hoppers?
• Miniscule Dance Scene 

However, I did meet a guy named Josh Miller here (pictured below) who knows as many, if not more show tunes (in their entirety) than I do!  We had a great time playing "Encore" in the car together on the way to Austin.

Anne (sis), this guy would be good competition for you!

Denver, CO

Denver, CO:  Purple Mountains Majesty

Pros:

• Gorgeous scenery (mountains, yay!)
• Great Airport (Southwest Compatible)
• Good dancing
• Friends 
• Dry weather, blue skies (unless snowing)
• Interesting Downtown
• Possible opportunity to train with a lot of fun dancers

Cons:

• If cold, really cold.
• Isolated from other major cities
• Altitude acclimation (able to overcome)
• Landlocked state
• No family nearby
• Cost of living is moderate
• Limited opportunity to teach

This past weekend I was in Denver, CO for the Rocky Mountain Balboa Blowout.  I flew in a day early to hang out with my friend Mike Shroff, a fellow writer from Vanderbilt, who was incidentally visiting a friend of his in Boulder.  After spending 6 hours in the airport (which was fine since I got my NEW MAC! notice "photo booth" picture to right), he picked me up and we spent 18 hours in Boulder before I had to be back in Denver.

I truly enjoyed RMBB.  Mike dropped me off at Caryn's house, a kind and easy-going organizer who housed Nick, David, Denise, Val, Sylvia and me at her home.  She has gorgeous wood floors and a fabulous kitchen.  She and her husband, Eduardo, are incredible cooks, and we all had a comfortable time at her place.  

The event was lots of fun.  Classes were great, and although the band wasn't always on, I enjoyed social dancing in the evenings.  I took a couple of private lessons from Nick Williams, who patiently helped me fill in many fundamental gaps of information I had for balboa and bal-swing.   The privates certainly prepared me for the jack and jill competition...which I won with Patrick Wall!  As one of my first balboa triumphs, I'm excited to know I'm getting better (although competitions are not the best guarantee to understanding progress); I'm at least getting better at competing, which is pretty scary!

Post Script:

Yay for also getting to go shopping with Laura Keat and Nick Peterson, despite the not-so-awesome high waisted skirt at Express with gaudy gold zipper.