Some Thoughts on Dancing

If I've learned only one thing In the 10 months since I started dancing, it's this: play to your strengths. I've learned the basic steps (and then some) for over a dozen different social dances, and each style has its own quirks that make it good or bad for a particular person. Dances like Rhumba and Bolero, for instance, don't really fit me because they're too slow for my taste; and while I enjoy the Latin dances like Salsa and Merengue, they require a persona that I really don't have. I've been told (and I like to believe) that I'm a pretty good lead in all of these dances, but I'm well aware that these quirks would eventually act as a barrier against becoming a really talented lead in that particular dance.

This is why I always felt that Hustle was such a good fit for me. I never really found an aspect of the dance that caused any sort of hindrance to my progression. As a result, I'm a damn good Hustle lead considering how long I've been dancing. It doesn't hurt that I love the music either. The only problem with the dance is that I feel like the potential moveset is limited, as even watching really good hustle dancers doesn't show me more than a dozen possible moves I can still learn.

And then there's Swing / Lindy Hop. East Coast Swing was the first dance I ever learned, and like Hustle I'm a more than decent lead at it. But also like Hustle, I've been starting to feel like I'm near the limit for moves to learn. Recently, I've started learning Lindy Hop because I wanted to be challenged and learn a new dance for Swing venues. However, both the structure of the dance and the attitudes of some of the dancers having me less than enthralled. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that they're like a brick wall keeping me from really enjoying the dance for extended periods of time. I'm going to keep learning and dancing Lindy Hop, but the more I dance the more I feel like it isn't really the dance for me.



Which brings me to West Coast Swing, the official dance of my home state (California). Whenever I watch dancers like the ones in the video above, I can't help but be entranced. The music; the movements; everything about the dance appeals to me. So, much to the dismay (I'm sure) of some of my Lindy Hop friends, I think that West Coast Swing may be the dance for me. I know the basics already and will be trying to learn more before school starts up again.

When I originally conceived of this post, it was about narrowing my dance focus. And the more I watch these videos and practice the movements, the more I feel like West Coast Swing should be my dance area of concentration. I'm still gonna dance Swing/Lindy, Salsa, Cha Cha, Tango, and all the other dances I know, but this is the one I'm going but to majority of my effort towards.

Jeff and Katherine's Birthday Extravaganza!

My friend Katherine and I both have our birthdays in August, separated by a mere week; my birthday is August 14th while hers is August 21. So together we hatched a plan: combine our birthday into one giant celebration that will cause the world to stand up and take notice of our respective awesomeness. For 10 days, we'll do nothing but dance, party, eat copious amounts of cake and ice cream, dance, force our friends to entertain us, and did I mention dance?

I just got the time off approved at work, so I'm more than a little excited!

So citizens of the world: prepare yourself! This August 14-23 will be one to remember. Mark your calendars (and if you're our Facebook friends, be on the lookout for event invitations).

FYI: I Have Amazing Conversations

Sometimes my conversational talents wow even myself! I spent my lunch break hanging out with one of my coworkers and the topics of conversation really ran the gamut. We talked about some pretty off-the-wall stuff. Though I'm starting to wonder whether I'm not secretly insane and no one has ever bothered to tell me. Oh well. Here are the highlights for your reading pleasure:

• Real vs. Planned Spontanaity
• Watching the movies "He's Just Not That Into You" and "Mama Mia" back to back would apparently mandate revokation of my "Straight Card"
• "The Best romantic comedies are like pancakes: lots of syrup with a little bit of fruit"
• I imagine all web marketing people as sounding like "pseudo-homosexuals" if you don't use buzz words correctly ("Excuse me, it's Web two-point-oh, not web two-dot-oh").
• I may start scripting all conversation prior to a date to ensure that it is suitably whitty and without awkward silences
• Not just my lines either; my date will have her own script
• Nazi Zombies
• Die Hard = Best Christmas Movie Ever!
• They should make a sequel to True Lies titled "True Lies: Even More Lies"
• The Perry Bible Fellowship
• It would be interesting to watch "The Lion King" in African "click language"
  

I hope you're enjoyed this short trip into my often strange mind. ^_^

Star Trek + Swing Dancing = Match Made in Heaven?

Tomorrow (or I guess technically today, at this hour) is gonna rock! I've started working half-days on Friday, which means I get to spend the afternoon having fun with friends. At least, that's what the past two weeks have been like. Last week, my friend Katherine and I went shopping at IKEA to look for bedroom furniture for my new apartment. This was followed by our usual ritual of Swing dancing on Friday nights.

This week's adventure should be equally amazing. As soon as I get off of work, Katherine and I are going to go see the new Star Trek movie since neither of us have seen it, much to the ire of our friends (one of them said he had to reevaluate our friendship because of it =p). I'm really looking forward to seeing the movie, and I'm not even close to trekkie-status. After that, we're going to a local restaurant called Squeeze Inn that she's been raving about, and of course the evening will be topped off with Swing at Midtown. What makes this week particularly exciting is that we're both starting our journey into the land of Lindy Hop: an exciting and frightening world full of possibility. I've been wanting to learn for several months now, and with school out I can finally devote the time to it. The fact that I'll be learning with my tailor-made follow is an excellent bonus.

On a somewhat related note, I've had some friends and coworkers ask to see me dance lately (since they aren't dancers themselves), so if any of you are my friends on Facebook, be sure to check out some of the videos of me. I know there's a few posted there. I'll try to get some more recorded soon.

Dates are Awkward and Weird

I'm starting to think that I'm not very good at dating.

I don't know what it is, but for some reason I have a really hard time feeling comfortable when I go out with someone I'm interested in dating. Maybe it's the pressure of the "date" label because I'm perfectly fine interacting with these same people prior to asking them out. Without fail though, I'll end up saying something I should or doing something embarrassing that (at least for me) puts a damper on the whole night.

Such was the case last night.

I went out Salsa dancing with this girl I had met at a couple Swing venues I frequent. For the most part, I felt the evening went fairly well. However, near the end of the night I experienced a fit of clumsiness that involved me knocking or fries from In-n-Out onto the floor of my car. Although I'm sure that probably wasn't the end of the line for any potential relationship with this girl, it was still super embarassing for me.

Gearing Up for an Amazing Summer

I realized something a couple weeks ago:

Year 21 has been the greatest year on record for me!

Although I've never had what anyone could call a "hard life," there have always been certain things that kept me from feeling truly good about myself. For starters, I never really put myself or any talents I might have on display, meaning that I never really got a whole lot of recognition from my family or peers. I didn't really have any talent to show off either, except for writing (which was only something I honed late in my high school years). Even then my career as a college English major and my own personal laziness kind of killed that possibility off. Additionally, I've often felt like I was the "forgotten friend." There were many times in high school and afterward when I was not included in events that the rest of my social group participated in. Sometimes these were accidents ("We totally forgot about you"); other times... not so much ("We didn't feel like we could invite both you and your ex-girlfriend"). The result was a version of me that was self-conscious, not confident, and generally unsatisfied with the direction my life was heading.

But last Fall I took action! I started learning how to dance, starting with a beginning Ballroom course at Sac State. That one little change in my life has completely changed my life, improving my social life, providing an outlet for stress, keeping me healthy, and generally improving my image of myself. What's more, it's really fun and I'm pretty good at it (as my friend Katherine will tell you ;-p ). Someday soon, I'll probably do on lengthy post on all the reasons dancing has improved me personally, but for now I'll say this: I feel like I've enjoyed this year of my life more than any other I can recall.


And here's the best part: Year 21 is still around for 2.5 more months!

June is just getting stated and I've got big plans for this summer. I am now living in Sacramento permanently (no more commuting from my hometown), which means that I can keep dancing and hanging out with all my new friends all summer long. Two of my goals for this summer are to learn Lindy Hop and West Coast Swing, two more challenging social dances I've been wanting to learn for months now. With school done for the semester, I can devote myself to these endeavors with worrying about homework or other such nonsense. I've already begun work on both of these projects. Additionally, I'm planning to see not one but two concerts next month (Coldplay and my favorite SF band, LoveLikeFire), and I'd like to go see a performance of the musical Wicked in SF as well. Finally, I'm going to do at least one dance weekend in the Bay area. One of my dancing friends is from there and we're hoping to make a long weekend of it sometime soon (plus, I really need to explore SF more; I've never even been to Chinatown!!).

It's been a great year so far, and I plan to make it even better. I'm going to try to blog more so you can keep track of all these exciting adventures and developments ^_^

The Widening Gyre

I'm growing increasingly concerned about the direction my beloved country of America is taking. I'm sad to see my fellow Americans suffering under this oppressive economy, but I know we are not alone in this struggle. Worldwide, nations and families are struggling. I hate seeing businesses - both large and small - buckle and fold under the weight, but then, that is imply the cycle of capitalism. I think what concerns me most though is that America itself seems to be falling apart. Never in my life have I felt like society itself is going to completely transform over the next decade, and to be honest it scares me deeply.
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All of this makes me think of William Yeats' poem "The Second Coming," a personal favorite of mine that has taken on new meaning in recent weeks. I thought I'd share it with you all in case you've never read it before.

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THE SECOND COMING

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst 

Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand; 

Surely the Second Coming is at hand.

The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out

When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi

Troubles my sight: a waste of desert sand;
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Wind shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?