Tonight was a good night. It started out a bit slow; weeks ago I had planned to go see Whoopi Goldberg with some friends from my section, but I thought Rob and I were going to be doing some swing dancing tonight, so I gave up my ticket early on. But that never panned out - the Fall Ball, or the lawschool semi-formal, is tomorrow; and Rob had a really hectic week at work, and I had a really hectic week academcially. What between the usual class load, and finishing up an internship application, and trying to fix my cd Drive which has started malfunctioning since I installed the Securexam on it that I had to install to take my tests on my laptop, and taking the practice exam, it's been a long week. So Rob and I decided we'd each take a night to recuperate.

For Rob of course that means something low key. I was a bit on the edge though - I kind of felt like I should take the opportunity to catch up w/ Ellan / Janine / Patti / Renee whom I haven't seen or talked with pretty much at all the past couple weeks since I took my fall break road trip. I've just been so busy. But I couldn't get ahold of any of them. Finally I remember that there was supposed to be a free swing dance at WSH tonight; it's a Lindy workshop weekend so there are some good dancers in town, too. So I headed up there.

I'm really growing by leaps and bounds as a dancer this semester, I think. It helps to be back in a place where there are so many opportunities, and it helps to go to these dances sans-Rob so that I'm forced to dance w/ a lot of different leaders. I still have a long way to go - although I've improved drastically I have a nagging feeling I'm still too heavy a follower (referring to the amount of pressure in the connection not body weight) and I don't always get my feet in the right place when the leaders try to do some of the trickier things. Still, I'm finding that I've really mastered a certain skill level, and it's time to kick it up a notch. The best way to do that is to dance with the really good guys - and most of the leaders at the weekly swing dances don't qualify. So tonight was a nice change of pace. I was even asked to dance by Peter Strom, the guest teacher and national champion they brought in this weekend. To be fair, it was a small dance (there was a competing ballroom event tonight and the workshops don't start until tomorrow), and he seemed to be making an effort to be fairly social - some of the teachers they bring in are a bit of dance elitists and only dance with the one or two girls who are at their level. Still, he didn't dance with every girl or even all that many dances, percentage wise, so it's nice to know that I've passed over that bar under which you're not even worth noticing. It's a step. :-) And at the end of the dance he said "That was awesome!" although I wouldn't read too much into that . . . maybe that's what he says when he means "I'm never going to dance with you again!"

However there was one guy in particular that I just felt really well matched with. He was a bit of a heavy set young man but extremely into the music and an extremely easy to follow leader. A lot of the moves and the styles that you see in swing (especially six count) depend on the hands for the connection in swing - I mean all points of connection are important but simply because of the nature of the moves the hands and arm to arm connection are the biggest leads. Lindy Hop theoretically should be led much more through the back but somehow even your better leaders often end up leading mostly through the arms and hands simply because of the moves they are doing. It's less common to find someone who leads through the back the way this guy did - i.e. the main point of connection is his hand on my back.

In other words, he did a lot of Charleston variations. That can often turn out very poorly, partly because I suck at some of the more complicated variations (I cannot for the life of me do a walk-around) but also because Charleston is an even more limited universe than just say Lindy Hop. But once in awhile you get somebody like this who really knows how to dance Charleston as a dance rather than as a single move with slight variations. How do I describe this? Most people reading this are familiar w/Charleston as this eight count kick move. But from there, via the face to face Charleston (or other methods), you can sort of move off into this realm of gliding . . . It's almost like a two count move, you're just stepping around the dance floor, with abrupt stops to emphasize certain points of the music, and then just a lot of improve foot / leg work - which actually is one of my strengths. At that point you're not really doing any specific footwork or any specific move, although at any point you can seamlessly flow back into a more structured moves. But it's a type of free movement that's recognizably swing or jazz, and that stays w/in the Lindy structure. Doesn't sound very graceful when I describe it like that, but trust me, when it's done right it manages to be both graceful and sassy, while really playing off the music.

Anyway I'm babbling about dancing again. The point is I enjoyed the dance a lot, and I can really tell that I'm improving. And boy did I get a workout! Oiye, I was so out of breath and sweaty and tired at the end!

As I left WSH the clocktower was lit up orange with a pumpkin face on it, as it has been all week. It felt nice outside after the heat of the dance room, so I walked on the Arts quad a little, feeling nostalgic and yet alive at the same time. And I stood at the top of Libe Slope and looked over the valley for a bit. And for the first time in a long time, I felt perfectly content.

And now I'm enjoying my Zima, getting ready to watch Beetlejuice, before finally going off to sleep about oh two am. I bought a six pack of Zima three weeks ago, went through two in two nights, and then haven't been able to drink one since then because I'm soo busy all day and through the evening that I can't just chill and drink one. But tonight I can even though It means I'm going to be up really late.