Yeah I have no idea what that's supposed to mean.
So the Atlanta Swing Classic was in town (by that I mean Atlanta. Obviously. And not Athens). I wish could've gone for the entire weekend and only managed to go on Saturday. STILL I was so excited to go because A) It was for west coast swing. Mostly. B) Workshops taught by Ben FREAKING Morris. Or Ben Morris, who's a pretty awesome wcs dancer (and lindy hopper but I like wcs more). I mean, he's only famous in the wcs world for winning/placing in multiple swing competitions and such, no big. Yeah. And C) IT'S WCS. My favorite dance.
For a while I was bummed that I wouldn't be able to make it because I've had to do backstage crew work for a theatre production here as part of my major requirement, BUT, thanks to UGA football we had no show on Saturday and I was free and able to attend the dances/workshops! Winning.
It was a great deal of fun. I kinda wish we learned more patterns and such, but all the lessons about technique and refining certain basics really helped a lot. Open dancing was just as enjoyable, even though I was probably the youngest guy there for the entire day. Yeah. I feel like the majority of the women I danced with fit in the 30-60 year old range. Eh heh. But hey, some of these ladies were incredible follows and really fun to dance with, which is more than I can say for some of the girls I've danced wcs with here in Athens, where West Coast isn't very prominent. It's also taught a little different at Swing Nights. The style is just...different. The manner of dancing is different. I think it might have something to do with most of the people in the swing community here are lindy hoppers first, which is an entirely different attitude compared to wcswingers. Hm. Guess I'll have to try to make the trip to Atlanta more frequently for some Wicked Westie. The problem is it conflicts with Argentine Tango lessons on Thursday evenings as well. Gah. The conundrums.
Argentine tango has been an extremely frustrating experience so far. It's rather unlike American/Ballrom tango in many, many aspects. There's less of that "sharp" attitude in Argentine compared to American, what with its dramatic head snaps and flicks and whatnot. Argentine is a bit more...soft, perhaps. The attitude is still there, but it's much more subtle. Moves and leads and follows are also much more subtle which makes the THAT much more difficult to dance. Basically you have a basic pattern, a few deviations from that pattern that can transition into multiple combinations of foot play, and the foot play is where things get frustrating. Because you can literally do ANYTHING you want to with these plays; just make sure you retain a sense of musicality. Oh yeah, did I mention you don't have to dance exactly in time/on beat with the music? Yeah. I mentioned it now.
But I'm slowly getting the hang of it...I think it's a matter of, as a lead, recognizing what moves can go where and when during a dance. There's a lot of looking down at our feet, which normally is frowned upon in other dances but I think it's kinda important in Argentine because leads have to place their foot/feet in places that will facilitate/indicate a certain move is to be done by the follow. Yeah. Only slightly important.
Basically I'm realizing I don't prefer dances where I feel like I'm confined to a structure. I like playing with a dance. Doing whatever the hell I want (within reason of course). Wcs has a structure, but it's rather easy to inject any personal attitude and movement. Argentine is all about musicality and play. And blues dancing...well. There really isn't a structure for blues except a basic swaying motion and using every and all emotion you get from a blues song for a dance. Yep.
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