I have two super-exciting projects which are are currently getting a lot of creative energy, and as much for my own sake as anyone else's, want to do a little writing on what's going on- forgive my lack of writing style- you get good writing when I get a break.


Buenos Aires Blues.
August 7-9, Knoxville, TN.  
Most of our teachers are booked, our venue is booked.  Promotions (the most time-consuming and my least favorite part of the process) are underway.  We have some really great talent booked this year- Reuel just did a spankin' good job of competing at BluesShout; Marc is a brilliant dancer and a warm, encouraging teacher; Daniel has a magical, dreamy connection.  We also have a live band for the first time this year.  I'm starting to give thought to the part of the weekend that really gets me excited- the curriculum planning.  Since this weekend faces a really unique set of issues, I try to devote a lot of brain power to putting together sets of teachers and classes that will make sense for the students, and be fun for the teachers.  Early bird registration ends May 31st, so I'm in the nail-biting stage of counting nickels and dimes, and hoping that folks sign up soon, so I can start sleeping at night. 


The Performance Troupe
This was the separate product of 3 minds.  I'll be starting up a Philly Performance Troupe this summer, doing some pre-choreographed routines, and some original choreography.  We'll do a little of everything- partnered and solo blues, lindy, solo jazz, and anything else that seems like a good fun.  So, before we jump into commitment land, I'm offering a 4-week series in June on choreography and performance.  We'll do a choreography, practice performance skills, and maybe talk a little about competitions.  This is a chance for people to get their feet wet and test out the idea of a troupe without committing, and for me to get an idea of folks' strengths and ability levels.  The idea, of course, is that this isn't a super-advanced troupe- I'm looking for really dedicated intermediates who'll be fun to work with.

This one is another belated blog.  It's hard to have regular blog updates on the road!


After dropping Davis and Joy off at the airport, I was fortunate enough to have another (hungry) dancer friend left in the city.  Dan introduced me to D's dogs and Steve Reich (link at bottom).  Between the cheese-coverered veggie dog and fries (both were cheese covered) with non-disgusting root beer and the microwavable chicken sandwich from the bus-station "restaurant", I whiled the hours away with phasing pianos and this guy, done in pencil from a photo in a magazine:

My apologies- this blog entry isn't chonological.  Right before BluesShout, I spent a week in Pittsburgh, PA, watching epic Dr. Mario battles, hiding from potential tornados, striving for sibilance, and engaging in social art.  While the first few days were cold and gray, the weekend was startlingly beautiful; Joy, Davis, and I set out in search of a kite and frisbee, to take advantage of a charming Saturday afternoon.  As we found out in the aisle of Kmart, however, neither Joy nor I can catch, or throw.  So much for the frisbee.  And they don't sell kites at Kmart, aparently.  So, without an appropriately sports-like activity, we turned to the next best classic: sidewalk chalk.  The results are as follows.

Davis serenades us with his mandolin. (My first piece of "art" is the flower/hummingbird in the foreground)

It turns out, Joy has a way with kids.  

Suddenly, we're a social art project.

Good thing we bought the 50-pack, instead of the 3-pack!

I'm more comfortable with chalk than children.

Joy gets comandeered into a portrait.

Even I get a portrait done.  Looks just like me, right?

How, exactly, do I sum up such a busy, rich, exhausting, challenging weekend?

Awesome, that's how.

This past weekend, I was in the Windy City, for one of the best blues events anywhere in the world- BluesShout.  8 instructors, 2 days of classes, 6 competitions, 4 bands, and 350 fired-up blues dancers.  This was a weekend with a lot of goals for me, and I wasn't sure how they'd fit together, but somehow, competing, judging, taking classes, and seeking inspiration came together with total success. 

Reuel and I competed in the Strictly Ballroom and the Strictly Jook Joint.  While I've done the Jack and Jill thing plenty of times, this was the first time I'd done a strictly with any preparation.  (If you're confused by the different terms, check out the bottom of the page. ) 

Reuel and I both got in to Chicago Thursday morning- he by plane, and I by train. The problem with the overnight train to Chicago, of course, is that they allow children.  So when the one pack of children stayed up until 4, and the other pack of children woke up at 6, I was left... how do I put this... <self-censored> cranky.  So we slept during the day, then started working together during the evening.  Now how, you may ask, do you prepare for a competition, when you can't do choreography?  A few ways.  For one thing, each of us have strengths and weaknesses in blues.  For me, I tend (as you've already read), toward being a pure follow, which isn't enough in a competition.  So one of my big challenges was turning up the volume, so to speak.  I have to make my movement sharper, bigger, and sassier.  In addition, I needed to get comfortable adding to the dance on a much bigger scale.  Reuel's a much more experienced competitor than I am, and he has a fantastic sense of phrasing- my strength is a sense of the blues aesthetic, which means I needed to work on being able to influence our movement, without interfering with his composition.  Then there's the "us" part of the partnership- working on a few back-pocket things, developing our interplay... most of which, I think, did the most good simply by getting us into each other's heads again.  Reuel and I have never lived in the same city, and have been on opposite ends of the East Coast this spring.  Truth be told, while it was a little stressful to be working on dance on the eve of a competition, working with Reuel is always fun, and I'm really grateful that he decided to come to BluesShout and compete with me. 

For those of you who weren't there, we definitely reached our goal of making finals in something: we made finals in both ballroomin and jookin, took first place in the ballroomin, and got to enter the Champion's Jack and Jill, where Reuel took first, and I took third.  I am so totally proud of how hard he worked, and how well he performed.  Actually, just how well we did came as more of a surprise than you might think; when they announced the finalists, right after the prelims on Saturday afternoon, they said we'd made the finals in the Jookin comp only.  So you can imagine how confused we were when they called us up for the ballroomin finals.  Turns out there was an error when the announcement was made.  Pleasant surprise indeed!

Other highlights:
-Rewriting Michael Jackson lyrics (you had to be there, I'm afraid)
- Joe and Nelle's Routine (awesome!)
-Calvin's Public House
-Fried Potato Salad from Fizz (I'm not a potato salad fan- this stuff is different, and delicious)
-Cid, cheerleader extraordinaire
-Singing with Dexter- I'm sure the other housemates weren't
-Damon dedicated the weekend to Frankie, and nothing could have been a better tribute to a man who lived his life according to joy, dance, exhibitionism, and one-upmanship than the Cuttin Contest finals Sunday night (also in the comp notes at the bottom).

Strictly Ballroom Finals Video
Cuttin Contest Finals, Song 1
Cuttin Contest Finals, Song 2



*Competition explanations:
-a Jack and Jill is a competition where individuals enter without a partner, and are paired at random.  Usually, you get multiple partners for the preliminary rounds, and then get paired with someone and judged as a couple for the finals. 
-A Strictly comp is one where you enter with a partner, but you don't prepare choreography, because there's no telling what the music will be. 
-Ballroom Blues comes from music that would have been played in the Roseland Ballroom, for instance, where the folks were dressed up.  The music and movement are more sustained, smoother, more elegant, but still grounded and Africanized, rather than being the European ballroom dances. 
-Jook joints were roadside blues bars, gritty, hole-in-the-wall kind of places, and the dancing reflects it.  It's grittier and chunkier, and the fancy clothes from the ballroom have been replaced by whatever you've got hanging around. 
-And finally, a Cuttin' comp is  a solo blues competition, but a specialized one.  Here, in addition to judging you on your dancing ability, we want to see how well you one-up the guy before you.  Beyond just doing more, we want you to take his move, and make it better.  The keys here are watching your opponent, and looking for a way to comment on his movement, instead of doing something totally different.  It should be a dance between two people, but on a whole new level.  Call and response, matching, mocking, and outdoing are all tools of the trade here.  But, of course, in a good-spirited and playful way.  And the most underrrated tool of the trade (for those of you who didn't make finals, take note): teamwork.  If everyone's always trying to cut, it's a big cluster.  You hve to let yourself get cut- it's like wrestling.  In pro-wrestling, they behave as partners, even more than opponents.  In cutting, it's the same- you have to compliment your partner, have give and take. 

Alright kids, my belly is empty and the page is full, so all I'll say now is a GIANT thank you to the organizers for a weekend that has me exhausted and recharged.  See you next year, in Austin!

-m.