Litui.Net

Regretfully, I have neglected this entry a very long time (2 months to be exact). Please forgive me, it was long and hard to write! This is part of a series of entries on the Seattle Lindy Exchange (click to view all related posts). As a reminder, this post describes the events that occurred on Sunday, August 3, 2008.

Sunday Morning Shopping

Being as dead tired as we all were from the previous night, it took us all awhile to wake up, get clean, and get dressed for the day. After the lot of us got dressed and showered for the day’s events, we all went down the street to obtain breakfast food from the nearby organic market. I had a passable organic burger chased by a very tasty organic hotdog and some of the best chocolate milk I’ve ever had.

When the group took off for the main event of the afternoon (I’ll get to it in a minute), four of us (Heather, Anne, Tasha and myself) went our own way to find a second-hand store Leah and I had found on Friday that had a costume shop in its basement (to those interested, the store is called Red Light). There, I investigated the multi-coloured suspenders while the girls perused the flapper dress selection and burlesque costumes. Eventually, we paid and left (quite late) for the main event.

Sunday Afternoon Dance

The big event I’ve been alluding to was so spectacular it really has to be seen to be believed. Description continues after this short video clip (if using Facebook, click here to see the video).

As you can, no doubt, discern from the video this event took place in public. The venue was Seattle’s Westlake Park, described on wikipedia as follows:

Westlake Park is a 0.1-acre (400 m²) public plaza in downtown Seattle, Washington, USA. Extending east from 4th Avenue up to and including a former portion of Westlake Avenue between Pike and Pine Streets, it is across Pine Street from the Westlake Center shopping mall, which is the southern terminus of the Seattle Center Monorail. The park and mall are named for Westlake Avenue, which now terminates north of the mall, but once ran two blocks farther south to Pike Street through the present site of the mall and park. Westlake Park is considered Seattle’s “town square” and celebrities and political figures often make appearances or give speeches from four-story shopping center’s balcony.

The Loose Marbles played from under a canopy by the large monument at the end of the park nearest the mall and could be heard for some distance around. The park itself was packed with swing dancers who danced the afternoon away in the sun. In spite of the hard concrete dancing surface, this stands out as the best venue at the exchange. The weather and sky were perfect and the atmosphere was delightful.

Doing Our Own Thing

All set to return to our temporary home to rest and relax, we made a change of plan in favour of seeing a bit more of Seattle before having to leave. We asked around and a friendly local suggested we check out the Chittenden Locks to the Northwest of Downtown. It didn’t look like too far from our current position so the same four of us from the earlier shopping trip piled into the van and made our way to the locks.

The Locks didn’t prove too difficult to find but upon arrival we realized how hungry we were after all that dancing. A decision was made that we would eat at a nearby seafood restaurant (wherein I, oddly enough, had a burger). The four of us ate heartily and socialized. I had some slight difficulty when my credit card wouldn’t swipe and the server’s keypad was asking her for a zip code to verify my identity (Canadians have letters in their postal codes). She did manage to get my card to swipe in the end and we continued on our way. Tasha was tired and opted to stay in the van and sleep awhile but 3 of us ventured onward.

The entrance to the Locks was surrounded by gardens which we wandered around a bit, engaging in general silliness. The sun was already starting to get low by the time we got to the locks so we hurried our way across them. This was my first time actually being at a lock and the whole system was fairly impressive. There were quite a number of boats queued up to get through the locks and a surprising number of visitors such as ourselves.

At the opposite side of the locks, we discovered the fish ladder and found a fish ladder interpretive centre of sorts housed in the wall of the lock. While actually seeing the fish making their way through the ladder was quite interesting I could have done without the fish ladder themed poetry that was being broadcast over the tinny speakers.

Outside, we were able to look down at the fish ladder and we saw a couple of fish jump their way up before we had to leave. We reclaimed Tasha and the van in the parking lot and went get changed at the house.

Sunday Night at the Century Ballroom

I had already gotten a sneak peak at the Century Ballroom on Friday when walking down broadway with Leah, but it was quite something else with a full house. Standing in the parking lot outside upon arrival, the first thing I noticed (after the usual difficulty with the back-in diagonal parking the city of Seattle seems to insist upon) was the sound of the great swing music coming from the upstairs windows. The steady thump of dancing in beat could almost be felt and in fact the beat could be seen in the form of light reflecting from the slightly bending glass in the windows below the dance hall. The building itself is a historic Odd Fellows Hall.

Up a flight up stairs and through a café, we came to the ballroom itself. This was a beautiful historic hall with seating on 3 sides of a lowered dance floor. The stage on the fourth wall held the band of the evening, the Uptown Lowdown Jazz Band. The dance floor was always busy, and the room was quite warm with the heat generated by all the moving bodies.

Jam circles occurred later in the evening to thank all the volunteers and people who helped organize and make the weekend’s festivities happen. I didn’t have the nerve to step into any of these but I enjoyed watching the skill of those who did.

The Last Late Night at the Washington Dance Club

At the end of the evening it was once again off to the Washington Dance Club for an early morning of dance (and in my case, passing out for brief spurts at the edge of the dance floor). Our weekend was played out by the Loose Marbles and Meschiya Lake, who outdid themselves this last morning with speedy numbers, amazing blues, and a couple of encores.

The atmosphere was amazing and even tired as I was, I felt charged and full of life.

Thoughts on the Weekend

I had gone to Seattle fully unprepared for the level of skill I would see there. Many dancers present were intimidatingly good. I did, however, learn that fast doesn’t necessarily mean good. Some of my favourite dancing to watch all weekend was to slow songs. I saw people feeling the music and playing along with it in their dancing. Faster dancers were often simply just dancing fast, doing complicated steps, and being technically good, no question, but there were some that stood out as being full of expression even on the faster songs. Their steps complemented and were complemented by the music, making the dance fascinating.

As with anywhere, most follows were a pleasure to dance with after I got over my first evening of tiredness (and thereby, terrible dancing to faster music). I couldn’t help but feel that I was boring to dance with for many and that I have much to learn, but this is not unhealthy. I only started in late January of this year and shouldn’t pressure myself unnecessarily. I can keep my perfectionism in check by recognizing that I’m doing well considering the length of time I’ve been involved.

I enjoyed spending time bonding with the Alberta crew and making friends with all the Lindy hoppers from the US and Canada. I find it amazing that so many people from all over can be drawn together by a dance. If someone had told me last year that I’d end up traveling to Seattle for a massive dance exchange I would have thought them nuts. Who knew this world existed? I certainly didn’t.

Even if I drew no new moves or skills from the weekend (though I’m sure something managed to seep in), at the very least this weekend poured more fuel into my inspiration engine and opened the door for further exploration of this side of my identity. I was already inspired, passionate, but I think it was at Seattle that it really sunk in that this has actually become a significant part of my identity. I’m the type of person who tries to dance as many times a week as possible and leaves town for workshops and social dance exchanges. I don’t think I’ve missed a Friday night dance yet (with the exception of weekends I’ve been out of town and dancing in other cities instead). I’ve sought out dancing in cities I’ve travelled to for work. It’s not the skill level that’s important, but the interest, the enjoyment, the drive to improve, and the dedication to take the steps necessary to make that happen.

Seattle made me realize in a more visceral way than before that whatever else I may be, I am also a dancer.

Flying to Seattle

At 4AM on Friday, August 1 I was off to the airport for an early departure to Seattle via Vancouver. I’ve never flown to the US through the Vancouver International Airport before but I have to say this airport really makes it a hassle. In order to transfer from a domestic flight to a US flight they make passengers traverse a very lengthy series of easy-to-locate corridors within the gate area (supposedly secure zone, having just disembarked from a plane) and then a well hidden hallway or two to the American customs desk. After the customs desk, they plop the passenger right back down in the unsecured area between the general use American customs desk and the guy who has to take his filled-out customs card after it’s been stamped. He will at this point be wondering, why not simply leave the secure area from the get-go and avoid the painful network of walkways entirely? Good question. Immediately afterward, because he’s now been placed in an insecure area, he has to go through the whole metal detector and carry-on xray process again (I already went through it before getting on my domestic flight due to Canadian travel requirements). It’s ridiculous. In any case, the flights themselves did go smoothly. As my roommate and three other Calgarians were traveling on the roads I sent my luggage with them rather than check it on the airplane. This way I was just carrying my backpack from flight to flight and didn’t have to worry about whether my luggage would arrive safely (I just didn’t know when exactly it would arrive).

Around 11 AM, I watched out the airplane window as my flight descended into Seattle and I caught a view (and a photo) of my first intended tourist destination: The Space Needle. The airplane landed cleanly and I disembarked, walking across the tarmac to the airport.

Seeking the Space Needle

Once inside the airport, I chatted for a few minutes with a Rosetta Stone salesman parked by the escalator before changing floors and boarding the tram to Departures. The tram itself amused me by virtue of the fact that its electronic announcements were voiced and displayed in English and Japanese only. Manufacturing defaults or strategic choice? You decide.

I had researched the airport-to-downtown transport situation prior to the trip to find the cheapest method available and fortunately Seattle has a very effective bus transit system to and from the airport (from/to a number of districts). I eventually (they were running behind schedule) caught the 194 to downtown. Downtown Seattle has an underground subway LRT system being built which currently has no trains but is set up so that busses can easily drive around in the same space. The LRT apparently won’t be finished until 2009, but for now the bus system seems to be quite effective.

After asking the right questions of a fellow passenger, I got directions to get off the bus at Westlake Center where I could buy tickets for and ride the monorail. I hadn’t even thought about riding the monorail and as described it was just the sort of tourist trap (/quick transport) I was looking for, what with being a tourist for the day and all. The monorail, having been built for the 1962 World’s Fair, was made explicitly to connect the Fair grounds (including the Space Needle) to the downtown core and appears to serve that purpose very well.

$2 and a short wait later and we were clunking down the rail. The whole trip takes just a few minutes and was probably more scenic prior to the construction of very tall buildings in downtown, but it still provided a decent view of the fair grounds as it approached.

I walked the short way from the monorail station to the base of the Space Needle preparing myself for a sizeable wait to get up judging from the length of the line. It took roughly 15 minutes to get a ticket and another 50 minutes or so to get to the elevator.

Once at the top I was greeted with a rather large crowd but also, an amazing view of the surrounding area. It was an incredible sight. While up top, the Blue Angels flew by several times in honour of Seafair. I had planned to eat up top but hadn’t counted on it being quite so busy. The restaurant had quite a long wait and I had more places I wanted to go. I stayed up top a while longer and then descended into the gift shop where I purchased a bag of Space Noodles (as one site puts it, “If you can’t eat at the Needle, eat the Needle”).

I left the gift shop and wandered up past the science center, watching the Blue Angels fly by again. Back down to Broad Street, I stopped at a Greek Café for a burger (yeah, what else) and found some free wifi which I used to scope out the rest of my afternoon and chat with friends.

Touring Seattle

Just up the street from the Space Needle was a tour company called Ride the Ducks. I had decided in advance of my trip that in spite of being incredibly silly, I’d give this tour a try so I could see more of the city than I would running around on public transit. As I approached the “Duck Dock”, I saw several ‘ducks’ drive into the lot playing obnoxiously loud music. This would be amusing. I purchased a ticket and after a half hour or so wait, I boarded a duck.

A brief rant here: both on the Space Needle and Duck tour, the staff took photos of me which, upon exiting the tour, they offered up prints of at an outrageous price. The Space Needle at least offered a digital copy, but this included a 1GB USB stick at a very high cost. I guess this is a good business strategy, maybe? I would imagine offering prints at a cheap price would result in far more purchases, and higher income. Frankly, I got enough photos up top to make my day without purchasing a photo of myself in front of a fake backdrop of Seattle. On the duck tour, there was nothing particularly astounding about the photo to justify the $20 purchase price. I bought neither and left content (though wondering what becomes of the waste photos).

Anyway, back to the duck. The vehicles are amphibious ‘ducks’ based on original WWII military craft. They can drive on land and drive right into the water where they can maneuver reasonably well.

Our tour guide “Greg Garyus” was a nut, but an informative nut. He was well researched on the history of the sites he showed us around. The trip tends to revolve around the driver’s antics and playing of loud popular music to get the passengers excited. Frankly, I was just there for the sights and information and could have done without the silliness, but it didn’t detract from the trip at all.

Greg drove us around downtown showing us all the major attractions (drive-by style) and provided us with history on each. Among the sights we were introduced to were: Qwest Stadium, Safeco Field, the Space Needle, the Experience Music Project, Pier 70, the Edgewater Hotel, the Pike Street Market, the entrance to old Downtown Seattle, and many other locations. Toward the end of the trip he drove us to Lake Union into which he easily navigated the vehicle.

On the whole, I was impressed by the tour. We returned back to the parking lot (at which point they tried to sell me the photo for $20 as I mentioned above) and I walked to the monorail station to return downtown.

Last Minute Wandering

At Westlake Center, I paused for coffee and to check out the bus schedules to get to the Rainier Chapter House, the first venue of the Seattle Lindy Exchange. I still had some time so from Westlake Center I walked (pausing only a couple of times for directions) to the Seattle Public Library, which I was assured was a sight to behold. I was not unimpressed when I arrived. The exterior of the building was almost all glass with an unusual shape that seemed to defy gravity. Very nice. I took a number of photos outside but was unable to enter due to a private event.

Finding the Venue

I decided at this point I should really go catch the bus. I hopped on the 14 (in error, I realized, as I had intended to catch the 49). By a stroke of luck the 14 took me almost as close to my destination as the 49 would have. As I passed the Rainier Chapter House, about 2 hours early, I ran into a fellow Calgarian, Leah, who I roamed up and down Broadway with for the next while. We walked down to the Sunday night venue, the Century Ballroom, for a sneak peak and then walked back up Broadway checking out the stores and stopping for coffee.

More photos can be viewed here.

Actual dancing portion to come…