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.

Picnic in the Park

Saturday morning brought with it a far better rested Aron. I awoke (a little later than the others) in the kitchen of a house holding 10 Albertan dancers in addition to its normal occupancy. Lindsay, A former Calgarian and friend of some of our dancers offered to put us up in her Seattle home during the event (for which, we are grateful). Two of us were staying on the floor in the kitchen while the remainder were scattered around the living room. Much time later, we were all showered and changed and ready to go for the Saturday daytime event, for which we would require food (it would be a pot-luck picnic).

Conveniently, we were staying across the street from an organic and health food grocery store where we found everything we would need.

We headed out (2 separate vehicles for our crew) to Cal Anderson Park. We arrived about an hour late so there was already a large crowd and a lot happening. It didn’t take long to find the party and the food table (which I read afterward we were not even supposed to have without a permit…weirdness). We deposited our foodstuffs and I helped myself to some tasty grub.

The first activity I noticed was a rather lively game of Red Rover going on near the fountain. I hadn’t played this game since childhood, but I wasn’t anxious to relive those memories as I recalled most games of Red Rover ending in injury to someone.

Several others started up a game of Ultimate which also didn’t appeal to me, but I enjoyed watching while I ate. I never was much for team sports though I did always like Frisbees.

I refilled my plate a couple of times and eventually my attention was drawn to Julie (one of the Edmonton dancers) practicing her juggling. I asked if I could try and sure enough, I can still juggle though not nearly as well as I used to be able to.

A dancer from Vancouver named Ed joined the scene and demonstrated his terrific juggling skills to us. He also introduced us to a fun 2 person juggling routine where the two people encircle each other and basically act as a single juggler. This activity was a heap of fun and made for many silly photos.

A bit later on, Tasha (part of the Calgary crew) asked me if I’d like to go dance in the fountain. What?! I could do that?! I quickly followed to the fountain, removed my socks and shoes, cuffed up my jeans, and joined in the wet fun.

There were quite a few couples dancing and while the fountain was slippery, if one was careful it was not bad to dance in. Decorative stones placed every couple of metres meant having to keep tabs on where my follow and I were, but it didn’t prove too difficult. Rory (Seattle) was balancing his laptop on his head to provide everyone with music. It was quiet and I was worried for the safety of his laptop, but the gesture was definitely appreciated.

Time dragged on and we had to head out (a touch early) because we had made plans to attend an Exchange dinner at the house of some of the local dancers. We returned home to freshen up, lie back awhile and change clothing, then made for the 6PM dinner.

Dinner Party

We arrived to a beautiful condo with hardwood and a relaxed atmosphere including lounging, blues dancing, and food preparation. Dinner started out with a salad bar, followed by several meaty and/or cheesy dishes, followed by ice cream and brownies.

Throughout the party there were people blues dancing with amazing graze and finesse. Again, I felt in awe of the local dancers though I reminded myself that I hadn’t taken any formal classes in blues yet so I shouldn’t feel ashamed at all of my level of skill.

I also gained awareness at this time of a hithertofore unplayed party game in these parts which I refer to as “X is food”. It’s a very easy game. Essentially, at some point someone shouts out that person X, referred to by name, is food. Immediately following this, the least inhibited individuals in the room race to that person and proceed to nom the target until he/she shouts that person Y is food where Y is someone who is not the current target. The nommers redirect their ferocious attack to person Y. (After several attempts to play locally, it has been discovered that the game does not appear to work very well with a small number of people who don’t otherwise enjoy nomming on each other).

I felt it was a little difficult to break the ice and get to know some of the locals, partly I’m sure because of how overdressed I was (this was the first time out with the white pinstripe… aww yeah) but I also didn’t have the guts to ask any of them to blues dance. C’est la vie. I’ll try harder next time.

At the Ballard Oddfellows Hall with Glenn Crytzer et al

It took us awhile to find the Ballard Oddfellows Hall, but after parking near to where we figured it should be the music and dancers were a dead giveaway to its location. The band for the evening was Glenn Crytzer and his Syncopated Six. The band was great and I felt far more energized and ready to dance than I had the previous night. I was able to keep up a lot better. Unfortunately, before I could get into a good groove the unbearable heat overtook me.

At one point during the dance, while a very fast song was playing I witnessed two guys (sorry, I forget who…let me know and I’ll give credit) doing the Al Minns and Leon James Shim Sham at a super high speed. It was incredible. They did 3 or 4 iterations before stopping. I learned it previously at the Sharon and Juan workshop here in Calgary some months ago, but promptly forgot most of it. Even then we didn’t perform it at anywhere near this speed. Unfortunately, I didn’t think quickly enough to get my camera ready and record it.

The hall was unbearably warm with a full house. I spent a good deal of time outside getting to know other dancers, and a bit of time in the Speakeasy downstairs doing the same, with brief spurts spent on the dance floor. After cooling down outside, re-entering the hall was like walking into a wall of heat. It’s probably a decent location for small dances, but with our numbers the temperature was insane.

When things wrapped up there, we headed back to our temporary residence to get cleaned up a bit before tackling another late night dance.

Late Night with the Loose Marbles

Having a lot more energy, I was able to pay more attention to my surroundings this time around. The Washington Dance Club was yet another second story dance hall (as with each of the halls we’d been to thus far). There must be a reason for building the dance floor on the second level of a building. Perhaps to avoid flooding? In any case, it was a lovely hall with a large, smooth floor. A stage at the end held the Loose Marbles, the band from Friday Night’s venue. They would be playing at the Washington Dance Club both Saturday and Sunday nights.

The back room of the hall (the bar?), accessible through a double-door next to the stage, had been dedicated to blues dancing during our event. All the leftover picnic food was also spread on the tables in back.

I had a number of good and not-so-good dances this night and watched several more. Most importantly, I was starting to pick up areas in which I needed improvement or change.

Some realizations I made (comments anyone?):

• Counting is a useful crutch when starting out but harms your dancing later on. To elaborate, I’ve gotten into the habit of thinking in terms of 8s. It’s possible to think in 4s in a pinch, and 6s if I switch ‘modes’, but I think this makes me very rigid in what I’m capable of on the dance floor and not very musical. Lindy hop is not 8 count or 6 count dancing, it’s a combination of moves that go along with the music to make up a dance. The math of it all makes sense when observing, but if I’m thinking about math while dancing I’m not being creative. It’ll take me awhile to break this habit and stop thinking of moves in terms of what count they’re in.
• Improvisation is useful at any music speed. For this, I think I need to learn more blues.
• I really need to get better at partner 20s Charleston so I have something to do in the fast songs.

I think in the end we stayed until around 4AM before returning to our Seattle residence.

Evening Dance with The Loose Marbles

As mentioned in my previous post the venue for the first night of the Seattle Lindy Exchange would be the Rainier Chapter House, a historic site a couple of blocks from Broadway in the Capitol Hill area. The building itself was beautiful. Complete with pillars in the front, it was two stories tall, white, and had a stone patio. There were tables out front which were used later for cooling off in between dances. Registrants needed to check in just inside the front door, after which they entered a beautiful room containing a grand piano and fireplace. The walls around were adorned with old photos and paintings of historic scenes and figures. Here, the (amazingly designed) event t-shirts could be picked up.

At the time I arrived, the band hadn’t started up yet so I dumped backpack and jacket behind the piano and took the time to explore. Re-entering the main hall through a second doorway that emerged behind the registration desk, I spotted the doorway leading to the ‘Speakeasy’ (where alcoholic drinks would be served during the dance) and staircases leading both up and down. I went down first into a room where the first thing I spotted was a very large old safe door built into the wall. To the left were two doors, one leading into a men’s sitting room, and the other into a women’s. The bathrooms for each were on the opposite ends of the sitting rooms. The men’s room (I didn’t get a good look at the other) was decorated with old patriotic American posters.

I found the dance floor on the second floor of the building. The ceilings were curved in the corners and there was a performance stage at the end of the hall. The band was still setting up so I returned to the main floor. Here I met some of the attendees from Seattle and other places. The bulk of the Calgary and Edmonton dancers hadn’t yet arrived as they either had late flights or were still on their way by vehicle. In the end, there would be 12 Albertans present.

Around 9:00, the Loose Marbles began to play. They were excellent. They also played very fast swing and charleston-type music much of the time. I tried dancing a few songs, but between being over-tired from my early flight and subsequent tourism, having drunk copious amounts of coffee, having had a lack of recent practice, and having been intimidated by the skill of the other dancers, I couldn’t take too much dancing on the first night. I ended up in the Speakeasy as my energy waned, and continued to enjoy the music from below.

Before moving on to the late night dance (early morning dance, hours 1AM-5AM), our crew opted for a late supper at IHOP, a late night breakfast joint in the area. There we met Seattle Lindy hoppers, Rae and Mitchel. The food was passable (for most– one of our crew is allergic to gluten, and another found a clump of hair on her fork). For my part, getting food in my belly merely distracted my body from staying awake and I began to shut down.

Late Night with Seattle DJs

When we arrived at the late night destination, the Washington Dance Club, I was too tired to stand. I sat on the sidelines sleeping on my folded hands and waking periodically to the sound of music by local DJs. As I understand it, people had fun at this dance. It would have been nice to have been awake for it, but I was also glad to have spent my energy doing the touristy thing during the day. After catching up on sleep, I figured I’d be ready to go for the rest of the weekend.

Saturday and Sunday posts still to come.

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…

Based on all the individual Google Maps links posted on the Seattle Lindy Exchange website, I put together a map of the places I’ll be dancing and hanging out in Seattle.

View Larger Map

Edit: I’ve modified this map (post-event) to show all the places we danced or hung out as part of the event (cyan) and all the places I/we visited outside of the event (yellow).