Swing dancing — “switch dancing”
Something new happened at last night’s Friday night swing dance which I will call a “switch dance” but I’m sure there is another name. We were all on the dance floor watching the jam session and once it was over the dance started up again but with a twist about every 15 seconds we had to change dance partner. The DJ would call out “change” and we would dance with the closest follower. Over about a four minute period I danced with a fair number of women and many of which, I have never dance with before. It was a great way to meet a lot of dancers in a short period of time. After the dance I was able to dance with some new women which was great.
Swing dancing innovations
This past weekend, I spotted something new on the sidelines of the dance floor. Chip, one of our dancers, who is a professional engineer has built himself a battery powered fan that is driven by ten “C” batteries. C-size batteries are the ones about twice the size of a fig newton or your thumb. Chip has mounted the batteries and the fan on a board which uses to cool himself between dances. The fan face is on a mount which means he can just the angle at which the gusts of air hit his body. I thought it was a cool concept but a little too geeky for me.
On dancing…
Swing dancing floors
Over the weekend while swing dancing, I experienced a new type of dance floor, a homemade one made out of particle board and a 2×4 studs. The venue was along the Ottawa River at Britannia Park which is close to where I live. The forecast for the weekend was a 60% chance of thunderstorms so the organizers opted to hold the dancing under a tent and to build an impromptu dance floor which was bouncy in some places and stiff as a board in others. Midway through the afternoon Alaina, one of the local dance instructors, came out with a 10lb bag of corn meal and poured it on the dance floor. The floor suddenly became very slippery which made for a new dancing experience. There was a side benefits as little kids saw the corn meal as a play toy and made piles and figures out of it while their parents were dancing nearby. This got me thinking about the other two dance floors that I regularly dance on. The Ottawa Swing dance society moved in the spring to a social hall attached to an old church which has a sprung floor. I really like the floor as it hall a nice give. OSDS’s previous home was a community centre which had a parquet which sat on a cement pad which was hard on your back and knees after a while. I wondering what other dance floors are out there.
Lindy 500 — Baltimore
Heart rate study — Day #1 Again
This morning I headed over to uOttawa to redo my heart rate research study. A bit of background the research study is looking at “the evaluation of continuous HRV during 24 hour periods and during staged exercise testing.” While at the university they attached five heart rate sensor patches to my chest which are smaller and more comfortable than the ones they used last week. Rachel was happy with the first-24-hours worth of data collected before the VO2 test fiasco. As I was heading back to the office they promised me that they had found a new nose clip which won’t slide off during the VO2 running test tomorrow. We’ll have to see what happens. In anticipation of the test, I gave my legs a couple of days rest from running.
On another note, I had one of my best swing dance nights on Friday. I danced with a record number of followers and for some reason followers wanted to dance with me. There was only one bummer and that is, I didn’t drink my diet coke before the dance. This made dancing a little hard as I really had to concentrate and focus on the music, and my footwork. Corona and I discovered a new form of dancing which we are called “fan dancing.” Ottawa Swing Dance Society recently changed it dance location to a church hall which doesn’t have air conditioning. I usually dance in shorts and a short-sleeve shirt. While Corona and I were dancing I steered her so that we were dancing in front of the fan. This made dancing in the hot church more bareable. For the rest of the night, I would steer my follower over to the fan so we could have a “fan dance.” I think they appreciated the breeze from the fan.
Lindy 1 Summary
Basic footwork leaders: left, right, left-right-left (triple step), right, left, right-left-right (triple step)
1. Lindy Hop basic
– rock-step, triple forward, step step, triple back (8-count)
– stay in closed position
2. Send Out
– rock “send” (leaders send followers out on 2)
– begin in closed, move to open position
3. Into closed
– leaders: back-together (on 1-2)
– followers: walk forward on 1-2
– begin in open, leaders catch and stop followers on 3-and-4, end in closed
4. Side pass
– leaders: back-together, bring left hand across body to lead follower to turn
– begin and end in open
5. Flip flop
– begin in closed with “circular” rock-step, move hand to shoulder blade
– leads open “door” on 1-2, then close on 3-and-4
– switch hands on follower’s back, then rock step on opposite foot
– to end, bring hand and arm back around follower’s hip (closing the space)
6. Rotating basic
– same as basic, but leads rotation towards right shoulder (clockwise)
– triple step back on 7-and-8
7. Lindy circle
– begin in open position, and same beginning as into-closed
– leaders: wait for follower, then start rotating clockwise
– triple step back on 7-and-8 (end in closed position)
8. Under-arm Tuck-turn
– “circular” rock-step, and move hand to shoulder blade
– close “door” on 3-and-4 (leader’s left and follower’s right hand squishing a
– leaders: turn followers out (clockwise) and draw “C” with hand
9. Swing out!
– begin in open position
– leaders: back-together, triple-step (moving 180 degrees)
– followers, walk forward, matching leader’s shoulders
– on 4, face-off position
– on 5, leaders look then step to side 90 degrees
– end in open position
Multi-national swing dancing
One thing I like about the lesson that comes before the Friday night swing dance is that I get to dance with people who are dancing swing for the first time. Recently, I have been dancing with people from all over the world, such as from Australia, New Zealand, Netherlands, Germany and the Ukraine. I could usually get a hint from where there from through the chit-chat we exchange before we rotate. This influx of people from around the world is something new. I started talking to the regulars and they mentioned that the swing dance club has been advertising in the magazine and the newspapers that the diplomats read. This sort of explains why there are so many folks from various nations at the Friday night swing dance. So, the easiest way to meet foreign diplomats is swing dancing.
A small victory…
Tonight, I had a small victory which made me feel good. I was able to run 10 kilometers almost pain-free. Every day my gastrocnemius gets a little stronger and is a little less sore. As I tell Tina, my massage therapist, my “fist of pain” is getting smaller. What surprises me is that I can dance East-coast swing and Lindy Hop pain-free. It is the sudden jarring impact of landing with twice the force-of-gravity while running is the main culprit. The plan is to try and run the same distance tomorrow.
I started another set of Lindy hop swing dancing lessons with Alana, Rebecca and Louis. We spent most of the lesson going over the basic foot work, RS-TS-S-S-TS. Most the drills we did had us dancing forward and backward where as in other classes we would dance from left to right. There was one thing that sort of bother me a bit and that is what to do with my right hand. I’ve always been taught to place my right hand on the follower’s scapula or shoulder blade (either left or right). Rebecca and Louis were having us place our right hand on the follower’s right hip. It sort of felt awkard having been taught to avoid putting your hand on a follower’s squishy bit.
Dancing in the dark…
I am typing this blog in the dark. It is Friday night and my first swing dance in a little while. A construction crew cut the power to studio earlier today by mistake. There is a CAT diesel generator humming outside which is still warming up so it is not producing any power yet. The dance hall is full of people talking with hushed tones in the dark. There are pockets of people huddling near folks that have cell phones. The phones are acting as portable flashlights and beacons. It is a weird situation. Power is expected soon but they keep on announcing delays. Harmonic Dave has pulled his harmonic and we are have a jam sessions waiting for the lights to come. Updates to follow…
