I almost didn't end up blogging this, and I'm not sure why. As I've been reading about other people's experiences, I felt like I should share my story of the weekend.
I woke up Wednesday with no voice, fixed myself some honey with a splash of tea to try and bring it back and waited for Sargon to get to my house. He arrived, and (miraculously) we got off at the intended departure time. I usually say one time and expect to leave about a half hour later. I've grown up in a large family that's not usually the easiest to get moving in the same direction at the same time and so adopting this expectation has saved me much aggravation over various trips. Other dance trips people have remarked on my calmness when we leave a bit later than expected, and I attribute it to familial experiences. Anyways, we drove up 83 to 81 to 84 to Taconic State Parkway to 23 to 22 to Falcon Ridge! How simple is that! It was a very pretty drive with traffic flowing very nicely- until about 20 miles outside of NY, where we hit practically solid sheets of rain. It continued to rain the rest of the way there (with me trying to think positive thoughts about dry campgrounds, or at least a bubble over them so I didn't have to set up my tent in the rain). Then it slows as we approach Hillsdale, and when we turned onto 22 it had stopped. We pulled into the parking lot, sliding just a little bit on the mud. Sargon and I both managed to check in, trek back to the car through the mud, hike up to where we put up our tents, set up our tents, trek back to the car and get our stuff into our tents before it started raining. And it did indeed start again! I wandered around, ate some food, listened to the all important volunteer information. I then wandered off to my tent while they were setting the sound equipment up for the Open Mic Volunteer night, and fell asleep. I was awoken a few hours later to the sound of drums. Drums call to me. So I answered- I found a drum/song circle in the Ice Tent, and hung out/danced/listened for a few hours. As the group was shrinking, I wanted to bed, fully satisfied with my day.
Thursday... More coming soon... when I feel like more typing...
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Friday night
Caller: Micheal Barraclough
Band: Gypsy Meltdown
Well, I decided to go mainly because I had gotten an email from a friend of a friend, and so I had carpool ppl. The drive goes so much quicker with other people in the car!
I get there and boy am I glad I went! I ended up dancing with some of my favorite dancers, all in a row... and I danced with a newbie, which was actually pleasant. That dance in particular was kinda self-rewarding- the comments/suggestions that I made actually made the dance flow better. Yay!! I'm glad to have been going there often enough to have a community there.
The caller, well... he has interesting dances: one in particular I still remember: The Fantasy Contra: both women gypsy(aka eye up) Gent 2, both women gypsy Gent 1, then women choose who they want to swing with. End swing facing down, down the hall, turn around (as a couple if with partner, alone if with neighbor), circle to home and pass thru. I was lucky to have a good partner that one, but not so great of a line. I feel that if we'd been in a line of really familiar people then it would have been fabulous chaos.
As always, I loved Gypsy Meltdown. Last night was probably one of the best night that I remember of them playing such a big hall. My usual comment for them is that they blow a little hall out of the water, but they get lost in a big hall. Last night was not the case. They definitely were the shining stars of the night.
Band: Gypsy Meltdown
Well, I decided to go mainly because I had gotten an email from a friend of a friend, and so I had carpool ppl. The drive goes so much quicker with other people in the car!
I get there and boy am I glad I went! I ended up dancing with some of my favorite dancers, all in a row... and I danced with a newbie, which was actually pleasant. That dance in particular was kinda self-rewarding- the comments/suggestions that I made actually made the dance flow better. Yay!! I'm glad to have been going there often enough to have a community there.
The caller, well... he has interesting dances: one in particular I still remember: The Fantasy Contra: both women gypsy(aka eye up) Gent 2, both women gypsy Gent 1, then women choose who they want to swing with. End swing facing down, down the hall, turn around (as a couple if with partner, alone if with neighbor), circle to home and pass thru. I was lucky to have a good partner that one, but not so great of a line. I feel that if we'd been in a line of really familiar people then it would have been fabulous chaos.
As always, I loved Gypsy Meltdown. Last night was probably one of the best night that I remember of them playing such a big hall. My usual comment for them is that they blow a little hall out of the water, but they get lost in a big hall. Last night was not the case. They definitely were the shining stars of the night.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Wednesday
Well its Wednesday, and I'm in Baltimore, so I went dancing.
The exciting thing about tonight was that my roommate Becca called her first full contra evening! Yay Becca! This was a really big step, and she did really well! She's better now than some of the callers that have passed through that have been calling for a lot longer. Also, she's one of the first callers that I will have the personal opportunity to follow as she grows into being a caller.
Honestly tho, the calling was my favorite part about tonight. The band was Devine Comedy with Steve Hickman (fiddle), Marty Taylor (whistle, concertina) and John Devine (guitar). They're not bad, but not exciting. I also had some strange dance floor things, and I'm not sure how much of it was me and how much of it was the night. I feel like a large part of it was me, feeling emotionally drained and with no patience.
It was also one of the smallest dances that we've had in awhile (2 months or so? since the Tornado night) and I think it was a large part due to the heat (high of 95 today) and also it is the summertime after all so the attendance is a little unpredictable.
I spent awhile talking to Q today, and he told me why a pair of the regulars had to leave early... Justice faked a hurt leg muscle in order to go home for a surprise birthday party for her hubby. Cool, right? Even better is that his birthday is in December. What?!!?!?!? I thought it was great! Christmas in July? Birthday near Christmas? Sounds like Birthday in July to me. This is part of why I love the Wed. night dance crowd even more than the normal contra crowd. We have so many fun personalities that we see all the time.
The exciting thing about tonight was that my roommate Becca called her first full contra evening! Yay Becca! This was a really big step, and she did really well! She's better now than some of the callers that have passed through that have been calling for a lot longer. Also, she's one of the first callers that I will have the personal opportunity to follow as she grows into being a caller.
Honestly tho, the calling was my favorite part about tonight. The band was Devine Comedy with Steve Hickman (fiddle), Marty Taylor (whistle, concertina) and John Devine (guitar). They're not bad, but not exciting. I also had some strange dance floor things, and I'm not sure how much of it was me and how much of it was the night. I feel like a large part of it was me, feeling emotionally drained and with no patience.
It was also one of the smallest dances that we've had in awhile (2 months or so? since the Tornado night) and I think it was a large part due to the heat (high of 95 today) and also it is the summertime after all so the attendance is a little unpredictable.
I spent awhile talking to Q today, and he told me why a pair of the regulars had to leave early... Justice faked a hurt leg muscle in order to go home for a surprise birthday party for her hubby. Cool, right? Even better is that his birthday is in December. What?!!?!?!? I thought it was great! Christmas in July? Birthday near Christmas? Sounds like Birthday in July to me. This is part of why I love the Wed. night dance crowd even more than the normal contra crowd. We have so many fun personalities that we see all the time.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Ceili #1
This evening I got a call from my friend Hali asking if I wanted to go check out a ceili in Locust Point (@J.Patrick's bar) with her. This has been something that I've wanted to check out for awhile.
Well, actually I can pinpoint my interest to CCDS'07 when I danced a Kerry set to Jim Morrison calling to the inexperienced among us. That week I danced 2/3 different Kerry sets (Jim and Owen both called for us). I also was excited to see set dancing at the Dandelion Romp that I went to in April (even missing out on making banana bread to go dance them).
Anyways...back to tonight! We made our way down there, and were pleasantly surprised, not only by how easy it was to find, but also to find a good, easy, close parking spot. Always a good start to the evening! We were both nervous about going (which is why we went together) especially since she'd had a rough experience trying to jump into sets in Ireland (she went/is going to art school there). I made the mistake of wearing flip flops. As it turns out, the first set we were there for needed another person. I jumped in, and had a blast. The group seems really friendly and helpful! I was lectured about the dangers of dancing sets in flip flops, at the same time I was given major complements about how they wished I'd worn real shoes so that I could dance more. Several people told me how good I did, as well as offering to bring in shoes for me to borrow if I told them when I would be back.
Hali and I watched a few more sets, and then it was over. :( So... we got food. Wow was I surprised at how good the food was. And the food was a lot more reasonably priced than the drinks were (5.40 for 2 fountain cokes????), but the fish and chips were AWESOME!!
As the dancers were clearing out, we also found out that if we show up on any Friday other than the first, we should be able to dance then too. Yay! I feel like (once I get proper shoes) this would be a really fun group to be a part of.
Overall, the group was really friendly and encouraging, but definitely a crowd for an intermediate/experienced dancer only. Most of the figures are talked through first, but not taught. And the musicians were very willing to work with the dancers to find appropriate tunes, and of course, they were also high energy players.
In case anyone's curious: The ceili at J.Patrick's is held every 2nd Sunday from 4:30 til 8:30. Most of the info I found online was from Set Dancing News and J.Patrick's "page"
Well, actually I can pinpoint my interest to CCDS'07 when I danced a Kerry set to Jim Morrison calling to the inexperienced among us. That week I danced 2/3 different Kerry sets (Jim and Owen both called for us). I also was excited to see set dancing at the Dandelion Romp that I went to in April (even missing out on making banana bread to go dance them).
Anyways...back to tonight! We made our way down there, and were pleasantly surprised, not only by how easy it was to find, but also to find a good, easy, close parking spot. Always a good start to the evening! We were both nervous about going (which is why we went together) especially since she'd had a rough experience trying to jump into sets in Ireland (she went/is going to art school there). I made the mistake of wearing flip flops. As it turns out, the first set we were there for needed another person. I jumped in, and had a blast. The group seems really friendly and helpful! I was lectured about the dangers of dancing sets in flip flops, at the same time I was given major complements about how they wished I'd worn real shoes so that I could dance more. Several people told me how good I did, as well as offering to bring in shoes for me to borrow if I told them when I would be back.
Hali and I watched a few more sets, and then it was over. :( So... we got food. Wow was I surprised at how good the food was. And the food was a lot more reasonably priced than the drinks were (5.40 for 2 fountain cokes????), but the fish and chips were AWESOME!!
As the dancers were clearing out, we also found out that if we show up on any Friday other than the first, we should be able to dance then too. Yay! I feel like (once I get proper shoes) this would be a really fun group to be a part of.
Overall, the group was really friendly and encouraging, but definitely a crowd for an intermediate/experienced dancer only. Most of the figures are talked through first, but not taught. And the musicians were very willing to work with the dancers to find appropriate tunes, and of course, they were also high energy players.
In case anyone's curious: The ceili at J.Patrick's is held every 2nd Sunday from 4:30 til 8:30. Most of the info I found online was from Set Dancing News and J.Patrick's "page"
Just Getting Started...
I decided a little while ago that I needed a dance blog. My thinking was that I would write my comments soon after each dance-filled evening, and then I would have a record to refer back to on my feelings on that particular group/band/caller/etc...
We'll see how it goes...
We'll see how it goes...
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