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Knoxville Monday Night Contra Dance - 2/18/2012
It's not often that I get the treat of dancing more than half of an evening of dances that I am also calling, but I got to do that tonight at the Laurel, dancing some of the dances with old friends and some of them with those newly addicted to contra dancing. I was a little worried when the dance got started and we only had 3 hands four worth of ( Read more... ) -
Knoxville Dance Weekend
On a Wednesday 13 years ago this past week, I moved out to Knoxville to take my first job after college. That weekend was the Knoxville Dance Weekend. That meant that I had the chance to unpack enough to live, and then go spend most of the weekend dancing with about 400 of my nearest and dearest friends at the UT University Center. Sometime over ( Read more... ) -
More memories of the Ralph Page Weekend
So many wonderful memories from the Ralph Page Weekend. The memories that will stick with me longest though all involve dancing the chestnuts. The RPDLW is probably one of the only places that the chestnuts get danced with quite this much enthusiasm.
About halfway through the dance on Friday evening we did our first chestnut -- Rory O'Moore. First ( Read more... ) -
More Ralph Page Dance Legacy Weekend
Well, it's all over. I'm on my way home, after my first Ralph Page Dance Legacy Weekend, and a wonderful weekend it was. A weekend of dance, conversation, (more dance) caller geekery, (even more dancing, including exposure to many dances I hadn't done anywhere before), and some wonderful conversations with friends new and old.
What is it about this ( Read more... ) -
Ralph Page Dance Legacy Weekend: Friday Night
What an amazing evening of truly wonderful contra dancing. Definitely some of the most enjoyable contra dancing I've done in a long time, and n'ere a swing dance move in sight. Glorious swings, connected courtesy turns...the distilled essence of what contra dancing should be. And this was only the Friday night dance. There's a whole weekend to ( Read more... ) -
Off to Ralph Page
It's been quite a while since I was posting regularly here. I am hoping to start a calling journal, and it seems like the new year is a good time to do that. I am currently in a coffee shop in Cambridge, MA, getting ready to head up to Durham, NH for the Ralph Page Dance Legacy Weekend (ralphpage.neffa.org). I am really looking forward to a ( Read more... ) -
Thoughts along the way
On my way on the train from DC to Boston....just left NY Penn Station. The few times I've gone in and out of Penn have all been since I read Conquering Gothem, a fabulous history of the building of Penn Station and, even more impressively, the building of the tunnels to get there. (If you want to read some reviews, of it, have a look at AmazonThe ( Read more... ) -
Touring
Wow. 4 days, 4 gigs, 44 dances (I actually met my self imposed challenge to call 4 evenings without repeating a dance), and something like 500 dancers. This was so much fun. I wasn't sure what I had gotten myself into when I planned this (and the tour next month too), but I'm so glad that I did it. C, K, K and I have had a great time together ( Read more... ) -
After the dance
After a yummy Thai dinner and enjoyable conversaion with friends in Roanoke, it was off to the dance for me. At the hall, I ended up serving as sound tech as well as caller, since they didn't have anyone set to do it ( Read more... ) -
Calling travels - roanoke, va
Camped out in a coffee shop for a bit before I meet friends for dinner in Roanoke before the dance this evening. Tonight, I'll be working with an unfamiliar band that is also relatively new to playing together, but friends have assured me that they're quite good. As usual, I've picked out the first couple of dances, but otherwise, will wait to ( Read more... )