IVFDF 2011
Holy shit.
It was pretty fantastic. By which I mean amazingly awesome and entertaining and EXHAUSTING. Unlike the last two years, I didn't actually go there with the beginning/end of a cold - of course, on Saturday night I had to leave the late night blues session because of a sudden headache and the knowledge that if I didn't go to bed immediately, it would get a lot worse. So that was lame. Especially since Blues is AWESOME and SEXY dancing and if I can't find Scottish Country in Sweden I would totally be happy to just do Blues. The workshop on it was fantastic, since Craig (who ran it) is an Edinburgh alumni currently living in Aberdeen, so it was a pretty relaxed session, without any performance anxiety from anyone. It's hard to be worried about whether or not you're good at something when the instructor is joking about leaving room for baby Jesus, or dancing around a pole, and then combining those metaphors. (Baby Jesus on a pole will never be not funny)
Other highlights for me included learning to play the Spoons. YES THE SOLE REASON I WENT IS BECAUSE THE DOCTOR USED TO PLAY THE SPOONS WHAT OF IT. It was really fun and not complicated at all and I've been trying it out to The Killers a bit, and I'm totally going to try it to Crazy Motorcycle from Final Fantasy VII. Bet that will work magnificently.
There was also a singing session I went to, which was fun. The only time I really do any structured, proper singing nowadays is at IVFDF, and last year I didn't go because of said cold.
I went to the Contra workshop because I knew I wouldn't be doing any Contra that evening - I'm too much of a Scottish Country geek to want to miss an opportunity to do some, and the dances were running parallel in the evening. Contra is fun - it's American, but has its' roots in Scottish and English country dancing (you can tell) with ADDED SPINNING. And spinning is always good. Unfortunately the spinning in Contra usually gets to be too much for me - SCD is more at the level I'm able to handle. So Saturday evening I danced pretty much exclusively with the SCD goers. A lot of the Edinburghers and Aberdonians were there, and it was nice to socialise with them as well.
On Sunday I decided that the level of work I'd gotten done on the bus down hadn't been enough, so I actually skipped the last three workshops in favour of working and looking after Glasgow's bags. There wasn't that much that had interested me on Sunday's programme, but after it was done I wish I'd gone to the Bubbles workshop. Apparently it really was just learning how to make people-sized bubbles. And standing in them. YOU STOOD IN A BUBBLE IVFDF I LOVE YOU. But working did have its' perks - my legs aren't as sore as everybody elses, natch!
We only got to dance one dance at the Survivors' Ceilidh, which was lamefaced, but next year IVFDF is in Aberdeen ( \o/ ) so we'll be able to stay for far longer and it'll be people from, say, Exceter who have to leave ridiculously early.
The bus down was also a lot of fun though (apart from that moment when it became apparent the bus driver thought he was dropping us at Hamilton (a train ride away from the centre) and not in the West End, where we all actually live. UH NO. Not at 11 at night, you weren't, and the agreement was Byres Road in the West End. He got annoyed, we got annoyed, it was very annoying. But he gave in). I sat with some of the newer members I didn't know quite as well who will (have to) be part of the Exec Committee next year. With me as President. Again. Blaaarrrgh. I think I've gotten better at distributing work though, so it won't be as bad as it could be. It's just a shame that 8 out of the 10 current members of the committee are either leaving or wanting to leave (but may feel too guilty). Rebecca will also be living with me, which is SUPER EXCITING because it turns out she's as much of a geek as I am, and is well versed in Stargate, Star Trek, LOTR, webcomics, TV Tropes - she actually knows when I reference it, omg - and is really kind of fun to hang out with. There were about four of us discussing how we should have a costumed ball next year and dress our members up like people from Star Wars. It was awesome. We're thinking of learning a little Morris dancing and havng a display with lightsabers as the sticks. DON'T SAY IT WOULDN'T BE AWESOME BECAUSE IT WOULD.
Class is in like 15 minutes and I have to get going. Still need to pack! Argh!
So long story short IVFDF WAS AMAZING AND IF I CAN'T MAKE IT NEXT YEAR I WILL CRY TEARS OF EMO PAIN. I want to be that guy who'd made it to 30 CONSEQUTIVE IVFDF'S, WHAT THE HELL.
It was pretty fantastic. By which I mean amazingly awesome and entertaining and EXHAUSTING. Unlike the last two years, I didn't actually go there with the beginning/end of a cold - of course, on Saturday night I had to leave the late night blues session because of a sudden headache and the knowledge that if I didn't go to bed immediately, it would get a lot worse. So that was lame. Especially since Blues is AWESOME and SEXY dancing and if I can't find Scottish Country in Sweden I would totally be happy to just do Blues. The workshop on it was fantastic, since Craig (who ran it) is an Edinburgh alumni currently living in Aberdeen, so it was a pretty relaxed session, without any performance anxiety from anyone. It's hard to be worried about whether or not you're good at something when the instructor is joking about leaving room for baby Jesus, or dancing around a pole, and then combining those metaphors. (Baby Jesus on a pole will never be not funny)
Other highlights for me included learning to play the Spoons. YES THE SOLE REASON I WENT IS BECAUSE THE DOCTOR USED TO PLAY THE SPOONS WHAT OF IT. It was really fun and not complicated at all and I've been trying it out to The Killers a bit, and I'm totally going to try it to Crazy Motorcycle from Final Fantasy VII. Bet that will work magnificently.
There was also a singing session I went to, which was fun. The only time I really do any structured, proper singing nowadays is at IVFDF, and last year I didn't go because of said cold.
I went to the Contra workshop because I knew I wouldn't be doing any Contra that evening - I'm too much of a Scottish Country geek to want to miss an opportunity to do some, and the dances were running parallel in the evening. Contra is fun - it's American, but has its' roots in Scottish and English country dancing (you can tell) with ADDED SPINNING. And spinning is always good. Unfortunately the spinning in Contra usually gets to be too much for me - SCD is more at the level I'm able to handle. So Saturday evening I danced pretty much exclusively with the SCD goers. A lot of the Edinburghers and Aberdonians were there, and it was nice to socialise with them as well.
On Sunday I decided that the level of work I'd gotten done on the bus down hadn't been enough, so I actually skipped the last three workshops in favour of working and looking after Glasgow's bags. There wasn't that much that had interested me on Sunday's programme, but after it was done I wish I'd gone to the Bubbles workshop. Apparently it really was just learning how to make people-sized bubbles. And standing in them. YOU STOOD IN A BUBBLE IVFDF I LOVE YOU. But working did have its' perks - my legs aren't as sore as everybody elses, natch!
We only got to dance one dance at the Survivors' Ceilidh, which was lamefaced, but next year IVFDF is in Aberdeen ( \o/ ) so we'll be able to stay for far longer and it'll be people from, say, Exceter who have to leave ridiculously early.
The bus down was also a lot of fun though (apart from that moment when it became apparent the bus driver thought he was dropping us at Hamilton (a train ride away from the centre) and not in the West End, where we all actually live. UH NO. Not at 11 at night, you weren't, and the agreement was Byres Road in the West End. He got annoyed, we got annoyed, it was very annoying. But he gave in). I sat with some of the newer members I didn't know quite as well who will (have to) be part of the Exec Committee next year. With me as President. Again. Blaaarrrgh. I think I've gotten better at distributing work though, so it won't be as bad as it could be. It's just a shame that 8 out of the 10 current members of the committee are either leaving or wanting to leave (but may feel too guilty). Rebecca will also be living with me, which is SUPER EXCITING because it turns out she's as much of a geek as I am, and is well versed in Stargate, Star Trek, LOTR, webcomics, TV Tropes - she actually knows when I reference it, omg - and is really kind of fun to hang out with. There were about four of us discussing how we should have a costumed ball next year and dress our members up like people from Star Wars. It was awesome. We're thinking of learning a little Morris dancing and havng a display with lightsabers as the sticks. DON'T SAY IT WOULDN'T BE AWESOME BECAUSE IT WOULD.
Class is in like 15 minutes and I have to get going. Still need to pack! Argh!
So long story short IVFDF WAS AMAZING AND IF I CAN'T MAKE IT NEXT YEAR I WILL CRY TEARS OF EMO PAIN. I want to be that guy who'd made it to 30 CONSEQUTIVE IVFDF'S, WHAT THE HELL.