Fredericksburg

We went with some friends to Strictly Ballroom in Fredericksburg last night. It was a bit of a trip for all of us coming down from Woodbridge so we had dinner at a pizza parlor before we went dancing. Mike and Melissa have been having some dances on Saturday nights recently.

We saw some familiar faces at Strictly Ballroom. We began taking private lessons from Melissa about 4 years ago. They were still in their old location then. The new place has one of the largest dance floors in the area and is a pleasure to dance on. When gasoline prices started hitting $3.00 a gallon a couple of years ago, we started looking for a studio that was closer to home. We were fortunate to find Studio One which is about half the distance and has an excellent instructor.

A Weekend at Mountain Lake

For the last 2 years we have gone to a Dirty Dancing weekend at the Mountain Lake Hotel in southwestern Virginia. The first year we went just by ourselves. Last year we went with a group of friends. We've told a lot of people about the fun time we had and there has been a lot of interest. We hope to go again this year over the summer. The schedule this year has weekends in July and August that look good. We need a good group so we can win the Dirty Dancing Trivia Contest three years running.

Regal Dance

We attended a dinner dance last night at the Country Club of Fairfax with the Regal Dinner and Dance Club. It is always fun to get dressed up and go dancing with friends. We've never had a bad meal at the CCF either.

People approach dancing in different ways. We know some dancers for whom dance lessons are an end in themselves. They take a lot lessons, sometimes several a week, but hardly every go dancing. On the other hand, we take lessons so we can go dancing. We generally go out dancing on Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We take our lesson on Monday's and try to practice on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Some people go to the gym; we dance.

I saw this cartoon today and it really struck home. We used to be like this. Come home from work, sit in front of the "boob tube", usually with a bag of chips, and go to bed. Dancing is the most fun that two people can have while remaining vertical.
TV viewers of America: Arise!! Get off the couch and get dancing!

Valentine's Day Dancing - Part 2

Last night, we went with friends to the Officer's Club at Ft. Belvoir for their Valentine's Day Dance. The evening went differently than we expected. It showed how important it is to be flexible.

First, there was a wedding reception in the ballroom where we normally dance. The Valentine's Day Dance was held in one of the upstairs rooms. The room was nice, though the dance floor was smaller than in the room downstairs. There were also more people attending than our usual Wednesday night crowd since this was a special occasion. The band was a 3 piece ensemble named "Arrow Band" with a drummer, keyboard,and saxophone player set up on the edge of the dance floor. The combination of a smaller floor, larger crowd and the band meant there was not much room for any fancy moves on the dance floor.

The second thing that happened was the saxophone player fainted. He recovered after being checked out by the paramedics and came back to finish the evening to the applause of the assembled company.

Since the dance at the O Club was coming to a close and we hadn't much opportunity to shake a leg; someone suggested that we go to Lioudmila's to get in some dancing. The Valentine's Celebration there began at 9:00 and ended at 11:00. There was a good crowd there also, but plenty of room to move around the floor. They also had a mini-showcase with some fantastic dancing featuring the Rhumba, Jive, and Waltz.

The evening got off to a rocky start but ended well. We got a good dinner, some dancing and the saxophone player recovered.

Valentine's Dance at Studio One

We went to a Valentine's Day dance last night at Studio One of Alexandria. We've taken ballroom dance lessons there from Richard for going on 4 years. Included in the cost of the lessons is the Friday night dance. It is obstensively for practice. However, practicing sounds like work to perfect your skills. The Friday dance accomplishes this but we're really there for the fun of it. We start our weekends on Friday night from 9-11 PM by joining our friends for social dancing.

There was a good crowd last night with all the ladies looking pretty snazzy in their red dresses. Leslie brought in a "Build your own boyfriend" kit that was a great hit with the ladies. They never did put any pants on him though. Kind of reminded me of the Naked Cowboy in Times Square. Everyone had fun as we celebrated with Cupid and also had cake for everyone with a birthday in February.

Lessons in Swing

We've learned a couple of new swing steps from Richard lately. Doris saw an ad for some weekend workshops by Gotta Swing so we decided to try them out to add some additional pizzaz. The first class was Aerials 101 with Sue and Gary on Saturday to learn some dips, leans and aerials. We aren't much for the aerials, but we did get a couple of steps to add to our swing.

Today, we went back for the Flash and Trash with Michael and Poppy where we picked up a couple more moves for our swing. The instructors for both classes were very good and we really enjoyed them. We always like a good swing.

Back in the Saddle(shoes)

We were out of commission most of January. First Doris had a cold and then I had one. We did go out a couple of times but missed out on some dancing so we wouldn't be spreading germs.

We attempted to make up for it this past weekend. We were invited by some friends to go out with a group on Friday night. There were about 10 couples. Most of them we had seen at different venues. We also got invited by Joy and Tony to go to the Fort Myers Officer Club on Saturday night. We had a good dinner both nights and got in some dancing.

On Sunday morning, we redeemed the coupon we won at the Sock Hop for a free dance lesson. We met Cookie at a local studio and she showed us some Country Two-Step. Every once in a while you hear a song that will fit and it's good to be prepared. In the afternoon we went to the Candy Factory for the 1st Sunday dance at 4:00 pm. We really got in some dancing this weekend. After the Candy Factory, a group of us went to dinner.

During dinner I had one of those "It's a small world" moments. I was speaking to a gentleman sitting next to me and found out he had retired from the Army also. We got to comparing notes and he had been my company commander when I was a student at the Computer Programming School located at Fort Benjamin Harrison back in 1979-80. That's such a long time ago that I don't really remember. Of course, the only time a student ever got to see the Commander was when he was in trouble. I managed to avoid that.

New Year 2009

We celebrated with friends at the O Club for New Year's Eve again this year. We dined with Janet, Jeff, Joy, and Tony. There were lots of folks there that we see around at various dance venues. The band was Special Delivery. They had a 5 piece ensemble and played very well. We got there about 7:30, the dancing started at 8:00 and continued to 1:00 AM. We had to dance a lot to work off the cheesecake we had for dessert.

We had a pretty good year dance-wise. We got to Buenos Aires for a 2 week vacation and got to work on our Argentine Tango. We also got a lot of dance shoes there. We went with friends to a "Dirty Dancing" weekend at the Mountain Lake resort in southwest Virgina. We joined the Elks Lodge which along with a lot of charitable activities, have numerous dances throughout the year. We've kept up our dance lessons with Richard at Studio One.

So, with the economy spiraling down the sewer pipes and wars that never seem to end, keep you head up, dance frame locked, watch your step, and keep on dancing. There are always more dance steps to learn.

Christmas Gifts and Childhood Memories

We received a most excellent gift for Christmas from my mom and dad this year. In our family it's tough to find presents for each other. We're dispersed around the country and don't see each other as much as we'd like.

This year Dad got us a coffee table book. This particular book is titled "Our Yellowstone" by Mark and Diana Treglown. It is a really beautiful pictorial of Yellowstone National Park. What makes it really special is that Diana Treglown is my sister. She has seen a lot of Yellowstone including parts that most tourists don't get to visit. She spent several years as a winter caretaker in West Yellowstone. That's about as close to the American wilderness as anyone can get these days.

It also brings back memories of my visits to Yellowstone as a kid growing up in Montana. Most years it seemed we went "back East" to the Chicago area to visit relatives. Sometimes we'd get visitors coming our way. I remember my Uncle Jerry and Aunt Rose bringing their family along with us to Yellowstone one year. I was only about 7 or 8 at the time; a long time ago. I remember seeing the geysers and a lot of wildlife. I especially remember a black bear coming through the campground and licking clean a cast iron skillet we had by the campfire.

Thanks Mom, thanks Dad, for the special gift.

Back in the Swing

We missed out on dancing for a couple of weeks. First, I was out of town and then I was under the weather. I got back home and am feeling better so we are getting back to our usual haunts. We went to the O Club last Wednesday and to the Studio One Christmas Party on Friday night. We also had a Christmas Ball at the Elk's Lodge on Saturday and went to the Rec Center to practice on Sunday. Some people go to the gym for exercise; we go dancing.

Support Your Local Dance Studio

We went to the practice session a the Dale City Rec Center on Sunday afternoon. We hadn't been able to go as much as we like lately. The Redskins' games keep getting in the way. The game Sunday was in Seattle so we recorded it and watched it later. We won; Go 'Skins!

We had heard that there is a new manager at the Rec Center who is looking hard at attendance to see what programs can be cut. We went Sunday not only because we need the practice, but also hoping they don't cut the practice session. It is good to have somewhere to practice that is larger than our living room. Latin and Swing steps are fine, but there isn't enough room for moving dances.

On Monday night we had our regular lesson with Richard. We didn't learn any new steps; we just reviewed a couple that we have been working on. Richard generally puts on a couple of songs that we warm up with. Then he asks if we have any questions about the steps we are learning. We have a new step called the Cha-Cha Circles that's a real challenge. First of all, it's an 8 measure step. Doris says that I have trouble with anything that counts past 4. It also needs an assertive lead from the gentleman. I'm still trying to get my footwork down, so I am having trouble with the lead. I can't figure out what to do with my hands until after my feet know the step.

The other dance we worked on is the Samba. We're still on the first half of the Bronze syllabus with the Samba. We went over the Promanade Conversa and the Reverse Conversa. We're still trying to get the basic movements down. Samba has a lot of Latin motion. I'm not sure I'll ever get it right. Or, if I get it right, I'll probably throw my back out. Anyway the lessons with Richard are always a lot of fun and he's patient with us.

Night Club 2 Step

Tonight we finished a 5 week class on the Night Club 2 Step. This class was taught by Cookie at the Center for the Arts in the old Candy Factory in Manassas. The 2 Step is a good dance for those ballads and slow songs where a Foxtrot just doesn't fit. We got to see Janet and Jeff who were also taking this class.

There was an interesting photo exhibit in the foyer of the theater/dance hall. It is titled "Reality Imagined" by Laurie Sand. It is a photographic exhibit inspired by tanqueros who dance milongas at Freedom Plaza in DC. These images are captured in low light situations using hand held camera techniques and digital processing. We especially found these photos intriguing as we love Argentine Tango and have danced at Freedom Plaza. These pictures are a wonderful collection that really capture the movement and beauty of Tango.

Halloween Weekend

We started the weekend on Friday night, joining our friends at Studio One for a Halloween party. I dusted off my 1970's leisure suite and Doris had a new "cat suit" for the occasion. I think the addition of the wig really set off the leisure suit.

On Saturday, we went to another Halloween Dance at the Elk's Lodge. There are a great group of folks at the lodge, many of whom can really shake a leg. Dinner was at 7:00 and dancing started at 8:30. The band was named Napoli and played very well.

Sunday, we went up to Heritage Hunt to meet friends at the clubhouse for a practice session from 4:00 to 6:00. There were just 4 couples on the floor so there was plenty of room.

Monday, we took off from work to watch the Redskins lose to the Steelers. They should have a rule that they have to win at every home game. It's a lot more fun that way. This was our first night game. It started at 8:30 and we got home about 1:45 this morning.

I took the day off from work today to go vote. According to the Washington Post, Obama is going to win. In 16 of the last 17 presidential elections, the incumbent party kept the White House when the Redskins won their final home game before the election. Hail to the Redskins!

Sock Hop

We have been taking lessons on the Night Club 2 Step from Cookie at the Candy Factory for the last couple of weeks. The Candy Factory has a variety of group classes and Cookie is one of their regular instructors. She is currently having an 8 week session on beginning Swing and Night Club 2 Step. Last night we attended a Sock Hop from 8 to 10 PM at the Candy Factory that was set up so students could practice their new steps.

The Candy Factory has a real nice dance floor with plenty of room to shake a leg. They had a snack stand in the back that was serving finger foods and ice cream sundaes. There was good attendance at this dance but still space to dance. We saw some old friends including Janet and Jeff. Elvis took time off from his job at the 7-Eleven in Vegas to make an appearance. Our friend Stella was showing him some of her steps.

We got to practice the Night Club 2 Step and picked up the steps for The Stroll. There was a dance contest where Kathy and Randy picked up First Prize. There was also a contest for the best costume where I picked up top honors. Many thanks to Henry for the loan of his hat. I think that was what made the difference. Kathy and Randy did a short exposition on Swing. They really enjoy dancing and it shows.

Ouch, That One Hurt

We had a good time dancing over the weekend. Friday we went to the practice dance party at Studio One. There was a pretty good crowd, but there were more ladies in attendance than gentlemen. On nights like that I make sure I dance with my regular partner each kind of dance at least once. I also try to dance with each lady during the evening. I've gone alone to dances before and know that it is a lot more fun if everyone gets to dance. That's one of the good things about Studio One. The regulars all seem to realize this and try to make sure that dancers who come as a single get to dance too.

Saturday, we went to hear Helmut Licht at the Elks Lodge. Helmut's band always puts on a good performance and we really enjoy their music. The Elk's were having an Oktoberfest Dance so we got to practice our Polka along with the regular Ballroom Dances. We sat with a group we know from the O Club, had a nice dinner and a lot of dancing.

What hurt was the Redskins game yesterday. The only precision on the field was provided by the Marine Corps Silent Drill Team at half time. The Redskins have a bad habit of coming back from winning against a tough team only to lose against a lesser ranked team. I hope that Coach Zorn can turn them around. There was that one incredible play that had everyone in the stands looking at each other saying "What the heck just happened?". I didn't figure it out until I read the paper this morning. The Redskins Quarterback tried to pass; the ball was batted out of the air by the Rams; a Redskins Guard caught it and tried to run with it; he got tackled and fumbled it; the Rams picked the ball up and ran 75 yards for a touchdown. All I knew at the time was the ball was snapped, something happened around the line of scrimmage; and the Rams were running it into the endzone right below us.

Another Week of Dancing

We started on Monday with our lesson at Studio One. We spent most of the hour reviewing a figure called Spot Turn with Under Arm Turn in Waltz. It's one that we thought we had but parts of it kept escaping. As we go through the syllabus, the steps get more complicated and take more floorspace to execute. Besides that, I have a mind like a steel sieve. We could tell that something was going wrong because after doing this figure we'd be off the beat. Richard quickly diagnosed the problem and we worked on correcting it. Then we spent a little time on a Rhumba step that Richard introduced us to recently; the Open Cross Over. This one is eight measures long and uses advanced timing. We've seen advanced timing in Rhumba before. However, on this figure the advanced timing doesn't start until measure 4.

Tuesday, Doris joined the Elks Lodge. I had never realized that Elks were party animals. We have a whole new calendar of dances to attend.

Wednesday, we have a standing date at the Officer's Club on Ft Belvoir. We always reserve a table for 4 in case someone we know can make it. This week we dined and danced with Joy and Tony. It was one of those times when you look at your watch at the end of the evening and wonder where the time went.

Thursday, we practiced in our living room. A couple of years ago we got rid of the furniture and had the floor refinished so we could have room to dance. The room is much more functional now. We use it a lot more as a dance studio than we ever did as a living room.

Last night we went to the Dance Party at Studio One. Most of the regulars were there. We had more ladies than gentlemen but we swap around so that everyone gets to dance. Dancing with other partners really helps me improve my leads. I can cheat with Doris because she can read my mind.

We may go down to Strictly Ballroom tonight. They have a 70's Disco Party and a group lesson on the Hustle. I haven't worn my leisure suit in a while. It's hard to dance in those platform shoes.

We are torn about what to do on Sunday. We can either watch the Redskins beat Dallas on TV or tape the game and go to the practice at the Dale City Recreation Center.

Another Win

We got to see the Redskins win against the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday. The Redskins pulled out a win even though we were robbed of a touchdown because of a penalty for "unnecessary roughness". I thought that unnecessary roughness was the whole point of football.

Going to the game is an all day affair. We drive up to the Springfield Metro station to catch the Blue Line. We stay on the same train through the Virginia suburbs, across DC and into Maryland. The Metro ride last about an hour and twenty minutes. Then we hike up to FEDEX Field and across the parking lot to the Extreme Skins tailgate party. Total trip time is about 2 hours. It's worth it to see the Redskins win. The tailgate party is a lot of fun too. There is usually a good crowd even at the pre-season games.

Chief Zee usually shows up at the tailgate party. He's a big time fan and we've seen him at the games several times. We were glad to hear that his tomahawk was returned.

Weekend Dancing

We started our weekend dancing at Studio One. I can't think of a better way to make a clean break between the work week and the weekend than going dancing. Studio One has a practice dance every Friday night from 9:00 to 11:00. There was a pretty good crowd this week. This was the Friday we celebrated birthdays for September. Studio One is a good place for singles to dance. Richard encourages swapping partners (on the dance floor). This way the gentleman gets to practice his leading skills with dancers other than his regular partner. The other benefit is that when someone attends without a partner, they still get in some dancing.

Last night we attended a Ball for the Elks' Auxiliary at the Elks Arlington-Fairfax lodge. We had recently been invited to join the lodge and this was our first social function there. There were cocktails at 6:00 followed by dinner at 7:00. After a short program the dancing started around 8:00. We danced to the music of the Joe Shelko band. We have heard them before and they play very well. We saw a lot of familiar faces at the dance from both the Officer's Club at Ft. Belvoir and the Regal Dinner and Dance Club. We had to leave at 11:00 so we could get up early for the Redskins game today.

First Regular Season Game

We had a good time on Sunday, even if we didn't go dancing. We went to the Redskin's first regular season game. It really is a lot more fun when your team actually wins. We got to watch the winning touchdown come into the end zone right below our seats, too. So, the Skins beat the Saints 29 to 24, pulling it out during the last quarter.

Part of the fun in going to the game is the tailgate party. We take the Metro to the game, so we can't take much in the way of refreshments. However, the walk to the stadium helps work up an appetite. This game the big attraction was a hot dog eating contest. The picture shows the action, fast and furious. The winner got 12 dogs down in the time limit. He did pretty good, he even kept them down.

Unsolicited Advice

I don't like getting unsolicited advice, so I have a rule that I never give any. However, since rules are made to be broken, here is some unsolicited advice to anyone considering taking ballroom dance lessons.

The first piece of advice is to figure out why you want to learn to dance. Is someone you care about getting married and you want to do more than the "high school shuffle" at the happy event? Are you looking for a hobby that helps you stay fit and is a lot more fun than calisthenics? We just wanted to be credible when we went somewhere there was dancing. We started dance lessons because my wife had always been interested in learning ballroom dance but the opportunity never really presented itself. She tried to find a studio to take lessons when she was a kid, but there just weren't any ballroom studios in Boise, Idaho during the 70's. She was looking through the catalog from the County Recreation Center a few years ago and saw that they offered ballroom dance lessons on a night we weren't doing anything anyway and they were relatively inexpensive. She wanted to go and I couldn't think of a real good argument for not going, so she signed us up. These were group classes that were held once a week at the local recreation center.

My second piece of advice is to look around for the studio and instructor that fits you. We started with group classes to learn the basics, but after a while we felt that we needed more individual attention to get to the level of proficiency that we wanted. We wanted to add to dance steps we had already learned so we found a studio that did both group and private lessons. We would go to the group lessons to pick up new steps and work with our instructor to polish what we had learned. This did build up the number of dance steps we knew rather quickly. We left that studio because of traffic and rising gas prices. One night we were scheduled to go to a group class and traffic was so bad we arrived just in time for the class to be over. We went looking for a studio that was closer to home and easier to get to. We found the studio where we currently take lessons. Our instructor is very patient and has a lot of experience both with dancing and with instructing. This is something else we have found when we have taken lessons from different instructors. Just because someone knows how to dance, doesn't mean they know how to teach. Our instructor has seen all of the mistakes that we make many times before. He is adept at being able to explain what we are doing wrong. If he sees that we just aren't getting it, he tells us in another way. If you are looking around you will find dancers who try to teach and less often dancers who can teach. It is pretty rare to find a teacher who is an expert dancer and can break down the steps in a variety of ways depending on how the student learns.

The third piece of unsolicited advice is to practice. Early on we could tell the couples who took the lesson and didn't practice the whole week until the next class. They would take up time in the class going over the last lesson. If you're spending money and time taking lessons, don't waste it by not practicing. We take our lessons on Monday night. We generally practice on Tuesday, go out dancing on Wednesday, practice on Thursday, go out dancing on Friday and Saturday night, then go to a practice session at the Recreation Center on Sunday afternoon. OK, so we tend to go overboard. Some people go to the gym; we go dancing. It gets worse. So that we had enough room at home to practice we got rid of all the furniture in the living room, tore up the carpet and refinished the floor. When we started we used to practice on the deck, much to the amusement of the neighbors.