A couple that we know from the Friday Nighter's Dance Club, Robbie and Alan, told us that a great band was playing at the Hollin Hall Senior Center. The band was the Mount Vernon Swing Band. We decided to try it out and were glad that we did.
Hollin Hall has fairly large dance floor in what used to be a grade school cafeteria. The band was set up in a corner and even though it is a good sized band there was still plenty of room to move. They played a selection of Swing and Foxtrot with a few Latin tunes thrown in for good measure.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Sunday, January 03, 2010
Skinifatz Nightspot
We saw an acquaintance of ours at the Dance Factory on Christmas Day. He told us that he occasionally goes to Skinifatz for dancing on Friday and Saturday nights. Skinifatz is a local night spot that is affiliated with the Lazy Susan Dinner Theatre. Both of these establishments are close to home and have been fixtures of the area for quite some time. We first went to a play at the Lazy Susan for our 4 year wedding anniversary. The last time we went there for a play was our 34th wedding anniversary.
The best way to improve dance skills is to practice. Jodi, our instructor when we started taking dance lessons, encouraged her students to get out and dance. We decided to take a group lesson at Skinifatz. On Tuesdays, they had a beginning and intermediate lesson followed by open dancing. We had only just started dance lessons and hadn't realized that the Waltz is a moving dance. Nor did we have a clue about line of dance. (On a moving dance, dancers all move counter-clockwise around the floor. This helps couples avoid bumping into each other.) At that point we were only up to the basic box in the Waltz. After the lessons we went out on the floor to put our dance lessons to use and promptly got run off the floor. I can imagine what the more experienced dancers thought of us rank amateurs doing a box in the middle of traffic. The music started and we began our few faltering steps and then everyone seemed to be racing toward us from all different directions. I panicked and froze which made matters worse. We did make it off the dance floor without causing serious injury, other than to my pride. We haven't lost our amateur status, but I think our dancing is a little less rank.
We decided to try out Skinifatz again last night as we didn't have anything else scheduled. We met Sharon and Paul there to check the place out. We arrived about 6 PM and were the only people there besides the staff. They have a pretty good selection of appetizers and sandwiches so we ordered some dinner and enjoyed the fireplace. The fireplace is designed after the cooking fireplace at Monticello and held a good blaze that was appreciated on a cold winter night. The dance floor was all ours until 9 PM when the DJ showed up. In the mean time they had the sound system tuned to a radio station that did play music that we could dance to. All in all, we had a good time. It's always good to find another venue to dance at if the agenda on Saturday night is empty.
The best way to improve dance skills is to practice. Jodi, our instructor when we started taking dance lessons, encouraged her students to get out and dance. We decided to take a group lesson at Skinifatz. On Tuesdays, they had a beginning and intermediate lesson followed by open dancing. We had only just started dance lessons and hadn't realized that the Waltz is a moving dance. Nor did we have a clue about line of dance. (On a moving dance, dancers all move counter-clockwise around the floor. This helps couples avoid bumping into each other.) At that point we were only up to the basic box in the Waltz. After the lessons we went out on the floor to put our dance lessons to use and promptly got run off the floor. I can imagine what the more experienced dancers thought of us rank amateurs doing a box in the middle of traffic. The music started and we began our few faltering steps and then everyone seemed to be racing toward us from all different directions. I panicked and froze which made matters worse. We did make it off the dance floor without causing serious injury, other than to my pride. We haven't lost our amateur status, but I think our dancing is a little less rank.
We decided to try out Skinifatz again last night as we didn't have anything else scheduled. We met Sharon and Paul there to check the place out. We arrived about 6 PM and were the only people there besides the staff. They have a pretty good selection of appetizers and sandwiches so we ordered some dinner and enjoyed the fireplace. The fireplace is designed after the cooking fireplace at Monticello and held a good blaze that was appreciated on a cold winter night. The dance floor was all ours until 9 PM when the DJ showed up. In the mean time they had the sound system tuned to a radio station that did play music that we could dance to. All in all, we had a good time. It's always good to find another venue to dance at if the agenda on Saturday night is empty.
Friday, January 01, 2010
The New Year is Here
I'm one of the people who subscribe to the opinion that it's not only the beginning of a new year, but also the beginning of a new decade. We brought in the new decade last night with friends. We spent the evening with Candy and Jerry and with Kathy and Randy. The community where Kathy and Randy call home has a club house and they put on a special do for New Year's Eve. We had a buffet dinner and DJ. The dance floor kept pretty crowded. I can't think of a better way to welcome the new decade.
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