The weekend-long Wasatch Wiggle contra-dance event ended on Sunday, and three days later I’m finally getting feeling back in my toes. The blisters speckling my feet are turning into odd-shaped lumps of callus. My knees and hips have stopped trying to give way at odd times and they no longer feel uncertain about which way they’re supposed to bend. So much dancing! So much fun.
I wonder how many miles I walked, hopped, skipped or pirouetted over the weekend. And how many calories’ worth of high-energy snacks I nibbled on from the sideboard between dances. The best I can hope is that I broke even, I’m afraid.
The music was provided by Notorious, which performed as a duo+1—Eden Macadam-Somer, Larry Unger and Sam Bartlett—and they are fanTAStic. Seriously. Go watch this video of them performing “Gelem, Gelem” (the Romani national anthem) earlier this year at a different contra dance event. Marvelous.
The caller was Rick Mohr, and he led us through round after round of intricate, exciting choreography, almost without pause. I guess it’s really Rick Mohr’s fault my feet are so tired.
I took along my new-ish camera—a Canon PowerShot SX200 IS—to the Wiggle, and amused myself/annoyed everyone else when I wasn’t dancing by filming and photographing everything that happened. Here is some of the evidence:
Contra dancing is fun, is (relatively) easy on the joints, can be excellent exercise, and is danced to gorgeous music. And it’s great for beginners, because the steps are fairly simple, each dance begins with a run-through beforehand and then is danced to called instructions. Find a contra dance event near you and check it out!
I have a tradition of watching Fox’s summer reality show So You Think You Can Dance and blogging breathlessly about how hot the contestants are. Unfortunately for you, my avid readers, Twitter has taken over a great deal of that role in my life (which is one reason for the sparse updates here), which means that maybe, just maybe, you aren’t aware of my SYTYCD crush, Summer 2009 Version: Evan Kasprzak.
Here’s Evan and his brother Ryan’s audition video:
Here’s a jazz routine, choreographed by Tasty Oreo:
Here’s a contemporary routine choreographed by Mia Michaels, in which Evan is sadly fixated on his partner’s butt:
And here is the samba Evan danced last night with partner Randi.
SO HOT. Now, his samba’s not great, and in a lot of ways it’s not even good. But… somehow I don’t care.
Anyway. There you go! That’s my current crush.
Oh, and here’s the Mia Michaels routine that blew everyone’s minds on Twitter last night, and which looked like it was really going to suck in rehearsal and then turned out to be very powerful in the actual performance:
Here’s the routine were Jason danced with his shirt off the whole time (rowr):
And here’s the Wade Robson routine that closed out the night last night and made me really glad that Wade Robson is back as a choreographer on the show, and why the hell don’t they have him every week:
And oh my gosh I can’t post all the dance routines. The above videos are via Rickey.org—go watch the rest there, too. TTFN!
I saw a dance video yesterday evening that simply blew me away. Had to share it. So I pulled together a quick comparison/contrast lineup for y’all to make it look less like I was gushing about THIS SHINY NEW THING I FOUND.
First up is a television performance of the first part of Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker’s “Fase.” Feel free to fast-forward to the 1:40 minute mark if you don’t understand French.
As part of a Flickr group I just joined, I have taken photos of: my reflection, my skin, my feet, my bikes, my “best features” and my name (written in the air with a flashlight). I have ignored far more group challenges than I’ve participated in, but it has still been a fun way of getting to know my camera better and get back in the habit of taking pictures of everything that moves.
I went contra dancing last Saturday for the first time in a few months, and took an incredibly long video of one of the dances, whose existence my browser is currently ignoring, so, um, good luck with viewing it.
I also took three photos, for posterity. Here is my favorite.
Later this week I’m going to be in Kansas for a one-day library seminar. I’m hoping the seminar itself will be good, but I’m wishing it were somewhere exciting and/or beautiful, like Hawai’i, or New York City.
So You Think You Can Dance is back, as of last night, and I am all aquiver. The auditions are, if anything, crazier than those for American Idol, but are somehow also much more watchable—yes, you get the weirdos like “Gold Inferno,” but you also get sick, amazing acts like Robert Muraine’s or polished performances like Leonidas and Aliona’s. (David “Sex” Soller has never been the slightest bit watchable, of course—he invented “skeevy,” turned it into an art form and then bludgeoned us to death with it, and I really wish he would just stay home next year.)
But the REAL reason I’m so happy, the REAL reason I got so worked up over the return of the show, is that Season Two second-placer Travis Wall was on camera for a few fleeting moments. Ah, Travis, how we’ve missed ye. For old time’s sake, here is Travis and Heidi’s duet from Season Two (a routine that won choreographer Mia Michaels an Emmy).
He showed up to teach a simple routine to the contestants, and I’m hoping (fingers crossed!) that he makes several more appearances this season in that capacity.
I took this 58-second video last night during the contra dance at the First Unitarian Church in Salt Lake. I’m not in the video, because I was holding the camera.
Last night was a lot of fun. We watched The Rage in Placid Lake, which is, despite the title, not a horror movie. Instead, it is quirky and funny and sexy and Australian, and you should watch it for those reasons. After the film there was lots of yummy food, and tons of different kinds of drinks and treats, and laughter and merriment and snarky camaraderie. And dancing. And snippets of Sarah Silverman: Jesus Is Magic.
Tonight is the contra-dance holiday glam gala. I may be making an appearance in a double-breasted suit. There will be pictures.
I’m a little bit drunk, so maybe I should hold off on writing/posting this, but I just got through hosting the first party at my apartment, the same apartment I have lived in for the past two and a half years, and which has remained blamelessly virginal until tonight. I cannot speak for the others involved, but for me it was a blast. Music, food, drinking, good company, cute boys and girls—WHAT MORE COULD YOU ASK FOR????? If you want more in life than this, then you are either a) impossibly demanding or b) not drunk. And neither is any way to live.
There may be a non-drunk follow-up post to this one at some point. If I am ambitious, there may be a hung-over follow-up and then a non-hung-over, non-drunk follow-up. We shall see.
P.S. I have tons of alcohol chez moi, as well as tons of food. Please come consume it. [By appointment only; non-cool people need not apply.]
My birthday is in a few days (I’ll be twenty-seven, if you’re interested), and I got to celebrate it today with my sister, brother-in-law, niece and two of my cousins. It was strange, since I haven’t actually fêted my birthday in years, mostly because I forget—or pretend to forget—until it’s too late for people to do anti-social things like throw surprise parties for me.
Gabrielle and Steve drove me to the TRAX stop, and on the way I took several photos of Vienna looking perturbed, puzzled and plaintive, and one of her laughing.
I don’t really have any other birthday plans, although I am going contra-dancing tonight, after which I’ll be heading off to a (non-birthday-related) party with a friend to dance and drink the night away. Wish me the time of my life!
Here are a few pictures from contra dancing on Saturday. I didn’t remember to take out my camera until after the evening was over, so they’re all of people sitting, standing and talking
L-R: Me, Courtney, Miyo and Bill
Mysterious feets
A different Courtney (love her dress and scarf) and Peter
Peter models a water bottle, a backpack, an “As I Lay Dying” tee and a book of Rilke’s poetry.
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