| I attended LAFLX this year! The trip started at 5:45 pm on Friday, March 28th, 2008, when my friend Diana arrived to pick me up. Diana and I knew each other for a few months, but there's nothing like several hours together in a car to get to know each other better. I navigated without looking at Diana's instructions until we got close to Chicago. Unfortunately, the Google instructions and Chicago's freeway signs didn't always seem to match. We decided to just follow the Google instructions, and ignored Chicago's confusing signs. This helped us feel a bit more comfortable with the thick traffic, anyway. And it was a good plan for a while...too bad that the Google instructions couldn't tell us that we went too far, and missed an exit somewhere. Instead, we learned of our mistake when I saw a sign that said, "Michigan law requires that you fasten your seatbelts." So we turned around, and decided to purchase an Indiana State Map at a gas station. It was worth its high price! I asked the gas station attendant, "About how far is it to Purdue University?" and he answered, "A few hours." We were feeling disappointed, but still extremely determined to hurry to Purdue and start dancing the night away. We reached the church for the late night dance, and asked some swing dancers in the street about parking. I recognized some of the girls and J.T. from Swing Break, and asked them if there would still be a registration table, since we had missed the first dance completely. One of the girls said that she would be at the table herself. So we rushed to the dance as fast as we could. We checked in, getting our registration packets, t-shirts, and bracelets, and chatted with Swing Breakers about the progress of Chartreuse, the long drive, etc. As soon as I changed my shoes, Scott Richter asked me for a dance. It was an odd beat, so we danced the next one, too. The band was a bit difficult to dance to much of the time, due to the fact that the tempos were fast, and a lot of the guys wanted to lindy faster than they could comfortably lead. During band breaks, DJs would take over the music, and played a lot of bluesy songs and moderate lindy beats. Throughout the night, I danced almost constantly, and danced with some familiar faces from Purdue, Chicago, Michigan, and Austin, Texas, and met many, many more. I was happy to reconnect with friends! I especially spent a lot of time talking, dancing, and catching up with Hales. Eventually, I asked Lawrence if he could introduce me to my hostess for the weekend, Heather. He searched for her for a song, but couldn't find her. So Chris Mankey looked for her for two more songs, and ended up introducing me to her roommate, Amanda. At 4:45 am, the dance ended, and Amanda drove us to her house. The other girl who was supposed to stay at the house, too, never showed up at the dance, and never showed up all weekend. So I slept comfortably on a giant futon by myself... Perhaps too comfortably. When I looked at my watch, it said 1:00. Oh, but the time difference....no, that makes it 2:00, which means that the afternoon dance started an hour ago! I hurriedly got ready and straightened up, while Amanda made a pizza and explained that she would drop me off at the dance. She had plans with a friend, but would come to the dance later. We exchanged cellphone numbers, so we could get in touch with each other. At 2:45, Amanda handed me a water bottle and said, "Have fun!" dropping me off at Slayter Hill. 
It was about 50 degrees and breezy, and the dancing was well underway on the concrete. I chatted with a few follows, and one of them said she could lead, so I asked her to dance. The dancing and sunshine warmed me up, so I took off my jacket and danced for hours, until my feet started getting a little sore. Then I took some photos, and got cold, putting my jacket back on, and getting more dances. The concrete was hard on my feet, but at least you could spin on it in a few places that were polished smooth from dancing feet. The dance ended, and my hostess wasn't there. I called her, and she said that she couldn't pick me up, and gave me some generalized directions that might have made sense if I knew the area. So I asked Chris Mankey if he could help me out. Chris is a really nice, friendly, outgoing, and helpful guy, and he was more than willing to help me out. He invited me to eat with him, too. Chris Waters and Ricky Traut were staying with Chris, and Lawrence wanted to hang out, too, so there was quite a group of us walking together. Hmmm...a big group of guys, what might they talk about? Guns! I was surprised, but maybe I shouldn't be. We walked to Chris's dorm room, then we walked to Amanda's house, and Amanda joined us. She had gotten her nose pierced! With two girls in the group now, the conversation could turn to more normal things, like biographical stuff. Chris and Amanda showed us the special circles on campus, and we each had a turn clapping our hands to experience the special sound qualities. Then we walked to Fazoli's. The instant that we got up to the counter area, I heard the song "Fever" playing, and exclaimed, "We should Lindy Bomb!" I asked Lawrence to dance, and we danced until his order came up. Then I asked Ricky to dance. He agreed, and a moment later said, "Hey, this is "Fever!" and began to REALLY dance with me. I took my camera out of my pocket and asked Chris Mankey to take photos. Amanda had never Lindy Bombed before, but when she saw us, she asked Chris Waters to dance, too. Lindy Bombs exhilerate me! 
Ricky, Chris Waters, Amanda, Lawrence, and Chris Mankey. 
Ricky and I did some blues during our Lindy Bomb at Fazoli's. At Fazoli's we chatted, ate, got extra breadsticks, made origami flowers, and were disturbed by some guys who decided to make the building, especially the windows, vibrate from their "impressive" stereo. The guys in our group said that they weren't changing before the evening dance, so we dropped them off at the union on our way back to Amanda's house. Amanda and I both opted for dressier clothes, and brought jeans along for the late night. As soon as I had my shoes on this time, I was asked to dance by a guy I had not met before, named Joseph. He had flown in from Los Angeles for LAFLX! He was fun to dance with, and asked me to be his friend on Facebook (which, by the way, LAFLX exploded all over my Facebook!). The South Ballroom was magnificent! The floors were smooth and beautiful, there was ornate woodwork on the walls, and the music was perfect. I danced with some more new people, and more of the faces were becoming familiar ones. My friends Cody, Scott, and Nicole arrived from Milwaukee, and Cody made a beeline for me before buzzing around the room to say hi to his other friends and then returning to me for a dance. That brought the number of Milwaukee dancers up to seven: Adam Baus, Justin, Diana, Cody, Scott, Nicole, and me. Adam got us together for a photo. Soon after, there was a jam circle. In this case, the jam circle was for anyone who wanted to showcase their moves. Cody and Scott did some solo charleston, Scott and Nicole did some partner charleston, and Adam and Diana did some shag, so I was really impressed with Milwaukee's highlights. Of course there was a lot of jaw-dropping dancing going on from everyone who jumped in, but I don't remember everyone, and I didn't manage to get the photos I wanted from that. The whole night was full of excellent dancing and not enough hydration. When the evening dance ended, I changed to jeans and a t-shirt and joined a group of people headed for Arby's, including my hostesses Amanda and Heather (I finally met her!), Scott Thorne and Megan, and a lot of people I hadn't met. 
The Milwaukee Seven: Adam Baus, Diana Holmes, Justin Raibolt, Kerry Klinger, Cody Cornellier, Nicole Longstaff, and Scott. 
Diana, Lawrence, and Hales at the Saturday Evening Dance. The late night was excellent, too! We were back at the same church as the night before, but with a different band. The singer had a thing for audience participation, and Cody led the crowd in giving him the feedback that he wanted. I've never been at a dance with dancers yelling and screaming while they dance! It was really funny! The band played a wide range of tempos, but mostly played mediums and slows, which was nice because of the amount of dancing we had already done. I used to love the fastest songs the best, but now I like mediums and slows a lot, too. Scott Thorne and J.T. really opened me up to blues, which I found kind of uncomfortable until now. I guess it just took the right leads. And now that I'm starting to get it, I want to practice it, to not forget what I picked up, and to learn more. So it's tempting to find my way back to a dance with Scott Thorne, J.T., Ricky, Brent, Brandon, Mateo,... I asked Adam to blues with me that night, and he first surprised me by saying that he's not really into blues anymore, and then surprised me with some of his moves. Throughout the night, the only part missing were some of my favorite Purdue leads. Apparently, some were tired, and one had something else to attend to. Cody, Scott, and Nicole drove back to Milwaukee at the end of the night---5 am. I went to sleep finally at 6:00 Purdue time, after setting my alarm for 10:45. Later that morning, I woke up and packed up, and Amanda and I went to breakfast. I was extremely impressed! There were tableclothes on the tables and a continental breakfast buffet set up in the ballroom we had danced in the night before. I had been expecting to eat at the university commons, so this was a big step up. I enjoyed a muffin, lots of fresh fruit, and milk. It was great to sit at a big table with a bunch of dancers and just talk, too! Hu said that he needed more protein, because he was only getting it from the yogurt and milk. We all started talking about delicious meat, and our favorite way to eat eggs. Hu announced that he would be late getting to the farewell dance because he would have to hunt and eat a rabbit. (Of course, he was joking!) Then some dancers made an announcement that we were getting kicked out of the room, and had to go to the dance at another church. Mateo DJed when I got to the dance. He played my favorite set of all from the weekend. There was lots of old music, and mixed tempos that matched my moods. When Adam DJed later, he played a gospel set. All of the windows were open and I wish I had seen the reaction of a passerby, to witness a church bursting with gospel music and swing dance on a Sunday afternoon. (But I wouldn't want to be standing under the window that fell out, was caught, and fixed.) Throughout the afternoon, groups of dancers left to travel back home, and the result was that I started missing people even before I had to leave. The dance ended at 6pm, and Diana and I had the mixed reaction of never wanting to leave, having to say goodbyes, and being anxious to hit the road and get home. Before we left, people started asking Diana and me to come to FDLX in April... We had minimal difficulties with getting home, despite a few detours of road construction, and when I turned on my computer, I was greeted with friend requests, messages, and tags on Facebook from dancers. The exchange ended, but it's just the beginning of more to come...and I feel the adrenaline rush just thinking about it! http://www.flickr.com/photos/8573921@N06/sets/72157604328893773/ Check out more photos here. |
