A weekend of swing

This weekend was the Osaka Lindy Exchange. Russell and I are dead tired today (a national holiday, at least, so we don't have to rush right back to work) but it was worth it.

Here was the general schedule:

Friday:
1 hour Balboa Lesson + 4 hours of social dance.
I was late for the lesson because I had to run there from work. It was my first introduction to Balboa, though and definitely sparked my interest. Balboa (at least when you are starting) is not a flashy dance, but the movements are so tiny and fast that you really have to stay focused. Not so much fun to watch, but really interesting to dance.

There was a late night dance, but Russell and I opted to head home after the main dance and gear up for the rest of the weekend instead.

Saturday:
4 hours of workshops (intermediate lindy motion, beginner balboa and integrating balboa and lindy hop).
1 hour lesson (oops! too slow! missed this)
4 hour main dance
5 hour late night dance (midnight - 5am) Russell and I couldn't make it. We cut out at 3.

Saturday was awesome. All three lessons we took were very digestible and appropriate for our level. We weren't overwhelmed or bored in any of the classes - which has probably never happened before. Naru and Nao from Yokohama taught all three lessons and did a fabulous job of pacing the lesson with just enough practice and challenge. The Main Dance was packed. It was often difficult to dance, especially if the lead wanted to do real swing outs. There was lots of bumping into people and stepping on feet. Even so, I didn't hit the dance floor as much. Its my fault for being shy about asking people to dance, but there was definitely tons of excellent dancing going on. The late night dance was amazing. The venue was 100 times better than last year and really fun. There was space, there were huge windows looking down to the street below - it was really fun.

Sunday:
4 hours dancing in the Osaka Castle park
1 hour lesson (skipped again! voted for dinner with a new friend instead)
4 hour main dance - with a Jack and Jill contest
5 hour late night dance (made it to 4:00am this time, but still couldn't keep up with the die-hards.

Sunday was also a blast. Russell and I had gotten a hotel for Saturday and Sunday night so we could stay out as late as we wanted, but not have to stay out until the trains started again in the morning - a good balance. Unfortunately, we booked late and since it was a holiday weekend, we couldn't find both nights in the same hotel. We had to check out Sunday morning and then back in at another place. That got us out of the hotel earlier than we would have really chosen if left to our own devices. We went foraging for baked goods and coffee and then headed to Osaka Castle to catch up with the dancing crowd. Everyone was looking a little droopy, but once the live music started around 2:00 everyone was up and dancing. The dancing and musical performance gathered a fair sized crowd, which was nice. It would be great to generate some interest and grow the swing scene in Osaka.

During the dance in the park, we met a woman who was visiting from Florida. She had come to see a friend in Kyoto and was looking to see if she could find any swing in the area when she stumbled on the exchange. We ended up going out to dinner together and chatting for a while. Unfortunately, that meant we missed another lesson, but sitting down for a meal was awfully nice, too. One thing I have to say about swing, you meet the greatest people.

At the main dance there was a Jack and Jill competition. Russell and I had signed up earlier, so we went to get our numbers and start dancing with as many people as possible before the competition began. If you were reading the blog last year, I described Jack and Jill competitions then. The basic idea is that women and men both sign up and are paired randomly with several different partners. All partners are rated by judges as they dance with different partners and the top overall men and women are selected, randomly paired again and then dance for the audience. The interesting thing about the competition is that no one knows who they will be dancing with so there's no choreography. As we fully expected, neither Russell nor I made it to the finals, but it was a ton of fun. A great excuse to give it your all and dance with exceptional dancers.

By the late night dance we were really worn out and foot sore, but it was so much fun we just didn't want to stop. I don't know how the organizers (Mariko, Etsuko, Ishii and others) managed to keep up with everything - they were the first there and the last out as far as I could tell, in addition to the stress of planning and running an event like this. I imagine they will be recovering for quite some time, but they did a fabulous job. It was tons of fun and we're already looking forward to next year.

I do have to apologize for not taking more pictures - I guess I was distracted...

Did you spot Russell?