Hooray for Beantown!

Beantown. Even though I’m now in Memphis and have many stories to tell, I want to write about this past week at Beantown, as it was one of my most fulfilling experiences in a long tme. Not only did I learn a great deal about dance and meet cool people, but I really had an awesome time. Every once in a while things just come together; this was one of those times.

I really gave it all my all, too. I tried to be patient and to take my time with things. I practiced and took notes on all the classes. And, having not set any expectations for myself, I felt really good knowing they would have been exceeded anyways.

The moves and exercises we learned really rocked. Steven & Virginie and Paul & Sharon showed us some really great information about connection and illustrated it well with some blues steps. Rob & Diane taught us some awesome passes and were really clear. And Anna & Frederik… well let’s just say Anna has some nice isolations ;)…

And the people… I certainly met folks from all walks of life. I love how swingers stem from such a potpourri of backgrounds. I shouldn’t mention too many names because I’ll forget some, but I need to thank… Carol & Jori for the amazing dances, Meg for the medicine chats, Peter & Alec for the deep thoughts, Mike for being so darn cool, and Kim for being an all-around great person. A few of them are in the pictures attached to this entry…

With all the workshops and the people though, it was the socials at night that really made Beantown so worthwhile. By dancing with the same people for seven nights one can really figure a lot out, and (at least in my case) start feeling really comfortable on the floor. I can honestly say that I’ve never felt as physically connected with people as I did this week. But there’s no need to use your imagination…

All in all this was just a great experience and I really hope to attend many more dance camps in the future. This one was worth every cent, along with every tired minute I spent not sleeping. I could go on and on, and I have already with my friends, but I’ll just leave you with this: find something you really enjoy and give yourself some time to really fall in love with it. It’ll make life a fulfilling experience…