Trip up to Boston went marvelously. It began with a rough start where I had 15 minutes to shower, pack, and get out the door. With no time to eat breakfast, I was left to my own devices -- and my own food back -- to sustain myself for the next eight hours. Unfortunately, the best I could do was bread and peanut butter. By the time I arrived in Boston I was famished and desperately wanting greens. At least my body knows (in a general sense) what it needs.
I was uncertain whether I'd stay in Boston for Friday, depending on the number of private lessons I could schedule. Much to my pleasant surprise, a lot of people were interested in taking lessons, even without prompting. I think I taught six or seven lessons over 24 hours. It was rewarding to work with leads in the community. I don't get to do this often -- especially at dance events -- because I'm mostly soliciting privates to follows I'm dancing with. I was excited by the opportunity to seed good habits among leads to make our partner's experience more enjoyable.
I was impressed by how may people wanted to learn and refine their dancing. The class at Blues Union was well attended. I ran them through a variety of solo movements. By the end, their sways were beginning to integrate and their fish tails looked … fishy. Been a while since I taught that solo moves class, it's changed a lot since I did it in Portland. Incidentally, I think it made good advertising for my private lessons because it highlighted technical knowledge and movement quality, concepts that many students appreciated.
Friday evening (following private lessons) went quickly as we went to BSC for linty hop and then out for drinks after. Surrounded by good friends and good conversation, it's times like these make me wish our brains were better equipped to permanently imprint memories. Perhaps my favorite moment from that night (not taken verbatim):
Julie: (talking about a cheesy song being DJed poorly in the past, speaking sarcastically) "Of course, this song is excellent of its own virtue. In a vacuum, it's great."
Andrew: "Exactly, because in a vacuum, you can't hear it."
Physics jokes, FTW.
Now it's back to Pittsburgh to visit Carnegie Mellon University on Tuesday, then on to DC to teach on Thursday. It's hard to believe my trip is rapidly coming to an end: it's going so fast.
I was uncertain whether I'd stay in Boston for Friday, depending on the number of private lessons I could schedule. Much to my pleasant surprise, a lot of people were interested in taking lessons, even without prompting. I think I taught six or seven lessons over 24 hours. It was rewarding to work with leads in the community. I don't get to do this often -- especially at dance events -- because I'm mostly soliciting privates to follows I'm dancing with. I was excited by the opportunity to seed good habits among leads to make our partner's experience more enjoyable.
I was impressed by how may people wanted to learn and refine their dancing. The class at Blues Union was well attended. I ran them through a variety of solo movements. By the end, their sways were beginning to integrate and their fish tails looked … fishy. Been a while since I taught that solo moves class, it's changed a lot since I did it in Portland. Incidentally, I think it made good advertising for my private lessons because it highlighted technical knowledge and movement quality, concepts that many students appreciated.
Friday evening (following private lessons) went quickly as we went to BSC for linty hop and then out for drinks after. Surrounded by good friends and good conversation, it's times like these make me wish our brains were better equipped to permanently imprint memories. Perhaps my favorite moment from that night (not taken verbatim):
Julie: (talking about a cheesy song being DJed poorly in the past, speaking sarcastically) "Of course, this song is excellent of its own virtue. In a vacuum, it's great."
Andrew: "Exactly, because in a vacuum, you can't hear it."
Physics jokes, FTW.
Now it's back to Pittsburgh to visit Carnegie Mellon University on Tuesday, then on to DC to teach on Thursday. It's hard to believe my trip is rapidly coming to an end: it's going so fast.
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