We really did have a good time. Morgan's set was good but I didn't know most of it, so playing with the music was a little hard for me. But over all a lot of fun. The place was kinda empty for some reason... Not really sure why.
Strutter's is such a odd place to me. It has such clearly defined "zones". Really good people in the front, beginners in the back. One of my friends I think nailed it on the head when she said "Its like high school. They are the seniors and you are the freshman. " It really does feel like that. Honestly though I think its only part their attitude. The other even bigger part is my own feelings of... well sucking. When you dance with someone a lot better then you, you feel like your boring them or its a bad experience for them.
My goal most nights is to dance with one of the "seniors". I know it will help my dancing so I try very hard to wait for a song I know, at a tempo that won't make a fool out of me, and then I try really hard to get up the nerve to ask one of them.
The ridiculousness of the whole things amazes me. A few of my friends are really good, yet even they intimidate me. However after my wife so kindly reminded me what a idiot I am for not dancing with Janine (our good friend who is really good) I summoned up my nerve I walked up and asked her to dance... It really was on of my best dances of the night and she told me to not stop asking. That meant a lot to me and I'm happy my wife reminded me of the fact that they are just people. Friends or strangers... they are just people who share the same love of dance. They just happen to be better then you at the moment.
Here are a few pics of the night....
Here is DJ Morgan and Janine..
Des(my wife) and I...
Des and Amy shagging...
Make sure you ask these girls to dance.... They are always fun!-X
In DC, Glen Echo is the same way: Rock Stars in the front, First Timers in the back...
ReplyDeleteTo their ("our") credit, though, it's not that the better dancers don't WANT to visit the back of the room and socialize with lots of newbies – we do! – it's just that there are so many of our FRIENDS there, with whom we're, you know, /socially compelled/ to dance; far be it from me to turn down somebody I know I'm going to see week after week! Consequently, the good dancers simply run out of time (and perhaps ambition) to ask the beginners to dance.
(Which is why it's über-important for folks to "dance up" with the good dancers: that's the only way to improve!)
*Shrug* Anyway, that's my rationalization for why people accuse the good dancers of being snobby... I'm sure there certainly *ARE* outright stuck-up clique-ish brats, but by and large, most of the people _I_ dance with are always patient and willing to spread the Lindy love. :-D
I've had the same feeling about Strutters. And so, it seems, do a lot of people. Which might be why it's so empty.
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