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Friday, August 08, 2003 La Danse When I started dancing consistently in April I planned to go out about once a week and either swing or salsa. I haven't done any salsa since James went back to Florida for the summer, but I've developed an obsession with swing that I would have never predicted. Case in point: I went dancing three times last week. And you thought swing was just a fad. Well, the fad is long over--I'd say it died around 2000--but in Ann Arbor there are still a number of amazing dancers and Wednesday nights at the Union are full. And I'm discovering things most of us never knew existed--like Lindy Exchanges, where dancers from around the country or even the world can register for a weekend of dancing literally until you drop (the events at the St. Louis Blues Lindy Exchange last from "12:00am 'til everyone passes out" or 7:00am; unbelievable) and more-or-less free housing is provided by locals in the city where the exchange is held. I.e., things become pretty affordable. One thing that's fueled the obession is that I can tell tell I've gotten better and I've been told by a couple of guys I dance with fairly regularly that I've improved. If improvement doesn't keep you motivated, little will. And now I've gotten some friends into the action: Anna Draper, Tait, and Rachel Mathews have all been persuded, and Daria, who started dancing in high school and stopped, is now taking swing lessons. In other words, InterVarsity, a group that at the University of Michigan is composed primarily of introverted engineers, may finally have critical mass to get people dancing. Amazing. My friend Darren and I talked about planning a swing dance two years ago but it never panned out because we realized that once we put everything together, either no one would come or a handful would show up and only a couple of them would dance. So things are looking up--and we finally are getting more non-engineering types (not that I don't love our engineers, but there's truth to the stereotype... for guys anyway). So the moral of this blog is: Eating chocolate on chicken is a bad idea. Nah. Get out there and go swing. ^ Top | 2:39 AM | | | 
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