Swing dancing -- "switch dancing"

Something new happened at last night's Friday night swing dance which I will call a "switch dance" but I'm sure there is another name. We were all on the dance floor watching the jam session and once it was over the dance started up again but with a twist about every 15 seconds we had to change dance partner. The DJ would call out "change" and we would dance with the closest follower. Over about a four minute period I danced with a fair number of women and many of which, I have never dance with before. It was a great way to meet a lot of dancers in a short period of time. After the dance I was able to dance with some new women which was great.

Swing dancing innovations

This past weekend, I spotted something new on the sidelines of the dance floor. Chip, one of our dancers, who is a professional engineer has built himself a battery powered fan that is driven by ten "C" batteries. C-size batteries are the ones about twice the size of a fig newton or your thumb. Chip has mounted the batteries and the fan on a board which uses to cool himself between dances. The fan face is on a mount which means he can just the angle at which the gusts of air hit his body. I thought it was a cool concept but a little too geeky for me.

On dancing...

This last weekend I tried another form of dancing called contra-dancing. The Wikipedia link is. I was encouraged to give it a try as many of the followers I dance with on Friday night are really into contra-dancing. As typical of many types of dancing there is always a shortage of leaders. To prepare for my initiation I watched some contra-dancing tutorial YouTube videos from a dancing group in North Carolina. As Saturday evening approached, I watched them again so I could tell the difference between doing an allemande, a star and a side pass. The dance hall is within walking distance from where I live and just across from Mountain Equipment Co-op. I arrived a little early to find that I wasn't only newbie. We were given a 30 minute crash course on contra-dancing. To ease you into the dance they pair you with an experienced dancer that acts as a mentor for the first couple of dances. Contra-dancing is a more structured dance compared to the free flowing East coast swing dancing that I am used to. The dancing is down and up a line which made up of line of leaders facing their follower. The caller is the person that calls out the moves during the dance. Below the dance starts the caller explains and walks the line through the various moves which acts as a rehearsal. Moments later the band starts planning and the caller calls out the move and the leaders and followers do their respective moves. The leader and follower either dance towards the band or away from the band. Once you reach the end of the line you sit for a couple of cords and then you re-enter the line and either dance up or down the line. When all the leader and follower pairs do there moves in sequence it is a high octane dance. The fun begins when people start to get tired or the sequences of moves are convoluted. The line will get a little screwed up and eventually self-corrects itself. I found the dancing quite demanding and opted to dance every second song. When sitting on the sidelines I realized the dance is about the leader-follower pair weaving back and forth between other leaders and followers. Tongue in check, I think I learned how some of my followers stay in such good shape by swing dancing on Friday night and contra-dancing on Saturday night every second week. We concluded evening with something special, a waltz which is something that I haven't done in a long time and only occasionally on New Years Eve. It was a really fun evening and I'm looking forward to next weekend for two reasons, a waltzing lesson and more contra-dancing.

Swing dancing floors

Over the weekend while swing dancing, I experienced a new type of dance floor, a homemade one made out of particle board and a 2x4 studs. The venue was along the Ottawa River at Britannia Park which is close to where I live. The forecast for the weekend was a 60% chance of thunderstorms so the organizers opted to hold the dancing under a tent and to build an impromptu dance floor which was bouncy in some places and stiff as a board in others. Midway through the afternoon Alaina, one of the local dance instructors, came out with a 10lb bag of corn meal and poured it all of the dance floor. The floor suddenly became very slippery which made for a new dancing experience. There was a side benefits as little kids saw the corn meal as a play toy and made piles and figures out of it while their parents were dancing nearby. This got me thinking about the other two dance floors that I regularly dance on. The Ottawa Swing dance society moved in the spring to a social hall attached to an old church which has a sprung floor. I really like the floor as it hall a nice give. OSDS's previous home was a community centre which had a parquet which sat on a cement pad which was hard on your back and knees after a while. I wondering what other dance floors are out there.

Lindy500 -- Baltimore

In a week's time I'll be heading to Baltimore. Charm City Swing has organized a weekend which showcases some of the premiere Lindy Hop swing dance instructors in the US. Lindy500 will have three nights of live bands and two days of intensive swing dance lessons focusing on the Lindy Hop and Charleston swing dance moves. I'm excited to be able to head to Baltimore as I will be able to learn more Lindy Hop, spend some time with Jason and Emily, hike Old Rag, possibly help Jason on a home renovation project and hopefully much more.

Heart rate study -- Day #1 Again

This morning I headed over to uOttawa to redo my heart rate research study. A bit of background the research study is looking at "the evaluation of continuous HRV during 24 hour periods and during staged exercise testing." While at the university they attached five heart rate sensor patches to my chest which are smaller and more comfortable than the ones they used last week. Rachel was happy with the first-24-hours worth of data collected before the VO2 test fiasco. As I was heading back to the office they promised me that they had found a new nose clip which won't slide off during the VO2 running test tomorrow. We'll have to see what happens. In anticipation of the test, I gave my legs a couple of days rest from running.

On another note, I had one of my best swing dance nights on Friday. I danced with a record number of followers and for some reason followers wanted to dance with me. There was only one bummer and that is, I didn't drink my diet coke before the dance. This made dancing a little hard as I really had to concentrate and focus on the music, and my footwork. Corona and I discovered a new form of dancing which we are called "fan dancing." Ottawa Swing Dance Society recently changed it dance location to a church hall which doesn't have air conditioning. I usually dance in shorts and a short-sleeve shirt. While Corona and I were dancing I steered her so that we were dancing in front of the fan. This made dancing in the hot church more bareable. For the rest of the night, I would steer my follower over to the fan so we could have a "fan dance." I think they appreciated the breeze from the fan.

Lindy 1 summary

Last week, I finished my first Lindy Hop swing dance with Alana Hock and decided to post a summary of the moves/steps we learned during the course.


Basic footwork followers: right, left, right-left-right (triple step), left, right, left-right-left (triple step)
Basic footwork leaders: left, right, left-right-left (triple step), right, left, right-left-right (triple step)

1. Lindy Hop basic
- rock-step, triple forward, step step, triple back (8-count)
- stay in closed position

2. Send Out
- rock “send” (leaders send followers out on 2)
- begin in closed, move to open position

3. Into closed
- leaders: back-together (on 1-2)
- followers: walk forward on 1-2
- begin in open, leaders catch and stop followers on 3-and-4, end in closed

4. Side pass
- leaders: back-together, bring left hand across body to lead follower to turn
- begin and end in open

5. Flip flop
- begin in closed with “circular” rock-step, move hand to shoulder blade
- leads open “door” on 1-2, then close on 3-and-4
- switch hands on follower’s back, then rock step on opposite foot
- to end, bring hand and arm back around follower’s hip (closing the space)

6. Rotating basic
- same as basic, but leads rotation towards right shoulder (clockwise)
- triple step back on 7-and-8

7. Lindy circle
- begin in open position, and same beginning as into-closed
- leaders: wait for follower, then start rotating clockwise
- triple step back on 7-and-8 (end in closed position)

8. Under-arm Tuck-turn
- “circular” rock-step, and move hand to shoulder blade
- close “door” on 3-and-4 (leader’s left and follower’s right hand squishing a
marshmallow)
- leaders: turn followers out (clockwise) and draw “C” with hand

9. Swing out!
- begin in open position
- leaders: back-together, triple-step (moving 180 degrees)
- followers, walk forward, matching leader’s shoulders
- on 4, face-off position
- on 5, leaders look then step to side 90 degrees
- end in open position

A small victory...

Tonight, I had a small victory which made me feel good. I was able to run 10 kilometers almost pain-free. Every day my gastrocnemius gets a little stronger and is a little less sore. As I tell Tina, my massage therapist, my "fist of pain" is getting smaller. What surprises me is that I can dance East-coast swing and Lindy Hop pain-free. It is the sudden jarring impact of landing with twice the force-of-gravity while running is the main culprit. The plan is to try and run the same distance tomorrow.

I started another set of Lindy hop swing dancing lessons with Alana, Rebecca and Louis. We spent most of the lesson going over the basic foot work, RS-TS-S-S-TS. Most the drills we did had us dancing forward and backward where as in other classes we would dance from left to right. There was one thing that sort of bother me a bit and that is what to do with my right hand. I've always been taught to place my right hand on the follower's scapula or shoulder blade (either left or right). Rebecca and Louis were having us place our right hand on the follower's right hip. It sort of felt awkard having been taught to avoid putting your hand on a follower's squishy bit.

Dancing in the dark...

I am typing this blog in the dark. It is Friday night and my first swing dance in a little while. A construction crew cut the power to studio earlier today by mistake. There is a CAT diesel generator humming outside which is still warming up so it is not producing any power yet. The dance hall is full of people talking with hushed tones in the dark. There are pockets of people huddling near folks that have cell phones. The phones are acting as portable flashlights and beacons. It is a weird situation. Power is expected soon but they keep on announcing delays. Harmonic Dave has pulled his harmonic and we are have a jam sessions waiting for the lights to come. Updates to follow...

Lindy 1.2

Last Thursday, I had my first Lindy Hop dancing lesson. There is a bit of a story as to how these lessons came about. About two weeks ago Andrea, sent out a group email mentioning that they were in need of leaders for upcoming lessons. A couple of days later along comes another email saying that they were in desperate need of leaders. This caught my attention so I kept a copy of the email on my desk. At the Friday night dance, Andrea asked me if I was going to take the lessons and I was more yes than maybe. A day later I got an email saying that if you replied within 24 hours the lessons would be free as the waiting list of followers was continuing to grow. This was enough encouragement for me to signup for the lessons. The lessons will repeat what I did in an eight course in the spring and I'm looking forward to brushing up on the steps.

Fiddleheads and swing

While out geocaching on the weekend I spotted another sign of Spring, fiddleheads. They are one of the first ferns to appear in the Spring and grow very quickly before disappearing. They are a delicacy and have a unique taste when prepared properly.

Last night I had a really fun time swing dancing. It was great for a couple of reasons, a live 20-piece jazz band, a new venue with a dance floor that has a new bounce, dancing a record number of dances in an evening (15) and dancing with many of the folks that I dance with regularly on Friday night. One of the organizer, swing dynamite, showcased their latest dance troupe submission to the upcoming Canadian Swing Championship in Montreal in May. I think that they will win an award as their dancing rocked. I am hoping to check out their dance lessons in the future.

Time...time...what time is it?

Tonight (Friday) while running south along the Rideau Canal I had an
interesting experience. A runner was coming towards me from the
opposite direction as I fumbling with my GPS watch. He started
pointing at his wrist and shouted time, time, what time is it? I wasn't
sure what time he was interested in as my watch was showing that I was
18 minutes and 34 seconds into my workout as well as being 6:45pm. I
shouted back that it was 18:34 which seemed to satisfy him. On the way
back, I bumped into the speedsters that I run with on Wednesday night
who were doing their warmup. I sped up considerable and they responded
allow us to do the next two miles at a pace very close to slowest km
interval pace of 4:20. It felt good to burn off a day's worth of
stress. At the same time my legs were nicely limbered up for swing
dancing.

Last night, I had my first of six lindy swing dance lessons. We
reviewed some of the basic moves and spent much of the evening doing
slow step, slow step, followed by step - triple step - step, with the
s-ts-s being done on a eight count. They mentioned that it would be
frustrating at first but if we were patient the prize was out there
waiting.

The 5-6-7 dancing mystery...

While darting across the uOttawa campus today I spotted a dance troupe doing their routine. As with swing dancing they counted off 5,6,7 and started their dance moves. The question I pose is why don't we say start off with 1,2,3 or 4,5,6. I also wonder what the origin of the of starting off with 5 as it seems that many other dances in addition to swing dancing use this protocol. Hmm...

Shoes

On Friday, I was looking at my shoes with a smile. There is a little problem with my Keen slip-ons. It is a fatal problem. There is a hole that makes me happy as it is in my forefoot. Hmm, why would this make me happy? A hole in this location means that I have been doing my swing dancing correctly by dancing on my forefoot. The shoes are a year old and have taken me through a challenging winter. When REI had a fall closeout sale I bought a replacement pair at a fire sale price. This pair is currently getting daily service at the office as I change into them at the start of each work day. When there is a hint of better weather it will be time to retire my well trodden Keen and embrace the new ones.

Swing dancing--Solomon Doulglas Swingtet

The Ottawa swing dancing scene will have a special guest on Friday night the Solomon Douglas swingtet. I bought my ticket a couple of weeks ago as when we have a live band the tickets always sell out. I wasn't too sure who these performers were so I decided to check out their website and found a really useful and helpful nugget. It is a play list of songs that Solomon uses for teaching the Lindy Hop. It was a sweet find.

I had an incredible past couple of days in Baltimore swing dancing and taking in dancing workshop at John Hopkins University. Charm City Swing(CCS) organized the event had a beginner/intermediate tract as well as an advanced. I took the beginner tract and was able to develop a basic grounding in the lindy hop which I can now start building on. I really liked the depth that the instructors took to making sure we understood the basics. For example, at the end of the first triple step your body should be at a 90 degree angle from where you started the move, and at the end the first step it should be 135 degrees relative to your starting position and the final triple step is completed 180 degrees from where you started the move. It is details like this that allowed me to visualize and remember where my body needs to be at a certain point in time. The dancing weekend closed out with an hour long blues dancing lessons which was a lot of fun and quite intimate. I learned an enormous amount about swing dancing and how I can improve on the main things I already know. I would like to thank Jason and all the folks at CCS and the many local and imported teachers for a great weekend.

I'm in the midst of drafting a blog of the weekend and will post it later in the week.

Lindy Hop -- Swing Dance

At the start of the year I set out a couple of goals that I wanted to achieve in 2008. I am making good progress on many of the goals. One of them is to dance the Lindy Hop. Over the past couple of weeks, I have been taking Lindy Hop lessons at the UOttawa which are taught by a couple of students. These lessons have been a lead up to the Lindy Hop weekend in Baltimore at the end of the month. Charm City Swing is having a Lindy Hop marathon weekend of 20 hours of lessons and three night of dancing to a live band. I view dancing the Lindy Hop like a journey as the number of the dance moves is broad and it will take a little while to become total comfortable with basic footwork(RS(1-2) TS(3&4)-S(5)-S(6)-TS(7&8). I want to thank Jason for suggesting that I come to Baltimore for the Lindy weekend. It has been a relief to find that many of the dance moves in West Coast swing can be translated over to Lindy Hop with a little variation.

Lindy Hop

In less than a month, I hope to achieve one of my New Year's resolutions which is to dance the Lindy Hop. I've been spending the last little while watching teaching videos on Youtube, but watching is the same as actually doing the moves. The basic steps are a little different, as you do a rock-step/triple-step/step/step/triple-step all on an eight count. My swing dancing current does a rock-step/step-hold/step-hold on a six-count. Charm City swing in Baltimore is having a lindy hop workshop weekend at the end of February. As well, one of my favorite jazz band, The Boilermakers will be in Baltimore for one of the nights which will be great. I'll be heading down to take in the workshop as well as to spend some time chilling.

Workout tonight -- 30 minute warmup/7x400 m hills/ 10 minute warmdown

2008 Goals

2008 Goals

* Run a 1:30 half-marathon time
* Go on more OHOC outdoor adventures
* Do more hiking trips
* Climb more of the 46ers (46 highest peaks in the Adirondacks , NY)
* Loose 10 lbs by May 30 (race date –National Capital half-marathon)
* Hike the West Coast Trail/Shenandoah National Park/Old Smoky National Park
* Run a faster Baltimore half-marathon (< 1:34 ) in October 2008
* Visit Brent ( Algonquin Park ) by canoeing and portaging and bring along a digital camera
* Reach 500,000 Babble point (now 350,000) www.playbabble.com
* Do more cycling (road and mountain biking)
* Geocaching goal 900-1000 finds by Dec 31 2008
* Become more mobile
* Complete an Olympic Distance triathlon (1500m swum/40km cycle/10km run)
* Swing dancing – Learn the Lindy Hop
* Take the train to Baltimore

Suggestor—Agreeor

On Friday night, I learned something new about the swing dancing roles. One of the teachers talked about the leader role and follower roles as suggestor and agreeors. The leader will suggest to the follower that they should do a dance move and the follower agrees/doesn’t agree that she wants to do the move. I had never heard the roles talked about this way. But it does make sense as a situation could arise when the leader suggests a move to the follower but for safety reason (risk of a collision with others) the follower might defer making the move. The rotation was fun as well as whenever we heard the Santa “ho-ho-ho” the follower would switch to a different leader. They added in a new dimension to the lesson which sucked a bit as we learned fewer moves. The instructions had to be explained in English and French which slowed things down a bit. One more week of dancing and then the 2007 season finishes.

2007 Baltimore half-marathon

Short Version

1:35:23 on a hilly course
Improved my time by 101 seconds over 2006 race
Place 150/5044

Long Version

A little over a week ago I ran in my third Baltimore half-marathon and came away very pleased with my race. I improved my personal-best for the course by 101 seconds and finished in 150th place out of 5044 finishers. In the weeks leading up to race day I was unsure about my fitness level so I went into the race not knowing where I would finish. I flew down to Baltimore on Friday morning and Jason met me at the airport. We went over to the race expo and I picked up my race package. At the expo they had a cool exhibit for horseradish cheese (http://www.cabotcheese.com/f1.php?left=menu-ourproducts.html&right=/ourproducts.html) which had a mild taste. I headed back to the hotel to unpack and to lay out my racing gear for the morning. Later in the day, Jason, Emily and I went out for a carbo-loading meal at an Indian restaurant where I ate a humongous plate of rice. After the meal we went up to John Hopkins University to take in some swing dancing. I danced less than I would have like but I didn't want to stress the legs for the big race the next morning.

I was up early on Saturday at 5:30 am. I wanted to have my breakfast fully digested by race time. It took the form of a couple of bowls of Vector cereal, a handful of bananas and some strong tea. The original plan was to do my warmup run (5km/3.1 miles) starting from the hotel and ending at the start line. At the last minute, I changed my mind as the hotel was offering a shuttle that would take you close to the start line. This was a relief. I caught the 7:00 am shuttle and quickly located the bag-check area. I spent a little while chilling before I headed over to watch the start of the marathon(a) (b). Along the way I spotted Larry-the-lighthouse who was going to run the race as a lighthouse. Once the marathoners were on their way I headed back to bag-area and munched on a Clif bar. The spurt of energy would ensure that I was fully fueled for the race. At this point time seemed to speed up as soon it was forty-five minutes before race time. I ditched my sweats and warmed up over to the start. I waded through 4700 runners before I found an opening near the first corral. At 10:45 am the siren sounded and we were off with 13.1 miles to go. The course heads south slightly before heading in a westerly direction for a couple of miles. At around the three mile mark a familiar site came into view Patterson Park. We ran down one side of the park along the bottom and the up the hill on the other side. At this point the marathoners met up with the half-marathoners. A distinguishing feature of the marathoners was a "FULL" sticker on their singlets. As we ran further and further away from the harbor we gained elevation eventually reaching one of my favourite parts of the course, Clifton Park. Clifton Park is the former estate of John Hopkins and has an eight-sided gazebo [Clifton Gate House (1887) ] (http://www.baltimorecity.gov/government/recnparks/popups/parks/clifton_park.htm) which is a relay point for the marathon.

Once past Clifton Park we ran on uncharted territory. For the past three years the bike path around Lake Montebello has been closed for construction. This year they re-introduced the mile-long loop back into the race course. This was another highlight of the race. The race does a 360 degree loop of the lake. I really enjoyed this part of the race. The next part of the course would take us along the edge of the John Hopkins University campus. I was getting close to the ten mile where my energy levels start to wane. I sucked on a caffeinated-Clif gel which gave me a surge of energy allowing me to surge by a large number of suffering participants. The final three miles are all downhill with exception of one hill that takes you over a multi-coloured bridge. Last year, this was the point where I was really suffering. This year I was able to run over the bridge with a fair amount of gusto. I did a couple of long surges over the next couple of miles. The goal was to get to the finish as quickly as possible before I ran out of energy. The final mile was fast and painful. It was also a fun mile as you run through the gates of Camden Yards, the home of the Orioles. The finish line was a welcome site. It would take me a couple hours to learn from the web that I had improved my time by 101 seconds over 2006. My third Baltimore half-marathon was a great success and I am looking forward to my forth in 2008.