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| Lindy: SOFLEX '07 |
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| on Monday, January 15, 2007 - 06:00 AM - 741 Reads |
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After all the buzz about how great this exchange is, I finally managed to go. The experience certainly didn't disappoint...
I think I knew about 20% of the people attending, a number of whom are my best friends in the dance scene. It was absolutely fantastic to see and dance with all of them. The weather was great, even if it was humid, the atmosphere at the dances was quite enjoyable. The event certainly lived up to it's exemplary reputation.
Venues: Overall the venues were too small for the number of people present. I'd heard that they extended the number of registrations well past their initial advertised caps, which would make sense. Also, the two outside venues were concrete, so I didn't dance much, and the Sunday late night was tile in one room and carpet in the other, neither of which is ideal for dancing. The other big factor was temperature. It was hot and muggy out, and I found myself sweating more than usual. Sunday evening was especially bad upstairs, being very hot and muggy. There were fans, but they didn't help much. I would expect better AC from any place in Southern Floriday. Finally, while most of the venues had a bar, which was really nice, it seemed most of them were either incredibly expensive or very limited. So, good, but not ideal. Since I know that most of these venues are not the regular venues for this scene anyway, I have a hard time believing that these are the best venues available throughout all of the Fort Lauderdale/Miami area.
On the bright side, I really enjoyed the Millennium Ballroom for late night. I'm not sure, but it might have been smaller than the Friday late night venue at the Canadian Club, but the atmosphere was much nicer. I did enjoy the outdoor dances, in spite of the concrete, mostly because I socialized more than danced during these.
Music: For the most part I had no problems with the music. The DJs were all enjoyable. The only one I specifically remember was Brenda's, maybe because I know her, but she played really good stuff. I don't think I got to hear anything of Tina's. The only set that I know I didn't care for was Nando's Sunday afternoon set of bizarre hip-hoppy type stuff. I don't mind a few of these thrown in periodically, but a whole set of them gets old fast. He commented that he didn't get requests for anything different, but I don't think that either the dance floor (it is an exchange after all, people will dance with their friends to pretty much anything) or DJ requests (which a lot of us just don't like doing) should be the gage that a DJ should use for deciding what to play. The live music was I also pretty good. I didn't have any complaints with any of the bands, but I don't think I'd have picked a jump blues band for Sunday evening. Personal preference, I know. Finally, the volume of the music was too loud a number of times. Maybe I'm getting more sensitive to this, but I'm going to buy some ear plugs and put them in my dance bag for such occasions. I don't need my ears damaged before I'm 40.
Hosting: Jaime and Kristina were wonderful hosts, and I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with all of my house-mates. I am disappointed that I didn't get to spend more time with James & Ashley, it seemed like they were pretty much stealth house-mates sneaking off to do things by themselves more often than not. Glenn and Laura were similarly scarce, especially Laura. Josh, Matt & Tiela usually rode in the car with Kristina and me, and they were hilarious. They totally fed off of each others' energy, and made the 20 minute drives much more enjoyable. Finally, Glenn is always a ton of fun to have around. I love talking to him about his website and his mission in life to get people hooked up with others who have complimentary personalities.
Overall dancing level I found the follows at this exchange to be very skilled. I had many excellent dances. I did find it interesting that not many of my favorites were locals. It is always interesting to get a common feeling for a certain scene. In this case, I felt like a lot of follows rushed, especially on the 1 & 2. They often spun too fast and were ready before the end of the measure, causing an awkward pause before we could resume dancing. I love it when follows take deliberate steps through a turn and eek out the last moments of the measure.
Top 6 Favorite Dancers in alphabetical order (I couldn't remove anyone from this list to limit it to just 5 this time)
1)Crista My lindy crush for the weekend (what is it with the married/engaged women that I end up liking our dances the best?)
2)Effie- Really enjoyed our connection
3)Jenna One of my all-time favorites, she'll end up on my top list whatever the event
4)Julie Some great blues dances and very enjoyable lindy
5)Michelle- San Francisco has treated her extremely well, I probably had better connection with her than anyone elseI danced with over the weekend.
6)Mike the Girl My oh my, why didn't this one move to Austin like she was supposed to? Incredible blues and lindy dances, and an intoxicating smile to boot.
My Close Friends who showed up: Courtney, Jeremy, Karissa, Kelly, Kristina, Laura, Michelle, Stephanie
Friends that I enjoyed seeing: Andy, Ashley, Aya, Brenda, Charlie, Danielle, Dave Madison, Devona, Glen, Glenn, James, Jamie, Jeramie Anderson, Jeremy Emack, Jeri, Jesse, Jewel, Joanna, Josh, Karen Maria, Keither, Kent, Liia, Lisa Marie, Loreto, Mark Kapner, Martin, Matt Fisher, Matt LA, Megan, Patrick, Rachel, Roy, Shawn, Shermalyne, Shorty George, Summer, Syrah, Tina Davis
Fun People I met: Ada, Allen, Amber, Erin, Jaime, Jessica, Josh, Julie, Laura, Megan Adair, Puqui, Tiela
People I didn't get to meet or dance with: Tamar always seemed busy when I saw her, and mentioned later that she was disappointed as well that we were never introduced. (I am curious as to what kind of introduction she needed when I had one of 4 orange pants on the entire weekend)... Also, I somehow completely missed Toni the entire weekend, who I also don't think I've ever met, let alone danced with.
Best experience of the weekend: Going to lunch and catching up with Michelle, Kelly and Stephanie
Best compliment: Jessica telling me that she enjoyed our dances and that I represented Austin very well.
Most interesting experience: The cops shutting down the dance for it going too late. This is the second exchange at which I've seen this happen, though at the first one (Utah '03) the police were a little less polite about everything, and kept threatening to arrest people.
Most disappointing experience: Not going to Keith & Summer's wedding. I just couldn't drag myself out of bed after less than 4 hours of sleep.
Most negative experience: I'll just leave this one alone, because it didn't have much to do with the exchange itself. |
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