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| Lindy: DLX 8 |
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| on Tuesday, May 22, 2007 - 06:00 AM - 737 Reads |
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My third Denver Exchange in six years was as thoroughly enjoyable as always. A weekend of solid good fun, and exactly the event I needed...
This was a relaxing, fun weekend with great friends and a lot of dancing, without it being too much. I've had more fun at exchanges (dance dance dance, everything a whirlwind of fun and excitement). This weekend was about perfect for where I am now. I got to dance enough, I got to hang out enough, some drinking without overdoing it. Great music, great venues, great friends and great dances.
Read on for full review of weekend...
Venues
I love the Turn. I wouldn't mind if it was effectively the Turnverien Exchange. Plenty of room upstairs for the evening dance. Place to eat at late night. Decent second room downstairs, but it is a little too small for anything other than blues dancing, though. So, I loved all Friday, and the Saturday Late night.
Saturday evening, yeah, the venue pretty much sucked. Everyone knew it, and it wasn't the organizers fault. It was effectively their backup to their backup, and they had no idea there wouldn't be AC and that it would get that hot and stuffy. While I hate this kind of thing happening because the organizers didn't think ahead or do any planning, I know that wasn't the case here. I felt badly watching them scramble frantically trying to improve things.
I really liked the Sunday evening and late night venues, though. Both worked very well. I was a little disappointed that the Sunday late night venue wasn't a little darker, but that's just me.
Music
I was a little surprised by how much I liked the music, considering Denver and I aren't quite on the same wavelength. I guess it comes from having some of my favorite DJs like Tina, Thain and Shorty Dave. There was faster music, but it was good, and I didn't feel like I was being hit over the head with it like the '05 Seattle Exchange. Really the sets I was most impressed by were Thain's. He admitted that they were much different sets than what he'd play in Austin, which is simply a shame. I was exhausted at the Merc, but he played about six in a row, that I just *couldn't* sit out.
There was one band during the weekend. It was Sunday evening, and I liked it. I wasn't feeling great, and my knees were giving me trouble, though, so I sat out a lot to save up for late night (which was a good idea). Even though I didn't dance much to them, I thought that what I heard was really good.
Hosting
I love the Laubes. The whole family is incredible. Stephanie and Stacy were both beyond gracious and wonderful wonderful hosts. I suppose it helps that Steph is one of my favorite people in the dance scene. Even if she doesn't appreciate the quality scotch I let her try... My fellow house guests were also a lot of fun. Kelly and I have known each other for quite a while, and I love seeing her. Aleks and Becky are a bunch of fun to be around. I enjoyed finally getting to know Johanna. I've seen her around at a bunch of places but haven't ever stopped to talk to her. She's great. Also Jason from Pennsylvania was great to meet. He had his GPS with him, which is good, especially considering how lost I got at my last dance event.
Ok, the hard part of the post. I always forget a ton of people when I do this, and it isn't personal, I just really do have that bad of a memory. Which is why I try to write it all down. So I can at least remember 90% of who was there...
Top 5 (Alphabetical):
-Carla (Seattle) One of my good friends since when I lived in Seattle. She and I have danced a bunch, but we've never connected as well as we did this weekend. That awesome Springsteen song at the Merc in particular.
-Chris (Springs) Our connection and sense of timing are much more on the same page now than before. She's a ton of fun to dance with.
-Djrianna (Springs) Yes, I think Sunday late night might have given it away that she's my lindy crush from the weekend. Fun to dance with and talk to, and a smile that almost rivals Stephanie's (which actually is saying quite a bit in my book), we connected very well this weekend. The end of Sunday late night was some of my favorite dancing ever.
-Rachael (Denver) Drunk or sober this wild woman never ceases to amaze me with her dancing abilities. It is a travesty we didn't dance more. I guess I'll have to work harder to elbow the other guys out of my way next time.
-Silke (Sante Fe) I've seen this woman around at various exchanges over the years. She's an excellent dancer and I had some great dances with her. One of these days I'm going to have to do a road trip and dance through AZ & NM.
Local Denverites:
Shana, Andy, Esti, Angela, William, Sean, Miss Chris, James, Ashley, Scot, Kathy, Stephanie, Stacy, Rachael, Mike, Rob, David, Tyler, Jamie, Christina, Debbie
Friends from Previous Events:
Kelly (Virginia Beach), Kent (SF), Tim Shaw (Austin now Seattle), Jennifer Ross (Boston), Thao (Switzerland damn her for moving so far away), Matt (LA), Aimee (Baton Rouge), Danny (SF), Joan (Phoenix), Shorty Dave & Kim (NYC), Beth (SF), Brenda (Seattle), Darci (Ann Arbor, soon to be Austin), Beth (Rochester), Gary (Cleveland), Ron (Salt Lake City), Maggie (Seattle)
New(ish) Friends: Emily Squire (Provo), Jason (York, PA), Becky & Aleks (Colombus), Myriah (Sante Fe), Johanna (DC)
Friends from Austin: Thain, Tina, Martin, JP, Jeremy,
Friends who should have been there, or that I missed Dancing with during the weekend:
Jennifer Hohnstein This was the girl, when I asked her her name (when we'd danced at 2 or 3 events previously), she told me that if I asked her that question one more time she was going to hurt me. I never forgot it again.
Livea Best follow in Colorado. Period. I hate it when non-dancing boys get in the way of good follows dancing with me.
Nelle Well, I suppose I didn't dance with her in Houston, either. Would have been nice to see her out and having fun, though.
Jamie Talked with her and Tyler Saturday. I saw her dance a couple, and I almost made it to her in time, but I was grabbed, and couldn't extricate myself before someone else asked her. Very sad.
Julia My hostess from 2004 Denver Exchange. She was so much fun to dance with. I suppose many old-school Ithaca follows are like that...
Best Experience All of my dances with Djrianna at the end of Sunday late night. I was on. She was following exactly what I wanted to lead. I felt like Steven. I can't wait to dance with Virginie again after this.
Disappointing Experience Grrr, we went to a brewpub. Beer in Denver is incredible. I ordered the sampler. He carded me. I'm 30 and he carded me. I didn't have my ID on me. He wouldn't serve me beer. I'm 30, almost 31. Then he told me that Denver had more brewpubs than any other city. Stupid Denver beer snobs need to visit Portland for that kind of distinction.
Humorous Experience I laughed a lot, and don't even remember the reasons. I'm going to say the scotch tasting experiences of both Steph and her sister.
Best Compliment this was just the weekend for compliments for me. There were two that particularly stand out. The first was Chris me that I was personally responsible for noticeably improving her dancing. The second was someone mentioning that she wasn't sure she would ever have as good of dances again as the ones she'd had with me during DLX. Damn.
Negative Experience Saturday evening dance, even though I'm totally cool with the organizers' efforts to minimize the problems. Just means I didn't dance as much as I'd have liked to on Saturday evening.
Positive Seeing a bunch of friends I didn't expect to see. Lots of fun hanging out and socializing. |
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