Portland Excursion

This Party is a moral crusade or it is nothing.
-- Harold Wilson

Sunday, April 11, 1999
One year ago: Norwescon

I'm back from Portland! I got back early in the evening, but I talked on the phone with my brother (he's doing reasonably well) and Jack, then was tempted to read journals rather than write my own. So now it's late, and I wish I'd started to write earlier, darn it!

I woke up early Saturday morning. I'd packed the night before, and had even limited my dancing to the Friday night practice so I'd be able to get up. I'd printed out various maps and sets of directions so I'd be able to find the places I wanted to go. I was set!

I'd planned two elements to this trip: a dance workshop that was going to be held at the Crystal Ballroom, mecca for swing dancers, and the Bunnyfest party that Vicki Jean was going to hold.

I had never been to the Crystal Ballroom, and I've heard such great things about it, and about the Portland swing dance scene that I've been wanting to go there. Vicki Jean has been inviting me to her periodic happenings since I first met her, so when this latest occasion coincided with a dance workshop being held at the Crystal, and it was after we shipped, it seemed like a very good time to go!

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The drive down was without incident, except for the rain and spray that made it hard for me to see the road. I parked in a lot, and found that the building that I thought the ballroom was in, was the wrong one! A huge advertising mural had deceived me. I was only a few blocks away, though, and I got to the right place in time to register.

The ballroom is up four flights of stairs, in a cool old building. It's remarkably well preserved! The floor is quite famous for being on springs or ballbearings or something. It's visibly springy! The room was big enough so that even a good-sized class didn't make it crowded. It's vaguely triangular in shape, with large Palladian windows along one side. There's a small balcony which is twenty-one and over during dances.

I spoke to a few of the Portland folks, and watched the ones that were dancing to warm up. I wrote "Seattle" on my nametag (along with my name) so that anyone who knew me from the portland email list would have a chance to make the connection between me in person and the name from the mailing list.

I'd signed up for just the first two classes on Saturday, because of VJ's party. The first was "Fundamentals & Styling," billed as being suitable for all levels. The second was intermediate lindy hop. The promoter gave a general caveat to the group for that one, saying that if anyone found that they couldn't keep up at all, he'd give them their money back rather than hold back the entire group.

The teachers were Rob van Haaren and Diane Thomas, of YeahMan Productions, from San Francisco. I liked their style very much!

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I'd been so good about printing out the directions from the Crystal to Vicki Jean's house, but they left out (or I missed) the exact exit I should take after crossing the river. I decided to take one almost at random, since I knew the general location from the little icon on the map. I proceeded to cast about in several directions, looking longingly at each phone booth as I drove by it. I finally saw a street name that appeared on my directions, realized I was on the wrong side of the highway, crossed over and found that street again, and found my way to the bunfest.

Vicki Jean's house is in a neighborhood of older single-family houses. I was reminded of Seattle neighborhoods like Ballard or West Madrona (formerly known as the Central District). When I arrived, VJ was there with only one friend, spinning her wheels since really everything was ready for the gathering and looked great. Other folks arrived soon, though, included unexpected friends like Kate Yule and David Levine (last met at Potlatch), and Mark Bourne (seen but not spoken to at Norwescon the other week) and Elizabeth Bourne (last met at Orycon). I spoke with these folks, and Miriam, and Nancy, and also made an effort to talk to people that I didn't know already.

One of these was Hanna, who delurked as a reader of this journal. Hi, Hanna! She and her husband brought some of the weirdest, greatest Mexican candy! Example: a small, mango-flavored lollipop that came in a small plastic cup; inside the cup was a mixture of salt, sour lime powder, and chile! One was intended to lick the candy, dip it in the powder, then continue licking. I actually liked it, though it was a strange taste, like those lime-chile flavored Doritos, but sweet. It was so cute, though! It looked like a miniature slurpee, with the lollipop stick as a straw. There were also more normal melon-flavored lollipops, but only normal by comparison. The candy wasn't round, but shaped like a slice of melon, and contained within was a dried hot chile! I snagged some of each to share with Jack, since he's a hot food lover.

Besides chatting and snacking, doing things to peeps was the main activity. There was peep bunny drowning and crucifiction, and peep chick jousting, which I'd done last year at Vanguard. There were two young girls (one still a toddler) who played well together, though they'd never met before. They had a good time playing with the "bunny bowling" set that was intended as a decoration.

Late in the afternoon, we talked about why Portland fandom doesn't have a monthly social gathering like Vanguard. There seems to be some concern that the "wrong" people would come if it was an open social, which would cause the "right" people to stop showing up. I'll admit that not being a Portland fan, I don't understand all the intricacies of the network down here.

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We had to wait a long time before VJ's friends (who weren't joining us for dinner) were ready to leave. They lived in two separate directions, and when one kept saying that it wasn't far to her house, I wondered why she didn't walk already! But really it was beyond walking distance, so I forgave her when I saw that. The logistics finally got straighted out, and Vicki, Joseph and I went to VJ's favorite Chinese restaurant. We were seated right next to the door to the bar, so whenever someone opened it, the oriental pop muzak was covered by a blast of Karaoke pop.

The chow fun I had was good, but the noodles weren't as wide as the ones I'm used to around here. It's true comfort food, wide rice noodles! We'd gone to this restaurant because I requested "something with vegetables" and the veggies were very tasty!

We came home and I checked my email while VJ and Joseph cleared off the bed in the guest room (storage room) and made it up. The luxury of being a guest! And I got to play with VJ's ultrathin Sony VAIO laptop. We were all pretty exhausted, so went early to sleep (if midnight is early).

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Beautiful light came in the bedroom window in the morning. I showered, using VJ's Aveda "clove" brown conditioner that's supposed to make your hair darker brown. I think the only way to tell if it worked would be to only use it on half your head!

A pleasant, relaxed morning! I was glad I could show VJ the way to take pictures with a timer on the Mavica digital camera. I'll admit that it had to be explained to me as well, what the little squggle icon on the screen meant! It was great fun staying with Vicki Jean; I want to go back again.

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Even though I asked VJ about where to get back the highway, I didn't write it down, so again I had to thrash around. I even had to turn around in a driveway that led up to the back of an elementary school, surprising two cop cars in conference there, conjugating like two bacteria. I knew the general direction I needed to go, so I found my way to the Crystal again even though I took an entirely different bridge over the Willamette river. Parking was free, since it was Sunday, which made things easier.

The first class was "Boogie Woogie," taught as an unpartnered jazz dance routine. Fun! and a good challenge, since it called for us to move in ways that I'm not used to.

The second class was Balboa, which is a very fast, smooth dance, done in close postion (that is, with the leads arm around the follow and they face each other). The trickiest part is getting started, like water skiing! This was a good test of following skills.

The last class was Int./Adv. lindy hop. It built on the class they'd taught Saturday afternoon, which I hadn't taken, but I was able to keep up to my own satisfaction. The steps that gave me difficulty would have been tough even if I'd been there last night. I liked the combination of steps they taught us, and they kept the unleadable choreography to a minimum, which was a good thing. There was a lot of variation in experience levels among the leads, which is often the case at a workshop like this. It's sort of the luck of the draw -- if we get taught a tough move while the partners I'm meeting in the rotation don't get how to lead it, I need to do my best and try to pick it up later. I'm sure my dancing wasn't without flaw, either! As we get tired, the edge comes off the dance skills.

I did get a chance to chat with some of the Portland dancers between classes and during lunch. Though I ate at a table by myself, I joined a large group afterwards and quizzed them on the state of the Portland dance scene. It's a different experience for me to know virtually no one on the dance floor, since I've been working on expanding my circle of dance buddies in Seattle for a year and a half!

It was a good workshop (and very inexpensive!) and I want to come back to Portland soon!

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The drive home was notable for the extreme clarity of the air, which made the mountains pop out! Mt. Hood, Mt. Adams, Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Rainier were all looking great. I stopped at Centralia, to stretch my legs at the outlet stores there, and bought the kind of hose that I like to wear dancing, actually at a good price!

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