Dalmo Workshop

The true teacher defends his pupils against his own personal influence. He inspires self-distrust. He guides their eyes from himself to the spirit that quickens him. He will have no disciple.
-- A. Bronson Alcott

Saturday, May 1, 1999
One year ago: Elysian Fields

Today I had signed up to take a swing dance workshop from David Dalmo, a Swedish dancer formerly with the Rhythm Hot Shots. Parking is tight in the neigborhood of the Carpenters' Hall in Belltown. (The last time I was there was in February, I think. Hey, that design looks familar...) I'd figured out via the web that the Number 2 bus ran close to my house and a few blocks from the venue. I waited for the bus, paranoid that I'd missed it during the few minutes I was buyin croissants to munch on. But no, it arrived in plenty of time and I got to class early enough to suit my N.P.S.

Darren Holloway was already there, I think, and more and more familiar faces arrived. Folks were changing their shoes, warming up by dancing a few, and stretching. Darren told me that he wants to be able to do the splits by fall, and he's a determined guy when he sets his mind on something so I'm sure he'll do it!

I think I need a stretching workshop or a book or something. I imitate what I see others doing, but I'd like to have a more conscious way of improving my flexibility and protecting myself from injury. I don't think I want to go as far as the girl I saw the other night who had her foot up on her partner's shoulder, though!

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The morning class was billed as being for beginners, but there were many experienced dancers there. The moves we worked on were very simple, though, which I liked. We concentrated on style, leading and following, and varying the dynamics of our dancing: small vs. large. I think everyone got a lot out of it.

I was hungry when we broke for lunch! I was walking down the street, ran across Tony and Janae, and asked them where they were eating. "The Noodle Ranch!" they said (I like that name!), and said I was welcome to join them. I walked a bit more slowly than they did, and when I got there, two tables on either side of the place were full. I opted to sit at the bar with my buddy Mehul, since it's tough to chat in these large groups and there wasn't really room for me. He and I talked about various topics while eating phad thai (me) and mongol grill (him). Delicious!

We split up and walked back to the Hall separately. I was in the mood for a cookie or some kind of treat, so I stopped into a rather tone-y bakery that I found on First Avenue. My choice: a Turtle Brownie. This was incredibly rich, so I didn't mind at all giving "Cat Daddy" Chris a bite when I sat down with him as he was registering folks for the afternoon session. I've rarely heard such cries of ecstacy applied to food! So I offered him the caramel-covered wax paper that the brownie had been wrapped in, just to tide him over, than gave him the final third of the brownie when it turned out to be too rich for me to finish.

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The afternoon session was more frustrating to me than the morning session was. We spent long sections sitting on the floor hearing Dalmo's dance philosophy. I agree with the philosophy, but the talking went on too long. Then we spent a long time learning some footwork variations that would be very tough to lead on the floor. Being led into the Suzy-Q is do-able, but reversing the rhythm after the first 8-count wasn't too successful for anyone I saw. And the follow's footwork variation that extended way beyond 8 was beyond me, though others did master it. I don't think breaking away for six counts or so would go over too well, even if I could do "ball-change, slide, ball-change, spin, stomp, ball-change." So I liked the morning better than the afternoon, but I was glad I'd signed up for both.

The classes were large enough that we had to break into two circles. This is a pain for the ones in the middle, because they have to keep sitting or kneeling on the floor whenever the instructors are demonstrating something. I'd chosen to wear white tights today, and I was amused by the patterns of dust that were imprinted on my knees and calves when I sat down.

I was so happy to see Jack! He'd agreed to come pick me up, since taking a bus on Saturday afternoon would have taken some time. We went back home and I changed clothes and got ready for the evening.

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We had a great pre-Vanguard dinner with Jon Singer, Debbie Schwarz, Scott Scidmore, and Brandon. Debbie had suggested Kabul, an Afghani restaurant in East Wallingford. The food was wonderful! Jack left the eggplant in our combo dinner for me to eat. Brandon, who is not online, bore very patiently with the tech-speak and the explanations that were offered to him.

A stop at the grocery store, and we were off to Vanguard (a monthly get-togther of science fiction fans). Jack teased me by talking about how he'd bring his coat and cigar in with him, so he could go and smoke it on the sidewalk later, but I didn't rise to the bait, not even when he claimed that he knew that the smoke-smell all over him was irresistable to me.

Down in the smoking section of the party (Jane's apartment, though there wasn't that much smoking going on this month) we found the new toy that Jane had been so mysterious about last month when I'd missed Vanguard. It was an incredibly cool marble gizmo machine! You assemble this contraption with various scaffold and track modules, and add things like bells on the track, loops, and even a trampline jump! There are switches on the track so that the marbles' paths are varied, and an Archimedes screw to transport them back up to the top again. It was fascinating!

I talked with Karrie Dunning, who is thinking about looking for a web worker type of job. I pointed her to the Seattle Webgrrls. They are certainly a good source for job listings, study groups, volunteer opportunities and stuff. But it made me think, how in the world would I try to get into this field starting now? Dave Howell talked to me about his latest tech-toy: a dedicated device that records video off your cable, in mpeg format. The programability is what makes it cool. You can give it low-priority fuzzy searches to do whenever it doesn't have anything better to search for.

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Back at Jack's house, I found him watching an X files rerun after I got done with email. It was so nice snuggling up next to him on the couch. But the episode was creepy, with some poor horrible man with black gook dripping from his sewn-shut eyes (and his ears, too?). I don't mind the show, but I've just never been a huge fan.