Canberrang 2013 – the Sunday

Baby, it sure was cold outside.

Sunday started off with lindybombing the pants off of Old Bus Depot Markets in Kingston. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, and it was probably the most fun I’ve had dancing on concrete. Public displays like that are great – they serve as wonderful advertisements for the dance. The DJs know this, meaning a whole range of songs get showcased – hard to find an hour of dancing as varied as this.

Then… the winery! The beautiful views of lovely outdoors were hampered by an icy wind that cut right through you. Luckily inside had a fire going (lovely!), not to mention the multitude of dancers. Lake George Winery is a nice venue, made all the more so by the availability of wine.

Dinner and dancing at Digress, my favourite place to go out to in Canberra, rounded off the extended weekend. The final social of Canberrang were broken up by a DJ battle and the Swing Olympics, a series of events too surreal to do justice on paper. All I can say is, watching the creative way that a certain team managed to cheat (*cough* China *cough*) at relay, ice skating and tobogganing made my day.

And with that, my Canberrang experience is done for the year. Already I’m counting down the days til my favourite lindy exchange returns to this beautiful city of ours, and when it does I’ll be right here transcribing each day, typing through the pain and fighting off sleep for just another few moments.

Until then, I’ll take some well-earned rest. I hope my fellow dancers are able to do the same.

Canberrang 2013 – the Saturday

The weekend! A chance to relax and unwind.

Haha! As if.

Waking up this morning at the unreasonable hour of 10 am wasn’t as rough as it could have been, but it was no picnic. But it was worth it. A special hi to anyone who came to saw us dance at Garema Place in the middle of Canberra’s central shopping district – if you’re interested, I recommend signing up for lessons. It’s pretty much always like that for swing socials. Well okay, the awesome live band is usually a DJ. But not always!

Afternoon dancing at Australian National University House was the point during the day when I realised I’m going to be hungry and thirsty no matter what I do. It’s a strange sensation to be full yet aching for more food, or dehydrated despite drinking constantly.

And come Monday, I’ll likely sleep all day and still feel tired. There’s nothing like constant exercise to make you feel like you’re breaking the rules of biology.

The evening event was held at Albert Hall, one of my favourite venues. Its large dance floor struggles under the number of dancers the socials there attract, but the genuine old-time feel of the place gives it a great atmosphere. There’s a balcony, too, that lets you get away from it all while giving you a perfect view. I can say from experience, though – if you’re up in the balcony and there’s a Shim Sham, by the time you get down there it’ll be up to the full break. Ah well.

Then there was the afterparty. As usual, it was a blur of great food, sore legs and really bizarre dancing. One of the most fun things you can be doing at 1:30am… that’s right, I stand by that.

Canberrang 2013 – the Friday

Dancing in a wintery wonderland.

Tonight was held at the Italo-Australian club, a nice venue with spacious dance floors and great pizzas. Seriously – the cost-to-dancing-energy ratio on those things was very low, and it tasted great to boot. People really got into the theme of mountain gear, surprisingly so given that it’s impossible to dance in any such attire.

Then came the after party. All I remember from this is a sensational hot chocolate and a 3am shim sham – not my best, but certainly not my worst.

One thing that’s becoming clear is that my fast dancing is getting better. I’m keeping up with songs that as little as a month ago would have had me flailing around like a fish with arthritis. Nothing like endless social dancing to really test your abilities.

Words are coming difficultly to me. My shower and bed beckon, my body all too aware that dancing at Garema place is less than eight hours away. Lindybombing the middle of Canberra, with a live band – I can’t wait, yet I’m going to hate my alarm when it goes off.

Canberrang 2013!

Oh boy, is it that time of year already?

The event that launched this blog is back – Canberrang 2013 is officially underway. Like last year the Thursday night was at the wonderful Kurrajong Hotel. DJs kept the pace low (thank goodness!), giving us humble dancers the chance for our legs to warm up.

One event down, a mere ten to go. I’m buzzing. I’m feeling tired, sweaty and hungry. It’s going to be a great weekend.

Canberräng 2012 – Sunday 5th August

This is the fourth and final instalment of Canberräng 2012. The weather taunted people with threats of rain as they headed to Old Bus Depot Markets for yet more lindy bombing. This drew a much bigger crowd than yesterday’s, including a few people I know from work. That, I can tell you, was a nice twist. This, again, featured the shim sham, but was otherwise an hour of all of us showing off our cool partnered dancing.

This was then followed by buying a lot of stuff from the markets. I snagged a few good purchases and had one of the most random lunches I’ve had in a while – bagels, croissants, samosas, herb bread, roast macadamia nuts and probably other stuff I’m forgetting (it’s amazing how hungry I’ve been over these four days).

Afterwards we headed to Lake George Winery. We travelled by the “singing bus”, a term I found out minutes before boarding it. I won’t say any more about the (mis?)fortune of jumping on this rather than the quite bus, only to say that if you’re attending future Canberrängs then I recommend tagging along. It’s an… experience.

Once there we took full advantage of the venue, downing more wine than I’ve had in a while. It was delicious stuff, accompanied by equally delicious live music. This was a popular event and a relatively small venue, which was good as it forced me to practice in-close dancing – very different from my normal style. At least, this was until we discovered the outside balcony – spacious, a little slippery, and empty, with a cool breeze and gorgeous views.

Shakespeare once said something about alcohol increasing the desire but decreasing the ability. Whatever he was talking about (it’s a mystery, I know) he wasn’t talking about swing dancing – while the first glass did make me lose track of my arms a few times, after that they only made my dancing better. That’s the way I remember it and I’m sticking to that version of events.

The way back was again by singing bus, only this time we had quite a bit of wine sloshing through our systems.

The final event for Canberräng was dinner, drinks and dancing at Digress, and Indian/Italian restaurant/nightclub. The staff, food and drinks are all really nice there. By this stage both the bands and DJs as well as the dancers were getting a bit goofy… the dancing became less strictly swing and more about random fun. My hat comes off to everyone though – people were still crackling with energy and enthusiasm even this late in the festival. If your perception of swing dancing is old people slowly shuffling around a dance floor, let me be the one to tell you that you couldn’t be more wrong. Swing dancers are passionate and eternal, their mortal bodies and all their woes just wash away while the music plays… until you sit down for a breather.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the organisers, venues, volunteers and, of course, the dancers. This was nothing short of an amazing weekend. As a memento, I still have the bottle of “Medicinal Hooch” from Brewtopia, with my wristband for entry around its neck. Long may it stand as a reminder of how intensely I pushed my legs over these four days.

Swing Long and Prosper, Canberräng 2012. You shall be missed.

Canberräng 2012 – Saturday 4th August

Started off the day with some Lindy bombing, at the unnaturally early hour of 11am. Dancing in the heart of Civic was a lot of fun – often various cultural displays are held in the public spaces there, drawing in crowds of shoppers and brunchers. It was nice to be a part of that. And while the crowd in our case was small it was appreciative. As a backdrop to our dancing we had the merry-go-round, appropriately spinning away. Even the sun came out, which those not used to Canberra winter would have appreciated.

The floor was interesting. It was a temporary floor, much better than the bare concrete would have been but it was still quite bouncy and slippery. I was wearing joggers and struggled a bit at times… I don’t know how those with dance shoes would have coped.

The absolute highlight of the morning was doing the Shim Sham, not once but twice. I must have swing-died and gone to swing-heaven.

This was followed by spending the afternoon at the members-only room in Old Parliament House. Not being a member this was, funnily enough, the first time I’d been inside this particular room. It’s a nice venue, very spacious, very historic, with a decent bar off to the side.

The band was great. They had fun with the music and seemed to be reading the dancers quite well. They couldn’t have been reading me though, or they would have seen me struggle with the blues phrasing and fast tempo.

Refreshments were gratefully received. It’s funny to think just how much my dancing improved once I’d had a crack at the cheese and fruit platters. Underperformance caused by not eating enough is a rare thing for me, but one refuelled I was ready to once again work the floor.

The afternoon ended with a bang, seeing off the event with some high speed dancing. There’s no such thing as too much of this, assuming you’re only spectating.

The day was wrapped up with the Prohibition Ball, an alcohol-free event on a Saturday night (yes, those exist). It was dry for a reason though – it meant we got to use the awesome Lyneham Performing Arts Centre as the venue. It’s a great hall… I have been there for swing dance socials in the past and hope to again in the future.

By this point my energy levels were really hit and miss, which was fine since just sitting there listening to the band was more than worthwhile. They did a great job with the music, even throwing in some swing versions of decidedly non-swing songs, including Wonderwall, Eye of the Tiger and others. Still managed to get quite a few dances in though. It’s funny how quickly fatigue disappears once the music starts and you establish the connection with your follow.

Once more we were treated to some wonderful performances. It’s a lot of fun to watch a structured routine, having spent the evening indulging in the eclectic, spontaneous mess that is social dancing.

In tomorrow’s forecast: more lindy bombing, wine and Italian/Indian cuisine.

Canberräng 2012 – Thursday 2nd August

The eyes of the Australian swing dancing scene are on Canberra today, as four days of swing dancing have just commenced. Do I have the strength, skill and sheer tenacity to attend all, or even most, of the events? We’ll see. And so will you, as I document my experiences right here.

See, this is why you have to love swing dancing. As it turns out this year is the tenth Canberräng, each one having drawn in dancers from all over the country. This is how I partied at university. It’s a social event that transcends the bonds of time and space. This is epic in the true sense of the term. Social dancing writ large.

To commence the festivities we found ourselves at Kurrajong Hotel, appropriately built in the ‘20s and eager to accept our enthusiastic feet. And many feet there were – it was non-stop, sitting somewhere near the ideal balance between having lots of people without being too crowded.

Those visiting from out of town were easy to spot among the locals – no Canberrans would be complaining about temperatures that frollick around the 0˚C mark. But it was great – got to meet new people, got to dance with friends from the lessons and got to know some of the familiar faces a little better.

Everyone looked amazing. The standard of dancing was high but not intimidatingly so. Simple moves were not out of place at all, but neither were flashy displays of dancemanship. Standing back and watching was just as fun as getting involved, and just as educational.

I still have a lot to learn when it comes to social dancing. Tonight I failed to spot a song being too fast for eight-beat until it was obvious I wasn’t keeping up… and this happened two or three times. My floorcraft could have been better, but fortunately I was the one who copped most of the collisions, not my follow. And of course, the simplest moves always need refinement.

But these issues aside, it’s obvious to me that I’m much better than I was even a month ago. I’m leading better, for one. My musicality has improved from non-existant to modest – I was using the music to guide my choice in moves, and anticipating changes with a success rate I can be proud of. But the biggest development has been in my own sense of style. I’m using moves, not because they are easy, but because they complement my other moves well. I’m working with the songs. I’m even starting to improvise a little, probably more than I should. Fun as it is, I mourn for the follows who can’t keep up when even I didn’t know what I am trying to do.

All in all, Canberräng is off to a solid start. Tonight would have been a nice, self-paced warm-up for the approaching weekend had I not been on such a high I jogged home. It will be nothing short of miraculous if my legs withstand all this wonderful punishment.

Still to come: Hellzapoppin’!