We were graced with a parade at lunch time on Saturday, with alot of the Hall of Fame Shaggers going past in fancy sports cars. lot’s of good music, funny outfits and golf carts all over the place, these guys love the little things. This is the golfing capitol of the world with some great courses.
Saturday evening I had a ball trying to figure out my new footwork for Shag, which has a different timing count and moves in strange ways for a westie.
Sunday I had another lesson with Jim & Donna and we had lunch together after visiting WalMart to pick up another memory card for my camera, all this video is eating MB’s ! Jim & Donna have been wonderful and so hospitable for a wandering swing traveler. I hope they can visit England some day once we get enough shaggers together for a workshop. I just hope I can find someone to keep practicing this dance with back home.
The next leg on Amtrak is booked, I’ll be on the 5:05am train from Charleston to Tampa on Tuesday.
I’ve been on the move since the Morning of the 23rd so this post covers everything since then.
After trying to extend my stay at gallery Inn by one night and failing, I had to quickly find another place to rest, a check on Hostelworld.com and the only hostel in town with a bed is on the other side of town ‘East side’ it’s a Quaker establishment and has prayers at 7:00am but nothing is forced upon you and the atmosphere is extremely welcoming and relaxing. The shelves in the common room are filled with interesting books left by previous travellers. 5 bucks for internet sucks but it’s a necessity when travelling. I jumped back on the Metro and travelled west to Halifax district for a lesson with David Rehm, which was as expected – fantastic. I love his Balboa style.
My second Amtrak route was more social than the last, Josh was my companion for 5 and a half hours, he happened to work on Myrtle beach in ‘Club Kryptonite’. It was nice to chat with someone who knew the area I was heading, and he gave me some advise on which clubs to hit. Josh was into pumping weights. When he opened his case to grab a snack, a bottle of herbal testosterone stimulant supplements fell out ! It didn’t take long before his self confessed paranoia was all too self evident. For the last 2 hours of the trip he couldn’t stop moaning about the delays and checked his mobile phone every 2 minutes to announce that the train was late by another 2 minutes and how could Amtrak do this to him ! So I pretended to fall asleep to save explaining for the 5th time that we take second position to the freight trains on these journey’s.
When we reached the town of Florence in South Carolina, a Red Roof Inn was my resting place for the night, and for $60 inc taxes it was pretty nice, there was no chance of finding a hostel in Florence, it’s a fairly small town.
In the morning I checked out of Red Roof and caught a cab back to the Amtrak station where I expected to wait till 5:30 for the next train to Charleston. After which I would have to stay another night in a motel before catching the greyhound north to Myrtle beach. But as it turns out I got chatting to the cab driver and he said ‘Why u doin all that messing around I can take you to Myrtle for 80 dollars’, after negotiating it down to $70 I was set to avoid a frustrating diversion and get to the coast a day early. But before we set off we had to change Kenny’s tyres as they were totally bald so we drove into the backstreet’s and pulled into someone’s garden filled with old cars, a friendly ex marine core fixed us up with some second hand rubber. He chatted about his travels around Asia & Japan with the army and what the weather was like in London.
Whilst in the cab I called Jim & Donna who live near Myrtle beach for some lessons in Carolina Shag, I found them the night before on Shagtour.com. I turned up at their house and they helped me learn a dance that I’ve always admired but never found anyone to practice with in the UK ! They are such a nice couple and their style of teaching is focused on Technique which is always my preference.
It’s 80F here in the day and the beach is beautiful, it’s the ultimate beach bum paradise with a touch of Southern Carolina charm, I walked the strip just behind the beach looking for a room until Monday, After some silly prices quoted by the big chains, I hit a small office with a friendly chap who used to run the only Hostel in Myrtle, which has long since closed. He seems to own a few properties nearby and offered me a place just across the street, from the outside it looks like it’s going be a breeding haven for rats and cockroaches, the place certainly has some character, although it’s not the Hilton it’s fine to rest your head after some late night Shagging Carolina style.
I met up with Jim and Donna in the Spanish Gallion the only venue in town with a non smoking dance floor. All the best shaggers are in town, Sam West came up and whenever he starts dancing the whole floor clears and everyone just stares in amazement. He is a superb master of Shag. I moved to Ducks for the end of the evening and saw plenty of West coast swing amongst the shaggers.
Met up with Caroline for a little dance in front of the impressive pillars of congress, then continued West to view the rest of the historical sights, and ended my little tour at the Whitehouse, where I was actually more interested in the lady camping across the street who’s been sitting there since 1981 campaigning against Evil presidents hell bent on War and doom. She can’t fall asleep because as soon as she does the Police can arrest her for camping in a public space !
Tuesday evening I went to the Jam Cellar and found Deonna Ball and Markus Smith doing a hand dancing lesson ! I’ve always loved watching them perform in US open clips, had a practice with Deonna but couldn’t pick up the routine as I turned up half way through, so I just threw in a load of west coast moves There are some great dancers that turn up to this venue and plenty of fast music unlike NY.
Rushed around like a mad man trying to pack all my stuff ready to check out of the hostel, and make an appointment for a second lesson with Jason. Lucky for me Penn station was only 2 blocks away, because I only had 5 minutes to make my train. I was the last person on board and very nearly missed it ! The journey is only 3 hours from NY to Washington, using the regional service with several stops along the way. the trains are comfy with seats comparable to first class standards on a plane.
As soon as we pull into Washington it’s starts pouring with rain and it’s very humid, which was a big change from the great weather I had in NY.
The ‘Gallery Inn’ hostel is simply amazing, I thought the last place would be hard to beat, it’s a home away from home and run by a really friendly manager. Sadly I’m only here for 2 nights.
I get a cab to Chevy Chase ballroom and I’m pleasantly surprised to find David Rehm teaching both classes. He is a true technician and passionate about the history behind these dances. I saw a chap from London who is often out on the Lindy circuit. Had some great dances and found Caroline who is going to be studying in Leicester this year, I recorded some footage of us dancing Balboa and Lindy, sadly the lighting is very poor.
It’s been a great weekend, I can’t wipe the smile off my face. I’ll have to keep this short as I need to get up early ready for another lesson with Jason Colacino just before I catch my first Amtrak to Washington.
Saturday was filled with a Lindy workshop by the amazing Mickey and Kelly, their teaching style is challenging, humorous and very usable. I met a lovely Russian couple Nina and Ken on Friday night who also attended the workshop, and they took me to a Russian restaurant not far from my Hostel. In the evening we went to the bar ‘Swing46′ funnily enough on 46th street, where ‘Double Down’ played some nice music, the band even left the stage and mingled between dancers whilst still playing their instruments ! spotted a great Lindy dancer Yuval Hod dancing the night away.
Sunday I managed to get up at a reasonable hour but didn’t have enough time to hit my favourite ‘Galaxy Diner’ on 46th and Ninth Avenue. as I wanted to check out Central Park, before another workshop this time Balboa with Mickey and Kelly. After a meal at a Korean resteraunt with a small group from the class, I popped into the ‘Iguana’ bar on 54th street with a lovely Lindy dancer Bella Viramontes who recently competed at the US Open and Won ! for a mixture of modern, swing, 50’s, R&B and the rest. We finished the night doing Swing outs in Time square (Next challenge please Tessa) before seeing her off at Penn station.
I’m going to miss this city. It’s got a real buzz and I love the people - I wouldn’t want to work here, but it’’s damn fun to play.
Friday was spent Pounding the streets of NY, popping across to Statton island on the free ferry, seeing the Statue of liberty up close and returning for some browsing of the market stalls in Chinatown.
I moved to my new Apartment/Hostel at around 7:00pm, bit of a late checkout from ‘Times Square Dream’ ! but the boss runs both of the hostels I’m staying at in New York, and he’s very relaxed about everything. The new place is stunning for the price, I would highly recommend ‘Times square West Hostel’ for anyone coming to New York.
As evening fell I descended once more with weary feet onto the subway after a day walking God know’s how many miles across half of Manhattan. I was heading back to Chinatown for a social dance at the Grand Harmony Palace. I found out about the night from Heidi Rosenau on Yehoodi.com. George Gee uses the venue for his swing band on Friday evenings, he’s been a band leader for 27 years. But on this occassion there was live music from Michael Arenella which was seriously old school with people busting out the Peabody moves, I saw some familiar faces yet again, and ended up moving to a local bar for a chat and more dancing till 2.
I saw these guys on the Subway as I was on my way to Chinatown for the evening :
Wow, I can’t quite believe my eyes when I meet Dawn Hampton in the lift on my way up to Thursday night swing dancing at Frim Fram. And then the US Balboa champs Mickey Fortanasce and Kelly Arsenault stroll in for a dance ! New York rocks.
I didn’t make it to John Festa’s workshop, I got my addresses mixed up and couldn’t make it across town to reach the class in time however on Thursday I managed to catch Jason Colacino for a brilliant private lesson, he went over connection and gave me a totally different perspective on the west coast Whip.
After a little rest I was off to Frim Fram at club 412 on 8th Avenue. Music was wonderful and I had a little dance with Kelly who is rather good saw some of the same faces I had danced with at the west coast evening on Tuesday. and met a few folk from Yehoodi forum’s. Got a photo with one of my favourite swing dancers, I forget his name ** Edit - it’s John Dokes, thanks for the heads up on that Lynn ** but here’s the clip which is partly responsible for me taking up Lindy Hop, I recognised his style a mile off.
with very little energy left in the tank, I made a move at 12:30.
Settling into my First hostel ‘Times square dream’ it has less of a hostel feel, and more like the owner just threw a load of bunk beds into his apartment and makes a damn good business out of it too !
I am sandwiched in between 41st and 42nd street on 9th avenue and it’s fine in the day but requires a little planning in the evening to avoid the hallucinating bums.
After catching sunset on the top of the Empire state building and having a great meal at a French fusion restaurant with a friend I met at the hostel, I headed to Blarney stone to catch the end of their social west coast swing evening. I had 2 nice dances and was pleased to see a familiar face I had met and danced with previously in London. but soon realised I was very much out of my depth, and felt somewhat deflated. There is a significant difference in the way they dance out here compared to the UK, and I think it needs some adjustment on my part, or perhaps more to the point some lessons. I found out about a great lesson tonight at the same venue with John Festa doing a workshop so I better get ready.
I really should get to bed since I need to be at Heathrow in 5 hours. But I decided to make a few changes to my route, partly because I’m told the Amtrak line I needed to take between Florida and New orleans is now shut down due to the Katrina floods. I also wanted to add in Chicago followed by a trip on the beautiful Zephyr Amtrak route through Colorado towards San Francisco.
I ordered my ‘Amtrak 30 day as many stops as you want pass‘ for £208 from a UK broker which covers the East side of the States, that will do me right up to Chicago, where I’ll buy another 30 day pass for the remainder of the trip.
There are some great dancers that turn up to this venue and plenty of fast music unlike NY.
however on Thursday I managed to catch Jason Colacino for a brilliant private lesson, he went over connection and gave me a totally different perspective on the west coast Whip.
