Had a blast at the Toronto FC game last night with my co-workers and Kevin “Fats” Temple. I got hassled a bit by the security in regards to bringing my camera to BMO field – had to explain that the lens I brought did not exceed the limit of 85mm. Yes, my camera looks like a model tank replica with molded refined rubber but no where on the field guidelines does it say that the camera must fit your pocket (or even a large bowling bag). Tried not to spill beer on my camera, or at the very least, not get face paint on the view finder.

Chad Barrett scores the game winner.

Pictures from the June 04, 2010 blues dance :)

Hung out with Gen, Kathleen, and Jaclyn last Sunday and shot a flamenco show at Club Hispano. I played it safe and left the flash and multiple lenses at home and just took my trusty fifty with me. For these kinds of intimate shows, it is a bit of a faux-pas to blind the performers with flash photography and the last thing I wanted to do was draw the ire attention of the performer’s parents. Down-low and out-of-the-way was my modus operandi for this impromptu shoot.

Wasn’t too careful on my shutter speed unfortunately during the shoot and most of the shots of the fast spins and turns of the dancers turned out a bit blurred, but hopefully i’ll be able to salvage them. Live and learn I guess.

On an unrelated note, I have Spain taking the world cup in my Fifa Worldcup pool. Go La Furia Roja!

Finally going to be in Toronto for an extended period for the rest of May and June. The past month and a bit has been pretty busy for me in terms of travel: Austin, Ottawa, Montreal, and Amsterdam. It’ll be good to be back at home and the studio to work on some ideas stewing around in my head. I also have a bunch of blog posts that I should have written while traveling but I have this uncanny ability slash weakness to fall asleep as soon as I get on a plane. In lieu, here are a few quick notes.

Our blues dance at Yonge & Bloor Blues is still a work in progress. We finally cemented a consistent date for our dance – the “first friday” of the month. It was quite a bit of effort trying to collaborate and meet with the various dance organizations and factions in Toronto but it looks like things are settling in. Toronto Swing/Simon/Dovercourt now hosts monthly blues dances on the “third friday” so now it looks like we have blues dances twice a month on fridays in Toronto. Huzzah. \o/

For our May blues dance, we held a solo blues jam mini competition at our last dance. I’ll let Kevin “Fats” Temple write more about it at a future blog post but it looks like (from the photos the other Kevin took) people were receptive to the idea of solo blues dancing. Excellent…

Across the highway in the cities of Hamilton/Waterloo, David Trinh and Martha (‘Pa and ‘Ma) are inspiring me to work even smarter in being part of my own scene here. They are pushing to bring musicians and dancers closer together which is a win-win situation any way you look at it. It’s exciting to see other people excited about dancing and building their respective dance community. I can already see, as our two scenes grow, we’ll be feeding off each other’s enthusiasm (and ideas).

Heard a great band trio last night with Roberta Hunt and Toby Hughes in Hamilton. Very danceable! Highly recommended band!

(picture of a bike I took in Alkmaar, Netherlands).

I’ve always lived in a big city yet I’ve never used bicycles as a mode of transportation. I think this summer I’m going to purchase a bike. Recommendations? I don’t know the first thing about owning a bike in the city and I have fears of breaking my face on concrete but I think this should work out. haha.

Amsterdam is great. I will be back (thanks Gen <3).

Oh man, Lindy Bout Round 4 was a blast! It was great to see familiar faces from Toronto (Alcina, Geoff, and Stephanie), meet + dance with folks from Calgary, Seattle and Vancouver and to watch and record most of the competitions during the weekend.

Thank you to all the organizers (Lucy, Eileen and Stephanie) who put in the work for this event and made it a great time, as well as the volunteers! Check out the photos I was able to capture above and videos will come soon!

Related Posts:
http://hamfats.ca/lindy-hop/the-weigh-in-lindybout-round-iv

Two men enter, one man leaves

From the BluesShout website:

Solo Blues Cuttin’ Contest – This is a solo dance contest – no partner required. You may dance in any style of Blues dance. The music selected by our DJs will span the range of the Blues genres and tempos. Judges will select finalists from the preliminary rounds based on Blues Aesthetic, Musicality, Creativity, and Interaction, but the finals will be audience-judged. Please note that dancers in the preliminary rounds who do not respect the social rules of a cuttin’ contest will be judged accordingly

Joe and Nelle's solo (but together) dance class

Beer before the class... ;)

Ruby Red showing how it's done

Low down battle!

Amanda and my man John Joven

Sexy Mamas!

Check out Tina's reaction..

Joy Orico, blues dancer extrodinaire

Listening to competition rules

Svitlana returns with dance partner Greg and does some air defying poses!

Toronto’s multi-talented salsero, hip hop, breakin’, funk, and bluesin’ dancer, Joaquin the Dream.

I had the fortunate opportunity to test my new camera on a beautiful dancer by the name of Svitlana this weekend.