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

Inspiration is a magical thing, a productivity multiplier, a motivator. But it won’t wait for you. Inspiration is a now thing. If it grabs you, grab it right back and put it to work.

Stop what you are doing right now and watch this clip. Don’t worry, I’ll wait until you’re finished watching. ;-)

So if you did not know, this is a clip of the “spotlights” for the BluesShout 2010 Ballroomin’ division. It’s kind of a big deal. Ballroomin’ competitions are usually danced to new orleans style or big band jazz bands playing blues tunes. In this particular competition, you are able to choose your own partner but the song played is not known until you are actually on the dance floor.

Watching this live and then watching it on video gives me the CHILLS. My mind races with possibilities and ideas of how to “incorporate” what each of those dance couples bring to the competition into my own dancing. At the end of the day, that is the reason why I spend the moolah and time to get to events like BluesShout – to be INSPIRED and continue on with my own dancing.

Hey, check this out…

deeply humbled and honored to be considered on this list

WHAT THE???

I was just a sliver away from being in that clip? What no way! Seeing that list was probably one of the highlights of my weekend. I know that I personally do not have enough blues experience to be anywhere near the level that those dance couples are but I’m learning and sweatin’ away. Slowly but surely! To be acknowledged by my peers and instructors to be even remotely close to that top echelon group of blues dancers makes my heart FAT. <3 <3 <3.

Special kudos goes out to my wonderful dance partner Shannon Woods whom I met through a discussion thread for those needing competition partners. This weekend was the first time we have ever danced together and honestly it could not have gone any better.

Solo charleston. How I fear and adore you at the same time. Every time I think I have you figured out, that we have finally come to an understanding, you kick (get it?) me down a couple of notches. As if to remind me that I still have much, much more to learn.

This past weekend, I bussed through the cold chills and landed at Rochester New York for the North East Girl Jam. This is only my second “girl jam” type event, having just recently gone to “Followlogie” last fall in Quebec City. I always feel a little bad about being at these girl jam events because I feel like I’m committing theft learning so much for such a low price (usually these types of events are free to leads as long as you can get to the city). The price really being braving the tundra weathers of Quebec City and the chills of Rochester (I’m a tropical wimp I know). There are always great solo jass classes that always inspire me and usually some sort of solo charleston competition during the weekend.

Competition you say? Dun dun dun… queue fight music.

Every time I compete in solo competitions, the first ten seconds of the song is usually drowned by the frantic self thoughts of disbelief that I actually convinced myself to do this again. “Don’t you remember the last time you did this type of competition and you almost threw up?”. Twenty seconds into the competition my disbelief turns into panic as I realize that I just done everything I know in terms of charleston variations. Twenty five seconds… still panicking. After thirty or so seconds, everything just kind of becomes a blur until the music stops.

The first time I learned a “charleston variation”, it was just about one week before my first Lindy Bout event. I remember getting my JoJo Jackson charleston dvd in the mail and going over the moves on my laptop while pretending to be doing work at my co-op job. During that Lindy Bout and during the solo jass competition, Mandi Gould (Toronto) asked us to do the Shim Sham in a line so the judges could verify their finalists. I had no idea what the Shim Sham was. It was truly an epic moment in my dance career.

This time around in NEGJ, I actually felt somewhat okay by the end of the competition. I don’t remember doing more than three or four charleston variations so there is definitely lots of studio time still to be broken in for my next charleston challenge. At least I can take pride that I didn’t puke at the end of the comp.

North East Girl Jam 2010 – Charleston Finals

Laura’s Charleston Routine

Laura’s solo charleston class at North East Girl Jam. She’s a fantastic dancer and her smile is infectious. I secretly steal her moves on the social dance floor when she’s not looking.

Forgot to post this – won a competition with Alcina Chiu at Toronto’s Inter-Regional Jack and Jills. :) More clips on the site’s Vimeo page (http://vimeo.com/channels/hamfats).

Northstar Blues – Team Cutting Final – Part 1 from Harbord Hamfats on Vimeo.

Northstar Blues – Team Cutting Final – Part 2 from Harbord Hamfats on Vimeo.

Northstar Blues – Team Cutting Final – Part 3 from Harbord Hamfats on Vimeo.

This is the Toronto Jack and Jill Trophy

I was organizing my dance shoes into order of awesomeness and I picked up a shoe bag with a bottle in it. Alas, it was not just any bottle, it was the trophy for the Toronto Lindy Jack and Jill competition. You see, we dancers here in the great city of Toronto, like to drink in excess when going out. However, being asian and small in stature, I tend to not need a lot of alcohol to get my courage to ask girls to dance – hence forgetting about the trophy.

What was the liquor for you ask? Ah glad you mentioned it ;) Well, it was the first Toronto lindy competition i’ve seen or been in since I moved to this city.

TorontoLindyHop.com’s blog post has a good description of the event:

The Jack & Jill had forty people participate. There were two preliminary heats from which five leads and five follows were picked for the finals. The contestants danced to three songs each in the prelims to DJ’d music. The finals were held with the band and started off with a blues all-skate. Following the all-skate was a couples spotlight. Judges included Caitlin Wellman, Damon Stone, Arthur Lulu and Brooke Filsinger Groberg.
- http://www.torontolindyhop.com/swing/2009/10/staturday-inaugural-jack-jill

Admittedly, it was not the best dancing I’ve done but my partner Kerry, made sure to carry the partnership home to our respective bottles.

This May I flew to Chicago for a popular blues event, Blues Shout. I met some really welcoming mid-western locals who were kind enough to truck me around for the weekend and got to dance with and gawk at some of the best blues dancers from the US. I ate an unhealthy amount of deep-dish pizza and received an intimate education of the Chicago Transit Authority (the venues were really spread throughout the city). I was having such a great time that I barely took any pictures.

Competitions

I only ended up competing in one division for BluesShout, the solo cutting contest. It was a nerve-racking experience being in front of so many talented and dedicated blues dancers for the finals who are all expecting you to do something to amaze them.

I ended up placing first for the cutting contest (audience judged). Admittedly I was a bit embarrassed after the competition when people were coming up to congratulate me because I did not expect to win at all. I have a pretty goofy dance personality that does not produce the best dance aesthetics (damn you “lines”!) and I’m pretty sure I fell down a couple of times. I’ll have to watch the video to see what actually happened.

However, watching the other competitions renewed my sense of commitment to learning the fundamentals and technique of blues dancing. There are so many possibilities of movement in blues dancing that I have not even began to explore yet. The Ballroomin’ and Juke Joint finals were amazing to watch due to the variety of moves and styles that were presented. I caught myself thinking multiple times, “aww yah, gotta steal that move”.

“Hey Fellas Go Get Em”

Here’s something a little bit different…

The ladies wait for the cue from the band to woo the guys in the audience.

This weekend I had the fortunate opportunity to travel back to Vancouver for Lindy Bout 3 for dance competitions and some rhythm social games. Fittingly, all the dances and competitions were held at the Legion Auditorium on Commercial Drive where I learned to cut my dance shoes and triple steps.

Like last year, I chose to compete in the Title Jack and Jills, Inter-Regional Jack and Jills, Partnered Blues, and Solo Jazz competitions. I ended up placing first for the title j&j (admittedly my seattle dance partner did most of the work :) and placing in the finals for solo jazz. I did not have much luck in the Inter-Regional and Partnered Blues but I felt my dancing was somewhat better than last year so I did not mind too much.

Coming home from dance competitions and big exchange/congresses is always a bittersweet feeling. I am always invigorated from all the great dancing and awestruck from all the talent there is in our dance scenes. However there are always periods directly after those events of self realization that there is so much more training and work to do to get to that level. It’s awesome and scary at the same time.

Pictures

For more pictures of this event, head to http://hamfats.ca/photos/lindybout3.

For more pictures of this event, head to http://hamfats.ca/photos/lindybout3.

Good times at Blues Blast put on by Swing Dynamite in Ottawa. I feel like I am starting to get to know the Ottawa swing scene more and I was able to participate in DJing, class learning, social dancing, and competing.

I had a lot of fun spinning blues and soul this weekend. People were actually asking me the names of the songs that I was playing! That never happens (I’m awkward in social situations). Admittedly, my blues “all-music” knowledge (har har jk) isn’t as sharp as my jazz or mambo so I was not able to ramble on about musical references as I usually do. I need to start hitting the books again.

There were two competitions for this event – a Jack ‘n Jill blues contest and the Cuttin’ Contest (solo blues dancing). I am happy to report that I placed first in the cutting competition and third in the jack&jills with Miss Devon!

Pictures

The following are some pictures from the event. To find more pictures navigate to: http://hamfats.ca/photos/shimmy-like-my-sister-kate .

If you are wondering why I am wearing glasses while dancing… oh there’s a story.

1. Taking a blues class in a latin club! Merecumbeeeeee!

2. Our teachers Don and Ria!

3. [Left] “I have a question… what are the people on the right panel doing?”

4. Ria rocks out with her socks out.

5. Teacher Bryn dancing with Don!

6. Chelsea dancing with some dude. They look like they are enjoying themselves!

7 and 7.5. Don shows us clips from the movie, “TAP!”. Cutting contest at its finest.

8. THUNDERDOME!!!

9. Najet the red rocket.

10. whoa!

11. One of the only pictures I have of Damon. I was too busy having my brain dismembered by his awesome classes.

12. I love this Gene Kelly spin.

13. I’m holding the camera while taking the class.

14. [Left] I think I met this girl in Waterloo. [Right] We should have danced more!

15. Oz is awesome.

16. The above photo courtesy of Norman Lansing. A fellow dancer-photographer!

To find more pictures navigate to: http://hamfats.ca/photos/shimmy-like-my-sister-kate .