Ryanware

So I was in Sacramento over the weekend for the Sacramento Lindy Exchange. Though you won’t hear me admit it very often, I really do like lindy hopping in Utah, really. It’s just that the scene is pretty small and I get burned out quite often. I used to go out swing dancing 3-4 times a week, if I could. Now I just go twice a week, once for a team practice and once for fun. Why do I bring this up in a post about the Sacramento lindy exchange? Because dancing with all of the really good dancers in Sacramento (I’ll give credit to the OC lindy exchange as well a few weeks ago, which I forgot to post about), as cheesy as it may sound, got me excited about dancing again. I’m not sure how it goes for other forms of dance, but as far as lindy hop is concerned, if you don’t travel, you’re only gonna get so good. Traveling to other places to dance, meeting lots of new people, dancing with people you may or may not see again, watching lots of really good dancers, and the excitement of being on vacation all contribute to a better learning environment. Of course, the hard part is maintaining that excitement and new level of dancing when you return to your normal dances with all of your normal friends. Don’t take me wrong. I’m really not complaining about “normal dances” and “normal friends.” While I learn a lot and am inspired through my travels, I really get to put things into practice at the “normal dances” with my “normal friends.” If it weren’t for the “normal friends” you practice with, who you critique and who critique you, you’d be pretty limited. Of course, there are other aspects that come into how fast you can learn such as if you take group lessons, private lessons, watch videos, etc., but my point today is that traveling is fun, but don’t eat the oranges off the trees at the State Capitol building in Sacramento in late March. They were really, really gross.

I can’t wait to practice and solidify all the crazy ideas I got over the weekend.

Another awesome event has come and gone! The Rhythmic Arts Festival in San Diego was awesome! Can’t wait until next year! Also! I took a gazillion pictures! I usually forget about the camera completely.

My photos on flickr.

Texas is flat! Okay, not all of, but most of what I saw was really flat. And, it was a lot cooler than I thought it was going to be. The weather was nice. The Austin Lindy Exchange was, of course, totally sweet. Great dancing was had by all. I even took a decent amount of pictures, though only of dancing.

On Saturday (the 18th) we went to the Salt Lick BBQ with a group of dancers. Oh wow. The food there is awesome. All the BBQ you could possibly eat. We all got the Family Style menu item and ate till we were sick. It was beautiful. It was a fairly long drive out to the middle of no where, but once there it was well worth the drive.

Also, I have updated my World66 visited states map. I hadn’t updated it in quite a while.

In case you’re wondering, I went to Minneapolis, Minnesota back in September for yet another Lindy Hop event (Ultimate Lindy Hop Showdown).