All Balboa Weekend 2007 Diary - Prologue

It struck me recently that a bunch of people who wanted to read it, never got a chance to see my diary of All Balboa Weekend from this summer. As such, I'm posting it here. As you'll see, it was a blast.

Hey all,

For those of you unaware, I'm here in Akron, OH at the All Balboa Weekend. If figure that I'll write a bit each day about what's happened in the previous.

To start, allow me to explain what Balboa is. In the 1920s there was a ballroom callled The Balboa Peninsula in California, near LA, that wanted to invent their own form of swing. They had problems with the wild kicks of Charleston and the more uncouth (read black) moves of other dances. So they began to develop a swing dance done entirely in closed position. By the 1930s it was well formed enough to give a name, and they called it the Balboa. The original form of the dance, which is done entirely with the partners in body contact with one another is called Pure Bal. Eventually some of the cool Lindy spins and such made their way into Balboa, and the more modern form of the dance called Bal Swing was formed. The thing that makes a lot of people like Bal of both sorts is that the actual steps are very small, and so it can be done to crazy fast music.

So anyway, when I started dancing again at Charm City Swing, one of the intermediate classes offered in their next 8 week cycle was an introduction to Balboa. I took the class bu found it incredibly difficult and not as much fun as Lindy. By the end of the course, I had a few steps down, but nothing great. I didn't dance Bal at the social dances, instead preferring to work on my Lindy. Luckily for me Tim, the instructor, is one of the most persistent human beings on earth. He's really into Bal, and wants a lot of people to be dancing it in Baltimore. As a result he very kindly booked 3 extra hotel rooms at the All Balboa Weekend in Akron, OH. This meant that if anyone wanted to go only had to pay for registration and transportation. The cost of the beginners track of lessons was really cheap, and the most expensive part (housing) was taken care of. Well into my dance obsession at this point, I said, "What the hell," and registered.

Anyway, in the weeks leading up to here, I became at least casual friends with some of the other folks at Charm City Swing, some of whom were going. At the social dances I tried to practice a little bit of Bal even as I was learning awesome Lindy stuff from the Charm City Swing people. They day of the event drew closer, and I was a little intimidated by 3 days of solid lessons and dancing, something that I've never done before. Anyway, Thursday came, and with butterflies in my stomach, I got in the car and headed up to Akron.

Here's a run down of the Baltimore folk who are here with me -

Tim - Tim was my Bal teacher at the CCS events. He also taught my intro to Lindy class. He's only been doing this for about 2 years, but got completely obsessed with Bal and went to every class and workshop he could. Now he's really good, and really fun. In his real life, he's a federal police officer and former military. Overall he's a sweet guy and a dork that's into Sci-Fi and comics, so we get along.

Amy - Amy is Tim's girlfriend and soon to be coworker of mine. We met dancing. I found out that she was looking for teaching jobs. I let her know about the math opeining at Cardin, and she came in and got the job. She's a a physicist by trade and also really fun and math-nerdy. This is why I love CCS. They're all really my people, the sort I would be friends with anyway, even if they didn't have dancing as a common interest. She's a great Bal dancer, and is very good at giving leads pointers to make them stronger at letting the follow know what to do.

Rob and Elaina - Rob and Elaina are a married couple who met at Cornell. They're both about my age and, of course, do nerdy things. Anyway, Rob and I have basically identical tasted in music, comics, books, etc. Elaina is just a very sweet person. They gave me a ride to Akron.

Mike - Mike's my roommate here at the hotel and the only other person in the Baltimore crew in the beginner track with me. He was in the Merchant Marine and spends time on boats for a living. He's also an amateur photographer and musical theater nerd. IT goes without saying that he's a nice guy, if a bit of a goof ball. He also has a silly way of hitting on everything with two X chromosomes and a pulse.

Yasmina - I met Yasmina at my first dance class. She's French and a professor of French literature at Hopkins. She has this great sense of humor where she says incredibly silly things without ever breaking a strait face. She's a fantastic dancer too. She started Bal at the same time as me, and is in the Intermediate-Advanced track.

Matt - Matt's a college student in physics and one of the most naturally good dancers that I've ever seen. He's from the Baltimore area, but goes to Case Western University, so he's crashing here in Ohio with college friends rather than staying in the hotel.

Anyway, gotta go for now. Rob and Elaina are going out to breakfast and want to know if I'll join them. More on my exciting day yesterday when I return.