On being an unknown quantity

After eating dinner and hanging around 16th Street some more, I headed over to the Denver Turnverein for some swing dancing. Had a little trouble finding it, and stopped to ask a bearded dennizen if he could direct me to the address. He gruffly asked why I was goign there, and I replied that it was for swing dancing, of course. At which point he broke into a large smile and welcomed me into the parking lot. Bearded parking guardian. I liked the idea.

The Turnverein is exactly the type of place I like. Casual, good floor, all ages (teens through retirees), lots of different types of swing music, low key refreshments available for a low price, and very friendly people.

When I got in, it was the same story with any new place where I go dancing. Invariably, I'm first asked to dance by some older gentleman ... generally in their sixties. Sometimes they're intermediate, more often than not they're solid beginner's (because the really newbie beginner's generally aren't courageous enough to ask a new person to dance, unless they're really overly confident). A1 was of the intermediate persuasion. A2 was of the very beginner persuasion. And then the flood gates were opened. Rather a lot of leads to dance with. It wasn't until B asked me to dance that I started to have fun. B also got me into the birthday/visitor dance, for which I was very appreciative.

The birthday/visitor dance is really fun. Mostly because it's a steal dance, meaning that people line up to steal the dance from other "competitors." And it's mostly the intermediate or advanced dancers that like to steal and show off their moves. So it was that I got to dance with a lot of the guys I'd been eyeing up to this point. Definitely made the night much more appealing. Talked with a few, and also met Christy and Kara. Best dance upstairs was with Steve, who was amazing at improvising and musicality. He asked me if I'd ever done contact improv. I'd actually never heard of it before, but it looks like something I might get involved in (although dancing without music seems odd).

When the hour got late, the dancers moved downstairs for blues dancing, over which I was terribly excited. I came down a little late, and watched the lesson, which was taught by John and Christy. The first dance I can remember was with the owner (who's name I can't remember, I'd recognize him on sight), who told me who I should dance with, and who encouraged me to be bold. Ended up[ dancing with John, Oleg, and Ponytail Man, some more with mike (not Mike), and a few others who I felt particularly like asking to dance with. Fantastic night. I just love dancing.