Boston Tea Party 2011 Update #1
Fun! Funfunfunfunfun. WOW do Lindy dancers know how to scream and cheer! Feels like I’ve just finished raving about the Chicago crowd but holy shaMOLY these Lindy guys are LOUD! One whole corner (either loud Baltimore or louder Quebec – lotta Quebecois here, really fun crowd) screaming their heads off, standing on chairs, sitting on shoulders, break-dancing between heats, doing the wave, all wearing huge orange hands with a pointing finger which they’re waving in the air. Great crazy energy in the ballroom.
Last night was Strictly’s, two west coast divisions: Open and Champions. Got one heat half recorded then gave up trying to scratch it down fast enough, so two heats about 20 couples each. Finals just got posted!
- Benjamin and Melodie
- Dave Damon and Sarah Richard
- Davis Thurber and JessAnn Nail
- Doug Silton and Samantha Ramirez
- Erik and Anna
- Gary Ulaner and Melissa Greene
- HBrafnkell and Maria
- Kevin Balcom and Lynne Anderson
- Marc and Stephanie
- Marcus Schwartz and Samantha Fernandez
- Maxence and Jill Damarco
- Stephane and Emmeline
- Steven Hunt and Tiffany Lubran
- Alternates:
- Oscar Hampton and Annie Trudeau
- Peter Fradley and kate Lovegrove
Then the 700 beats per minute WILD balboa and lindy strictlys, and holy crap people sitting on top of each other crowded all over the floor, pounding and stomping between heats – crazy energy. Those lifts and aerials – Wild! One guy did a double handspring, his partner catching him upside-down around the waist and they danced away like that! His feet in the air! Crazy! Makes us west coast dancers look like snails. But sexy snails. We are snails but sexy skanky snails compared to them in their pretty little skirts and sailor suits. Lindy dancers are so wholesome. The differences between us are what make the pro crossover Jack and Jill (tonight!) so funny – you get to watch the pro’s trying to do the other dance and it’s always a caricature of what the dance is, it’s the concentrated condensed version. My favorite was Jo Hoffberg a few years ago dressed in skin-tight, low-cut, black (of course) rhinestones and glitter – the sluttiest hair-whipping pole-dancing version of how we wsc girls look to them. Priceless. And Tatiana last year, dressed half Lindy (one side of her face with red lipstick, a flower in her hair, a dress and white keds) half West Coast (the other side black eyeliner, frosted lips, bad-girl hair all in her face, one long earring on that side, one pants leg, one dance sandal.) And she did a lift! From a hand-stand! In slo-mo!
Rob Glover is emcee for most of the event, with a little help from Robert Cordoba and uh oh, didn’t catch the name of the Lindy emcee, and he’s doing a good job, upbeat and funny. Music’s been great so far … tell ya more in a moment.
Also last night, Invitational Strictly:
- Kyle and Melina dancing to FU (Kyle and Erik Novoa, sitting on the floor trying to take pictures, also “dancing” to FU or, let’s see, how can I put it. Kyle obscenely dancing down at Erik, who obscenely put down his camera and obscenely danced right back up at Kyle, while Melina just stood there losing it)
- Jordan and Tatiana (Famous Drop-And-Roll (I have no idea what this move is really called or even if it has a name but you know which one I mean), famous 40 katrillion skazillion flat-backs-while-circling-AROUND-Jordan-while-staring-at-your-feet-have-you-ever-tried-to-do-even-ONE-of-these?-forget-it-you’ll-fall-into-chairs; famous dislocated-shoulder spins; famous surprise ducking in and out of everything; Oh yeah hahahaha and Jordan wouldn’t dance for the first 20 seconds of the song – he just stood there gazing into the distance, comatose, waiting for the instrumental intro to be finished, Tat frantically trying to get starter-steps going, waving her hands in front of his face trying to get his attention)
- Lindo and Jessica “Only Girl In The World” and man, John Lindo is on a rolllll lately, a rolllll, jokes and witty new ideas just rolling out one on top of the other, the man’s turned into a beast. He tried to be Jessica’s “only girl in the world,” ha! And then when Rhianna says “hold me like a pillow” he SLAMMED Jessica into himself, and I mean slammed, and there is a lot of John Lindo to be slammed into like a pillow.
- Arjay and Jen – so sleek, so sexy, so elegant. I love these two, separately and together.
- Robert and Deborah – “Please Don’t Go”
- Ben and Sarah – “Finally Free”
And then an all-skate (“Drinkin’ Wine”) where all hell broke loose. Ben and Sarah started it by doing Two-Step instead of west coast so hey! within seconds everyone was 2-steppin’ around (sort of) the floor. Not your ordinary 2-step, to put it mildly. Jordan and Tatiana doing the drunken slumped beer-on-her-shoulder version; some modern-dance versions of two-step, some hip-hop versions … and then Jordan suddenly sobered up and switched to line-dancing and within seconds everybody else was line dancing too; and then … complete chaos.
Love these people! Every crazy artistic colorful one of ‘em. So different from each other! Love ‘em all!. So lucky to get to watch them play and be creative! Sheesh!