HST 2015 Update #2 - Beer!

Beautiful, brilliant day on the beach yesterday! T-shirt warm, with a wild blustery wind blowing off the sea.

We played in the sand then at sunset made our way up to the piers and weather-beaten boardwalks above; picturesque alleys and terraces with shops and eateries; penguins and hawks pruning each other on the rooftops; fishermen with long lines dancing in the wind down into the spray and foam below; and the sound of the waves, the smell of salt, and the last apricot rays of light as the sun sank into the big blue sea ...

This event is set to explode. Advance registrations are up 30% from last year, as are hotel rooms. Last update I'd said 500 - John says they're actually expecting 700+ with dancers from Switzerland, Russia, the Netherlands, Brasil, Australia, Korea, England and Israel. With costumes.

Today we've got workshop - Benji! Kyle and Sarah! Parker and Melissa! Jordan and Tatiana! - and then...

A pool party with - get this - a Craft Beer Tasting!

And tonight - the first competitions of the weekend! Strictlys!

I am having a serious BLAST so far. Finally made it to this event, and a good year to be here because THIS HOTEL! More about the hotel later.

You might want to watch tomorrow night ... Monsters' Ball, Costume Parade, and...

The Scary Strictly!

Suma Datta and Scott Dawson are here from Houston, first year, and Summa says she saw a video of last year's Scary Strictly and said "I HAVE to be there to see that. I don't need to do or see anything else all weekend, I just have to be there to see that live!"

Here are live stream instructions, direct from Mrs. Global Dance TV Videographer Herself, Miss Mimi Bourassa Johnson:

"Here is the subscription link

http://globaldance.tv/set/Swingthing2015

"Select live stream option from the drop down menu

"Click on green button that says buy now

"But first make sure you are wearing the proper attire." **[See Footnote Below for Explanation]

This has nothing to do with anything, it's just a favorite poem which recited itself in my dreams all night long, complete with pictures. John Masefield's "Sea Fever":

I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,
And a gray mist on the sea's face, and a gray dawn breaking.
I must down go to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.
I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull's way and the whale's way, where the wind's like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over.

1. Proper Attire comment:
   

   Yesterday I'm sitting in the silence and privacy of my hotel room, squinting at my laptop working on the first update. Naked.

   The silence is suddenly broken by my phone - lying beside my elbow - SHOUTING at me, full volume. I jump out of my chair knocking my phone to the floor and when I pick it up I see a stretched fishbowl view of Mimi's face surrounded by a group of other people's heads all STARING at me like a panel of judges frowning down on me from the sky - I'm on video call!

   I go into apoplectic shock and start hyperventilating, yelling WAIT WHAT I'M NAKED NO CLOTHES ON NAKED NAKED jumping around wildly trying to cover myself with one hand while juggling the phone in front of me with the other, too flustered to figure out how to stop pointing the camera at myself.

   Some primitive limbic portion of my brain remembered there's such a thing as an "End Call" button which I pushed, staring stunned as the screen went dark and silent.

   I was seriously rattled for hours afterwards. Here I'd thought I was locked away from view, happily going about my business, enjoying the fresh breezes and sun coming in the open balcony doors.