On the plane to Seattle

I haven't sat down and just written about what I have been up to lately, probably because up until now it has been pretty standard (if you can call my insanely busy schedule "standard"), but I have a bit of time right now. Flying on Virgin Airlines is awesome, but the novelty of seat to seat chat has worn off and I didn't end up packing anything to read.

School felt like it ended super early, and I barely had time to unpack my stuff before packing to leave again, what with work, losing my car, dancing, dress shopping, and what felt like an unreasonable amount of other random things to do. It’s all good fun though, I love my crazy life.

Everything awesome this summer starts with what would have been Frankie Manning’s birthday but what turned into his memorial weekend. It was a whirlwind inspirational festival and of course the swingingest party since the olden days, but it was also very somber and grounding for me. I have so much to learn and understand about the history and the dance and it’s no small responsibility. It was hard for me to really let loose and celebrate because of everything I was trying to take in. The weekend was about more than just looking for a good party (which is what I hope Camp Jitterbug will be).

Instead of going to sleep last night I got all packed up and brought my 70 pounds of luggage (meant to last all summer) out to dinner, hung out with Steve and Monica in the city, and ended up dancing and chilling at Mona’s for the rest of the night until we left for the airport at 4:30. Mona’s is a little dive bar in the east village that many of the local jazz musicians converge upon after their regular Tuesday night gigs, and it seems like the real deal. I can’t even explain how much I love the music and the atmosphere and the unique talents that are seemingly only appreciated in these small venues, like washboard and shaker (Eve and I talked about this last night, it takes skill to shake that egg, damnit!). On a related side note, I need to learn how to tap like some of those guys. They are just as integral to the music as the other players and it just feels so good.

I am also serious about learning the music that is married to dance. Again, it’s no small responsibility and will take a lot of practice, but I think it’s so important. Frankie wrote a piece a few months ago about how much musicians learn by playing with and for dancers, and vice versa. What is going to be difficult, or at least a worthy challenge, is keeping up my classical studies on top of everything, because that is what I am in school for after all. And I do love it, even if it’s in a very different way.

Seeing the Elianto Quintet in the subway reminded of that, and it certainly helped that the cellist was absolutely beautiful. Not that I am biased or anything :P