One Man’s Walk through life

My First Week of Herrang 2005

Every year in Sweden in the little town of Herrang, a swing dance camp is held like no other. It lasts 4 weeks, and people usually stay for between 1 and 4 of those weeks. There is dancing all night and teaching all day. Most people sign up for classes, and some stay for additional weeks for just dancing.

For me this is a very special place. I am writing this blog sitting on my bunck in a school room with 26 other beds. It is 5 till 10AM, and I’m not really sure why I’m up, as I went to sleep at 8AM, before the end (which is at 9AM, usually)

I’ve just finished the third week (my first), and I’ve changed my plane ticket to leave on Saturday instead of Tuesday. I think I’ll enjoy hanging out here, more than backpacking around Europe for five days.

Anwyay, it’s crazy, fun, and the hours are very agreeable to me. I’m sick along with everyone else, but I’m not taking any classes this week, so I’ll have plenty of time to sleep. Today is my day to be a computer geek and upload pictures. Tonight I dance again.

Here are some

4th of July Blues

Seattle——
I came back home (to Seattle) for the weekend. Tina and Topher are moving away from Seattle, and they threw themselves a going away blues party at my house. I got there a bit late, but the party kept going till 6 or 7 in the morning. Was fun.

I also took a pointer from DC Dave, and got up (semi) early the next morning and cooked my guests breakfast – of course they helped. We had crepes and they were some of the best crepes I’ve ever had.
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Then Portland.——
Blues party on Saturday at DC Dave’s. But the real party, the huge party was on Sunday at Scott’s. There were so many good leads and follows. Definitely one of the best blues parties I’ve been to. Good job to Scott and Kevin and all the DJ’s.

Around 7AM I had probably my 5 best dances of the weekend – and Lora caught the last two on tape! The first is with Celia – her dancing was amazing to begin with, but as she does more and more tango, she is becoming even more fun and graceful. Our connection was better than it’s ever been this weekend – dancing with her is like a dream. Looking at the tape, I have no clue how to do half the things we’re doing. Anyway it’s here
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Hiking——
For some godforsaken reason, at 7 or 8AM when the party finished, some of us still had energy, so we went for a hike. It was actually really fun and incredibly beautiful. Props to Kermit and Kim for pushing the rest of us into it.

Hanging Out in Florida

I spent the weekend in Florida visiting Tamar and Lisa Marie. It’s funny how a friendship blooms; lately I’ve been feeling very close to Tamar. I was very happy to have the chance to come and feed that.

We did all kinds of cool stuff – parties, mango festivals, mansions, swimming, dancing, drinking, talking.

Good weekend.

Andrew’s Micro Camp

I just finished spending a 4 day weekend packed into Andrew Sutton’s house in Sacramento with 13 amazing dancers and teachers. We had gathered to teach and learn from eachother in a new way.

Each of us taught at least one hour long class to everyone else. Many of the classes were about swing, but other classes included, Cuban Motion, Body Awareness, Contact Improv, Getting / Receiving Feedback, Stretching, and my own class Applying Tango to Lindy / Blues.

The classes were wonderful, and even better was the experience of coalescing into a real team, where people were concerned for each other, and pulling with eachother to achieve common goals. The goals we decided on for the weekend were Learning, Improving our teaching, Having fun, and Connecting. I feel we pretty much achieved them.

The whole thing was an experiment, and as such, I think it was a good first run. Everyone that went had a wonderful, hopefully transforming experience, and I think is going back to their scene with a lot more energy, enthusiasm, and a bit more knowledge. However, a lot of people who didn’t come felt excluded, and that is not cool. If this happens again, and talking to people, I think it will, inclusion has to be a goal from the start.

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Things I took out include——

• Icing on the Community – Mihai’s exercise where late in the weekend, everyone wrote down on 13 pieces of paper positive feedback about each of the other 13 people as people and dancers / teachers
• Splitting into small groups – as a way to make decisions more effectively and reduce group dissent / noise
• Arm leads are NOT evil – Andrew’s class talking about arm vs body leads as something else to play around with
• Tango – organizing my class taught me SO much about what I do, and what I might do with Tango in my swing
• I should teach – I really like teaching, it’s fun, I’m good at it, and can get a lot better by practicing
• Amazing new people – Amanda, Fiona, Marta, Michelle, Angelica, Clint, Harley
• Amazing old people – Tamar, Andrew, Kermit, Mihai, Solomon, Dan

These people made the weekend
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hopefully we’ll be putting more stuff out for public consumption soon, but whether or not we do, I think this weekend has put a mark on us all, and we will find ways to spread it.

Jeremy Has A Girlfriend

That’s right folks

And it’s high time too… We’ve been dating for just over a month now, and, I have to say, it’s really nice to be in a relationship again.

Everyone on the entire internet, meet Anna.

Anna, everyone on the entire internet.

She’s crazy, fearless, brilliant, sassy, young, unpredictable, strong, beautiful, and tender (though good luck getting her to admit it). Anyway, I’m sure you’ll be seeing more about her on this blog.

I’ve never done the long distance thing before, but we’re giving it a go. We’ve seen eachother I think 4 of the past 5 weekends…so we’re not doing too bad, especially considering she lives in Houston.

Anyway this last weekend was fun, and I miss her already.

– (she’s also a wonderful photographer – she took the picture on top right of this blog almost a year ago now.)

Vote For Karissa’s Next Haircut!!!

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Karissa needs your help to decide which hairstyle she wants to use next. So

!! VOTE

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pick your favorite from or suggest a new one. be warned, she made me try out some virtual do’s before she’d let me post hers so, just…ignore them…

The Forest

I’ve been here before.
Many hours I’ve spent on this very hilltop,
looking down on a forest below.
Gazing,
Studying,
Scheming,
Planning,
Dreaming
So many paths, shining,
Indefinite,
Wonderful.

But today, something is different,
I’ve been joined by a butterfly, an accomplice.
And even as we look out over the forest,
A new section opens itself up to us.
The paths look a bit dangerous and unkept
…and fun.

There is no decision, no hesitation, no pause.
We find ourselves racing toward these paths,
Because they are OURS.
Our birthright, for as sure as we were born,
They belong to us, and we to them.
And they have only to beckon.

But we are not alone.
Far above, the sun looks down and smiles,
And the day seems to brighten as we race…

My Happy Thought….

My sister

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Finally got a chance to catch up on my sister’s blog. (I wish I could post a link) I am constantly amazed by her. She is so passionate.

I need to listen more to her. I could learn a thing or two

The Best Job in the World

The guy that hosts Craft Corner Deathmatch has the best job in the world.

If you haven’t seen this show, it’s awesome, it’s like an iron chef of crafts.