My Veteran's Day Adventure

Veteran's Day was a beautiful sunny day this year......it was also on a Thursday.  Everyone knows that holidays are celebrated on Mondays so that city, state, and federal employees get the day off and a long weekend.  And that is why on this beautiful sunny day I loaded up the car with my garbage and started driving to the local landfill.

Somewhere along the way I remembered it was a holiday and realized that the landfill was closed.  The workers at the landfill always have a huge sign stating the next upcoming holiday and their next day off ---- like a goal to reach.  But it was a gorgeous day and I was in the mood to be out and about, and I decided to drive to Vermont.  I set off on the hour's drive, happy to be enjoying the sunshine. The garbage was enjoying the sunshine too as it steamed away in the trunk of my car.  It wasn't long before the odor started wafting my way through the open window and finding a place to dump this load became high priority.  I scanned the road looking for a blue dumpster but they were all behind locked fences.  Garbage cans lined the road all the way to Vermont but they were empty, pickup had already happened.  They were taunting me,  laughing at me, as I drove on and on, their flapping lids seemed to say "Nyah nyah".   As the garbage ripened in the sun, I wondered if I would soon smell pretty ripe too.

At last I spotted a Big Blue at a Sunoco!!!  I got out of the car and felt like an idiot explaining my situation to the two cashiers.  No, they said, I couldn't use their dumpster because they pay by the pound.  I would have turned to leave, but the woman was flipping burgers as she told me the bad news.  I am like Wimpy, cannot resist a burger, and was stunned to see a sign saying they have Boar's Head deli meat!!!    Are all Sunoco's like this?  They had salads, and cold sandwiches, it was a real deli in the middle of a gas station.  I ordered a burger and the two cashiers were like a comedy team.  We laughed, we joked, he did a dance for me.  While I waited for the burger I picked up a mac & tuna salad, a chocolate chip cookie, a bottle of water and yes, I went for it, a Butterfinger!  I left with my little picnic lunch and alas...the garbage.

I arrived at last in Bennington and drove to the Bennington Battlefield.  I recalled happy times in the past when I had taken the kids to see the monument, the one my small son called "The Big Penie".  I found an open spot, parked and chowed down.  The burger was delicious, and I swear the salad was the best I had ever bought at a deli.  The cookie was loaded with huge chunks of chocolate, and tasted homemade.  I couldn't finish it all, but I was definitely in hog heaven and had the greasy fingers and face to prove it. 

I drove through downtown Bennington, stopped at a store and picked up a magazine and a free Guide.  I did not see any open dumpsters, and now that my joy from lunch was fading, the reality of driving home with the garbage hit me.  Who would take this smelly problem away?  I drove around for a little while longer but no solution appeared.  Sadly, I knew it was time to head home and face all those empty cans thumbing their lids at me. 

Now it was later in the day and the sun was even warmer than before.  And suddenly I saw it!!!  A big blue dumpster calling me, its lid wide open and beckoning, singing its siren song "Fill Me Up, Buttercup".  It was in the parking lot of a little drive-in coffee shack.  I drove up to the window and told the girl my sad story, steeling myself for the rejection.  Imagine my joy when she said Sure, go ahead and put your garbage in our dumpster!!!!!  I was thrilled, elated, and joyfully hopped out of the car and opened the trunk.  In the open dumpster went the two bags!!!  I was so happy and relieved, and couldn't believe my good fortune as I stood in the sun and tried to wave the fumes away.  What a happy ride home!!  This must be the way Santa feels when he leaves his goodies!!!

At home, flipping through the Vermont Guide I worried a little.....is it illegal to transport homemade garbage across state lines?  But mostly I was thankful ---- because if I had gotten to Bennington an hour earlier me and my garbage would have been in the parade!!!   

TAKING DANCE NOTES

Anyone who is really serious about learning to dance should eventually begin taking notes on patterns or techniques learned in class.  The more you get into dancing, the more patterns floating around in your head and the more necessary it becomes to jot something down.  I know most of you would love for me to write out the patterns for you --- but there's a reason why teachers assign homework!!  Just making an attempt to write something down helps to cement it in your mind and makes it easier to remember.  So here are some hints as to how to take notes!

1.  Use the tracking sheets that I supply.  They give you the names of the patterns and provide space to make little notes to jog your memory.  But you will at some point want to take more elaborate notes as you progress in your dancing.

2.  Do the notes from the Man's point of view --- if he doesn't remember the pattern, ladies, it's not happening!    Any special notes about the Lady's part can be noted as well.

3. Start with the timing --- every dance has its own timing.  DO NOT make up your own count.  Believe me, you are just adding to your own confusion and making it harder on yourself and your partner.  Add the footwork.  I suggest using abbreviations because as you get practice at writing things down you'll notice you use the same things pretty often.  It's like a recipe for dance - we all know the meaning of 1 C vs 2 tsp

4.  Know the big Basic Components!!!  Like a 5h Position Break, an Open Break, a Box.  You need to have these components straight in your mind as you advance through the levels.

Let's try an easy one:   Box Step in Waltz

1              LF (left foot)               forward
2              RF (right foot)            side
3              LF                               tog (bring feet together)
1              RF                              back
2              LF                              side
3              RF                              tog

You might also make a note to turn the pattern counter-clockwise - just note <--

Now that wasn't hard, was it?  So let's try a more complicated pattern in Waltz:

Parallel Hesitations ---  start DW (start facing at a diagonal angle to the wall)

1              LF                                forward, OP (outside partner)
2             ----                                hold position -- Lady does leg lift
3             ----                                continue holding position
1             RF                                forward OP
2             LF                                side, turn 1/4 (90 degrees) to R (clockwise)
3             RF                                tog.  End with back facing DC (at a diagonal angle to center)
1             LF                                 back OP
2-3         ----                                 hold (Lady = leg lift)
1             RF                                back OP
2             LF                                side, turn 1/4 L
3             RF                                tog - end facing DW


If you know your Basic Components you can use those as shortcut parts of the notes --- here's another way to write up the same pattern:

Parallel Hesitations (like ZZ in FT) - start DW

1-2-3                                           fwd hes OP- Lady leg lift (LF)
1-2-3                                           fwd 1/2 box, 1/4 R
1-2-3                                           bk hes OP- Lady leg lift (LF)
1-2-3                                           bk 1/2 box, 1/4 L- end DW


Here's a gift to anyone who knows their components:  Changing Grapevines in Fox Trot

SQQ SQQ      par. twink
S                      bk OP
QQQQ             rev GV
QQ                  end in twink
S                     across in PP
QQQQ            fallaway GV
QQ                  end in Cl or Open

That is a complicated pattern that takes 6 measures to complete......but the notes are easy to jot down if I know my components.  Good Luck!!

Waltz with Rise and Fall

Waltz is the dance that makes us all feel graceful and elegant.  But part of the reason we feel that way is the "rise and fall" of Waltz.  Our job as dancers is always to translate, respond, and reflect whatever the musicians are playing.  Listen to a waltz and you will hear how the 1 beat is emphasized.  Remember the song "Oom-Pah-Pah" from Oliver?  Down goes the 1-beat and up goes the 2, up a little higher goes the 3.  And that's what we do as dancers.

Doing the Box Step with Rise and Fall:

1 -  Extend your left leg completely, and step forward on the heel.  As your weight transfers to the foot, soften your knee - "the fall"

2 - Extend your right leg to the side and transfer the weight to the ball of the foot, keeping your heel off the floor.  You are beginning "the rise" on the 2-beat.

3 - Bring your left foot "together", next to your right, and transfer the weight.  As the left foot is coming closer to the right, you are rising on the toe of the right foot.  By the time your weight is transferred to the left foot you are at your highest "rise" at the beginning of count 3.  Then lower to the heel of the left foot at the end of 3, preparing for the next 1 - the "fall".

1 - Extend your right leg back, taking the step on the toe, then rolling to a flat foot.  Once again you are softening the knee, or lowering, as the weight is transferred to the foot.  Take the next 2 beat the same way as before, the next 3 (together) the same way as before, remembering to lower at the end of 3.

It is important to extend the leg completely before softening the knee.  You can't take a short cut and take the step on a bent knee!!  Remember that your steps should always be larger for slower music.  A Box Step in Waltz should be larger than a Box Step in Fox Trot, and a Box Step in Rhumba is even smaller because of the Latin motion. 

Rise and Fall is easy once you get the hang of it, and it definitely adds that lovely feeling of grace and ease that has made Waltz the dance we traditionally turn to for all major life events.  So roll up the rug and practice.......Down Up Up, Down Up Up!!!