Northwest Folklife Festival 2014

One year ago I danced my way across the contra dance floor day after day and hour after hour.

It's been a year since I danced and I was so thrilled to be back in Seattle for another NWFLF (Northwest Folklife Festival).

I arrived early early in the morning after some delays on Wednesday morning. Unfortunately, my luggage did not. That didn't stop me from spending some wonderful quality time with three very good friends that day. The weather was beautiful and time was spent wandering the streets of Fremont, laying on the grassy hillside at the Ballard locks, and walking through Ballard that evening.

I wish I'd had more time to devote to reconnecting and spending time with my friends. Life is so short and sometimes it feels like time is stolen from me more than just passing by.

Thursday my friend and I headed up Little Si Mountain. My lower back was hurting significantly from excessive exercise and stretching the prior week so I'm positive that it was the slowest ascent and descent I've ever done on a mountain, but I enjoyed being outside nonetheless. The critters were out too. Spotted lots of caterpillars, some deer, a chipmunk, and even a small snake crossing the path. The sun was out and the forest was alive with colors and sounds of summer.

The trail head.

A popular rock climbing wall in the woods.

View from the top. That's not Seattle in case you were wondering...

The trail through the trees. It's soooo green!

Yes, we stopped and stared at each other for a bit. He graciously posed for the camera :)

Friday started Folklife. Since my back was still weak I only danced for a cumulative of a few hours, and only contra dancing that day. It was a day of reuniting with old friends and reintroducing my body to the dance world again :)

Saturday I planned a more complex day. It started with some swing dancing and continued into an hour and a half of Gilbert and Sullivan sing-a-longs! By then it was early evening and I headed back to some contra dancing for the rest of the night.

Sunday started with some contra but soon turned into a fabulous and fun hour of zydeco dancing!! Sweaty and blissfully happy I left to find some food and a Bach sing-a-long choir. Dancing resumed again with a bunch of Scandinavian dances, more contra, outside swing in the rain on the grass and a conclusive night of waltzing. My feet were hurting by the end of Sunday, but my back was no longer. I was eager to rest for the last day of Folklife.

Monday was going to be the most unusual for me that I had planned. I spent some time dancing zydeco in the morning and then a lovely afternoon discussing blues improv for violin and contra dance writing with a good friend. When I went back to dancing it was to the swing stage for the afternoon. I did have one complete contra dance on Monday to complete my contra dancing weekend before heading out to latin ballroom dancing. I shimmied and swirled and swept my way across the latin floor for the rest of the night before it was time to say good bye to everyone I'd just met and all the friends I'd barely had time to share one dance with all weekend.

It was an amazing weekend. Not just for the fun of dancing and the friendships, but because this weekend I broke down some boundaries I'd created, pushed myself out of some comfort zones I had, set goals that I completed, and discovered a confidence that I had long ago lost. I knew this weekend would be magical but still was unprepared for how magical and life changing it would be. I'm so thankful for all the friends I have, all the friends I made, and all the friends I haven't lost while traveling so often and so far without constant contact. I'm still amazed at the generosity, humble kindness, and genuine love they show toward me and am so blessed to have a place in all of their lives, no matter how small it may be (cozy corners are often the best spots)!

Here's to Folklife, Friends, Fun, and many more of these times to come!



Next I'm off to Ohio to perform for the summer at the Ohio Light Opera Company. Come visit. Come see a show. I'll be performing, I'll be dancing (locally as often as possible, but not on stage lol), I'll be outside mountain biking and playing tennis, and best of all, I'll be enjoying life as I continue my pursuit of the cruise ship :)

Dancing Fool Feb. 2013 videos

Everyone has been asking me how my latest contra dance weekend went (except for those of you who were there of course). So, here are some videos to showcase the awesomeness that is Dancing Fool. I'm in all the videos somewhere. But enjoy the music and the laughter and you might just find yourself tapping your feet :)

And I'm also going to pat my own back for the html coding of these videos. I am super happy I was able to not just do some copy/paste but also some edits!! Yea me :)

this dance you can see me somewhere, but I'm not going to tell you. You're just going to have to watch the video :-) Evil? Most definitely not! You'll love watching it!



I'm also in this video, about 20 seconds in and then closer up at around 45 seconds in. Can you find me??



And I'm at the very end of this video off and on through the 6 min mark. I'm swinging my girls away :)



And I included this video, even though I'm only in for a second around 2:30 minute mark BECAUSE it's one awesome tune! You've got to play it just to listen to the song....one of the best and greatest contra tunes out there :)

Hope you enjoyed watching these videos. It did take me some time to get them all encoded properly here and then code my page in html as opposed to just writing it like normal. But I enjoyed watching all the videos multiple times and successfully editing the html so it was totally worth it!!

Hopefully I'll see you at the next contra dance festival :-)

I am a Dancing Fool!!! Are You???

Over the last weekend I danced and danced and danced some more. And I wish I could keep dancing! That's my brain talking; not my feet :)

Dancing started Thursday evening with a full house and reunions with friends. Then Friday it was off to the races. Catching up with quick words amidst swings and gypsies and then on to the next, trying to dance with all your old friends and make new ones, guzzling water and quick changing shirts during short breaks, was how it all started. Then Saturday hit....full on, with no mercy!

Dancing all morning, dancing all afternoon, a marathon dance, and dancing all evening....did I mention dancing?? :)

Here are a couple photos to show the fun and craziness that is contra!



Wheeeeeee!!!!!!  Girls gotta love a good swing :)



What a sweet moment captured here. I love leading in contra and this swing was a truly lovely time :)



A manic smile, but it betrays how much fun I was having. Helps that I had a stellar swing partner!

So sad that this Dancing Fool Seattle weekend is over. I miss all my friends, new and old, all the swings, left and right, all the meals, hurried or lingered, and most of all, the energy and environment and engaging atmosphere that is the contra dance weekend Dancing Fool.

Thanks to Meg who put it all together and the bands and callers who worked so hard and to all the dancers who nearly destroyed their bodies out there on the dance floor.

Until next Fool!!!!!



A short stay in Seattle

After leaving the NCL Gem, I flew to Atlanta, then to OKC and then to Seattle where I've been the last few days. I'm not usually here this time of year and after being here now, I'm ok with that prospect. It's the rainy season (yes, I realize that's year round in Seattle, but it's actually get wet rain during this season) and it's cold. I highly dislike cold. Right now I'm sitting in an enclosed room with two computers running and the thermostat set at 68 and wearing booties and a sweater dress and a long sleeve shirt underneath and I'm still absolutely freezing. I've been drinking hot tea but I think my red blood cell count is so low at this point that my body simply cannot sustain its own heat to my desirable temperature.

Irregardless of my internal and seeming external temperature, I am enjoying my stay in Seattle. I've been dancing and practicing my violin, researching and catching up on emails, eating and over sleeping, and failing to get together with all my friends like I should. I will soon change that though because starting on Monday it will become a friend frenzy. I'll run myself ragged again going from one destination to another, meeting for lunch, meeting for dinner and meeting for drinks. Don't get me wrong, it will be lots of fun and after I leave, so exhausted I fall asleep before the plane takes off, I'll wish I had more time to spend here and I'll do what I do every time I leave Seattle/Vancouver BC, and that is to promise myself that next time I'll plan more days to spend here so I don't feel rushed. It never happens though so I should take the hint and quit telling myself it will.

The other day I had a nice chance to walk (in the rain) for a few miles. In a brief interlude between the clouds the leaves were sparkling with color and the sun was shimmering off the rain beads. It was simply breathtaking. I only took one picture, but I was probably walking down the street in a daze because I couldn't decide where to look and which picture would represent the view best. In this scenario I usually just don't take a picture at all. But I did take one...see below.

Still more dancing and dining to come. Still more rehearsing and researching to do. Still more friends and folly to engage. And as always, I'll do my best to keep you updated :)