Swinging in Halifax

On Saturday I was at the Square Chapel Vintage Fair (adjacent to the Piece Hall) for a Swing Dance Improvers Workshop (Lindy Hop) hosted by The Swing Cats.

It was a wonderfully fun morning of dancing: revising the basics, improving technique and getting to swing dance again!  I realised how long it was since I'd danced swing when I was flagging after one whole track!  But it has reminded me how much I enjoy this dance form. 

The teachers were fab. 

They encouraged us to record a 'revision session' at the end of the class - lots of great tips which I must find time to watch again!

I'm planning on starting classes again in Manchester, perhaps starting one Thursday with SwingOut Manchester at Nexus Art Cafe.  

I get such a buzz from dancing.

(And last night was the second On Broadway class - still fun, even if I did manage to invent the "reverse swan dive" ... yes, went to do a fast turn and ended up flat on my back!  Ah well - we're there to learn.) 

Finally, how has #BreatheSeptember2018 been going?  

Well, last Friday's word was "Quiet" - and it was a fairly quiet day as I was working from home waiting for someone to fix my heating/water (or, make sure I could have one on without the other!).  

Saturday's word was "Outside" - I spent some time after the dance class wandering around the Piece Hall in the cooling rain.

 I loved the doors to the side of the Piece Hall adjacent to Square Chapel.

The building itself is fascinating - you can move from the ground floor to the first floor "gallery" by walking round the four sides (you do have to use the stairs to get to the second floor).

I sat outside and enjoyed my lunch whilst watching the rain lash down in the square (fortunately the wind was blowing it away from me), and listening to a band.

On the way home I stopped off to look at the 'old road' at Baitings Reservoir which is on the moors above where I live.  I've never seen the water level so low before.  

It has been low in the past;  I remember my mum taking us up to look at it in 1984, and at other times, and telling us stories of her dad driving his electric van across the bridge and back up the hill (with a somewhat drained battery at times).  (You can actually see the difference between the old and new bridge levels better on this photo.)



Today's word was "Listen" - and I've been listening to some fascinating presentations at #altc, the annual conference of the Association for Learning Technology.

(Perhaps this post should have been in Snap Happy!  Or perhaps I need to amalgamate ...)

Back "On Broadway" and 'Breathe September'

Last month I posted about a new dance/exercise class I'd been to.  I signed up for a four-week block of classes, which started on 3rd September.  I have to say, I'm hooked.

We started learning a routine to the "The Greatest Show" from the film, "The Greatest Showman".  It was an extremely fun way to get some exercise, whilst learning a new dance form.  And I love dancing!  There were times when I felt like an octopus that had lost control of its legs ... but other times when I thought, "Hey, I might be getting this!".

I'll be going back next week.  There's another woman who I met at the taster class - we're acting as 'moral support' for each other as we learn.  "You will come back next week won't you ..."

Whether I continue after the initial four-week block will depend upon two factors: (1) if I can cope with the travel time - it means driving into work and battling with the morning commuting traffic, driving south of the city to get to the class, then driving at least an hour home again (all on a "school night"); and (2) if I decide I can commit to the expense - it's not a cheap hobby, but it is something I enjoy and I will try to justify to myself as part of a 'healthy living' regime!

On what I'm choosing to see as a related note, a friend challenged me to participate in #BreatheSeptember2018.  I can't say I've been doing well with the photo challenge element of this - yet - but I am trying to look at the words and think about what I can do/have done each day that links to that word.  The word for Monday was "nourish".  I certainly feel like I'm nourishing myself - my physical and mental health - when I'm indulging my love of dancing.  The word for next Monday is "move" - which I will definitely be doing during the class!  I can't attend the class on 19th, but will be attending the Wednesday class instead - for which the word is "fun", and it really is.  The word for Monday 24th (which will be the final class of this block of four) is "gratitude" - which is what I feel for the person who leads the class and for the opportunity for me to learn something new and get dancing again.

"On Broadway"

Well, not exactly on Broadway, but a new dance class I've discovered called On Broadway Dance Fitness.  You can read more about it on the business' Facebook pages.

I went to a free taster class - a good way of trying it out without any initial commitment.  I had great fun.  In about an hour we learnt a significant portion of a routine set to "If My Friends Could See Me Now" from Sweet Charity.

Katy - who led the taster session, and who owns the business - was a very good teacher, and her passion and enthusiasm shone through.

This seems like a wonderful way to learn some new dance routines and techniques, get some exercise in an enjoyable way, and meet new people.  

So I've signed up for a four week block of classes ... and may even fit in the odd extra class some weeks.  There is flexibility about when you attend and you get two 'passes' - so, if you can't attend a class on your regular day one week, you can pop along to a class on a different evening; all the classes work at the same speed.  That suits me with my somewhat hectic but irregular schedule.

I'll just have to see if I can put up with the longish journey to get to and from the class.  Somehow, I think I might ...

I did it!

Hurray and hurrah!  Tomorrow evening will be my third time at Manchester Lindy. It feels so good to be dancing again. 

I'm sticking with level 1 classes for now.  Whilst I'd like to move into the level 2 class, I'm quite enjoying revision of the basics.  And I know there will be some moves (think Charleston) that I'll need to go over. 

The social dancing after class is also fun.  And I do get to practice the more advanced stuff. 

So now I've made the move, so to speak, perhaps I'll manage to get back to the ballroom and Latin, and perhaps even find an Argentine Tango class, in the new year.  Watch this space!

How have so many days "danced" away?

So long since I last posted!  There has been some dancing in between.

What sticks in my mind?

Well, definitely my birthday last year - great playlist, good friends, lots of moves on the dance floor.  And I felt so good the next day - aches and pains seemed to have slipped away ... probably a lesson there that I should be pursuing a more active lifestyle.

There was also the annual weekend away with friends - usually this involves some kind of dance-related activity; but this year it was rather more sedate, as our trio of troubadours produced a 'pageant' marking the life and loves of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I.  "Why?", I hear you ask.  Well, the reason is lost in the mists of time but it seemed like a good idea at the time.

And at the WI there have been a couple of dance-themed evenings, starting with Bollywood in March, and then a Lindy Hop/Charleston lesson from Velody in June.  

But I still haven't got back to a regular class.  "Must try harder in 2017."

Perhaps the fingers were "dancing"?

A couple of Fridays ago saw me up at the crack of dawn so I could get into Manchester to meet friends from The University of Manchester In Stitches group to yarn bomb the Corrie Tour.


The group had been preparing for a couple of months, having been invited by a PR company to decorate the Street.  We'd been asked to do more than we did - but had to be realistic and manage expectations.  But fingers were flying (dancing?) in the days leading up to the yarn bombing morning - finishing squares, making up flowers, and completing the hanging 'basket'.

Some members of the group went down to 'recce' the Street the week before - and received some press attention, from both the Manchester Evening News and the University news desk.

Our next project is a craft stall in November to raise money for the Wood Street Mission and the local Food Bank.  But there may well be distractions along the way - our fame seems to have spread and we're getting invitations to yarn bomb other places!

... or the evening with Elle and the Pocket Belles

I spent the week before Easter in Birmingham at the annual meetings of the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches (#gauk) - aka the Unitarians.  This is four days spent with 300 or so fellow Unitarians attending business meetings, workshops, seminars and presentations, catching up with people I sometimes see only once a year and meeting new people who I can connect with via social media (and hopefully meet again next year).  I was there representing Rochdale Unitarians.

The evenings are taken up by different opportunities to share in community:

The banner from Rochdale Unitarians.

• an anniversary service, in which representatives from each local congregation and local/national groups parade with our banners - this year to a rather jaunty tune which had me trying to jig along whilst carrying a banner far taller than me! 
• a celebration of our congregations and members, which was led this year by the six new ministers who were welcomed onto the Ministerial Roll at the anniversary service - this included Rev Shammy Webster, who joined Rochdale Unitarians as our minister in October 2014;
• a social evening, which this year featured music from Elle & the Pocket Belles, whose music is "a fusion of vintage swing and modern day pop that is sure to get your toes a-tappin' and arms a-flppin'" - and it sure did!  I was first on the dance floor, followed closely by a couple of friends, and then by many others.  It's amazing to see how this style of music - whether it be true vintage or modern day with a '40s feel - gets people up and dancing.  My feet certainly felt it the following day - but it was a fabulous performance by the Elle & the Pocket Belles and I look forward to being able to see them again somewhere, some day.

Elle & the Pocket Belles.

So not quite dancing the days, away - but definitely last Wednesday evening!