We parked in the outer lot today, and were at the festival by a little after 11, so I was able to do a few contras before the medley at noon. We ran into
sandhawke and hawkegirl and their clan right at the entrance, and I got to do a dance with sandhawke that I think I managed to show him moderately well, other than flubbing it a bit at the ends. I had a great partner for the medley -- a good dancer and energetic and connected*.After that,
penk and I did some round singing, then went for lunch, and then we kinda crashed. I developed a headache and some sleepiness, and he was feeling pretty zoned, too, so I semi-napped on his shoulder in the auditorium before wandering out to see the daughter of my former coworker do a performance with a rapper group (a form of Morris dancing, apparently), but we missed it. Rats.I was planning to do a salsa session, but it was slow getting started and it seemed like mostly experienced salsa-ers, so I went back to the main hall, where Rum and Onions was playing. I didn't know the band, but they were darn good, so I jumped in for two really really excellent contras, one with
scholargipsy, and one with someone completely unknown to me, both of them very good. Whee! So it was in those two dances that I felt like my contra skills really clicked back in for me. Yay!*In other contra commentary, I'm realizing (probably again) what a difference it makes to dance with people who are connected, especially with eye contact. There are dancers who aren't connected at all -- no eye contact, and they don't really seem to pay any attention to the people they're dancing with. They might be staring off into space, or over your shoulder, or whatever. That's annoying. Then there are the dancers who are clearly having fun, but who don't really get that link. They usually are better dancers and seem to be enjoying themselves more, but still don't click. That's okay, but not great. The ones who I really like, good dancer or no, are the ones who are having a great time, and who love their partners, if only for the time you're dancing together. There's a connection, a click, that just brings a beautiful energy into the dancing.
