Cleveland, Day 3

We skipped the boat cruise in the morning in favour of sleeping in. Well, at least sleeping in as best we could. It was far too warm for comfort during the night so I moved to the guestroom around 2:30 AM. At 6 AM, I realized as I was baking in direct sunlight that the blinds were wide open.

I had fun with the workshops in the early afternoon, although the heat was crippling me. While I hardly danced much, I did observe lots and take a number of notes.

We joined a crowd of 15 for dinner at Villa y Zapata, eating far more than we really should have --but it's so good!

Evening dancing wasn't any cooler than the afternoon; again, I danced perhaps a single tip then had to sit out the rest of the evening. I have no idea how Gary and Nick, our callers, managed to perform so well.

Nick experienced on spot of excitement though: in the middle of one singing call, the speaker on its tripod fell over onto the turntable, utterly destroying his 45 rpm vinyl record. Checking afterward, I found fragments of the vinyl embedded into the sponge surface of the turntable itself; I have no idea how the needle & arm managed to survive intact.

Following dancing, we headed back to Casa Vannello for cocktails and snacks. Most of us quickly lost our shirts, shoes and socks; I would have dropped more if women hadn't been present. kent4str, cuyahogarvr and I headed out around 1 AM, taking Gary back to his hotel along the way and then crashing fairly quickly at the apartment.

Cleveland, Day 3

We skipped the boat cruise in the morning in favour of sleeping in. Well, at least sleeping in as best we could. It was far too warm for comfort during the night so I moved to the guestroom around 2:30 AM. At 6 AM, I realized as I was baking in direct sunlight that the blinds were wide open.

I had fun with the workshops in the early afternoon, although the heat was crippling me. While I hardly danced much, I did observe lots and take a number of notes.

We joined a crowd of 15 for dinner at Villa y Zapata, eating far more than we really should have --but it's so good!

Evening dancing wasn't any cooler than the afternoon; again, I danced perhaps a single tip then had to sit out the rest of the evening. I have no idea how Gary and Nick, our callers, managed to perform so well.

Nick experienced on spot of excitement though: in the middle of one singing call, the speaker on its tripod fell over onto the turntable, utterly destroying his 45 rpm vinyl record. Checking afterward, I found fragments of the vinyl embedded into the sponge surface of the turntable itself; I have no idea how the needle & arm managed to survive intact.

Following dancing, we headed back to Casa Vannello for cocktails and snacks. Most of us quickly lost our shirts, shoes and socks; I would have dropped more if women hadn't been present. kent4str, cuyahogarvr and I headed out around 1 AM, taking Gary back to his hotel along the way and then crashing fairly quickly at the apartment.

Cleveland, Day 4

The heat wave continues.

I helped set up the brunch earlier today, helping in little ways where I could without getting in the way. Still, after sleeping poorly last night due to the heat and breaking out in a sweat from merely moving chairs around, I opted to not dance a single step today. I've reached my physical limits, at least for personal comfort in leisure & passtime activities.

In the early afternoon, we began saying our good-byes and taking up on fluids. Around 2:30 PM, cuyahogarvr, kent4str and I headed back to the apartment --stopping briefly at an exquisite ice cream shop for a treat-- to collect our luggage and a number of pre-packed bins of cuyahogarvr's possessions. After several trips to the 3rd floor and back via stairs and many bins later, the minivan was packed and we hit the road for DC, leaving cuyahogarvr and demon kitty Cassie behind.

The trip home was uneventful: traffic was light to moderate the entire way and there were no construction hiccups worth mentioning. Door to door, the trip is almost exactly 400 miles and we covered it in about 6.5 hours... you do the math. I entertained myself by downloading & labelling photos from my camera to my laptop, then working on fresh C1 choreo using some ideas shamelessly stolen from inspired by Nick Martellacci.

By 10:30 PM, we had turned on the air conditioning, emptied the minivan, started some laundry, telephoned cuyahogarvr to assure him we were home safely and did a preliminary sort of snail-mail and e-mail. I have 148 photos of the weekend... I'll pick the best of the lot to post tomorrow afternoon.

Cleveland, Day 4

The heat wave continues.

I helped set up the brunch earlier today, helping in little ways where I could without getting in the way. Still, after sleeping poorly last night due to the heat and breaking out in a sweat from merely moving chairs around, I opted to not dance a single step today. I've reached my physical limits, at least for personal comfort in leisure & passtime activities.

In the early afternoon, we began saying our good-byes and taking up on fluids. Around 2:30 PM, cuyahogarvr, kent4str and I headed back to the apartment --stopping briefly at an exquisite ice cream shop for a treat-- to collect our luggage and a number of pre-packed bins of cuyahogarvr's possessions. After several trips to the 3rd floor and back via stairs and many bins later, the minivan was packed and we hit the road for DC, leaving cuyahogarvr and demon kitty Cassie behind.

The trip home was uneventful: traffic was light to moderate the entire way and there were no construction hiccups worth mentioning. Door to door, the trip is almost exactly 400 miles and we covered it in about 6.5 hours... you do the math. I entertained myself by downloading & labelling photos from my camera to my laptop, then working on fresh C1 choreo using some ideas shamelessly stolen from inspired by Nick Martellacci.

By 10:30 PM, we had turned on the air conditioning, emptied the minivan, started some laundry, telephoned cuyahogarvr to assure him we were home safely and did a preliminary sort of snail-mail and e-mail. I have 148 photos of the weekend... I'll pick the best of the lot to post tomorrow afternoon.