I survived ACDC!

[bjarvis]

ACDC has been a great success, I think. Overall, I think we had about 125 participants and, to my knowledge, all of them are still breathing. The biggest complaint I heard was from one chap who claimed that the C1 hall was too warm, but I also noted he was wearing a t-shirt, a flannel shirt and a heavy leather vest. When I suggested he might be more comfortable removing at least one layer, he reacted as though I had just shot his mother.

My duties in assisting the running of the fly-in have been relatively light. The largest portion of my work was in preparation for the event rather than at the event itself. During the fly-in, we've been locking up the equipment in the dance halls rather than in our room. The staffing of tables, assisting with raffles, etc., has been very easy. Best of all, we've had plenty of time for lunch & dinner with out-of-town friends (Brian & Mark, Rick, otterpop58, apparentparadox & Mark, etc.).

I can't say I've danced a great deal, but I had all the floor time I wanted. Since I'm only good to A2, my options are fairly limited at this particular fly-in anyway. I get to dance with Betsy Gotta regularly at various regional fly-ins so I didn't make a special effort to attend her tips. Likewise, I find John Sybalsky's choreo to be unnecessarily obtuse, or at least harder than I want to face at 9 AM after a late night. Heresy alert: I'm just not a fan of Ett's particular A2 style either... she seems much more interested in building choreo based on what Callerlab has left out of the definitions rather than working within them (or even a reasonable extension of them).

Dancing with Ben Rubright was an utter delight. While he does include a few figures which occasionally throw me for a loop, he doesn't stack them up side-by-side as John or Ett has. There's enough success within a figure or tip to be keep me going rather than discourage me from dancing. I've made recorded several of his sessions to transcribe & study in detail later.

Comments

[trulygrateful.livejournal.com]

Both bearfuz and I learned C1, C2 and C3A from Ben Rubright; he is just totally amazing.

The C1 was a "blitzweek" crash course... held over two five-day periods at Cherry Ridge in Honesdale, Pennsylvania. He was so impressed with how well we picked up the C1 that he invited us to attend his over-the-garage C2 group (from which we met brindledbear). Because of work, bearfuz couldn't attend the C2 some of the time, but I kept plugging along and, before I knew it, we were dancing C3A with him, too.

It was a really fun time and, as you now know, his choreography is something that a dancer can trust. That's why Ben's informal middle name is "with the wind in your hair".

Damn... and I would have liked to have danced to him once again, but alas, we were quite busy up here in NYC land.

XOXO

[madknits.livejournal.com]

When I suggested he might be more comfortable removing at least one layer, he reacted as though I had just shot his mother.

It ain't about the dancin', it's about accessorisin'. He spent hours putting that ensemble together, and he was good and damned if he was going to ruin his "look".

Bloody diva.

[sfbearhoney.livejournal.com]

Actually John has mellowed out a bit the last few times I've danced to him out here. I remember the first time I danced to him, he did almost hole tips left handed. Glad ACDC went well.

Fear of calling

[(Anonymous)]

OK, I hate to think of what you will write about me next year when I call. :)

[tdjohnsn.livejournal.com]

Yuck. Remind me never to dance to Ett or John. I hate being forced to think during a tip. I want to dance, not solve three dimensional chess problems.

Of course, that's how X calls class level mainstream (well, on the rare occasion that she calls something other than a run or a circulate), so I should be used to it. :-p

It sounds like I would really love dancing to Ben though.

[bearfuz.livejournal.com]

Said C1 dancer (whoever he is) is probably used to dancing so slowly (stop-and-start) as never to break a sweat with his leather bear gear on. He should grow a brain and sacrifice his idea of fashion for a little practicality on the dance floor.

Re Ett's A2 style: Just imagine what she does at C1! Concentric 1/3 Recycle... or something like that. And that's tame.

Glad you enjoyed Ben Rubright. John and I are particular fans of his, if only because we learned not only our C1 but also our C2 and our (now-mostly-forgotten) C3A from him. If you dance enough with him, the logic of his momentarily arcane figures comes clear... and you realize that it has really terrific flow. And of course, the more you dance with him, the more familiar those figures become. (Though that's of course true with any caller -- even Sybalsky. Well, maybe not.)