Herräng week 1 day 5-6

Somehow, entering Folkets Hus on Wednesday was more exciting. I think it was the music. Something made me want to stay until the doors closed. I had a really good night dancing, so I stayed up all night, took a shower with warmish water by myself in the wee hours of the morning before taking a quick nap on the lawn. Yesterday was Cabaret night so I did the curtains for that, working with the acts and Shane McCarthy - who appeared in Lennart's orange seventies outfit. Lennart threw a fit before last night's meeting. He gets upset when things aren't working as planned. He wants flow and perfection.

My body was too tired yesterday for dancing. But tonight - tonight will be a different story.

Herräng 2009 - week 1

Ali and I departed on Friday, spending the night in Uppsala at his friend Sus's house. Well-rested, we headed off for Herräng in the morning. Being 3,5 hours early, we thought we'd be able to snatch good beds, but no! We were among the first in the line to take photos for passes (new for this year) though, and got good beds. Again, my roommates are Charlie and Jessica from Stockholm. We've had drinks before the dance every night so far - best thing in the world is when they open a few bottles of beer from their own brewery, Monk's, in Stockholm.

This week I'm taking classes. I had to audition and got into IA3 and it was a bit of a blow to the ego that everyone else from Lund that started dancing after me got into the middle level. I must say though, that I was unlucky to dance with two guys who couldn't do a swingout. One of them started the rockstep on the two. But yeah, it's probably my dancing too.

I've worked with Lennart doing the meetings this week. Fun as usual. Some social dancing too. Yesterday was bluesnight so I didn't dance much then. More dancing tonight,

Herräng Countdown

Before I knew it, it's now time to head off for Herräng again. This time I'll stay for three weeks. I'll take courses week 1, work as Stage Manager week 1 and 2, then just dance socially week 3. I'll go with Ali tomorrow via Uppsala, where we'll sleep at his friend's house overnight before heading up to Land of Chaos.

Right now I'm so tired I don't even know my own name. I wish for nothing but a warm bed, hours, days of sleeping. I feel like this BEFORE I go to dance camp. Holy shit. I wonder how I'll survive. Adrenalin I expect.

This is me signing off for now. See you in Herräng with updates as to how I'm decaying physically and mentally while learning to become a better dancer.

Love,
L

Progress

Here is a short clip I filmed in Herräng last year, when I'd been dancing for 4 months. Disgusting. I hope I have improved since. The second clip is from... I don't know, but I think a few months ago, so about 12 months worth of dancing? Johan has helped me a great deal, and I'm happy about that. THANK YOU!

Drinking with style

I never was a big drinker. I have a few glasses of wine, that's it. Of course, sometimes, shit happens. In Stockamöllan, however, I couldn't resist when Anton made this amazing offer. Once in a lifetime, kids!

A bit of this and a bit of that

I've been crap at updating the blog. I know. Very exhausting few months, but things are looking very bright. Herräng is approaching, and I'll go up there on Friday staying for three weeks with everybody. I hope that many of us will put up tents in the same area so we can hang out.

We had a great Midsummer's in Föreberg (like last year). Dancing loads, singing a bit during the early hours of the morning. Someone recommended I read "The Game", by Neil Strauss. It's about pick-up artists and how love-shy men can improve at the art of seduction. After a long discussion about this, I came to a very simple conclusion: So, when it's all said and done, you end up with this person you're attracted to, and you have to be YOURSELF all of a sudden - then what happens? Whether you used the "push-pull" effect with your person of interest or not, you're now left standing there in the nude, forcing yourself to be....well, just you. You know?

Had sandwiches from Subway in the park next to Mejeriet where we dance, yesterday. Thanks O for buying. I had a few glasses of wine. As always, I thought my dancing was brilliant afterwards :).

Stockamöllan

This year's Stockamöllan jazz Festival took place this weekend. I went in the car with Anders Malmberg (who took the photos you can see here). Had some fun dances, and really liked the shows Gunhild Carling put on. Saturday's dancing was disappointing due to the fact that the music was overwhelmingly fast and similar all the way through. I didn't feel like dancing so much. We had some classes, my favourite being one where we did kicks in the swingout, and also one called rhythm variations. We ended the weekend by dancing like crazy in a dirty room in the machine hall. When I took a shower I noticed my ankles had gone black from dust getting inside my jeans. It was a dirty job, but someone had to do it.


Monday's dancing was fantastic in mejeriet. I and Mannesson danced alot because we picked 1/3 of the songs each, kind of. Anton danced alot with me too. I totally loved the music and the dancing. Tomorrow, last session with Big Apple. Gotta practise now.