October 16, 2011
10/365 Swing Kings on Flickr.
Via Flickr:
My brother came to visit me from VA Tech. He was doing Jammin’ on the James, this big swing event held in Richmond every year.
In my senior year of high school, all the AP Calculus students did an end-of-the-year project called “Just Because” where we all had to learn something new… just because (and also because we had finished AP testing and there was nothing left to learn in Calculus). I decided to learn swing dancing. When my brother was a senior in AP Calculus, he had to do the same project; he followed suit and learned swing dancing as well. The difference in our stories is that after high school, my brother kept up with swing dancing. He joined the VT Swing Club and attended a bunch of events and dances. I had joined the VCU Swing Club my freshman year, but VCU Dance Team took up a lot of time so I wasn’t able to keep up with swing during college.
So anyway, I went to the Late Night dance at Dance Space with my brother to work my lindy hoppin’ and jitterbuggin’ again. I was sooooo rusty! It literally had been 4yrs since I had done swing! But with each dance, my brother (the pro) kept telling me how I was exponentially improving, and that he was incredibly jealous of how easily I was able to pick up other leads’ stylings. I felt more and more at ease too throughout the night. In the beginning, my focus was all on technique and the stuff I learned 4yrs ago… but later on, I realized I was supposed to be having fun. This was a social dance, not a competition or performance!
And I had sooooooo much fun!
Serena and Justin swing too (Justin was on the VCU Swing Club board at some point). I’m definitely having a swing session at my wedding! And I’m gonna look damn good doing the jitterbug in my wedding dress!
