Balicious Westie Hopper

This past May long week-end, I attended the annual Canadian Swing Championships. I have not seen too many photos surface yet, but it was the event's 10th anniversary and there were definitely plenty of great dances to be had and Solomon Douglas played live!

Balboa back in the day

As this was my second year, I went to CSC with the intention of dancing more, or learning from experience. I also went to witness my contemporaries dance an 80 year old dance style as though it were still danced in clubs today. You'd never believe we're in 2011 based on the dancing, the clothes and the vintage hair-do's!



Myles & Tessa, Canadian West Coast Champions



I also aimed to compete more, and I did! I signed up for the Newcomer West Coast, Open Lindy and Open Balboa Jack and Jills and made finals in West Coast. I did not place, but I was very happy to make finals in a style I have not been dancing seriously for more than a month and with one workshop and one private as formal training. I was proud that I competed, knowing that I was sharing the floor with dancers I knew to be stronger than I was in Balboa, such as my coach, Natalia Rueda. I was a little disappointed in my lindy dances for the JJ competition, but that's just the way those roll; it's luck of the draw from the partner to the music to the mood you're in that day and the judges' panel and those few seconds they look at you. Oh well...

What I enjoyed most were my social dances. I even got a birthday jam with the pros. I had quite a few fun lindy hop dances to Solomon Douglas' band and I danced mostly to the Westie rhythms and learned plenty!

I may not have won any titles, but I left CSC feeling like a hybrid dancer, like a balicious westie hopper, or something like that. Anyhow, I had a blast!