Kiev, Ukraine – Day Three

We barely got our asses up for breakfast this morning, but I was sooooooooo happy we did. I had an awesome breakfast here last year that was jam with a soft biscuit/crumpet/big English muffin thing and we had it this morning. We ate with Olivia and Natasha and talked about politics while trying to guess which country belonged to which flag on the side of the cereal box.

We taught 2 classes, had lunch, and then worked with the Advance plus group again. We messed their stuff up again!

After class, it was nap time for both me and Kevin. I also decided to skip dinner, because I'd rather sleep, but I ended up still nibbling. Immediately after dinner we taught our taster class.

The taster class was enormous. I had no idea we were going to have that many people. I continue to wonder whether it’s the material we are teaching or that we are foreigners (or that we are so darn funny and personable) that brings people in hordes to our classes. We taught the ballroom lift, the loop-de-loo, and the Jeremy. We would demo the move, give the class some pointers on what to look for, and then let them go. Everybody took what they needed from that class; the lower levels were able to absorb what we gave them while the advance dancer only needed the little we gave because they saw what the move took. Nice. I compared that class to a Disney film: there is content for children and the adults that must take them. The layers; the layers!!

After class we headed back to the room and watched some Talladega Nights and slowly got ready. At about 9:45pm we headed down to office and were give Ukrainian costumes to put on. Kev and I were going to open the show along with a few others. We had to sing a Ukrainian song, and truthfully, it was a little bit of a disaster, but it was fun. After that, we rushed backstage, changed back into our performance clothes, and then we immediately got back on stage and did Swingin’ at the Cotton Club. It went well as usual.
And then for the next hour and half we got to enjoy the show. For me, the highlights of the show were the fillers in between each number. There were four characters: wife, Ukrainian man, priest, and a Muscovite. There were drinking games, kissing games, card games, confusion, the YMCA, a baby mix-up, and so on. The four of them were quite the quadruplets!

Instead of going to bed after the performances like I should have, I ended up chatting in the little Ukrainian room with Olivia & Natasha, Terrance, Kevin, and Katia We chatted about holidays, family differences, public transportation, and military. The conversations I have had with this group have been some of the best in a while; very enlightening.

Kevin and I dragged ourselves back to our rooms by about 2:15am or so. Detective Kevin investigated whether or not we had hot water, and low and behold, we did. He showered and announced the water was hot and therefore I should shower while there was hot water. Even though I was in bed with the lights off, I dragged my booty to the shower for a warm rinse, and washed out my performance clothes. That was such a great shower.

Bed time.

Saturday night and Sunday classes

We decided to perform our Swinging at the Cotton Club routine this evening and the performance went amazingly. I think it was our best performance ever. The energy was unreal - it fucking rocked. Even though the room was long and had very high ceilings adorned with large chandeliers, the audience packed themselves in tightly. We had a nice welcome out, and after the first few swing outs, the room erupted with claps. And the audience was on beat too! I was right under one of the sizable chandelier when we threw the lotus (and the back flip) so that added the dynamic of death to the whole thing. And we got the double applause: once at the bow, and then again after the flying vice. It was awesome. And then the audience kept clapping until we came back out and did a second bow (triple applause, I guess). It was so.... gratifying. And not only that, but afterwards we got some AMAZING feedback. People gushed about how great the dancing was and the performance, and the aerials. Even though many had seen the routine on Youtube, they said it was so much better in person (naturally).

Those 3 minutes of the evening are what I live for.

Ok, enough tooting of our horns.

After that we got home around 2:30am and probably got to bed around 3am. Kev and I woke up this morning exhausted but had to push on. Classes went well today. We had level 5 and level 2 after lunch. At lunch Kevin and I talked to Love & Ulrika (some local instructors) and they were really cool. He was very laid back and has a rather laissez-faire attitude (his name is pronounce Loo-veh) and she was bubbly. I think we made some new Swedish friends - nice!
Level 2 was an awesome last group to have. Even though it was after lunch and most of them were ready to take a nap, we did a bunch of 20's charleston stuff with them and they loved it! And people were laughing at our jokes as well (a nice pat to our egos). They were either better cross-cultural jokes, or the group knew each other better than the larger groups and felt more comfortable with us sooner. We also taught then some flash&trash and the ate it up. Sweet. Definitely one of the best class and group of people we have taught in a while.

All the instructors then had a goodbye meeting with the students. They thanked us and then said we were going to dance one more time for them, which I didn't know we were going to do, but we ended up jamming (not by choice). They put on Jumping at the Woodside and then we had to perform. Kev and I were happy with the stuff we did and fucking rocked the pancake (with my glasses on, I might add). We finished off the song with the California Routine and the students enjoyed it.

There was a quick run home, a nap, dinner at a restaurant, and then dancing. More on that story tomorrow.

Lindy Leap Year - Saturday

What a stellar day of classes!!

We started the day off with 2 beginning classes, and they were packed! I think there was something like 120 students in each of them. It was incredible. And they all learned something, which was even more incredible. We worked on connecting to your partner from open and closed position, how to change weight across the body, how to lead rock steps from open and close, and how to lead triple steps. There were more nuances in there, but that is a general overview.

The class was very receptive to our humor and that really revved us up. Nothing gets us going more than having a group of enthusiastic students who want to learn, are receptive to the information, and are ready to laugh with us.

We then moved to The Great Hall, and it was just beautiful. And on a side note, the John Hopkins Campus is just divine! There is red brick and green grass and street lights, and little paths leading off yonder.....uh! Just great! Anyways....the Great Hall has a Great Window and a very slick floor. It wasn't as big as the room we were in for the beginner classes, but still sizable. Our third class of the day was Flash & Trash (named after our DVDs), followed by a routines class.

Highlights of the day:

• During the beginner class, while trying to explain what to visualize while leading a triple step, we did the motions and asked the class what it looked like. Normally we get something along the lines of a "W"; however, this time someone shouted out that it looked like a lowercase omega. Kevin and I were so surprised by the brilliance of the answer (notice I didn't say it was right or wrong), that Kevin conceded and then moved on.
  
• During Flash & Trash, I received more questions that I have ever gotten during a workshop. I took the first couple and then Kevin tried to step in, but the question was for me!!!!! This is huge, because most often the girls don't ask a lot of question, but everything was asked! Footwork review, timing, leading (the leads should have asked about this), was it a variation, how did we know, weight distribution, etc. In hindsight, this leads me to believe that I also must not have taught very well, otherwise these questions wouldn't have been asked. Hmmmm......
• During the routines class, I was showing the girls the timing on a forward swing out with kicks on 7 & 1. I didn't tell Kevin that I wanted to do the next swing out, so he assumed that we were going to stop on 1 like we had been doing. I, however, made the assumption that Kevin would "just know" what I wanted and then I went for it. Because the floor was slippery, I wasn't in sticky shoes, and I didn't inform Kevin about what I was doing, I totally bailed. I was on the floor! It happened so slowly too, but I couldn't stop it. Then I was on the floor, Kevin couldn't help me, and then I started wiggling around in order for me to try and make my fall into something graceful. Needless to say, I tried, but not much else happened. I used this as a lesson to show that the leads should not stop to watch a variation, but continue to lead through to the next move.

After classes we headed home and then took one car to sushi. And it was great sushi too. We ordered so much sushi that a sizable boat arrived with our dinner! I used almost all of the Japanese I remembered in order to get some special service (and impress Dorry and Sommer) and only ONE person responded to my "Sumimasen" yelp. As I later found out, only one person spoke Japanese there. After eating more than necessary, we headed back home, got into our performance clothes and then headed to the dance that night.

Almost minutes after arriving at the dance, Kev and I got ready to do a social performance. We performed live to Sac au Lait, who were just phenomenal, and Dorry sang Dinah with them. We had such a fun time performing with them, even when they sped up the tempo on us. And Dorry's voice was amazing as always!

A few hours later we were ready to head home and get into bed. We could hardly wait for the fun that was in store for us on Sunday.

Sucess in Baltimore

Friday

The original plan was to leisurely get up, briefly review over our class material, and then go to the Museum of Art and see the sites. However, this is not at all what happened. I woke up, but not leisurely (thank you cell phone and iPod going off at 7 am!!! And that was totally my fault), and we didn't briefly run over our material or see a museum, or see Baltimore. But no point crying over spilled milk!

Actually, the day was very successful. Kevin and I had a good warm-up, we ran through our class material and routine, and then had some great lunch at Py (a fabulous pizza joint). After that, we came back and did 2 half privates, and then got ready for the dance.

Dorry and Sommer headed out early and Kev and I took naps before the dance. This meant that we then had to drive ourselves to John Hopkins University. We made it to the campus just fine, but we had NO idea where to park. After taking in an unexpected view of the campus, we finally found a spot near a meter. Then we realized we didn't know what building it was in!

After wandering around, we found the Great Hall. The Boilermakers Jazz Band were playing and they were ON that night. Their sound and energy was great! Not to mention, the very lovely Naomi Uyama was there singing with the band. Even more fabulous was that Dorry & Sommer hired Naomi to teach the beginner lesson before the dance. Apparently this had never happened before. Word to event director who hire the Boilermakers: If Naomi is singing with them, you are SILLY to not hire her to teach your beginning lesson. For goodness sake, she is already there!!

So anyways.....Kev and I did some social dancing and then we pumped ourselves up for our performance. This would be the um-teenth time we would have done our "Swingin at the Cotton Club Routine", but we were still nervous. I don't worry about forgetting the choreography because my body will remember it as well as Kev will always lead it...but I was worried that I wouldn't have the stamina to get through it. It's not terribly long, but it's fast.

The performance went well and we were very pleased with it, however we were so tired afterwards that we headed home so that we could get into bed early. Fortunately or unfortunately Sommer and Dorry came home before we went to bed and then cooked us late-night breakfast. It was soooooooooooo good. Yum yum.

And then it was bed time.

New Years Eve

For New Years, Kevin and I spent our time in Boston at New Year's Dancing Eve, which was a cross-over event (meaning Lindy Hop and West Coast).

Joe and Kathey Mahoney put on a wonderful event. The contest ran smoothly, the award show/dinner show was awesome, and people danced the night away on New Years.

Some highlights:

During the dinner show, Arjay Centeno danced with his partner Melissa Rutz and Deborah Szekely, another superstar in the West Coast scene, did the best 3 person dance I have ever seen. Check it out here. Just watch it; it was amazing. I have a better appreciation for West Coast after this dance and am more amazed that one man could do so much!

On Saturday night I did pickle shots up in somebody's hotel room. I don't know who's suite it was, but I was invited it, pickles were cute, and about 20 of us grabbed a chilled shot of vodka, threw it back, and then munched on the pickle. I'll be honest, if you don't try this, you aren't missing anything.

I turned 24 that weekend. And someone remembered. And Kevin made sure I had a birthday cake and that I got sung to. It was the simplest, yet most fulfilling birthday ever.

I almost missed my flight back home because I hit snooze, or so I thought. It would have been the first plane I have ever missed in 10 years of traveling (that would have been due to me). Luckily Davis Thurber was kind enough to drive me to the airport.

Kevin and I got to close out the dinner show on New Years Eve.

I got to hang out with a couple named Dorry and Sommer from Baltimore, MA. They are some of the coolest, down-to-earth, funny, and brilliant people I know. If you don't know them, search them out and let them know that you found them on my recommendation.

Happy New Years!

And to all my friends, I wrote you notes and mailed them. Yes, mailed them. Not email, but mailed them. I don't know if you will get them though....perhaps there wasn't enough postage on them, or because they didn't have a sealant on them (and subsequently taped them), in which case I am betting the Post won't be merry or jolly enough to just send them. More to come on this.

Boston - the adventure

Kev and I had an awesome time. We were picked up at the airport immediately after we arrived, we drove back to Aurelie & Tony’s house. After unpacking, meeting their cat Belle (who was not terribly friendly, but awfully curious), and checking out their old school photos in their dance room, we were off to dinner.

We tried to get into a Mexican Restaurant but it was packed, so we headed over to Ruby Tuesdays. Kev got sliders and access to their salad bar and I had soup (and I don’t remember what T&A ordered). I did, however, get to steal food from Kevin – and this just makes my night. Food often seems better when it is on somebody else’s plate. But the really-really of it all is that I fill up quickly and I only want a few bites of many different things. I am a happy camper when I get to nibble!

After dinner we headed back home, hooked up to the internet (which was an event in itself), did some homework (all work related), and then headed to bed.

Saturday morning we got up, showered, ate, and headed off to the workshop. Kev and I drove separately; we got to take their Prius (wish Kevin calls Pious after seeing a South Park episode) and use Tony’s navigation device. It was an easy 35 minute drive and the car was quiet the entire way. Not only that, but we were getting 99 mpg during part of the trip. Kevin was learning how to coast and speed up in order to get the best gas mileage, but he was still paying attention to the road.

If you haven’t driven around Boston, you might not know about the tolls; they are freaking everywhere!!! It felt like every 10 minutes or so we’d have to pay a new toll, and we were driving at least 30 minutes everywhere we went. I couldn’t believe it! So many tolls!!! I guess they were instated in order to pay off a bridge, but the committee that was created in order to oversee the budgeting and the project found a way to funnel the money around to various projects, whereby never really paying off the bridge. It’s something like that; mostly, the people behind the organization don’t want to look for a new job, so they have found other ways to make the company useful so that it cannot go out of business. Genius.

Class went really well; once we found our students’ rhythm, we cranked through material at an appropriate pace, we fed them one liners all afternoon (there was lots of laughing, just as we prefer), and they were asking intelligent questions about technique (they were obviously thinking about the material instead of just trying to do the move). It was fabulous!

After class, Kev and I grabbed some food with some buddies at an upscale pizza joint. We ordered salad (which were sizable) and three different thin-crust pizzas that were just amazing, and the boys indulged in a blueberry flavored beer which was outstanding. And the waitress was so nice – she basically read me and Kev the menu (which was short, but still….) and gave us recommendation while the boys (Davis and Dave) parked the car. The service in Boston is outstanding; the best I’ve seen actually.

Oh yes, and another FYI – there is NO parking in Boston. The streets are parked up for miles! It felt like a super-duper cold San Francisco.

The dessert menu was rather limited at that restaurant, so we headed out to a chocolate shop. We didn’t get very far because Kev found a tea store and then decided that he needed some Bobba. What you might not know about Kev is that he is a fan of bobba. If we drive by something that says the word “Tea” on it, we almost always stop in (or he jumps out of the car) and see if they’ve got some. He got his drink, I grabbed a mochi, and then we headed to the chocolate store.

Now this was no ordinary chocolate store. No no – this was a Chocolate Delicatessen. I saw chocolates in the shapes of penguins and mice (as well as the standard triangles and squares) and they were about $3 a piece (holy moly). Not only did they have a lovely window display of truffles and treats, but at the other end of the store they made hot drinks. Apparently the best hot chocolate in the city was at this store.

After hearing such a statement, I then HAD to see for myself. A small hot chocolate was ordered for me (you had the choice of demi, small, and medium) and then I got lost staring into the pastry window. Low and behold there were macaroons (but they called them Luxemburg’s). The last time I saw these delicate cookies I was in the south of France, and they were expensive! A cookie the size of a half dollar (picture it looking like a petite ice cream sandwich) cost 3€! However, the lovely treats that sat before me were a mere 75 cents. I told the lady behind the counter what I was looking at and she just gave me one. I was shocked; again a staff member took time to talk with me and bothered to listen to me, and then gave me a free cookie! In my mind, Boston is the best Service Oriented City in the world!!!

Hot chocolates and Bobba drinks were enjoyed on the way back to Davis’ place. Once there, we got ready for the Saturday night dance. I begrudgingly got dressed (it was really cold and I didn’t want to get out of my warm clothes into cold ones) and then convinced Davis that he needed some eye makeup for this evenings soiree.

Kev and I, plus the boys, headed out to the dance. After finding parking, Kev and I couldn’t locate the entrance to the dance venue. We were running up and down the street, with our luggage in tow, freezing. It was about 30°F out; I was dying – I was not built to live in this kind of weather. After banging on what appeared to be a door (we were able to see dancers checking in at the front desk) there was a mild sense of defeat. I felt more like Rick Moranis in Ghostbusters when he was chased down by one of the stone dog-creature things, made it to a restaurant, couldn’t get in, and ended up sliding down the outside of the window before the dog got him. The “dog” in my case was the cold.

But we finally got in, finished getting dressed, threw an aerial, and then performed. We did Swingin at the Cotton Club again and the audience loved it. We did not, however, do our new ending; I wasn’t feeling up to it.

After some social dancing and cake, we headed back to Davis’ place to chill. After a cup of hot water and a good stretch, Kev and I finalized our Sunday material and headed back to T&A’s place. Bedtime: 4:14am.

Sunday

We wake up, shower, pack our bags, grab breakfast, and head out (and all of this was done in 40 minutes). We got to class, Kev warmed up the students, and then we did some jazz. Again, the students were great and worked really hard at learning the choreography.

In between classes, I got Seth and Davis to sit on the children’s benches in the bathroom. They were too big for the bench, but they decided to amuse me anyways.

Lots of great 80's movie references were made as well as some potentially inappropriate ones. Most of the students laughed; it was awesome that they were all on board with our humor.

After the four classes had finished, the boys decided to do some calisthenics which eventually turned into playing basketball and then hanging from the hoop.

After game time, we got dressed and headed out to dinner with T&A. They took us to Legal Seafood which was phenomenal. After reading the first page I was afraid to turn to the next because there was so much good food! I narrowed my choices down to 10 dishes and then decided to go with the New England Clam Chowder ("When in Rome...."). T&A and Kev ordered salads and a main dish; I got to nibble off of them.

After our meal, we begrudgingly looked at the dessert menu; and thank god we did! We got 2 orders of Bananas Fosters and a Boston Creme Pie (again..."When in Rome...") and stuffed ourselves. It was one of the best dessert nights I had all year!

After our meal, we headed back to Davis' house, watched Dogma, and did emails. Then it was off to bed.

Monday

We got up, ate breakfast, and headed to the gym. The boys did 20 minutes of cardio and then hit the weights; they did chest, arms and back. I did 30 mins of cardio and then flitted from machine to machine; I did arms and legs. After rolling ourselves out on the pilates rollers, we realized we had to get going in order to make our flight.

As we walked home, it started to snow. It was almost like we were in the movies. The streets were a little bit slushy, but there was a fresh batch of snow on the ground and flakes were floating down from the sky above. It was cold, but it was lovely.

We got to the airport with 40 minutes to spare, or so we thought. Our flight had been delayed 45 minutes so we decided to pony up to the counter and eat at Johnny Rockets. We had a strawberry-banana milkshake, fries, a burger and a tuna melt. We were happy little piggies.

And then we flew home on Jetblue Airlines, which is one of the best airlines out there. The direct TV rocks and the flight attendants are always nice. Oooh, and there is more legroom in coach than anywhere else!! Support Jetblue if you can!!