With all the ups and downs of my ballroom experiences over the last week, I still love to dance.  There is a special intimacy and romance that blossoms when I dance with Walt.  Yes, he still steps on my feet and I kick him, but even with all the clumsiness it is still our private moments on the dance floor that make me smile.  We are a couple of goofballs in class attempting to do a dramatic Tango when we have just learned the steps.  We always have a great time on Friday nights and I am already excited to dance some more "dramatic" Tango with Walt.

 

- Lisa Lounsbery 

Tonight we went to the Boomsday festivities in downtown Knoxville.  For Labor Day weekend for the last 20 years Knoxville has put on a festival and fireworks display.  I am soooo happy we went to this.  The fireworks were incredible.  It made Kaboom Town in Addison, TX look like amateur hour, and that is the best 4th of July display in Dallas.  I saw so many fireworks that I had never seen before like rainbow colors in one burst, cubes, smiley faces, hearts, and this really cool giant circular burst that is made of 50ish small circular bursts.  Very cool.

 

The fireworks are shot off a bridge across the river.  The festival is down at Volunteer Landing and spans about 1/2 a mile.  We went down to the festival area around 7pm and walked around for awhile.  By 8pm we decided that we could probably get a great view from the roof of the parking garage, and would not have to contend with the 200,000 people (I kid not) at the festival.  So we hiked back up the hill a few blocks to the garage.  We did stop at my car to get some chairs and went to the roof.  The roof was the perfect vantage point for the display.  First, no crowds; there were a lot of families and college kids, but not the chaos of the festival.  Second, you can have coolers in the garage; you can't bring coolers to the festival.  Third, fireworks give off a lot of smoke and you would definitely be breathing that in at the festival;  garage had no smoke.  If you want to watch the Boomsday Fireworks and don't want to spend a small fortune at the festival on food and drinks, then the parking garage roof is for you.  It cost $5 to park, and the view was phenomenal.  There are three public garages downtown, and we parked at the Cumberland and Eleventh garage next to UT.

 

Pictures will be added soon...

 

- Lisa Lounsbery 

Today we went to our Saturday Basic Latin dance class at Academy Ballroom, and I found it to be utterly frustrating.  This week and next week are covering the Jive.  From what I was able to gather, Jive is a quicker, bouncier version of swing and danced entirely on your toes??? This is probably a bad way to describe it, but that's the idea I got today.

 

I signed Walt and I up for "Basic Latin."  To me this means the beginner basics, but instead Johnny warmed us up with complicated Jive steps that went too fast.  Johnny said he wanted to give us a taste of the higher levels of Jive.  What?!?  I am taking "Basic", just keep it basic.  I stopped trying to keep up with him a few times, and just stood there disgusted.  In case you are wondering, one of the more experienced dancers asked him to slow down.  That didn't really help too much.

 

After the warm-up my frustration level went thru the roof.  He kept going too fast thru the dance steps.  I really want to learn new dances, but he just wasn't explaining the woman's footsteps thru the turns well.  I know Walt was frustrated with the class as well.  Normally we stay 20 minutes after the class to practice what we learned, but today I was ready to leave 20 minutes into a 45 minute class.  It's really aggravating to pay $200 for 10 week course for the two of us, and feel utterly lost at the end of class.  It was obvious that we were lost, and I got the feeling that since we don't "swap" partners we won't get the individual attention the other people get.  When Johnny came over to see our progress, we messed up and he walked away.  No offer to help figure out what we are doing wrong.  Argh...

 

I already told Walt that I am not going next Saturday for the 2nd part of Jive.  I am so confused with the first part, that I will not go and make a complete fool of myself next week.  I will give the Samba and Paso Doble a shot, but I am unsure about repeating the 10 week course again (since we prepaid, we can repeat the 10 week session for free). 

 

After this is over, we are sticking with David Harrison at Absolute Ballroom.  David keeps it simple for us, and gives us more complicated steps when he feels we are ready.  I like his teaching style and pace.  I have never been frustrated in his classes (this is the third time I have been frustrated in a class taught by Johnny).  If something isn't clicking with us, David sees it before frustration sets in and helps us. 

 

Walt and I talked last night about private lessons and we will be doing that in November once we decide which dances we want to focus on.  And, you better believe I will have David as our instructor for that as well.  I absolutely love dancing and want to enjoy the experience.  I do not want to feel like storming off the dance floor in tears (for the record, I did not cry...just felt like it).

 

Oh well, since I am skipping next week there are only four weeks to go.

 

- Lisa Lounsbery