One of the local attractions in our area is the variety of dance and music available to learn and listen to. There are East Coast Swing lessons, West Coast Swing lesson, square dancing, Capoeira, belly dance, salsa, English Country dancing and Argentine tango (and probably others I'm missing). Many of you know that earlier this year I started to take East Coast Swing lessons in Caspar from Glenn and Sunshine - what a blast! For about five months or so I went once a week to fun lessons that required no partner and learned all of the basic steps plus some fun moves to keep things interesting. Every Friday night at the Caspar Inn from about 7:30pm to about 9:00pm there is drop-in swing dancing with music provided by Glenn from his extensive collection of swing music. This is a great time for everyone, beginner to advanced, to get together and put those lessons to good use. I've also been lucky enough to have a partner who loves to dance as much (if not more) than I do and we've taken advantage of an assortment of bands, styles of music and venues to dance many nights away. We've been going to the Trivia game at Lauren's Restaurant in Boonville on Thursday evenings and following up this event with dancing to the Peanut Butter and Jam band that practices each Thursday evening at Lauren's - we're often the only dancers, so if you've been hankering for a little music and dancing, come join us!
In April of this year I started to learn Argentine Tango. Walter Stillman and RaQuel Maschiach are excellent teachers from Point Arena who have been holding classes on Sunday evenings at the Greenwood Community Center in Elk (followed by the weekly practica - an evening of tango that's for practice as well as dancing). Tango has been an amazing addition to my life and I recommend that everyone remotely interested in this dance take lessons. It's challenging mentally and physically, though not physically in the way that you might think - it's more like yoga - getting your posture correct, remembering to breathe, moving gracefully and with purpose. It's also quite addicting and I find myself taking every opportunity to dance tango that I can. The area is also blessed with the Weller House in Fort Bragg which invites tango instructors from all over the world (last weekend there was a couple from Argentina!) to hold tango weekend workshops which include one practica and one milonga (the actual social dance).
Starting September 14th (and running through November 16th) Walter and RaQuel will be teaching a beginning tango class at the College of the Redwoods in Fort Bragg; classes will run from 7 to 9pm. This is a wonderful opportunity to learn this beautiful dance - and if you live a little away from Fort Bragg, consider this a night to have dinner on the coast prior to an evening of dance. There will be a free talk and exhibition on September 8 at the College starting with coffee and cookies at 5:30pm - this is a great chance to watch two marvelous dancers show you the possibilities with this dance. For more information about this you can call or email Walter - 707-882-2474 or walts@mcn.org.
The Great Day in Elk was a huge success last Saturday, despite the chilly weather. I believe our best selling item was hot coffee! We did quite well and I want to thank everyone who volunteered - to use a cliche, we couldn't have done it without you. I especially want to thank the several people who had just come to attend the day and yet said yes when I asked them on the spot to help fill in with one activity or another; several of you provided other volunteers with much needed breaks! Also, I was asked by a few people throughout the day what the event supports - the school, the fire department? Actually, the Great Day is the one fundraiser that the Greenwood Community Center has that supports us for the upcoming year; we are a non-profit, so what we make pays for utilities and insurance throughout the year and allows us to subsidize use of the facility for local residents throughout the year. This provides low and no cost events and programs, such as yoga, aerobics, tango, birthday parties, weddings and so on. Check out www.elkweb.org for more information.
Until next week - I hope to see you out dancing!