Too many dance classes

I had Dance Teacher's Club of Boston workshops, Ron's Waltz class, and a private lesson. Without even a nap in between. (Naps increase your chance of recall, according to recent research.)
My learning capacity fell away after an hour and a half. The last bit at DTCB, the fancy choreography, is a blur. Teaching tips are what I go for, though, so I went through those while driving home. Active recall is worth something.
I was refreshed by the time for the Waltz class, but my brain shut down again halfway through the private. Luckily, that's a good time to follow.

Foxtrot vs Quickstep

"Foxtrot is characterized by long, gliding, perfectly smooth steps, demanding ease of movement and control to give the dance a lazy and unhurried appearance,...only possible to dance in a large and uncrowded ballroom... Social dancers would be well advised to learn to adapt the simple basic figures of the Quickstep."
Alex Moore 1963
Which is what Arthur Murray did with the Magic Step.

Modern Day Cotillion

I heard of cotillion from people my age who had to wear white gloves back in the day.
Online, JDW Social Education Programs™, Cotillion or SEE Survival Etiquette Essentials, sells classes in social skills. Their photos have girls in white gloves.
The 5th grade girls were actually concerned about touching boys' hands - after all, after recess, those hands are often filthy.
I've contacted JDW to see what they do.
The important thing is to get a group together. Sometimes a mother or a group of girls have gotten a dance class going for a season.
Maybe the activity needs to be sold as "an educational investment that builds a strong foundation for developing positive relationships that will last a lifetime."
Perhaps the Mary French Scholarship could give such a program a boost.
We in the arts do have to compete with the sports, our society's craze.
Also,even if it runs in Milton, will it run on Cape?

Grumpy's

George Gritzbach's band was in fine form, and the bar looked pretty good, too. Some new booth type seating on the side gives a nice view of the band.
I've given up on my wacky dream of a wood floor, but a skim coat on cement to smooth out the bumps and holes doesn't seem impossible.

Beauty

What a great class Mary had in 1995! Tom & Debbie Walko, Bill McCaskie and Norah Dale-Allen, Willie Thorns and Carol Shea, and the couple from Plymouth whose names I forget. All will appear on the TV show for local access cable about Mary French. Great camera work, too, thanks to Ken Glazebrook, producer at the Yarmouth station.

Waltz 'n' Polka

Falmouth Community Television FCTV runs a show filmed around the country by a Waltz and Polka night fan, and I was kind of stuck there the other day, waiting for a download. No dancing skill required. No artistry displayed other than the fiddle player. But they were having fun, and I got to think about the similarity of the two dances. The Waltz was Viennese, of course, done as a tiny shuffle or a hesitation step. The 1,2,3 of Polka went oom pah pah. Taken at this level, we see people enjoying the music, not worrying about how they look. Some of them even come to our CCBD dances.
For the real deal, there's a Waltz and Polka night in Rhode Island at the German Club.
In my classes, we learn that "Fake Viennese", as Mary French called it, and then the scary fast way that moves around the floor like the wind and looks so great, but people are afraid to do.

Breath and Flow from Pilates

Quotes from "Ballroom Pilates" in pilatesstyle magazine.
Using breathing techniques, you get more movement and expression in your torso which makes you look taller and fill more space as a ballroom dancer.
As people gain greater mind-body awareness, they become more conscious of how they're using - or not using - their breath and rhythm.
With breath also comes flow.
Flow has to do with musicality.