Jamaican Night

We finally made it to Friday's Jamaican Night at Coonamesset Farm, the last one until next summer. A perfect night, cooler than the tropics, but plenty warm enough for dancing to the singer with a steel drum and the ever-present back-up machine. In the summer, Wednesday Jamaican Nights are just as crowded, but I am always at the Mary French Studio on Wednesdays.
The farm operates with grants, so the big pavilion is very well built. I hear people don't always dance, but last night, there was only room on the floor when a huge Conga line took off to snake between tables.
The $18 entrance paid for a buffet with plantains, sweet potato pudding, corn, and much more. Pork and chicken are grilled while you wait and served with Jerk sauce. Ginger beer, ice tea, coffee and tea can be supplemented by your own beer or wine.

Moseley's

More adventures in Boston. Joe's mother, returning from a trip, lives very close to Moseley's in Dedham, so we went up for the night. Meltones were the band, so we were greeted by Rick Medieros, who calls me Helen. I liked the line dancing, with variations on the Kenny Rogers Waltz, and on the Sex on the Beach Mambo. I don't know the Bossa Nova line well enough to spot any changes.
What a beautiful floor! Maple is so smooth, and the pillars add style to the edge.
We were not the youngest there because a young woman was there with her grandfather. We weren't even the showiest or the tallest, but we were up there.

Dance vs Gym

Fitness doesn't have to be pursued at a gym. Looking at the floppy, "deceptively weak" model on DWTS, I remember that I get my strength without machinery.
My fellow ballroom dancers didn't seem to catch my enthusiasm, and the summer experiment, Body Conditioning for Ballroom Dancers, is over.
The stretch class at Turning Pointe Studio is back putting dance and fitness together for me.
Pilates is the answer for people who need posture improvement.

Cajun

Having gone off Cape Friday, we picked the closest and easiest place for live music and dance, Grumpy's in Falmouth.
Buzzards Bayou features the husband and wife team of Amy and Jonathan Larkin on fiddle and accordion, onetime ballroom dance students. Dedicated musicians, they were joined by a drummer, a guitar, and Glenway Fripp on bass to put out a great sound.
Dancers I ususally see doing ballroom dances were nice to look at. One couple spent some time in New Orleans and another attends local Cajun nights with lessons.
Joe always sneaks in Salsa anytime the beat goes quick quick slow, and a blues song makes Swing legal even though Cajunized.
Boy, that cement floor was a sad contrast to Swingstep, especially when Joe leads the quick turns, and I have to walk them around.

Blues Cafe at Springstep, Medford

Great space! Very conveniently just off 93 in Medford. Smooth sprung floor, great for ballroom dancing.
Blues Cafe was a young crowd mostly, but some of us older folks scattered in, dance lovers all. The music by the Solomon Douglas Trio and the recorded music was not Blues, but Swing music with a lot of Foxtrot that they all danced Swing to, so Foxtrot was impossible to navigate. More Lindy dancers than West Coast. A few Argentine Tango people who use the space on other days, doing their Argentine Tango to anything. During a break, what must have been the formation team did some sweet Charleston in a circle. We squeezed in a Cha cha.
A few little tables more for looks. Most people just stood or danced the whole time. Free MandMs, peanuts and jellybeans. Refillable water bottles. There should have been some teens there since it was alcohol free.
An easy hour and a half, if traffic is okay, which it was on Friday evening. That's a long drive, so my plan was to stay at his mother's, but Joe gets bored with just Swing, no alcohol, and that style of music, so he talked me into leaving early and drove us home.

3rd Friday choices

Cape Cod Ballroom Dancers are back in the Hyannis Senior Center with Steve and DeeDee teaching Mambo.
Joe and I will go to Springstep in Medford. This new (2003) arts building supports the dance community with a Blues Cafe for swing dance. I love to look at how people set things up.

Elbows

Elbow macaroni! Ladies! Have you been accused of spaghetti arms? It's mostly your elbow that allows the arm to flop around, so I thought of extending the metaphor. However, elbow macaroni actually holds its shape even when cooked.
Too bad there isn't arm shaped pasta, all the way to the wrist. The delicacy of dry spaghetti could also be a hint those with too strong an arm. Gentlemen, don't break the light hold she keeps on herself.