Since I am working in Portland, OR these days, I thought I'd take advantage of Steven & Virginie's workshop happening on Jan 13-15, 2006.
Mariah came up and we had a blast!! I took half a day off and Mariah and I started our weekend in Portland with a birthday lunch at one of new French restaurants in the Pearl District. After hopping back on the Trolley, we happened on a little knitting shop which we spent some time looking at patterns and all the beautiful yarns. Makes me want to take knitting up. Mariah was in seventh heaven!
We got back and got ready for the dance, I called the cab and we headed out to Tigard Grange!! Our enthusiasm was a bit deflated as the meter climbed well above $40!! We got in and the band, Pork Pie, was already in full swing!! We had so much fun dancing, meeting folks and being part of something very new to us.
We met David, who turned out to be our Weekend Angel and volunteer chauffeur and new friend! Once he heard about the tale of our high-priced cabbie, he insisted that we are not to do that again and drove us to ALL the venues ALL weekend long!! David, thank you so much - you rock!!!!!!!!
All workshops were at Paradise Ballroom. Side note, the Paradise ballroom is behind a Chinese Restaurant whose owner loved to dance and built his own dance studio behind the restaurant. It was made for dancers: mirrors, side-tables, hooks for purses, coat racks and a self-serve shoe stand in the corner! Though early, long and hard, were fun and gratifying! Steven & Virginie's style of teaching did not spoon feed and were so informative! I always have a bunch of take-aways. It is worth every penny to attend any of their workshops.
Saturday dance was at the Village Ballroom - a venue in the middle of residential neighborhood in a historic (is that a nice word for older?) building. The BEST part of the weekend was hearing Casey McGill and his band play. For those who don't know, Erin and Tami always plays their songs at PBDA. For some reason, I never imagined this band as a current band that plays in the Northwest - what a treat!!! I have their CD and wished I brought it over to for them to sign.
It was so hard to wake up for the Sunday workshops. We decided to have a nice leisurely brunch and got to the workshops a tad late. ;) After dancing until 1:00pm, Mariah and I said our good-byes to everyone. I explained that I work here now, and will try to make their swing dancing venues. After making sure Mariah got on her plane, I took a cab to Noctural Cafe - this venue proved to be the "regular" swing venue. I think I'll have to start flying in on Sundays!
I've convinced my brother, Kyle to come to the
Portland Lindy Exchange on March 2-5. If you are interested, email me and let's make arrangements!
Travel safe and keep swinging!
