Musings on Dance, Food, Geek Stuff
It’s exactly two years since I started quad skating! It’s been an incredible journey so far, and it feels like I’ve barely scratched the surface of what is possible with skating. I’m so grateful for everything that skating has brought to my life — friendships, community, and so many beautiful moments.
Lots of folks have already shared what their experience was like at ILHC 2022. But I haven’t heard much talk about why this event was a game-changer: it centered the Black roots of lindy hop. After two decades of dancing lindy hop, the 2022 International Lindy Hop Championships was the first major lindy hop event…
I’m incredibly excited to share with you this wonderful video produced by KQED Arts on lindy hop and its African American cultural roots, featuring Columbus-based dancers Tyedric Hill and Shannon Varner. Plus a bunch of other dancers you will probably recognize! Special thanks to Tena Morales and the rest of the International Lindy Hop Championships…
On Tuesday I got back from one of the best trips to New York City ever. There’s a lot to recap, so here we go: Skating All Over NYC I was honestly most looking forward to finally getting to skate in NYC. Twenty years ago, I visited often the skate circle in Central Park and…
Last Friday, Manu and I walked into an elegant, empty ballroom in Times Square, NYC. “You know where we are, right?” Manu asks me. “The Edison Ballroom?” I reply. “Naw, dude. This is the Supper Club.” I stop in my tracks as it hits me where I’m standing. We’re in the $%^&ing Supper Club! For…
I was delighted to see this fun article about the San Francisco skate scene, featuring quotes from David Miles, Lainie Monsef, Daniel Albert and myself. Thanks, Maximo Vazquez for shining a light on what makes our local scene so dope! Let’s roll!
Rollerskating is an outlier, since I just started. But I feel like the depth of connections I’ve made in a short amount of time is pretty remarkable.
On the way to work the phrase “embrace mediocrity” would not leave my brain. I sometimes get stuck wishing that I was better at <insert hobby or pursuit> and thinking I would enjoy it more if I could just do it with more expertise. Which is dumb and self-defeating thinking.
I don’t know anything about this clip other than it’s from a 1957 Filipino movie called Kalyehera. There’s a lot to unpack in this scene: The music feels very Elvis Presley inspired A lot of the dancing is “groove around then throw an airstep” which I suppose was probably what people were expecting to see…
I like to say that “Beat Street” was my first exposure to Black vernacular dance. But if I’m honest it was Arthur Duncan on the Lawrence Welk Show. I wanted to be him so bad as a youngster! I would watch Duncan on our refrigerator sized color TV, entranced, and then try and mimic his…