Hop on in!

I was in Tesco during Easter Week and saw that coir doormats were on sale for £1.50 because they were stamped with Easter references. Tesco clearly doesn’t know that Easter lasts 50 days, and I was glad to scoop up the seasonal bargain. We needed a doormat and “Hop on in!” is a lovely message any time of the year.

It also brings to mind the Lindy Hop, and two days after the Eastertide Dance, three of my friends and I were hopping away to live jazz in Stockbridge. The event was a tea dance organized by one of the local swing dance societies, and the music was provided by Bill Jones Renaissance Swing Band.

“Have you come from church?” asked one of the regulars, and yes, we had. In fact, we had come from After-Mass Coffee Hour, I having left the key and clean-up in capable hands. One of the pleasant things about Stockbridge Sunday tea dances is that they are conveniently timed and placed, and the four of us enjoyed a comfortable stroll through the sunny avenues.

These dances are not so pleasant if one goes alone, or with one female friend, as I had discovered on a previous occasion. Despite (or because of) decades of feminism, the key to having a good time at dance events is BYOB–that is, Bring Your Own Boys. This way, someone is sure to ask you to dance. In addition, women will probably ask YOB to dance afterwards, and then other men–having seen you deemed dance-worthy–will ask you to dance. Thus, just as I think that the women who go to my male-dominated Trad Catholic dance events are jewels, I think that the men who come with me to secular dance events are jewels set in golden crowns trimmed with ermine.

A simpler explanation is that the more often you are seen at swing-dancing events, the more likely you are to be asked to dance. However, recalling my efforts to break into the scene 10 years ago, I am placing my money on men’s power to influence other men. Anyway, the news is that young M and I danced with J and K, and women rushed up to the boys afterwards, and scenesters asked M and I to dance–one of them asked M twice. Meanwhile, the band was terrific and there was even–at last!–a spontaneous outbreak of the Shim Sham.

Lent seemed particularly long this year, since I had intentionally given up going to lessons and dances. I am now making up for it. On Friday, Mr McLean and I are going to the Edinburgh Jazz & Jive Club to hear Viper Swing, and on Saturday I am going to both a Solo Charleston lesson and an advanced Lindy Hop workshop. One of the MMWP gents is coming to the Lindy workshop, and I hope I can interest him or another in next Saturday’s Collegiate Shag workshop.

Collegiate Shag is one of the speedier swing dances, and it looks absolutely enormously fun.

There are two problems with promoting Collegiate Shag from a Trad Catholic Swing Dancing point of view. The first is its name, as in the UK “shag” is not just a cormorant but a slang word for the marital act. The second is that it seems to employ a close hold at least some of the time. Well, I will go to the workshop and find out if it can be done without. It doesn’t seem to feature in the above video.