I really think I had more fun at this KWDMS than I have at any other. Probably because I let myself have more fun. I took more classes and I spent more time dancing. Recipe for excellence!
Best moments?
• Teaching – class went vey well – more people than expected showed and they seemed to have a great time – got good feedback and I am already looking forward to teaching it better with some more improvements. • Reconstruction class – I didn’t teach it. And I didn’t go to it. But my work on reconstruction was cited as “the best thing out there describing what to do so why reinvent the wheel” and then directing the students to read it over the internet. • Canary with Del – Hawt! I love dancing. I was even telling someone that about 6 years ago I’d had a Canary dance off with Del in the barn at about 2 am at Pennsic. And I think they sort of rolled their eyes or thought I was making it up. Midair announced that the request dance for that set would be Il Canario and Del looked at me exactly at the same time. It was on all over again. Thankfully we both had hard sole shoes on and got to really put on a good show for everyone. And I got right in his face. It as broughten! lol. • Midair leading the ball Saturday night. He runs things a lot like I do – keeps it moving and thanks the musicians and projects. I want to have some other people pay attention to him more so they can get better at it.
Other highlights:
• Playing for parts of Thursday’s Ball. I didn’t like most of the dances so I sat in with the pit for a good part of it which is a rare treat since I am usually dancing. • Class with Rosina. I didn’t dance but I got to watch her. I probably will not see her for many more years so I am happy I had the chance. • Herald’s in Lust – Fun variation and quite a surprise. Perfect thing to do in the middle of the night. • Staying up late with friends. I hardly ever stay up past 3am! • Dinner with friends and dinner alone with Kelly – both good fun. • Private showers in the dorms. • Getting exciting for other people’s work and seeing some up and coming dancers really start to show promise. • Three nights of balls all in a row. • Dressing up pretty! • Galliards! • Did I mention the Canary??? • Getting excited about the next KWDMS and thinking of ways that I can help with the planning. • Feeling a bit like a rock star.
Ready for the next please! I feel so energized by all the fun I had!
Thanks to everyone who put it on and thanks to everyone who came to support the event. I love our community! Yeah dancing!
So, I am seriously not a world traveler. I’ve been all over the states but I have barely broke over the border into Canada and to Mexico so this was all new fun for me.
Highlights:
• Okay – So the money is pretty. • Liters! Not gallons. Dammit! LOL. • Speeding – But I did not go 50 km over since you evidently loose your life if they catch you … or at least your car, license, and $10K. • CN Tower – I was actually surprised at the tourists that were there and the smell the brought along with them but it was nice to see the city from up high and read some of the building facts. • Crepes – We headed to the gayborhood to check the strip and found a little crepe place about to close. Chicken, bacon, and cheese followed by caramel and apples. Awesome. • Room Service – when you are not getting any time to sleep and you cant seem to find anything might as well just order in so you can save time … Pricy but delicious and perfectly planned. • Casa Loma – This was the surprise hit of Toronto. Gardens were beautiful and the posted facts were just right for my level of interest. And then there was the tower … which … you go to the third floor, then walk through an unmarked door, then wander to the back where there is a flight of stairs leading to a landing … which hides a spiral stair to another floor … which has yet another spiral stair … which then has a flight of stairs off of it. Now that made me feel nervous about heights a thousand more times that the CN Tower had. • Royal Ontario Museum – Our game plan was to start from the top and move down to the bottom. On the top floor was an awesome textiles exhibit with pull out drawers and everything. I wish they had had even more Renaissance stuff but the quality and breadth of everything made for the best part of the museum. The rest was really more of the same with a few exhibits it might have been fun to check out… like the Wedgwood, the glass, and the armor. • Toronto Zoo – Well you hear a lot about how it is one of the top zoos in the world … but I wasn’t all that impressed. Coolest part was going “oh, look, tigers!” and then walking over and saying, “oh wait! More tigers!” Baby snow leopards are super cute. Angry peacocks are not. Walking through the kangaroo area was coolio. But let me just say tooooooo much walking. Like way too much. We were told not to bother with the Canadian animal area – since the walk was so far away. Well, we like to walk so we went for it. Why didn’t anyone bother to tell us that it was at the bottom of a hill? Like, a really really long hill??? The only way we made it back was by following the super hot guy who’d taken his shirt off because of the heat. I think he was probably the best animal on display. • Niagara’s Fury – sort of a cheezy kid’s attraction but I liked it. The cartoon was cute and the ride was fun – snow was fun and the rain caught me off guard at points. • Journey Behind the Falls – I was smiling it was so cool to stand that close to them. • Walk to the Rapids – This was more fun than I expected. The river is just so powerful. • Maid of the Mist – AWESOME. Getting up into the middle of the falls was unbelievable. Truly a wonder of the world and more than worth the trip. That was the best part of the trip. • Canadian Falls – Just a note to say that they were shorter than expected and the mist was in the way (which I hear is from the hotels that have been built up around it changing the wind currents) but awesome on the Canadian side and looking forward to going to the American side at some point. • Tim Horton’s – How can you skip it? Had to bring Kelly there. Come to Chicago please?
And to let you know how well we planned … we didn’t have a map, and the GPS didn’t have Canada in it, and our phones were off because of international rates, and I really didn’t print out that good of directions. But we got all over without any issues at all.
It was so much fun exploring my city again with Kelly. There was a bunch I wanted to share with her now that I know my way around better and I even took her on the bus. Also got to have her stay as our first house guest – guest room success!
What all did we shove in??
• Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind – After her flight and a lovely dinner at Calo we waited for our turn to see the set of plays. We got great seats and a great show. Overall not the best set I’ve seen them do *but* did have one play I will not soon forget. They started out by writing their faults on the chalk board and then pulled the entire audience to the stage and had us fill the board with all of our weaknesses. • Breakfast at the Beach – Having my best friends together and enjoying the kids at the beach while the sun was out and about 100 sail boats going by with eggs, bacon, breakfast sausage, pancakes, toast, and more. • Dinner, Ticket to Ride, and Sing Star – Jen and Ken hosted us for a lazy evening where we got to cook dinner, play TtR which I forgot was so fast and easy to play, and then hang out chillen with Sing Star. I rocked with the Monkeys. • Museum of Science and Industry – I took the plunge and got a membership. Learned from the Smart/Green Home and I am now committed to leaving my phone charger unplugged unless I am actually charging … it is a big energy drain. The OmniMax film on the Great Lakes was well timed and nice for a place to sit. The Harry Potter exhibit rocked – go see it. And I really enjoyed going to the German U-boat again. Fast fast day. • Chicago History Museum – this is a must see. The 1900s clothing display added to the Chicago Chic couture display were FANTASTIC. Need to go again. • Lincoln Park Zoo – what can you say about a free zoo getting to jump in and see the big cats and then jump back out. Nice break. • Conservatory – nothing like hanging out in the Fern room. Always worth the walk through – especially with the trees in season to bear fruit. • Nature Museum – well okay … nice to see insects but the butterfly release could have been a little more fun. Really, I think I am just over it at this point • Swedish American History Museum – um … well … there was a couple things for me too look at? Hope it makes Kelly’s dad happy she went. • Swedish food – yeah, twice in one day. Mui Bueno. • Star Trek – so I went to see it again. Well worth it – better the second time.
See? Much fun. I put on a fun time. And almost all of it we managed to do for free or for some kind of discount. Heck yeah!
Still need to get Kelly to at least the Shedd, Field, and the Art Institute. Always more for next time!
So – Kelly came to visit which was a blast. She had not been up here since last Summer and I had not seen her since I went down for Thanksgiving so it was well over time.
Short run for it – we did a LOT. We played tourist in Chicago, played tourist in Toronto, did Niagara Falls, and went to Known World Dance Symposium.
That’s enough right???
Anywho – I completely forgot about everything too crazy (like work) once I was into the week and had a blast seeing a bunch of good friends and staying up too late talking and dancing.
Only down side was David not getting to spend much time with Kelly – really only two nights and no just hanging out time. He had to jet out of time the day before she flew in to spend time with his mom. She had surgery and he helped take care of her for the weekend … but she just got back an early clean bill of health so that’s excellent news.
I really think this is the best way for us to do Known World Dance – hit a good portion of the event but enjoy as much tourism we can. We’ve done it for Boston and Seattle too – much fun.
I have to say I feel altogether pretty disappointed with having gone to Kingdom A&S. I just don’t like it … I walked away feeling like I had really just wasted my time.
I think the problem is that I like to *teach* people. To help people improve.
I do not like to simply critique. And think that is what the faire is about.
I try to be objective and not stick to “the way I always did it”. I try. Maybe I am missing something? But in all the time I have been here no one has been able to “sell” the system as it is now so that I can get behind it.
If you are unfamiliar with is all, check it out here:
Try not to be overwhelmed. I know there is a lot there.
Issues:
Anonymous judging – I want to be able to talk to the entrant if I want to. I want to be able to follow up later with more information.
Anonymous judging – How can a non-judge learn who to talk to for more information and use the entry as a teaching tool to others?
Anonymous judging – How can an entrant get comments from a non-judge if the person can not identify them?
Anonymous judging – How can an entrant gain word fame if know one knows who made the work?
(Do you catch a theme here)
Regional to Kingdom Entries – Not being allowed to improve entries – I don’t know why we would want to judge something and then not let someone correct their mistakes. We just want to tell them their faults twice over?
Easy judging – It is amazing how many entries are scored well because someone is afraid to judge honestly. They give allowances all the time. And it is prevalent.
Multiple entries – I’m not a fan of ‘enter as many as you can’ since I value my time and would rather focus on your best work…
Black-balling judges anonymously – If your score is not acceptable – then it gets thrown out and you are not told. And, if they really don’t like you, then you are no longer allowed to be judged – but you never get told. You’re just added to a list and then ignored when you volunteer. Nice, eh?
There are others … it just all feels so convoluted and trapped by the past. A whole system built up to fight against “what-ifs” or one person’s poor acts.
I do like the criteria – they are a good tool and really help people to be better judges and they give an entrant a guideline to work off of. But the rest of it is just so frustrating to me.
Resolutions:
Be willing to judge, but only accept “face-to-face” judging assignments
Continue grass-roots effort to find better solutions for A&S activities
Continue to encourage alternative venues for A&S competitions and displays
