Sorry for the weeklong absence from the blog! I was in recovery mode from the wonderful adventure over Labor Day weekend at the National Jitterbug Championships at Camp Hollywood. Camp Hollywood is one my favorite swing dance weekends of the year - amazing music, competitions, dancers from all over the world, and a joyous time of celebrating as a community!
For those of you who have never experienced a swing dance weekend, each day basically goes like this: classes in the mornings from 10am-3pm, then competitions from 3pm-6pm, a break for dinner and then social dancing, more competitions, and partying from 9pm-6am! Then you crash for a few hours, wake up, and do it again! My friends and I decided to skip classes this year to use that time to catch up on sleep, lounge by the pool, and socialize some more.
In the pictures above, you can catch a couple shots of me competing, which as you can tell from my expression is a complete bore to me. *ahem*
Of course, I am kidding. As these are the National Jitterbug Championships, people travel from all over the world (including Sweden, France, even South Korea) to compete, so the competition is pretty fierce. Even so, my incredible partner (and great friend) Juan and I made finals in the Classic division and alternates for the Strictly Lindy division. Translating that into non-dancer speak, the Strictly Lindy division is the fast moving, aerial-filled dancing that you probably think of when you think of swing, and the Classic division is to medium-tempo music and is more about style and musicality rather than flash. I felt really proud of how we performed, and had a ton of fun to boot! I always leave Camp Hollywood inspired and ready to work even harder for the next year!
And while the competitions are a huge part of the weekend, the best part is seeing friends from out of town, hanging out, and being silly!
A huge thank you to everyone who made it a Camp Hollywood to remember! Back to regular scheduled programming on Thursday! ;)
This past weekend, I experienced my very first Orange County Fair! It was a super fun day filled with adorable animals, silly dancing, and all the fried food we could eat, as you can tell from the video above.
A special shout out to one of my favorite swing bands around - Jonathan Stout and his Campus Five, featuring Hilary Alexander for the awesome music I used in the video! If you liked it, you can check out more of their music here.
Yes, that is me feeding and holding a chicken! It was magical!
I didn't have it in me that day to get all vintaged-up, so a bright blue t-shirt and an easy skirt, and I called it a day. I am a firm believer that vintage fashion should be fun, so there are definitely some days where it is too much work to do full hair and makeup, and I just feel like keeping it simple and enjoying the day. Sometimes it is about the adventure - enjoying the experience and not caring what you look like!
Let me introduced you all to my little sister Chloe! This past weekend was an epic adventure celebrating her 21st birthday. Our good friend Jeremy and I discovered we were both crazy enough to do something awesome for her.
My sister is currently living in Salinas, CA doing the musical Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson at the Western Stage. My whole family went up to celebrate her opening night and birthday, and Jeremy and I decided to surprise her with a trip to Disneyland. After having partied hard the night before, we got up at 5:30am, picked her up, made a bed in the back of the car for her to sleep and then drove the 6+ hour drive all the way down to Disneyland. It was a wonderful day filled with 'adventure and whimsy' (as Jeremy puts it), as we enjoyed all our favorite rides and food Disney has to offer, and not leaving until 1am!
Then the next day we bundled up in the car again and drove her all the way back up to Salinas, taking our time enjoying the ocean views of the 101. After a quick dinner, Jeremy and I were right back in the car and drove all the way back down to LA. It was an exhausting and epic trip, and it will be one we will remember for a long time to come!
I took the month of June off of the blog to focus on some other ventures/adventures - but I am back! I am just coming off of the best birthday weekend ever - filled with dancing, ice cream, surprise dream dresses, friends, and a new disneyland annual pass from the best family in the world!
First of all this dress: if you are not aware of the clothing company Trashy Diva, you are missing out. I have been coveting this dress for the last year and a half, and a fellow diva made birthday miracle happen and sold me hers! It is the perfect little black dress, and I felt like a million bucks dancing the night away.
Plus it was LindyGroove's birthday and the release of the new Jonathan Stout and his Campus Five CD which you should all go listen to and buy here. There was live music, friends, family, and popsicles! The best birthday this girl could have ever asked for!
Blog - I would like to formally introduce you to my best friend Keegan. This is a little bit of a throwback post, because we did this photoshoot a while ago, but I couldn't resist sharing a few of the shots we got. Sometimes you just have to get dressed up and dance in the street. Keegan and I have been dancing together since 2012, and have been best friends for just as long! He is not only an amazing dancer, but a talented photographer, filmmaker, storyteller, and a generally awesome human. I am so blessed to have someone who is down to dance, hang out, or talk with about anything and who, despite life's ups and downs, continues to stick with me through it all.
A special shoutout to our amazingly talented photographer and good friend Ben Z whose work you can check out here.
My first Dapper Day was a success! There is nothing like the happiest place on earth, and walking around seeing everyone dressed to the nines makes the day that much more magical. There is something a little bit transcendent about so many men, women, and kids expressing themselves through fashion in the park. And because not everyone is dressed up, it feels like you are sharing a special secret with the other dapperly dressed people as you walk by each other. It is a culture of that embraces the nostalgia of Disneyland and the creativity that the park inspires!
The expo was beautiful and full of super cool vendors, where I got the sunglasses and the pin I wore to the outing. After spending some time in the convention center on Saturday, I spent Sunday out in the park. The first half of the day my mom, my sister Chloe, and I walked around - meeting characters, people-watching, and eating our favorite Disney snacks. Later on, we met up with some friends and spent the rest of the evening going on rides, shopping, and eating some more! You can catch some of our shenanigans in the video below!
If you haven't heard, there is a new documentary out called Alive and Kicking. It features quite a few of my friends and gives new audiences a bit of insight into the joy this dance brings to everyone in the scene.
The night before its premiere, my friends Lance and Vicky over at Lindygroove hosted a pre-party with live music, social dancing, and general merriment. Lindygroove remains one of the best social dance venues around, and I feel so blessed to get to be a part of it as a teacher, DJ, and most importantly as a social dancer!
It was a fantastic evening of celebrating this thing we call Lindy Hop!
This year's Inspiration Weekend was so wonderful. Between spending time with friends, dancing to amazing live music with some of my favorite lindy hoppers, competing, growing, and getting stoked on Lindy Hop, here are couple of the most inspiring moments of the weekend for me:
#1 - Anthony Chen, Irina Amzashvili, and Natalia Eristavi - 30 second showcase
This routine was AWESOME. So clean, and so original. Plus I love these guys so much - as dancers, they are incredibly inspiring, and as people, they are some of the nicest I know. Anthony is seriously one of my favorite leaders ever - a special thanks to him for all the amazing social dances this weekend - they were so fun!
#2 - 2nd place with Juan Cuadra - Amateur Lindy Hop Battle Finals
Although it is obviously an honor to take 2nd place, to be perfectly honest, I was not completely happy with my performance in this comp... but that is exactly the reason it is on my list. Doing this with such a wonderful partner and really reflecting on where we both want to improve, has inspired me with more motivation to work harder, focus on more specific goals, and continue to grow and compete! I am incredibly grateful to Juan for his talent, (annoyingly unending) humility, and support of me. Dancing with him is such a privilege and joy, and he always inspires me to want to work harder in this dance, so yay Juan!
#3 - the amazing music and social dancing!
So this is actually a video from 2 years ago, but you can catch a glimpse at one of my most inspiring moments of any Inspiration Weekend - the first time I ever swung out fast to Jonathan Stout and His Orchestra playing "Jumpin' At The Woodside". At this point in my dancing, I had not yet figured out the art of swing dancing fast, and for the very last song of the weekend, Shesha Marvin (an amazing lead and one of the event organizers) asked me to dance. I was a little bit nervous, but for the first time ever, the music, my partner, and my own dancing all connected, and everything clicked. I was swinging out fast, and it was effortless. It was also f*cking awesome. Shesha has always been a support in my dancing (and for so many others as well), and I will always remember that moment as a breakthrough for me in my journey as a Lindy Hopper.
This year, the music was just as awesome as ever, between Falty and the Defects and Jonathan Stout and his Campus Five, as well as his Orchestra. I had amazing social dances with so many people - Andrew Jose (especially swinging out to Jammin The Blues surrounded by our friends and feeling so happy!), Matt Richey (one of the most awesome, genuinely nice people I know, and so much fun to dance with!), Mike Faltesek (so lovely to get to know him this weekend and the cutest dog ever!), Augie Freeman (this guy is seriously one of my favorite people in the history of people, and how lucky am I to get to know!) and Keegan Mullin (my best friend on the planet!) just to name a few.
Also, a shout out to a few of the ladies of lindy hop who I am so lucky to be friends with and be inspired by - Kelly Young, Leslie Greene, Morgan Bates, Natalia Eristavi, Irina Amzashvili, Monchette Gonda, and Renata DePersis.
Final thoughts: Inspiration Weekend continues to be one of my favorite events of the year. A huge shout out to Shesha, Nikki, Mikey, and James who work so tirelessly to make it possible. To end this post, please enjoy the amazing Lindy Hop Tournament finals from this year.
