A Very Special Jam Cellar
Tonight, Seattle's own Glenn Crytzer and His Syncopators! and…Gretta Thorn's last night!
That's right, our very own powerhouse of organization and grace, Gretta Thorn will be leaving in the middle of the night to elope with Remington Stone, forming the perfect names for a Victorian Gothic novel couple. And, in doing so, will be moving to Baltimore, to be neighbors with Nina Gilkenson, another fallen Jam Cellar woman.
We will miss not only the uncanny way she handled the small details and did taxes, but also her welcoming smile, her moves on the dance floor, and her friendly and positive nature. She's been one of the main staples of the teaching staff, as well. Basically, she's volunteered so much of her time and energy into Jam Cellar that when she leaves, she'll probably sleep for weeks and not know why. Gretta, from all of the past, present, and future of Jam Cellar–Thank you.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
The Big Big Benefit July 9 and 10
***UPDATE: There will be (1) A dance on Friday Night with a performance show of swing dance talent, (2) workshops on Saturday Afternoon with Internationally known award-winning swing dance instructors for all levels (3) A dance Saturday night. MORE INFORMATION COMING***
The Jam Cellar is teaming up with the Glen Echo Park Partnership, Flying Feet Enterprises, Tom Cunningham Orchestra, The Boilermaker Jazz Band, Blue Sky 5 to raise funds for our dear friend (and mother of Jam Cellar original, Nina), Laurie Gilkenson. Laurie recently suffered a brain aneurysm and, as bills have been rising, she could really use our support. All proceeds will be donated to Laurie. Many dancers across the region are coming together to help support and promote this event including GottaSwing and Charm City Swing. Thanks everyone for your help on this great cause! For more info, visit our facebook event page. $15 Admission; Beginner Swing Lesson @ 8PM (Free with admission) Dance From 9PM – 12AM. Glen Echo Park Park Spanish Ballroom 7300 MacArthur Blvd., Glen Echo, Maryland. Presented in cooperation with the Glen Echo Park Partnership for Arts & Culture, Inc., the National Park Service and Montgomery County, MD.
July Int/Adv Series: THE SOLO DANCER!
In July, we'll be focusing on the solo dancer in all of us. Not just solo Charleston (thought there will be some of that), this is a class series that will concentrate on how we all can express ourselves individually, weather alone or in a partnered dance. So, get ready for solo jazz routines, Lindy Hop footwork variations, and some answers on what to do with your damn arms while your dancing. $55. No partner required. 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Tuesdays in July.
Our next Building Your Basics award-winning 6-week series begins July 13th
Just so you know. Tell your friends.
June Inter/Adv Series: "A FEW OF OUR FAVORITE THINGS"
One last class left! Come drop in! 8:30 p.m.
Random Notes from Korea
Kate and I recently taught at a Balboa weekend in Korea, and with our event's host, were able to dive into–uh, cannonball haphazardly into would probably be more accurate–Korean culture a little before we left. Here are a few random notes from our travels. Photos and more text available at www.swungover.com later today.
I have recently taken to reading the Wikipedia articles on the cities we're traveling to, if only to make me more annoying to our host. Here are a few of the random facts I picked up from Wikipedia's articles on South Korea and Seoul:
1. The educational system in Korea is one of the best in the world. By a Worldwide Study of Very Specific Educational Facts, Korean students were first in the world in Problem-Solving, which means, ideally, that they can easily become second in anything else they want.
2. Half the Korean population has "no religious preference." Of the rest, most are Christian or Buddhist.
3. The strategy computer game Starcraft is so popular in South Korea that it is more or less a sport, broadcast on television, with video gamers becoming celebrities and endorsing sport drinks. BTW, Seoul is one of the most "wired" places on earth. And 90% of South Koreans have a cell phone.
4. The greater Seoul capital area has over 24.5 million residents. This isn't surprising once you look out of the North Seoul Tower, which is at the top of the mountain in the middle of the city.
5. Korea is one of the most ethnically homogeneous countries–more than 99% of it's population is Korean.
6. South Korea, what with being next door to the DMZ and a rather hostile neighbor, still has mandatory draft for all males. It was strange to look at our class of students and realize ALL of the leaders had been through military service of some sort.
***
The first thing I noticed about Korea is how nice everyone is dressed. Almost everyone I saw, in work or leisure clothes. The women wore well-fitted and often form-fitting garments that were very modest in terms of coverage. If a man had a suit, it looked tailor-made. This is probably because tailors in Korea can make a great suit for $300, which is at least $500 cheaper than a designer Western suit that would look as good. Even those sporting the mismatched hipster USA fashion pull it off with being not much of an eye-sore.
Everyone cared about the way they looked in Korea, and I mean that as a compliment. For me personally, it was oddly refreshing to see that everyone matched, in the way that an OCD person is probably very calm in a BoConcept store. In fact, it sort of gave Korea a movie-like quality–the way people in your basic action or rom/com movies are often pretty inoffensively dressed. Also, I found my brethren in Korean men, who often spent a few minutes in the bathroom making sure their hair was alright–wetting it, restyling it, taming the beast.
There was also the extreme politeness and shyness that almost everyone shows. Everyone was very welcoming, and had an genuine smile and nod when they understood you, and an emergency back-up smile and nod when they didn't. But I quickly picked up the differences, and was able to communicate pretty easily with everyone I met. And, getting to know many of the dancers better, I felt secure in how sincere they were in their politeness.
***
The first day we visited the palace Changdeokgung, one of the few traditional buildings left in Seoul. This is the other strange thing I noticed about Seoul; almost all the buildings were built in post 1960s American styles. This is because, well, Korea had a tough time in the 40s and 50s, and Seoul was rather close to North Korea, where the trouble was coming from. More than 2.5 million people died in the Korean War. After the war, the city had to be rebuilt, and only a few traditional buildings survived (My grandfather flew bombers in the Korean War, making me the second White my family knows of that has ever set foot on Korean soil. Kinda neat feeling, especially since I came in complete peace, to teach swing dancing, something my Grandfather's generation invented.)
The palace made me feel I could be extremely content living in an ancient Korean palace. Wide open spaces, natural surroundings, very calming rooms next to creeks and naturally air conditioned by breezes and so forth. No clutter around, and lots of gazebos next to ponds.
Every time we go to a tourist destination, I hope that, this time, we won't run into an obnoxious American who will make me embarrassed for my country. And almost every damn time it happens. The stereotype is that they're loud, ignorant and entitled, and the loud part is a particularly bad characteristic to have, because it means it only takes one American out of a hundred to call attention to how obnoxious Americans can be. And in an Asian culture of public quietness and politeness, it sticks out like even more of a soar thumb.
For our tour of the palace, we had one American woman who was there with her pregnant daughter and a few other family members, who fit the bill. She had been there before, and apparently they had changed some of the tours since the last time she had come. Long story short, she flipped out in a very loud and passive aggressive way, and it made me long for the days when intruders walking into the secret garden were speared on sight.
In the middle of the secret garden (which was really just a beautiful forest with a few buildings), there was a structure that didn't have any paint on it, which was the sign of a non-royal establishment. This was apparently where the king would go to see what life was like as an aristocrat. I didn't understand exactly what that entailed, but I imagine it was about more than living with unpainted walls.
***
"One thing about Americans, they never try to eat any of our food," one Korean dancer told me when I asked what stereotypes they had of Americans. At this point I sank slightly in my seat and tried to draw attention away from my fried chicken stick. Before going to Korea I had heard stories about how strange the food was in Korea, but when I got there, I was more surprised by how the restaurant system worked.
We'd be walking down the street, and our host would say "Do you want chicken, beef, or Tofu for dinner?" And I would think "Well, we can probably order whichever we want when we get to the restaurant, right?" But that's not really the way things work in Korea. Each restaurant specializes in a meat, and many of them, in just a few dishes. For instance, we went to Sushi one night, one that only served Tuna. No other fish. (By the way, it was incredible tuna. Just saying. That's the big plus to having a specialized dish at a restaurant–you can probably be sure they make that dish very well.) Our final meal with the Korean dancers was a place that only served fried chicken in several different sauces, and beer. I strongly approve of this restaurant.
Thinking back on it, this is a perfectly logical way for a big city to work. Since there's no lack of restaurants in a given area, there's no need for each restaurant to have a large menu. In fact, this is totally the way I work. I don't go toChili's so much as I go to my preferred Fajita dish restaurant. I don't go to an Indian restaurant so much as I get a hankering for Chicken Tikka Masala (okay, that's not the best analogy, because I like a whole lot of Indian dishes. But I guess I am usually in the mood for only one at a time).
Kate had done a great job trying many different things, but by the end of the weekend, I had lived off of Bulgogi (Korean BBQ) and had been terrified to find a can of silkworm pupae next to the canned chicken in the grocery store. (It's a well-known snack, they apparently have them on street vendors like New York candied nut carts, though we didn't see any.) When the last meal came, they handed me something flat, rubbery and brown on a plate. Not wanting to offend, I peeled off a piece. Before eating it, I asked what it was, and they said they would tell me afterward, which I decided was probably best for everyone involved, and I put it in my mouth and chewed.
They then told me the words "fish" and put their hands together in a motion that clearly demonstrated the flattening of an object by heavy machinery. And it was pretty good.
***
The Korean dancers are incredible students. They pay attention, they ask good questions, and they pick up things very quickly. They were a joy to work with. On the flip side, they were also a joy to eat chicken and drink beer with. Thanks for a great time, Korea.