Swing Free Rider...

And then there was dancing. I had never driven into the city (Philly) on a weekend night before - and was unprepaired for the long time to find parking - and then to actually find where the dancing was. It was on UPenn's campus - which I know close to nothing about. There was some large event going on, so swarms of students were out and about - drunk.

I finally found the dance, found a corner to hide my stuff in, and found the guy who invited me to be there. He needs a name... this new guy - 'cause its possible there will be more talk of him. He interviewed me for a job a few weeks ago... at a political related organization (and yes - its leftist)... he's cute, he dances relatively well (not a hardcore lindy hopper, but a good lead for sure)... I'm interested... but he's of course not Mormon. We'll call him Boss Man. Yes, that's perfect. It's fits swing lingo, politics, and how I met him.

So Boss Man was a good dancer, and pointed out a few people I should dance with. I danced with a few more people who pointed out more people I should dance with. And thus the night continued. I sat down for only a few songs - so i could breathe - and had to turn down about two people per dance I sat out. Tiring - and more fun than I've had dancing in a looong time.

After dancing, "the regulars" go out to a local diner and eat. Boss Man invited me, another guy, who was friends with Boss Man invited me, and yet again, a third guy invited me. Success - when you dance well enough that you get invited to "hang out with the dancers" your first night in the new town. And hanging out was a great time too.

There was a group of people from church there as well - I said hello to them, but otherwise was too busy dancing with people who knew what they were doing. One tried to dance with me, but he was doing the country (wanna-be-a-swing-dancer) style where they have no rhythm, mave as fast as they can, and rip your arms out in the process. I stopped - because I'm unwilling to let a guy hurt me - and went back to dancing with real swing dancers. The church people now believe me... I told them I can dance! :)

But this interest in Boss Man brings up all sorts of complicated issues, which I'll probably write about in my next post.