ATLX - Dance or Walk the Plank.

Me having not published anything in the past month has been directly reflective of my life. The past month has pretty much taken it all out of me - travling to three different cities, attending 2 Lindy Exchanges, and life getting in the way.

Work has been good, but my focus the past few weeks has been on dancing and dancing only. I've been going into work knowing that once I leave, the rest of my waking hours will be spent on dance prep. I served my second year on the Atlanta Lindy Exchange (ATLX) planning committee. From the day registration opened in December, until it closed in April, we were pushing hard for this to be the best and biggest ATLX ever. And it was. by a LOT. We had an amazing turnout of nearly 350 people with full weekend passes, and maxed out some of our venues where we just COULDN'T fit any more people. The surveys are out right now to get feedback, but I am actually excited to see what they say. From what I could tell, all the background work went well, and it was reflected in the exchange. People arrived and were checked in quickly, directions between events were clear, housing was announced early, 350 handmade bracelets were complete a week before the event. wow. I honestly had an awesome time planning the weekend as well as participating. I love getting to dance with all of the people from out of town, and I love the energy that comes with participating in an exchange. You are essentially dancing for about 25 hours in one weekend- each day until the sun rises the next day, but you still want more. Your body says no, but your heart says YES!!! You dance with awesome dancers from all over the country (and we even had a few international participants), and you get to meet the ladies from all over as well since there is much of a social aspect to these events.

Thursday evening kicked off the event with the ATLX pre-party at Atlanta Brewing Co. We currently hold dances there once a month, but this event was ours only. We filled the tasting room with some AWESOME dances, unlimited beer, and Jesse and Mike kept the music up and inspiring the whole time. When it was time to shut down and no one had left, I knew the weekend was going to be amazing.

Friday I had to work during the day, but Friday night main was at Agnes Scott. The hall is beautiful, and big enough to fit everyone. The band - the Usual Suspects - did a pretty good job. People were flooding in to register during this dance, and every time I looked at the door, there were more people coming. The weather did not cooperate, but of all the dances to rain during, I am glad it was this one. The late night was at Academy Ballroom, and the band was Chicago Joe. Although they are a good band, they may not have "meshed" well with some dancers, and we didn't have a side room for Blues that night, but it didn't keep people off the floor. The floor was packed.

Saturday was another story. I woke up, and with everyone in the house, as people were getting ready we had pancakes for some sustenance before starting the day. The afternoon we danced at the pavilion at Centennial Olympic Park, which is an awesome location -though the concrete (as in any outdoor dance) did a number on my knees. The weather held out, and the DJs kept us dancing hard for the whole time. The theme this year was pirates, and pirates made a strong showing in EVERY dance this weekend. from eyepatches to bandanas, the theme pulled strong all weekend long. I barely made it to the evening dance. This was the one thing I was rather upset about since I think the Bonaventure sextet did an AWESOME job. Dinner took longer than expected, and then i had to leave early to set up the late night dance, so I missed most of their sets. During this dance, Tiny Bunch had a performance we'd been working hard to showcase. It turned out awesome, and we were really happy with it. A ton of people took video, but thanks to Aramis's video and Heidi's video on my camera, There were two pretty decent quality videos, and my friend Antony clipped them together for one solid video performance :-) that day also happened to be the first time the whole group was together for a practice. Thanks to everyone for their patience as we learned the routine, and to the crowd for cheering us on as we performed. What an awesome high!

Saturday late night was Sean Costello at the American Legion Hall. He was a nationally renown blues artist, and we had people fighting via email and phone to get tickets for this event even though it was sold out. I had a chance to spend some time with Sean before the dance since Iw as there for setting up, and Sean mentioned he wasn't feeling 100% and had a sore throat, so he'd be throwing in a few more instrumental songs than normal. Either way, he kept everyone dancing, and there was a side blues room for those with other tastes. Note: Sean Costello, age 28, passed away on Tuesday after ATLX. No news as to the cause of death just yet. ATLX late night was his last performance. This is a terrible loss to not only his family and friends, but to the Blues and jazz community. What terrible news to find out.

Sunday was a lot more relaxed. The afternoon dance at Grant Park was chilly, but wonderful dance weather. My body hurt, but I couldn't stop my self from dancing. We ate at Eats for some filling dinner, and then went on to Knights of Columbus hall for some more dancing. I wasn't going to go to the late night, but I got convinced, so I went until 3 am. I would've stayed longer if I didn't have to work Monday.

SHOUT OUT to Alan and the entire ATLX planning committee for all their hard work. What an amazingly thrown party.

As a side note, I attended DCLX the weekend before ATLX, and had a lovely time even though the weather did not cooperate on Sunday. Unfortunately, the lead/follow ratio was pretty bad, and I think the event sufferred a little bit because of that. The bands were awesome though, and I got to hear the Boilermakers for the first time. The event had a huge turnout of probably 350-400 people. I stayed with Meghan and Terrace from Atlanta, and we stayed at my friend Adam's apartment. He was a great host for us for the weekend. I had a great time, but I must say I had more fun at ATLX (perhaps because it was OUR event, perhaps because there were more leads, or maybe it was actually more awesome, not sure)