Hyperreal

Was up in Dundee at the weekend. Had a really fab time.

I was up to see a friend and go to the Saturday night party and Sunday tea dance of the Kirriemuir weekend.

Kirriemuir isn’t far from Dundee, though it’s on slow roads, so it’s about 30-40 minutes away by car…

This last weekend there was a set of “focus” workshops, and parties. And based on the music I knew we’d get, plus the dancers I knew would be there, I wanted to be there.

So when I was offered a lift there and a bed for the night in Dundee, I couldn’t say no.

Let’s talk about the parties, and I’ll talk a bit about Dundee in a moment…

We got to the Saturday night party at about 9.30. There was no big rush to get there, as we’d heard there was no fixed time for the party to finish. I was surprised that we’d arrived just in time for a quick blues class – a few simple moves. Then straight on into the freestyle for the rest of the night…

During my first dance I was told I would be in high demand all night – I thought this was a simple compliment until it was pointed out that there were a fair number more women than men somehow. (The weekend’s workshops were gender balanced, so some of the guys were hiding or more women turned up for the party.)

The venue was a hotel ballroom, not especially large, but in mostly good condition – in fact a bit fast for some people’s tastes… I thought the bar was a bit intrusive into the room – this is one place where you could easily order and pay for your drinks from the dance-floor while dancing. The only other point of consideration was that room was fairly warm, but not insufferably so. (Bottom-line: I quite liked it. )

The heat wasn’t so surprising considering there were lots of people there. Probably more people turned up for the night than had been anticipated, meaning the floor was quite tight for a while.

There were folks from all over Scotland, both staying and visiting. We even had a couple of English folks up for the day (though they had only travelled from somewhere else in Scotland) and a couple of Australian visitors. It was good to meet them, or in some cases, see them again. The Australian girls were both really great dancers – they must be doing something right over there!

I was dancing lots – I was always getting asked back up as soon as I’d sat down for a rest. Good for my ego, sure, but not so good for my poor legs. That said, my dodgy knee wasn’t quite as bad as I suspected it might be – still hurt a bit, but not as much as I’d feared it would.

Although by 1am the numbers had fallen to a more comfortable level for the floor, and the music had mellowed, I was still getting tired. I was still in high demand when I just wanted to sleep…

We left at about 3am, danced and chilled out.

Yeah, so I didn’t really talk about the music… Well it was all pretty good… It’d be one awesome DJ to please me for almost 6 hours, and please everyone else, but we had two good DJs who very nearly managed it… Respect!

Skipping forward to the tea-dance on Sunday…

This was tragically short! Only two and a half hours! And we missed the first half hour or so (I think.)

Again, some lovely chilled music – Sheena at her usual best. Lots of good dancers too, but lots of room to dance… Again though, I found I couldn’t take a moment to chill out before being dragged up onto the dance floor.

I really do appreciate being asked to dance by pretty much everybody. But especially on afternoons like that when I am tired from the start, I guess I’m going to have to put people off more and allow myself more time to rest.

Eventually I had to go hide out in the garden just to get a moment or two to recover. Though it was such a lovely day out…

For those that are interested, despite my tiredness, my poorly knee was fine all afternoon. Wish I understood how this works…

Think that’s all I need to say about the the dancing. I really liked the venue, despite it being in the middle of nowhere. I’d like to do the full weekend sometime and take a look at a bit of the countryside…

On the drives up and down on Sunday, because it was a gorgeous day, the autumn colours of the scene around us was simply stunning.

We had some interesting incidents while driving, both on the Saturday night/Sunday morning and the Sunday afternoon, of various squirrels and other rodent-type creatures going suicidal on us. Hope we missed them, though I fear we didn’t. In revenge the squirrels were out chucking conkers at us as we drove by…

I was staying the weekend with a dancer friend from Dundee whom I’ve got to know mainly through the Stirling tea dances and more recently through the forum. The social aspect of the dance world is certainly rewarding, and I had a great weekend with my lovely hostess. She showed me around a bit of Dundee and proved to me that the city does actually have a bit of character and soul.

I must thank her for her kindness and hospitality.

Unfortunately demands on time meant I didn’t get to socialise as much with the other people around after the dance on Sunday, but I hope I’ll have a better opportunity next weekend when the next Dundee party, focus workshop and tea dance is on.

I had a great weekend and I can’t wait to repeat it.

Thanks to everyone who make it so!