The Dancing Scholar

Life is all about achieving that elusive balance. I'm in the thick of my summer class right now (I'm just taking one 6-week class - "Making America Modern 1870-1930") and have been able to spend most of my free time on the weekends dancing! It's super efficient because I get to combine exercise with social interaction :) It's hard to plan dance outings because I don't have a car, but that's probably good because I might go everyday if I did! More details and pics will be on my dance blog.

Last weekend, I organized a group to go swing dancing at Glen Echo Park. It was an open invite and I met a ton of new people thru my friends :)

There was a groovy live band and we all sweated buckets in the non-air conditioned ballroom.

This weekend, I got 3 glorious doses of dancing :D It started with a concert at the Kennedy Center called "Ballet Across America", in which 3 ballet companies gave a showcase performance. Allow me to play dance critic for a moment...
North Carolina Dance Theatre: beautiful jewel-toned costumes, cheerful crisp music, innovative choreography but glaring technical issues (i.e. lines, spacing, spins - probably because they do various kinds of dances and not just ballet), still generally very uplifting.
Ballet Austin: minimalist-style music in minor key, dark moody costumes and lighting, technically sound but dry and lacking soul.
Dance Theatre of Harlem: (this is what I specifically came to see) bursting in soul with graceful rhythmic choreography and score of Aretha Franklin & James Brown hits, glorification of black culture with exceptional technique :)

I left on a extreme dance high and was SO glad I was able to immediately expend my energy at The Salsa Room with Doug & Dallin.

On Saturday, with a combination of bravery and laziness, I decided to try not wearing eye liner or eye shadow on a very social day...after looking at my pictures, I don't think I'll be doing that again haha.

Britt picked me up to go to Heather's bridal shower. That girl was so vibrant with excitement for her upcoming wedding that it helped raise my hope for love :)

Later that day, Britt and I headed to Dante's all-purpose party (celebrating many things). Great food + fun people = good times :)

But we had to leave early to meet up with Matt and go to Chelsea's lesson at the monthly Langley ward swing dance.

I didn't expect many people because of all the outdoor summer parties going on at the same time but there were over 100 people! Sweated more buckets, met lots of new people, and danced til I dropped (not literally). In other words, it was a success :D

On Sunday evening, I attended Daniel and Elizabeth's first "Undistinguished Lecture Series". It was a lovely event with hor d'oeuvres, white blankets, a homemade podium, and classy people in their Sunday best :D Daniel wove together an interesting lecture relating scriptures about becoming little children (such as Matthew 18:3) and excerpts from The Little Prince to building eternal relationships. He talked about how we need to allow ourselves to be open and vulnerable in order to make lasting meaningful relationships. Apparently it's a topic Heavenly Father is tutoring me in lately because it's directly related to my recent blog post on "Vulnerability and Defiance".

Oh and I played croquet for the first time. If you ever feel the need to work on your patience, just play this game :D