O Boy, O Balboa!

Remember when I posted a day or so ago and told you that I haven't been that inspired by Lindy Hop? Well, in the past day I've come across a few balboa videos, with the help of my friend Becca, that have got me ITCHING to dance.

This one makes me weak in the knees. I love how both Kelly and Bobby play with the music, especially around 1:00. Noises shot forth form my lips at that moment to express my awe.

I also really love this little ditty of Nelle Cherry and Nick Williams from Lindy Focus this year. Can I just say that I really love Nelle's enthusiasm for the dance? Watching her dance is like watching joy in motion, as her smile says it all. Somebody once made the criticism of saying she gives away her flaws in competitions because she laughs so easily at them. Well, maybe so, but dancing isn't always meant to be perfect, and when you can laugh at and enjoy even your flaws in a dance, even more so in a competition, that speaks of only good things. Anyways, check out the video:

I really want to dance now.

Social Dancing Clips

One afternoon I was talking with a friend about dancing and the topic of watching YouTube clips came up. He said that he would watch clips of routines, but he didn't like the idea of watching clips of social dancing. If I understood him right, he didn't like watching them because he thought it took away from your own personal dancing...that in watching social dancing clips, part of the art of dancing is lost. Or that that dance was supposed to happen in that moment and watching a clip of it will never do that moment justice.

I think I feel the opposite, that in watching social dancing clips, it's like dancing at the Savoy and learning new moves from other dancers for your own social dancing. Plus, one of the reasons I love being a follow in the social dance realm is the never really knowing what's coming next. By watching social dance clips, you get to see that excitement and spur of the moment playfulness in someone else's dancing. (Although I will agree that a watching a video of a social dance will never match the moment in which it actually happened.)

What do you think about watching social dance clips?

Here are some of my favorite social dancing clips:

Dax Hock and Sarah Breck:

Thomas Blacharz and Alice Mei: (I've already posted this one, but I really enjoy it)

Nick Williams and Sylvia Sykes (balboa):