Observations from a partial experience of the Seattle Lindy Exchange:

I marvel at the people who attend all of the dances. These people dance Friday night, early Saturday morning, Saturday night, early Sunday morning, Sunday afternoon, Sunday night, and, lastly, finally, early Sunday morning. People ask me why I decline to attend the late night dances (which people consistently say are incredibly fun—I don’t doubt it). My stock response is, “There are times when I am not permitted to sleep, so I sleep whenever I can.” A few of the computer programmers have nodded sagely, commenting, “I work with computers. Computers don’t care if I haven’t slept all night. People do.”

The leads from Portland, Oregon, are wonderful. Not only are they fun dancers—good form, fantastic attitude, lots of smiling—but they also say gracious things like

• “Thank you for dancing with me! Seattle dancers ROCK!”
• “Wow—that dance with you was worth the wait. Thank you.”
• “Your name is…? Maria? You mean you’re the Maria from Seattle? Wow!”

Okay, some of them apparently can be really hammy, too.

I support outdoor dancing. The city permitted us to dance in downtown Seattle this afternoon; it was a glorious afternoon: Only a smattering of white clouds in the bright blue sky (with a few residual streaks from the exhaust of the Blue Angels), temperatures in the mid-70s, and a refreshing cool breeze. The spectators actually have little to do with it—though tourists and local shoppers alike stopped to watch strangers swing dance—it’s simply delightful to be doing something as fabulous as dancing outside. The constant movement of air (and associated higher rate of evaporation of sweat) also creates an uncommon dancing experience (along with the squinting into the sun).

I will concede, though, that dancing on concrete and granite is hard on the knees.

People beam with joy while lindy hopping. This does not hold true for all dances. People don’t seem to smile much while dancing the tango or the waltz. Current club dancing facilitates smiling, but the dancers are frequently intoxicated (on alcohol, lust, whatever). Lindy hop is not a serious dance and when people are into it, they look like they are enjoying themselves thoroughly.

During the last hour of the dance this afternoon, I tucked myself into a shady corner and watched dancers move around the concrete plaza. Although I generally prefer dancing over watching dancing, sometimes I need to see what it is I am doing to remind myself just how magically fun this dance is.

Lindy hop is lovely. And I still don’t think I’m “sitting down” enough while I dance.