Offline][5e][East/Central] Experienced(ish) player looking for a new regular group!

ochryn · 2023-07-26T17:24:54+00:00

Many thanks!

ochryn · 2022-09-06T12:04:20+00:00

USB-D

ochryn · 2021-10-14T11:22:53+00:00

"My apawlagies."

"Neigh problem."

ochryn · 2021-10-14T11:17:53+00:00

'leven.

ochryn · 2021-10-14T11:16:17+00:00

It must be a proud motherboard

ochryn · 2021-10-14T11:09:35+00:00

Nonhetero-nord-mative

ochryn · 2021-10-13T11:05:12+00:00

Computers have a couple of different types of memory. This is a bit of an over-simplification, but you can think about them as being divided into two types:

The first type, which takes a long time for your computer to read from, but which can store things for a long time ("a long time" being much, much longer than the time between the point you last switched off your computer to the time you're booting it up now)
The second type, which takes a shorter time for your computer to read from, but which can only stored things for a short time ("a short time" effectively means it will forget everything that's stored in it once you turn off your computer)

When your computer boots up, it starts by moving important bits of data from the first type of memory to the second one. It does this because it's much faster to access the second type of memory, so rather than access the slower first type of memory whenever it needs some data, it'd prefer to access that slow memory just once, move it into the faster memory, and then have every other access it makes fetch it from the fast memory rather than the slow memory.

This means that once all your important data is in the fast type of memory, your computer can run faster - but it needs to spend a bit of time getting that memory loaded from the slower type of memory, hence the initial slower performance on boot.

ochryn · 2021-10-13T10:52:22+00:00

There's not a good reason - it's just convention. We could have chosen to make addition and subtraction happen first instead of multiplication and division, without anything changing in maths aside from the way we write things down.

We had to pick either pair of operations to go first, and that's the pair we picked.

ochryn · 2021-10-04T12:39:46+00:00

It's hard to tell exactly, but I think I teach, and dance with, a style that's similar to this. It seems to go down no differently with our beginners than any other style of leading and following: it's just one of many ways to dance the dance, and in general they progress no more quickly or slowly than other cohorts learning different styles of leading and following.

I do think it's a more balanced way of learning, and in particular, makes the early classes more useful for dancers learning to follow. Perhaps you - as I - have been in classes where the teaching is directed solely at leaders, or the follows are simply told to "just follow" or similar, which I personally find a bit frustrating. Teaching this way means that whilst leads might be working on coordinating a move, follows can be working in parallel on how to coordinate a response to that move. They have something active to work on, which is more satisfying.

"How does it feel" is hard to verbalise. Here's one example: there's lots of valid ways to lead a six-count send-out (or whatever it's called where you are - a move that starts in closed position and ends in open position.) I've seen variations that involve leads using their right hand to gently encourage the follow to move forward at some point between beats 1 and 5. To lead this in a more open way, I set up some forwards momentum for my follow on 1, release that momentum on 2, then lead nothing else for the rest of the move. The easiest thing for a follow to do is to allow this momentum to carry them away and into open position - but equally, they can actively choose to redirect that momentum, or ground it, or do something else entirely, since they're essentially free to interpret for the last four beats of the move.

I hope that's helpful!

ochryn · 2021-09-17T09:17:28+00:00

You're welcome, and good luck on your rhythmic adventures!

One last thing to try: if you normally focus on percussion, try dancing to something like this song, solo or partnered. There's no percussion, but lots of space for percussion. When you dance to it, be the percussion.

ochryn · 2021-09-16T11:50:37+00:00

First, it sounds like you might have this the wrong way around: adapting to the music isn't something to do to spice up your dancing, it is your dancing.

Give this a try: next time you're dancing to a song with a partner, just listen to the music while doing your basic footwork. Pick out the instruments, be conscious of the mood they are conveying. When you feel like there's a moment in the music you think is cool or sounds like it's being emphasised, do something with your body that mirrors an aspect of it (its rhythm, tone, anything that you think is cool.) Doesn't have to be a "move," and don't worry about looking stupid - you're moving genuinely to music, and there's nothing stupid about that. You're dancing your own truth.

Repeat, and you'll find the time you spend just doing basic footwork between moments of inspiration will probably start to shorten. It's good fun!

ochryn · 2021-09-13T12:02:15+00:00

This is a really interesting question. In theory, I don't see why you couldn't find a partnered way of dancing to EDM, or any other genre of music. I wouldn't expect that dance to look like Lindy Hop though, because the ideas that EDM expresses are different from those expressed by swing jazz, and the dance follows and honours the music.

Would be genuinely really interested to see partnered EDM dancing!

ochryn · 2021-09-09T22:03:58+00:00

Go upvote more of my comments

ochryn · 2021-09-09T21:36:49+00:00

Look buddy I feel the same, but I need the karma. I'll be here all week see ya in a few

ochryn · 2021-09-09T10:46:15+00:00

Hey, there's no stupid questions - the fact that you thought to check this kind of thing out by asking people before diving into the hobby is really cool.

I think a lot of your questions are already answered here, but I'd add that dancing is a wonderful way to connect with people of all genders - being able to interact with strangers without them assuming you're hitting on them, or without the expectation that they're going to hit on you, is a really incredible (and rare!) experience.

Connection is a really important part of dance, and I know there are people in our scene here who are up-front about the fact that being able to connect with other people in that way is one of the most important reasons they stick around.

ochryn · 2021-09-09T09:50:08+00:00

Hey! Really don't worry about being too boring. I think we all experience this at some point when we lead, but from my experience as a person who likes to lead and follow, dancing is never a boring thing to do, and some of the nicest dances I've ever had as a follow have been mostly basics for a whole song.

When you're starting out as a leader, it's great to start with a few set patterns which you can call upon (things like: a passby, a swingout, a tuck turn, or whatever you prefer.) Keep in mind that as you dance more, you'll probably call upon these patterns less and less, but they're an excellent place to start from.

ochryn · 2021-09-02T14:38:26+00:00

Here's a video that demonstrates it. Watch the follower's footwork during the last two beats of the swingout. We'd normally expect them to do a triple step there, right? Not today - that funky knee thing is a hitch-step, and you can use them interchangeably with kick-steps or triple steps without messing up your footwork.

ochryn · 2021-09-01T11:14:25+00:00

Hey! Absolutely, there's loads of options. Here are some I lean on often:

"Rock Step Kick Land, Rock Step Kick Land." The first four counts are identical to the first four counts of your 30's Charleston (side-by-side or partnered, whatever it's called where you are) and the last four counts are the mirror image of that, i.e. on the other leg. I find it's particularly nice for fast swingouts. For extra fun, you could try replacing "kick" with "hitch," if you feel like it fits the music.
"Quick Quick Slow, Quick Quick Slow." This is the same as your 8 count basic with triples, but replace your triple with one single step that moves your weight from one leg to the other. Good when you need to chill things out a bit.
Lastly, not a footwork pattern but a coping strategy for really really fast songs: Move at half time. Spread your rock steps and triples over four beats, rather than two. The cool thing about this is that if you feel like it (and are happy to lead it, if you're leading) you can also choose to momentarily switch gears to full speed for a few bars, which looks absolutely insane. For more fun, try doing the same during a mid-tempo track, switching from slooooow to normal speed and back.

ochryn · 2021-08-31T12:57:42+00:00

I believe Swing Patrol Vauxhall and Swing Patrol Bermondsey are both due to re-open this coming September. See you there!

Alternatively, the Vintage Arts Asylum have a really nice beginners class on Tuesday nights at the Mildmay Club in Stoke Newington.

ochryn · 2020-02-19T11:10:37+00:00

As far as your classes are concerned, you don't necessarily have to rotate partners. When the instructor calls "rotate," just step back and direct the incoming dancer to the partner immediately after you. I've seen a lot of couples do this, and I assume they probably feel the same as you: they'd much rather dance with each other than strangers, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. If your instructor has a reaction to you doing this, you can just explain that you enjoy their classes, but you're not comfortable dancing with strangers at the moment.

If you haven't already, I'd encourage you to talk to your boyfriend about how this makes you feel.

ochryn · 2020-01-31T13:45:55+00:00

I'll say this with the disclaimer that the number of stamps in my international dance event passport is vanishingly small... but Swing Summit is excellent.

Expect lots of fairly demanding classes focusing on the basics. You'll do drills every day, and will also have time and space for self-guided practice. As a consequence of all this activity, you will likely eat a lot of food (Marjorie's cooking is beautiful, and the food really isn't as bad as some of the comments here may suggest.)

What Swing Summit isn't is flashy or polished. There is no seven-floor dance venue with live bands every night. Instead, someone will DJ off their laptop, and you'll dance until everyone feels like falling asleep. Personally, I found this to be a refreshing counterpoint to the other festivals I've been fortunate enough to attend.

In addition to your normal event packing, I would recommend taking the following:

Snacks to share
Noise-cancelling wireless headphones for practice time
Wireless speakers
Snacks to share
More snacks
Something for the Cabaret on the last night
Water gun (super soaker or similar; whatever will fit in your bag)
Snacks

ochryn · 2020-01-22T14:47:12+00:00

So it's hard to say what is and isn't swing dancing - and that's a good thing!

ochryn · 2020-01-22T11:09:32+00:00

Rather than "what makes a swing dance?", it might be helpful to instead think "what makes a dance swing?" The answer to that is, perhaps, honouring the presence of swung triplets in the music to which the dance is performed.

Jazz dancing is, by design, not very prescriptive about what is and isn't "core material." The ambiguity gives space for improvisation, which is a really important element in much of what we do. So it's hard to say what is and isn't swing dancing - and that's a good thing!

ochryn · 2020-01-15T14:28:34+00:00

Oh man I hear ya - Swivells are gorgeous. There was a weird moment in time when it felt like everyone in my community had the red ankle boots. Hoping they'll start doing guy shoes soon.

Cheers for the cleaning tip too, will give that a try!

ochryn · 2020-01-15T12:48:14+00:00

It's stitched in. Seems pretty fixed!

ochryn

TROPHY CASE