brief dance camp report

In a word, lovely. I'm so glad I went.

The camp is a Y camp in the summer, rented out in the off-season to all manner of groups. This particular site has been kept in an extremely natural condition, with paths and trails through the woods, interrupted occasionally by a building or small cluster of buildings. The cabins I usually stay in are arranged around a little grassy "town common" area. And the whole camp wraps part way around a barely-inhabited lake.

It rained and was cold nearly the entire time. I brought my Muck boots, a giant umbrella, and lots of warm bedding. There are heated cabins, but the one I stayed in is not heated. I was fine -- toasty, warm, and dry inside the cabin, despite the lack of a heated human next to me. (I did have cabin mates, gracious and kind people, who slept on the opposite side of the cabin from me.)

The dancing was lovely. As a group, our dancing has improved over the last two decades. (In fact, a first-time camper mentioned how impressed he was with the high level of dancing.) We had one English caller, whom I've been dancing to since he started calling. He's gotten wonderful -- gentle, kind, forgiving. One of our contra callers was terrific. His wife, also a caller, is very good, but kept screwing up. (oh, I forgot to tell you.... and then she'd tell us the one thing that would have made the dance work.) When she was on, though, she did a great job and was funny and a good instructor.

Our musicians were sublime. The pianist is a total cutup and he put together one collection of tunes based on old television programs (mr. ed, mickey mouse, the addams family, and so on). We were all dancing and snapping our fingers at the appropriate moments, and laughing and singing. The flutist also plays the sax, which sounded terrific.

And the dancers -- many of us came from New England and New York. There was a guy from Germany who'd just been to a big dance festival the previous weekend. Someone came from England, someone else from Florida, another person from Cleveland, and two guys came from San Francisco. In the last few years, San Francisco has developed a gender role-free dance community and they just had their first (wildly successful) dance camp a month ago.

Oh, and a number of newer dancers came from our home dance, including three trans-men who cross-dressed as women at our costume dance. Now, *that* shows security in one's own gender identity.

I had three dances with one of my favorite partners -- ok, so I'm a selfish pig, but it was sooo much fun. You're really supposed to switch around. There were people I never got to dance with, but I have few regrets. I did dance with a lot of people -- old friends, complete strangers, newbies, people more experienced than I am. The newbies are all coming along beautifully.

The food was not sublime, alas, but the company at meals was. I spent a lot of time this weekend talking to someone of whom I've always been fond, but I think we got a little closer at camp, which makes me happy. And I missed some dancing to talk to an old friend I hadn't seen for a while, and who's moving to Maine within the month.

I was so busy that I managed to visit the snack room just once, to hang out with people a little, before moving on to the next activity. I didn't even take the time to make a button (the crafts portion of our camp experience) so I just threw two pre-made button images into the button basket. Maybe next time.

And there was a special event, an afternoon "tea and social" that I just loved. Two men put it on. One put together a CD full of waltzes. You could waltz or sit on the sidelines and chat. The other man put together an actual tea, with scones (he baked 120 of them), whipped cream (no clotted was available), jams, three varieties of tea, cream OR soy milk, different varieties of sugar. It was so elegant, so delightful. I had thought I'd pop in, steal a scone, and dash off, but instead, I stayed and relaxed.

I'm also pleased to report that my old ankle injury did bother me a little at the start of camp. I self-medicated with a moderate amount of ibuprofen, but not a lot. By the end of camp, I was dancing without my brace and left camp in no pain whatsoever. All those exercises I do have been paying off. I'm quite happy.

I had a short drive home, less than an hour and a half, through back roads of Connecticut. My fourth load of laundry is just drying now, and I'm about to go off to work. I'm already looking forward to next fall's camp, which could be as fabulous as this one, if not more so. But for now, back to the real world.