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I'm in Waterloo at the moment, and next available to work in September 2008.

The Internet Makes the World Smaller

October 23rd, 2006

When I changed my banner image for the fall, it was more an act of defiance than as some sort of genuine reflection of the reality outside. We’ve now had several dustings of snow, and there was the small issue of my bicycle brakes being encased in ice, fused to the wheel.

Anyhow, I ran into Matthias Wandel at Swing Club this afternoon—he’s a UW grad, and has a number of really neat project writeups on his site. It was just funny that I was half-heartedly studying some circuits in the studio, and when I asked him about an op-amp question, his response was more about what a useless circuit it was, than what exactly the filter behaviour would be.

In other news, I seem to be getting the hang of Tango a bit more. It’s a far simpler dance than Lindy, and certainly less flexible, but fun enough in its high-heeled, strutting sort of way. Like any of the more intimate dances, it’s more about the subtle communication between partners than big showy spins and tricks.

← Earlier Later → Posted at 12:57 am to Asides, Dancing, Internet, Website.

Discussion

Doesn’t having more subtle communication make it a more challenging dance, i.e. more fun?

Posted at 10:24 pm on October 23rd by Christine.
Perhaps subtle was a poor word choice. Tango seems to have fewer established figures than the lindy-charleston family, so it’s more up to the leader to express the music and communicate that. Which lindy hoppers should do too, of course, but you can get away a lot longer with just using the music as a metronome and not responding much to it.

But there’s a lot more physical contact with which to pass that information. Tango seems to be done in as close an embrace as is comfortable, whereas even lindy’s “closed” position leaves each partner with their own space.

Anyhow, there’s the other issue; Lindy is safe and fun and challenging enough that people travel by the carload to other cities to do it with complete strangers. Even if we ever got to the really spectacular Tango stuff, I can’t really picture doing it on a regular social floor. (Compare that tango video with a swing clip like this one…)

Posted at 11:44 pm on October 23rd by Mike Purvis.

You can use Markdown for style. I love hearing from readers, but please don’t hijack the discussion, use offensive language, or try to sell anything.

The Internet Makes the World Smaller

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