swing baby swing!

paloma & thin man dancing, george gee pre-show set up on stage... :)

waaaaay back in 1997, the thin man and i met in san francisco at a swing dance class taught by paul overton & sharon ashe at the (now closed) metronome ballroom. it was the furthest thing from love at first sight. somedays, i can't even wrap my head around the fact that 14 years later, we've been happily married for 10 years (think elyse & steven keaton from family ties, save for the hippie part) and have two curious, thoughful and bright children.

although i've always been a dreamer of sorts, i've never been a good planner. back in the late 90s, when i danced seven nights a week, the future didn't come into focus. i think that paradigm shift happened when the thin man and i got married. it wasn't about "me" anymore... it was about "us".

pretty soon though, "we" stopped dancing altogether. economics, careers and general life detritus got in the way. we were sad about it, but we did notice that it was reality with a lot of couples we knew who were dancers. after paloma and porkchop arrived, i didn't think we'd ever dance again: cost of babysitter + price of admission + drinks (maybe dinner, maybe)... we just couldn't afford it... nowadays, i end up going out dancing without the thin man who stay home with the kids. i can't imagine not dancing regularly again, but obviously, i feel his absence when i'm out, doing something we did together pre marriage....

when we could bring the kids to events we would. more often than not, we would dance at home, in our living room, the kids watching and giggling at us. as soon as paloma could count to 8 and could keep a steady beat, we started to teach her some basic east coast swing. lately, her frame has improved and she's excited to learn more. porkchop also knows how to count to 8 now and is very good at keeping a steady beat and even a little syncopation. both of our children have grown to love jazz/swing music and lindyhop. They've even come to recognize some music from their favorite animated films as music "you can lindy hop to".

recently, the thin man and i indulged ourselves, got a babysitter and planned to go dancing. before we could make a painless escape, our children pleaded with us, "why can't we go too?" it was a good/fair question and i posed it to my friend @nuprinz, who also runs a weekly swing dance event and she'd already been thinking about it too. great minds! ;) after a little research, we found other families who were also interested in attending a family friendly event.

so, if you're a lindyhopping parent in the chicagoland area, i formally invite you to:

Swing Baby Swing!
Sunday, March 20th, 4-7 p.m.
Upstairs at Fizz
3220 N Lincoln Ave
$5 adults, kids free!