I-5 Traffic at WDC

Dances:  All but merengue, salsa, hustle, polka, and samba.
Part:  Lead
Happy Hour:  Palomino's - Sicilian Meatball Flatbread & Potatoes Gorgonzola


Well it's Sunday night so that means I was off to Washington Dance Club for some social dancing.  Sarah and I decided to show up about a hour early to get warmed up and practice for a bit.  Nothing too special there except for when I accidentally put us in promenade position facing the ceiling.  That's what happens when neither of you decide to turn your head the right way in the Fishtail in quickstep.

As the dance got underway, Sarah and I started running through our routines.  Ever since I started this whole competition thing, I made WDC the test bed for my routines.  It gives me a good chance to run through them with actual traffic.  Only problem is, the traffic there is completely unpredictable.  You get everything from couples dancing off beat, couples just standing in the middle of the floor, to teachers doing a fleckerls in the line of dance (not the middle of the floor) with students who shouldn't even be dancing the Viennese waltz to begin with.  It's like I-5 traffic, but worse.  Now the cars are just doing whatever they want.  Of course there are couples there dancing just fine as well.  Now what they say about Asian drivers is quite true, and holds no exceptions on the ballroom floor.  Me being Asian, I'm definitely a maniac and quite creative in my navigational techniques.  Honestly, I consider myself a pretty damn good driver in a crowd.  However, the WDC crowd is definitely challenging.  What's even more interesting is that prior to competition training, I rarely had any accidents or fender-benders on the floor.  Now, it's a rare occurance when I get off the floor WITHOUT hitting anyone or at some point having to come to a complete and abrupt stop.  I think all this training has made me a better dancer but a worse floor-crafter.  Does that mean it's making me a worse Asian?

Though I have to say, things are getting a little easier now.  Today was fairly successful.  Only almost got my head punched off once.  Quickstep was a total disaster from a routine standpoint, but a success from a floorcraft perspective.  As usual, there were WAY more women than men, so naturally I got pimped out.  I feel so used.  Definitely damaged goods.