There were two dance events in Tulsa last weekend. So I went. About 2 hour drive one way.
West Coast Swing (WCS) dance community at Tulsa was inviting Maria Bileychik from Dallas for workshops, party and private lessons for the weekend.
She is an active competitor in WCS dance circuit, and All Star Jack and Jill winner at the Wild Wild Westie 2024 (just 3 weeks ago).
[Their winning dance on YouTube]
[I was watching the contest at the WWW event. I thought the guy was trying to emphasize athleticism. I guess that worked well with judges.]
Her workshops were popular. At the party, she was social dancing with everybody, which was very nice.
I danced 3 songs with her. Such fun dances they were.
All WCS follows at all star and above level can move well and each has a good intuition, so never get caught awkward (unless the lead guy do really stupid things). In addition, each has developed her own character. Some are athletic, others are playful, infusing other dances, and so on.
Usually in partner dance, women are better dancers than men. Or, men can get away with it if he can at least be a solid lead, but competition is tougher for women. (I digress).
I thought her dance was a playful kind, with a lot of tricks she can use according to the song. An interpretative artist-type dancer? She would thrive in Jack and Jill situations.
The next day I stopped by Philbrook art museum, a private mansion of a rich family turned to a public museum on 1939.
They have eclectic mix of collections; contemporary arts, Egyptian artifacts, religious paintings, Wyeth family paintings, Southwestern Native American arts and pottery, Glassware and sculptures, etc etc.
I thought the museum might be small, but there was a lot to see.
I was particularly impressed by the "little shepherdess". When I walked in the room, the painting, especially her face, just popped out. I was spending for, like 30 minutes in front of the painting to figure out why the painting was so impressive to me (no answer yet).
I did not really prepare for the museum visit nor did research beforehand. But it was good to know later that the painting was a featured, famous piece of the museum. I was not alone to be impressed by the painting. The art (or NEN) was strong with it.
I had whole afternoon at the museum before I moved on to a coffee house where my Argentine Tango friends, Irina and Sergio, were teaching beginner class and hosting a milonga.
Irina and Sergio were stage tango dancers. I remember they were great. I had not seen them for quite a while (since 2016?), though.
It was nice to see them after all these years. They are still good dancers. Their dance looked good, and her dance felt good. Their kid (who was a baby) is now a young musician, playing tango for the party.
There were about 20 people from ballroom dance club, who were new to tango.
Tulsa tango community, too, shrank quite a bit during the covid time. They are hoping to build it back.
Building dance community, and having good dance skills and enjoying the dance by our own, are two different businesses. They can go well together (ideally). I hope the ideal be achieved by them.
Nice mini vacation weekend for me.
