Dance, Dance De-evolution

We went to an SCA event Saturday. It's called Saltare and it's a collegium for all things dancin' in our time period. Mostly renaissance era European and Middle-Eastern belly dancing. I don't dance much (if at all) myself, but it was nice to see everyone that showed up. Even met some nice folks that were new. Listening to the Middle Eastern drumming reminded me of when I was sorta into that waaaay back when I first started in the SCA. We had a group in Atlantia that could drum up a storm. Kind of lost interest in it when I moved to Meridies, but I still remember sitting around a campfire late into the night and bringing forth a sound that throbbed and rolled like constant thunder. The rhythms were powerful and full of an energy unlike anything else in the world. Like the mythical Force of Star Wars fame, it penetrated us and bound us together with each other, the dancers, the fire, the trees, the earth and the stars. I never really got very good at drumming and I'm content to not be involved in it now, but those were good times to be sure.

The European dancing was ok. Fun to watch, at least. You tend to have a mix of a few really, really dedicated dancers who are very good and a lot of new or occasional dancers who... well, aren't. As you can imagine, this leads to some very interesting interactions on the dance floor. The term "train wreck" sometimes applies quite nicely. But other times they actually manage to pull off some pretty good moves.

Mostly we just went there to socialize, which we did. It pays to keep up with what's going on around the Kingdom. Information can be more precious than gold and jewels in the right hands. That's just an added bonus, though. The real prize is friendship and camaraderie. You can never have too much of those.