Last year my good friend Nathan Dias' mother died of cancer. I badgered him to be a part of the team of dancers from SF going down to the 24-Hour Cancer Dance-a-thon, as a way to celebrate his mom's life, and luckily he relented, and we were off to the races, so to speak. It really was a sort of marathon, because we took off driving in the morning, got there just after the dance-a-thon started, and began dancing. And dancing, and taking lessons, and dancing, and just having a kick-ass-time. I think I made about 16 hours on the floor, with a brief nap, a shower, and several sessions of brushing teeth as a courtesy to my partners. Note to organizers: no garlic bread with the pasta next time. Just a thought. I know it was a good time for Nate too, even though he did all the driving (thanks Nate!).
Team "Hotbloods" from San Francisco was organized last year by the fiercely competitive and excellent dancer Christine Nguyen. The winning team for most money raised (team Eye of the Newt or something like that) was made up of good people, but not really dancing people. Needless to say Christine's response was, "Just wait until next year!" So, it's coming up on next year, and we wanted to host a community event that involved San Francisco swing dancers in a way that was fun and that was dance-focused. Hence we decided on a workshop and dance involving dance teachers from every local venue and then some! Woo-hoo!
This past June my uncle Bob died from lung cancer, so now it's my turn to celebrate his life. I told his wife what I was doing and she is psyched! I already know that he danced, because he and my father grew up in Brooklyn and they were both lindy-hoppers! Which I didn't even know until after I started dancing. Leave it to parents to hide the good stuff. Anyway, it was going to be a one-shot deal for me, but this cancer dancing thing is starting to have staying power in my life. Some people walk, some people, uh, do other stuff, but I prefer to dance.
If you're interested in joining us down in SoCal for the dance-a-thon, the more the merrier, but I hope you will at least make it out to the dance on August 15th, and if you're working on your dancing, no better place to get a taste of all that San Francisco has to offer than at the workshops happening during the day. Finally, if you're interested in volunteering at the fundraiser, email us at info@swingdanceforlife.com
Swing Dance for Life!
Regards,
Charlie
