With the lure of Brazilian electronica, I finally made it down to Summerdance. I mean, I like Brazilian and electronica, so this sounded perfect. And it fell on the same night as the salsa competition my friend made me promise to see. So I packed my dance shoes and camera, and dragged Kallisti downtown with me.
Fortified with cheeseburgers from Lion's Head, we braced the train to Grant Park. I loved it. The music was good; there was a diverse crowd; and everyone was there to party. This feeling was only intensified when I actually grooved onto the floor. The DJ provided the beats from his laptop, accompanied by a female vocalist, brass player, sax and miscellaneous percussion. With such rhythmic music, everyone could get into it (except Kallisti who at best seemed amused). There was one guy in a tropical shirt who impressively couldn't find ANY rhythm, and another guy who really wanted to be able to do capoeira. The group was misguided into a couple of bad line dances by a very exuberant guy in a green shirt who could throw girls in the air (and you know I wished I was one of them).
During the break, Kallisti and I walked to Buckingham Fountain, which they light up at night. Despite the tourists, it was a really pretty scene. The music choice was a little odd, and there was a comical moment as we dodged the huge spray being blown in our direction. Because it was both cool (60s) and damn breezy, especially so close to the Lake.
After a little more dancing to warm up, we headed uptown to Excalibur for the salsa event. OK. Excalibur is this castle-looking club that is a tourist magnet. But Latin night wasn't too bad. They had 2 dance floors - 1 salsa, 1 everything else (including some crappy merengue). I danced a couple of times trying hard not to smack someone in the head or get too dizzy. Which was extra fun after a strong malibu-coke. We watched the competition from above, and I went right into my nitpicky/catty mode. Awesome!
We headed out just in time to miss the 22, shivered for a while before giving up and cabbing it back to LP. I drove Kallisti home before falling asleep as I stretched. Ah.
Must dance more. Must also drink more coffee.
on iPod: "Wandering Star" - Portishead
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