Beantown 2004 Journal
We recently returned from spending over a week at Bryant College attending our first Beantown Camp! And it was awesome! The only complaint I have is that I got sick way too early in the camp. I wanted to write up a journal/report earlier but because of Camp Hollywood and the National Jitterbug Championships happening a few weeks after, we barely had time to exhale before running off again.

But now, with it all over with (Beantown was the first week of July, CH/NJC was the last week of July), here is our Beantown report/journal (to the best of my memory):

(By the way, Mithi from London has an awesome blog entry on Beantown 2004 and also some commentary on the London scene and Herrang! Great reading!

Check Out Mithi's Beantown 2004 Blog Entry Here !



Friday, July 2
We arrive ... on the redeye. The flight itself was not that comfortable as I sat between two fidgety people the whole way. Perhaps that's why after we arrived Friday morning I couldn't stay awake and ended up sleeping most of the time.

Friday night was the ALHC qualifier. We originally did not enter this contest. However, our friends Jason and Renee who had entered were not going to be able to compete (there was a puppy dog incident) so we decided to enter in his place. Turns out we had one of our best contests in a long time in improvised dancing and placed first! Next followed the Balboa contest which Jason and Jenny did well in but there were lots of tough competitors (Marty Klempner and Valerie Salstrom won). And we capped the night off with some great social dancing! Met lots of great dancers, and the atmosphere was fantastic .... so much that I really didn't want to stop dancing. Yup, I was mega-hyper ... (which can have its consequences).

Saturday, July 3
We have an early morning class in footwork and are pleasantly surprised by a more than full room! Jason says it's our "exhibition" last night that was the main advertisement. Our class was CROWDED! Unfortunately we didn't have any photos from it . The hanging out was awesome too. A bit humid, but lots of fun. I was already worn down and we had lots of contests left to go including the Strictly Lindy (we got first!), the Jack and Jill prelims (we both made finals), and the Showcase (we got first!), followed by tons more dancing. I really think the Showcase set the tone for the night as all the competitors (four couples) put on an amazing show for everyone. Lindy Showcase definitely has gotten better over the past few years at all the competitions around the country. And by this time I was in a social dancing groove and just wanted to dance all night. Rayned did a fabulous job DJ'ing during the contests and during the social dancing, to the point where I totally wore myself out and that's where the sickness started creeping in . But I danced with lots of great people. I really loved meeting all the Brits too (mostly danced with Mithi, Kavita, and Natalie). Oh! And Bryna from Boston ROCKS!!! Also, I really like dancing with the twins (Suzanne and Rachelle Gaudet) though I still am not sure if I can tell them apart yet.

Sunday, July 4
At this point I was about ready to collapse ... we taught a beginning/intermediate Lindy class which again was very well attended! (We were pleasantly surprised). Jason again commented that we advertised ourselves well which was nice. I did make it through the class okay but felt that at any moment I was going to just keel over. I still had the Jack and Jill to get through (and for those who know me well, they could see I wasn't feeling very well at all). I drew the very lovely and awesome Heather Ballew from Denver and just wished I had more to give her. Sheri had plenty to give and she and Marty were the treat of the Jack and Jill finals! And that was definitely one of the most fun Jack and Jill finals I've ever watched. Unfortunately, I really felt sick to my stomach. I still am a big competitor (as is Jason) and ended up staying up late playing cards and what-not. Jenny Kim said it was funny how I seemed normal whenever I was playing any games or sports but once I was finished I looked very pale all over again. Ah wel, such as the competitive spirit in me.

Monday, July 5th through Sunday, July 11th
The rest of the week was pretty much a blur to me. I took all the track classes (except one) and skipped out on the elective classes. I skipped out on a few nights of social dancing too. And I skipped out on all the late night parties simply because by this time I had caught a major MAJOR cold. I won't get into any gory details but it was bad. Of course I didn't help matters any by still forcing myself to go social dancing (because hey, I love it!) and also playing basketball, volleyball, and (thanks to Jason and Peter) JUNGLE SPEED and FRENCH RULES UNO (which went very late into the night). The hang-out time was definitely the best and the dancing and meeting everyone was fantastic!! Basketball against Peter Strom is definitely a hopeless predicament. He could probably play with one foot tied behind his back and still beat all of us. Dave Coloumb rocks at volleyball too by the way. Loved having the track classes (Blue Track!!!) but I was disappointed the fabulous Brits didn't get into our track.

Since the days pretty much seemed the same and ran together, I don't recall anything specifically happening on a specific day. Classes ,meals, social time, meal, social dancing. All throughout the week. There was a talent show on Friday night which was pretty good. I really LOVED the Beantown Cafe skits (full of groaner jokes that are just my style!). My next favorite skit was Ryan Francois and Richard Badu doing the "Shorty George" skit, followed by (yes I'm biased) the Beantown Bowling Championships , topped off by the awesome skit by Big Charles and Jennifer Coulombe as Ryan and Jenny. That was definitely a fun night.

The few things I remember are that 1) there were a few football camps going on at the same time. I gotta say a camp full of young boys (probably 3rd grade through 8th grade), and not just any boys, but football players, is definitely a camp to avoid being around. Ah well, we swing dancers showed them a thing or two. Also, Sheri and I lost weight because we actually ate better! Salad bar every day! I think I ended up having pizza (with lots of veggies from the salad bar thrown on ) just about every day, which is definitely healthier then what I usually eat at home.

Yup. I SERIOUSLY wish I weren't so sick . Roommate Natalie did a great job on trying to heal me and I seriously would have been if I weren't haveing so much fun. The atmosphere of the camp was just awesome, friendly, and awesome!

Also, watch your hands when you play any kind of card games against Peter Strom and Jason Christodoulou.

Umm... and Charles Nainan is the late party master!



And being married makes you less of a party girl, even if you go through the motions. Sheri (in theory, and I hear this second hand) partied harder then Jenny, but Jenny was the one that came out with the rep

So, without dragging the journal out much farther, I highly recommend Beantown! It had a great atmosphere, was lots of fun, and awesome for learning as well.. what more could you want from a camp?

(I didn't even mention the time where Erik Robison and I got to hold hands ...THAT was something )



Cheers!