The moose is on the loose!

The Knox ballroom moose, that is. I guess you kinda had to be there...

Anyway, the competition Saturday at U of I was strange and horrific and wonderful in various ways, much like last year. There are a number of things about which I could complain (east coast swing is NOT best danced to jive music, thank you very much!), and a number of other things about which I could rave (the dancing M.C.!), but I've neither the time nor the energy at this point, and it probably wouldn't be very interesting or coherent to anyone who wasn't there anyway.

Our team as a whole made a decent showing, especially for being a small team from a tiny school, which was nice. As for me personally, I led three dances and followed in five others, so I felt comfortably occupied throughout the day. I'm sure my leading of the foxtrot was abominable, and I felt kind of bad for Katie, the dear, whose following skills I put to the test. I also was not the most brilliant leader in E.C. swing (advanced group, yikes!), but Jen is a doll and we both agreed that we were just out there to have fun, which we did. And honestly, even though we didn't place, I do feel like I did quite well for having very limited experience with swing leading, even successfully throwing in a move I'd picked up only moments before going on the floor.

Elisa and I made finals in beginner E.C. swing (she led), in group A (the "good" group, to put it quite bluntly and not very accurately), and ended up taking 5th, which made me very happy. Even more exciting, Chrissy and I made finals in cha-cha (with me leading!) and took 6th, which was pretty much the best thing ever. Don even complimented us on our cha-cha-ing, which pleased me greatly, because I often don't feel like I do much that's particularly compliment-worthy in ballroom, and I also feel like Don doesn't generally give undeserved compliments.

And I can't forget to mention that we had Greek food for lunch and Indian for dinner. And don't forget the Moonstruck Café. These are, of course, the important parts of any ballroom competition.