Showing posts with label dance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dance. Show all posts

Sunday, October 21, 2012

A Night at Cliff Barnes

Cliff Barnes: a well-known character on the show Dallas and a not-so-well-known restaurant and bar in Stockholm. On Friday night, I organized some colleagues to check out the latter, namely the dancing on chairs that happens late in the evening.


Above was the view from my chair, that is, from standing on my chair. Standing on chairs - and sometimes even tables (although the list of rules/FAQs says this is a no-go) - is the norm at Cliff Barnes while singing to a variety of tunes between the hours of 11pm and 1am. The building, which resembles an old school, was actually a home for widows. What better place for a bar?

We started with drinks and moved on to dinner, selected from a particularly unusual menu with items such as grisotto (a combination of grits and risotto, I assume), American brisket, and porkchop with pig cracklings. I had red snapper with fried soft-shell crab, which was good, although a bit too fishy for my taste. Topped off with dessert: popcorn ice cream with brownie and fudge sauce. The ice cream tasted surprisingly like popcorn, although also like burnt vanilla. And the fudge sauce was far too little. 


At 11pm, the lights were dimmed, the long, red-velvet curtains were drawn, and the music was turned up - dance time! We chair-top danced to our hearts' content, and then some. 2 hours later, we stumbled out, feet aching and fun songs replaying in our heads. I think I fell asleep to Livin' on a Prayer. 

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Zumba Zumba

What could be better than starting the weekend bright and early with a Saturday morning zumba dance class? For me, the thought is a bit intimidating given my lack of co-ordination and rhythm (hence my frequent running). Maybe I'm being harsh on myself, but if you know me, you probably understand the extent to which I've never been good at dancing, no matter what type. Still, I am always up for experiencing new things, so I decided to test myself with the zumba challenge.

On Pointe dance studio, in the heart of downtown Annapolis on the corner of Maryland Avenue, opened its doors last March. It's run by a young, lively woman, who seems to be one of those people always laughing or smiling about something. She makes anyone who walks through the door of her cozy studio feel truly welcome.




My friend Jennie and I arrived early for the 9:30am class, and took our places in front of the wall-sized mirrors. As more dancers lined up, we were somehow scooted to the first row, not by choice, I can assure you. And being next to Jennie, who's practically a professional, didn't make me look any better.

The music started, immediately igniting the room with a contagious energy. The steps were fast, and I struggled to follow the teacher's lead. Feet, hips, arms in sychronized motion. I just didn't have it. Zumba is described as a dance "set to Latin rhythms" and incorporates the salsa and chacha. There's a lot of hip swaying and intricate foot tapping, nothing like the three years of plies and pirouettes I did so long ago in ballet class (I can still recall the day I quit ballet because I was too hot to put on the tights). As soon as I got the hang of a certain zumba step, we'd be moving on to the next, and so it went for an hour.




Despite my ungainly lumbering, which likely threw off the people behind me, I actually enjoyed myself. And was really sweating by the end. Maybe next time I'll actually be able to follow the steps. Or at least do a better job of making it look like I know what I'm doing.