Feel like dancing?

Well, I'm back after a brief hiatus. It's been pretty busy around the ol'Kuniyuki house. This week on iheartfaces, the contest category is 'I wanna dance!' Seeing as how I met my wife dancing in Tucson, it would seem like I should have a bunch of dancing photos. Well I have a few.

This one is titled: Ghosts of Dances Past


The photo was taken when I was part of the thriving Austin Swing Dance scene. The venue is the American Legion in downtown Austin on a Wednesday night about a decade ago at a dance sponsored by Austin Lindy Hop. The lighting was never good so I had to use a fill flash.

The photo is raw and gritty because that was the scene at the time. It was real, filled with people inspired by the beauty of movement and the energy of music. Lindy Hop, Balboa, Shag, kick-ball-step, were words we innately understood along with tempo and musicality. When I took the photo I wanted to capture a memory and a moment, to somehow embody the organic movement and expressions of joy.

As you can tell we didn't often dress to impress. But we didn't have to. We would dance into the wee hours of the night and then go to an eatery (Denny's or local all night sandwich shop) to refuel before the next morning.

My brother and I would go down with a couple of our buddies, taking shifts at the wheel and managing some sleep between Killen and Austin.

Here is a short poem I wrote at the time when we would travel an hour each way, and dance up to five days a week, just for the sake of dancing...

O' Muse, where do you dance tonight?
Music abounds, 'tis weekend's start
Yet of you there is no sight

O' Muse, where do you dance tonight?
In the cavernous halls of my heart
Where rhythm stirs the night

The scene continues to thrive in Austin and around the US. Check out austinswingsyndicate.org if you're in Texas.

Some photo facts:
-That is talcum powder on the floor to reduce the friction and improve one's spin.
-The young girl on the left auditioned for "So you think you can dance"

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