All the Way Around

Just as Memphis was our gateway to the West, St. Louis was our gateway to the East. We snapped pictures of the famous arch just before crossing the Mississippi river on our way to Louisville, KY (pronounced Lou-ah-ville by the locals).

We met another college friend of mine, Raul, who lives in Louisville now, and he showed us around his neighborhood. “The locals call it ‘where the freaks live’,” he said. “I call it home.” He took us for falafel then accompanied us to the dance. On the way to the hall, a church near his apartment, he explained that though several seminaries were located in Louisville, he had met more atheists there than anywhere else.

The dance was held on Baxter Avenue at the Church of the Advent. I walked in first as Lisa was finding her dance shoes. When I explained to the woman at the door about our dance trip, she let me in for free. Lisa, however, had to pay when she finally arrived. “It’s the price of walking in late,” I joked, as she scowled at my good fortune.

A beginner’s session was coming to an end as we entered, and a young woman came over to us to make sure we’d danced before. As the last daylight left the hall, we saw that we’d be dancing in a fairly dark space. Most of the light came from Christmas lights on stage. Lit up over the musicians’ heads was a sign that read “Unforgettable” in winding and crooked script. I smiled in the early darkness at the fact that this was the first time I had been on Eastern time in almost two months.

The hall was large for the number of dancers present; we generally had one or two lines. Quilted curtains with eight-pointed stars hung over the windows on both sides of the room. The caller stood on a small platform while the band had the raised stage to itself. Small plants flanked the band on each side.

The sound was not very good, which was a shame considering how great the band was. They were locals, and comprised of a fiddler, guitarist, accordionist, and banjo player. Their music had an Appalachian feel to it that I hadn’t experienced since leaving the Southeast quite a while before.

The dancers were a diverse group. Many age groups were present and there was a variety in the levels of experience. I was not surprised to learn that the dance had been running for a long time. I experienced a sense of community and familiarity one finds at established dances.

The caller chose dances that were both fun and accessible. One was called Midwest Folklore, and featured a set of moves with your neighbor that were then repeated with your partner. One of my favorite things about the caller was that she ended each dance with a partner swing, no matter what went on in the rest of the dance.

It was a hot night; Lisa and I were further south than we had been since California. I had to sit out a few dances. I later learned that the hall is usually air conditioned, but it was on the fritz that week.

Near the end of the night, I sat next to a man who told me he had danced in Louisville for many years. “It’s smaller than it used to be,” he admitted, “but dances are like that. There’s an ebb and flow to everything, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see this dance grow in the coming years.”

Lisa and I noticed the return of the “left hand piles” we had seen in North Carolina, though they weren’t as prevalent. Gypsies were a particularly common move that night, and the darkness of the hall made them very effective.

Cookies and water were available on a table at the side, and many dancers commented on my “The Pen is Mightier than the Sword” shirt, two signs of a good dance.

-Louisville, KY

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 1st, 2007 at 10:23 am and is filed under 22 Kentucky. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.