About Me

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I live on the ocean, write women's fiction, love to read so much that it's an addiction rather than a hobby (I read an average of a book a day). I live on the wet west coast so it's a good thing that I like to walk in the rain.

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Dancing, dancing, dancing


You know I've just seen Mamma Mia! and I've just seen it again last night - enjoyed it just as much the second time. Here's a picture of me with the stars - I wanted to get closer to Pierce Brosnan but this was as close as I could get.


I wanted to talk to you about something I've found - a place to go dancing (with live music) on a Sunday afternoon. Who knew that such places still existed? It's so old-fashioned.

We discovered live music on Sunday afternoons completely by accident. We'd been for a walk in Stanley Park - around the Seawall and then through the trails, ending up at the rose garden, Lost Lagoon and out onto Denman Street. It was a hot day and by this time we were both hungry and thirsty.
The first place we came to that looked encouraging was the Dover Arms with a sign outside advertising inexpensive steak and eggs. We were hungry enough to eat a horse so steak and eggs seemed perfectly reasonable.

It's an interesting crowd at the Dover Arms - interesting in an entertaining way. Young, old, couples, groups of girls, groups of men, home-born and bred Canadians and immigrants from all over the world. Straight people and gay people. But the average age was probably closer to 50 than 30. Eating and drinking and people watching kept us entertained until 4:00 arrived and the Bobcats took the stage. Okay, it isn't really a stage, not even close to a stage - basically they stand in the corner - windows on one side, fireplace on the other.

The tables in front of the fireplace got moved and people began to dance. And when I say dance, I'm not kidding. They weren't shuffling around the floor, they were DANCING. Fast songs, slow songs, it didn't matter. People strutted their stuff and they had stuff to strut. And the band - the Bobcats - definitely knew their audience. They played songs everyone knew, not just the music but all the words as well. When they weren't dancing, they were singing along. Everyone sang along.

And when we joined the dancing crowd, they welcomed us with open arms. We've been back every Sunday since and now they know us there. Remember the song from Cheers? It really is nice to "go where everybody knows your name" and your dancing style and is more than happy to tell you - whether true or not - that you've got rhythm.

So that's what I've found this month - a place to enjoy exercise. A place to feel part of a community. A place where no one minds when I sing at the top of my lungs. A place where everybody knows - maybe not my name - but my dancing style.

I love it.

Kate

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi Kate,
I'm one of the BobCats and I'd like to thank you for your Dover observations. The Sunday thing there is truly great. We've been doing it for nearly 8 years now!! I hope you pass the good word around about it as we love to meet new people at the gig. If you want to call bobcatdawg@gmail.com
Danny