Swing Dancing and Library Security

Last night I went to a swing dancing club on Oxford St. in central London. It may seem odd to be doing something that has been described as a "quintessentially american dance form" on this side of the pond, but this is the age of global culture after all, and further, the size and enthusiasm of the crowd suggested that it has a pretty strong following over here. It was actually a little too crowded and warm (it has been really balmy the past couple days), but it was a lot of fun nevertheless. It's been a couple weeks since I've been dancing, and it took my a coulple songs to get my 8-count back where I would like it, but I got back into the, ahem, swing of things pretty quickly. If course, the styly was a little different from what I was used to; nobody seemed to be doing swivels, and at one point the Shim Sham music came on and people just kept dancing to it--nobody started doing the line dance, which would never have happened in the New York scene. I wanted to do it anyway, but I am afraid I learned it too recently, and without another member of CU Swing to follow, I couldn't remember the order, alas.

The best part about the night was the music, which was live. The band was called Laura B. and the Moonlighters, and it was the first big band I've danced to that has been fronted by women. And, boy, did she front it with style. She was dressed like Heady Lamarr, or some other silver sceen diva of equivalent Glamour, with glittering jewels, and slinky black gown, and long gloves. Sadly, I could not take her picture in the club, but the front page of the band's website gives some idea of how she looked (http://www.laurabandthemoonlighters.co.uk/)

I did not stay that late at the club, since I needed to get up early this morning and start my proper work at the British Libary. I feel as if the libraries I have visited this trip have been gradually increasing in importance and levels of security from the library at the university of Brimingham, to the Bodleian, to this one. Doing research there feels a little bit like going to work for the Feds. I come in, leave my bag in a locker room with a crowd of other people all doing the same thing, put my computer and notes in a clear plastic bag, and go up to the floor where my books that I ordered on line have been pulled out of the archive and reserved for me. When I enter the reading room I have to present my reader's pass, and when I leave I have to open my laptop to show that I am not trying to smuggle anything out in it. It's intense. Unfortunately, I am not finding anything here that is as important-seeming as the letters that I was reading at Oxford or Birmingham, but it is still useful and I have another few days to poke around.