The afternoon dance I recall because I ended up dancing on the stage with Andrew, because (again) it was so crazy crowded.

Of course we ended up missing all of the classes, all of the events pretty much, including the “great day in Lindy” photo, because we were too busy staying up late, waking up late, being lazy bums with a group of awesome people.

Next most important memory was trying to get to the actual main Basie dance with the band. Peter and I ended up getting on a train but GOING THE WRONG WAY, so we rode it all the way to the wrong end of the line before we figured it out. That was really annoying. But eventually we got to the dance and I got un-frustrated because it was such a big deal. I remember chatting with Amy Winn in the little lobby area. Going inside, I don’t think I’d ever been on a dance floor that packed before, and I probably never will be again. There had to be over 1,000 dancers there. I think someone said 1,200.

The Mama Lu Parks Dancers performance was amazing. I watched it from the balcony with Shawn Hershey. I couldn’t believe they were doing aerials! And then of course the Hellzapoppin contest was full of such great energy. It was fun to see the variety of people out there dancing their asses off.

Then, perhaps the all-time most memorable moment of the weekend happened after the main dance. We walked down to the subway station, still totally high from the dance, and someone said something to the effect of “I wish we were still dancing.” Then Martin Beally whips out these speakers right there in the subway stations and starts playing music from an iPod. It was the. best. lindy. bomb. ever.

Sunday was a blur. I remember Nicole singing with her band. What I do I know is that we shut the late night down. To the point that when we walked out at the end of it, there were men in business suits in taxis going to work in the bright, bright sunlight. I think someone said “I’m melting!” when we walked out the front door. So rough. But it was the best weekend ever.