Who's been to an iPod dance party ?
In the course of our Chicago stint in the second half of 2009—during which we wrote a lot about the gay- and smoker-hating old guy who hung out in front of the Old Navy, played music, taught swing dance to grad students and studied literary journalism—we had the misfortune of wandering in on one of these curious spectacles (and no, sadly, we don't have the pictures to prove it). College students—awkwardly grinding pelvises to unheard music, iPod headphones dangling from their ears—ducked and shuffled en masse but not in sync. It was terrifying.
This was nothing like that. When social dancers get together, it's almost a guarantee that they'll have some semblance of an idea of what they're doing. When dancers get married—well, let's just say that dance communities, while somewhat cliquey at times, are very social by nature, and their members like little better than a good dance party.
On Oct. 10, 2010 (10-10-10 if you were wondering) at 11:00 am (seems like a missed opportunity if you ask us), our friend Sara Marie Solbach—a former Santa Fe/Albuquerque dance instructor and national guardsman (guardswoman?) who recently returned from her second tour of duty in Iraq—and fellow dancer Andrew Peter Dalke were married at Hyde Park Lodge.
It was a perfect day for a wedding. The sun was out, and whatever autumn chill would settle in on Santa Fe the following day was undetectable in the mountain air.
That evening, following the reception, the new bride and groom threw a community dance party at Studio East, replete with swing , salsa , tango and ballroom musical offerings. Check out the montage below for some highlights.
