nothings better than boogie woogie!

the 28th of june marked our first day at Herrang Dance Camp. getting there was uneventful (thankfully) and it only took about an hour and a half from stockholm to the VERY tiny town of herrang. and when i say tiny i mean tiny.. like one shop no atms tiny. we arrived at around 12 and had to wait around a bit before we could register for the camp. even at that early stage (it was day one week one of the 4 week camp) you could feel the excited buzz of all the dancers who were anticipating the weeks to come. we checked in without a hitch and went to find our room. the actual camp is help at a school, during the summer break. this meant we had a choice to stay in the school house or the gym. we chose the school house because it had the least beds, but even then it was still about 20 bunk beds per room.... we managed to get a good spot and i made a fort around the bottom bunk with the doonas so there was some level of privacy when getting changed etc.. normally in that situation you'd go to the toilets to change, but there was only two toilets per about 100 people, so the lines were very big!

the camp itself was quite spread out, with lots of nice places to sit and heaps of places to dance. they had set up giant pavillion tents with proper dance floors and named them the 'savoy ballroom' and 'roseland ballroom' etc. throughout the week we had three classes a day, with many international teachers. the ironic thing was that the best teachers in the whole camp according to almost everyone was shane and ruth, who are teachers in perth!! we've never had them teach us before, but we'll definately be going to their classes when we get home. we were very excited when we saw them, because we hadnt seen a familiar face for quite a while, so it was nice to see some friends from back home. every night there was a crazy meeting at 9 and then we would dance from 10 till about 3 in the morning. and 3 was going to bed early... some people danced right through till about 9 the next morning and then went to classes at 10! there was a few special guests, which were three of the Hampton sisters, who were the original dancers at the actual Savoy Ballroom. Dawn Hampton is 80, but she can dance like there's no tomorrow! she taught a really awesome class.

there is so much to write about the camp, but i feel like a zombie from lots of dancing and very little sleep, so i'll leave the rest of it to ange to tell you about.

so the first official event was the saturday night meeting. well... what can i say. it was more like a talk show on acid. lennard (the host, who fancied himself to be some kind of jay leno) interviewed teachers and got people up to tell "funny" jokes. there was a news segment every night and this involved people being interviewed about the weather or other random things. we sat there in shock for the first night, but got used to it after that. the classes were really good; we got a range of different styles and techniques which was awesome. 

each night there was a theme - monday there was a live band, tuesday was blues night (super dressed up) wednesday was rock and roll, thursday night was cabaret and friday night was party time: theme was public enemy number one (or gangster). blues night is always more dressed up because you dont sweat as much and then ruin your good clothes. 

the live bands were good but folkets hus was SO crowded and no one has any etiquette and apologises when they step on your foot or gouge your eye out. the crowd generally thins by three am, so its worth waiting up (or having a nap) to get some space on the dance floor. shane hosted the cabaret night and was hilarious; if you get aussie jokes. everyone laughed but not all of them got it. the party was fun. not fan - which is really rude in swedish. (and if you draw it out - fa-an its even ruder!) everyone got really into the gangster theme and they had fake bodies with stab wounds and a casino with fake american dollars. the dancing wasnt too bad either. 

we met some awesome people. it was weird to think that they were all there for the same reason we were. we made a couple of really good friends and it was sad to leave. we taught matthius from bavaria to say bloody oath (although he puts his hand over his heart when he says it!) and fair dinkum, so he is saying them at the end of every sentence!

so the dancing side of it was great, the social side of it was great, what about the personal hygiene, you ask? well...

ok, funny story. so we'd been dancing for hours on end and, naturally, we were desperate for a shower. so we asked where the showers were, and got all out gear together and flip-flopped our way over to a shed thing called the 'sauna house'. we opened the door, expecting ablution style showers, and were immediately faced with the very large, very bare, slightly hairy backside of one of the ladies at the camp. we were a little taken aback, but being the cool calm and very collected people we are, we brushed it aside, thinking it was like at the pools back home where some people change out of the showers. so we turned the corner and stopped in our tracks. it was like a giant orgy of naked shower people! there were two shower heads and about eight people - not just women- having a shower together, and then more naked people in the sauna. now i want you to know that we have tried all along this trip to embrace the different cultures, and the only reason we were SO shocked is that we really weren't expecting it. we hadn't thought of the whole 'swedish sauna' thing. so we stood there like deer caught in the headlights, and then backed out of the room slowly trying not to be noticed. needless to say we never did get to have a shower that night...

we're back in stockholm tonight and off to berlin tomorrow night. we're looking forward to getting back to germany for three reasons: its cheap; we know its awesome and want to do some serious exploring; its cheap.

auf wiedersehen!