If you want to go out and cut up the dance floor to a huge variety of party tunes with a DJ that absolutely loves his job’this is the place to do it!
Be warned though: You will need to be brave and forge your own dance floor!
So it was another cold and wintery Friday night in Adelaide. The winds were howling and it was actually raining sideways. So any sane person would head straight home, remove their water soaked shoes and make plans to spend the whole weekend at home. Right?
Hell no! Not for QuickSteps members! After finishing work for the week it was straight to the studio for some salsa and rock ‘n roll classes, before heading to the Union Hotel for Generation Pop.
Initially it seemed as though it was going to be a quiet night (which means lots of space for dancing!). When the first QuickSteppers arrived just before 8pm there were a few regulars at the bar enjoying Friday night knock-offs. DJ Paul Curry had just started playing some tunes starting with a mix of soft RnB with some 50/60’s rock ‘n roll. It was a eclectic mix of Beach Boys, Justin Timberlake, Usher and so on.
There were plenty of QuickSteppers who had not yet arrived so most chatted whilst a few confident souls started the dancing.
The great thing about an almost empty floor is that you have lots of room and don’t have to worry too much about navigating around other dancers (we call this floorcraft). But this can be a little nerve-racking for new dancers. Luckily it wasn’t long before a few more reinforcements came. Strength in numbers!
As is often the case at these events, when QuickSteps arrives, we turn a lot of heads.
When you are the only people partner-dancing at the pub – people like to watch!
Most classes back at the studio were wrapping up by 8:30pm and with that another 30 or so QuickSteppers arrived! Other punters started to pour in to the room and it was obvious from their dance floor antics that there had been a few sav blancs with dinner!
The dance floor was now getting pretty tight, so as often happens, we decided to make another one! We now had room to cha cha with all the arm styling we could muster! By 9:30 DJ Curry had turned down the lights and the party was really getting going. We were grooving to Men at Work, Britney Spears, Cold Chisel, Footloose, Rihanna and more.
I stopped dancing to get a drink and have a quick rest when a lady approached me hesitantly. Her name was Lisa and she loved what she saw What is all of this?
I told her about the QuickSteps community and she took a business card. There are so many different people you wouldn’t expect them all dancing together, it’s great! she said.
This was the first of 5 or 6 people we had investigating to see what we were all about. I guess we are a pretty interesting bunch!
By 10:30pm the vibe had changed.
You could scan the dancefloor and see both rock ‘n rollers, salsa dancers and ‘sprinkler wielding’ freestylers sharing the dance floor with beaming smiles and sweaty brows.
Of course no party night is complete without a few singalongs and DJ Curry didn’t disappoint! The QuickSteps crew are much better dancers than singers, but for what we lack in vocal talent we make up for with enthusiasm. In the middle of a rendition of ‘I Will Survive’ I looked over and saw Dennis, Jim and Nick singing with their hands on their hearts. I remembered the conversation that I had with Dennis earlier that day. Jim wasn’t going to come out tonight but I convinced him. Well Dennis, I bet he’s glad you did! 🙂
It was nearing midnight and the QS teachers were tired from a jam-packed day of teaching. We said our goodbyes, gave our hugs and left the rest of the crew dancing up a storm into the wee hours.
The next morning at the studio there were lots of tired dancers, sore feet (and some heads) but they all agreed it was totally worth braving the cold. Now that’s how you do Winter in Adelaide!
We are already getting excited for our next QuickSteps outing on Saturday July 21st when we take over the dance floor at the Lion in North Adelaide. See you there!
Michelle
