A Whole Lotta Hip Rolling Goin' on

Tuesday evening I attended another Picnic in the Park music concert. The band was Cocinando. They play Latin and Jazz music and seem each year to play one concert at the Picnic in the Park series.

That afternoon I had been spraying weeds so I was a little late to the concert as I had to finish a tank of herbicide. There were lots of people there but I was still was able to find a spot on a bench on which to sit. It was a good spot as I could also people watch as a number of people strolled by on the sidewalk in front of me.

The 13 member band played salsa, samba and other Latin flavored dance music. Every so often several adults would dance to the music. I noticed they would be an older couple, else an older man in his 50s or 60s and a young 20-something woman. For one old/young dance couple who danced on the sidewalk down from me, his body shape looked like he would be slow moving and stiff but he knew the dance moves and spun and twirled the young woman all around. She looked like she was enjoying dancing with him and I saw she had sought him out later in the concert for another dance.

For this style of dancing and music a whole lot of hip rolling was going on by the women dancing. Nice. For the young woman dancing with the older guy on the sidewalk I was starting to wonder if her loose hippy-chic skirt was going to stay up on her hips with all the sharp hip movement she was doing.

Later in the concert another youngish woman with several small children seemed not to be able take it any longer and as an excuse to get up and dance tried to teach her young daughter how to move her hips and dance. The young girl looked to be six or less and spent more time standing watching her mother than attempting the hip movements and dancing herself.

During the intermission, and after they gave away the raffle prizes, a young woman demonstrated a belly dance. She was advertising belly dance lessons at a local athletic club and also that she was available to dance at weddings or other special events.

The song she danced to was an interesting modern middle eastern arrangement of the song "I Put a Spell on You". Naturally she had a belly dancers outfit. In additional to the hip shaking she demonstrated a number of arm movements. While she didn't have an exotic middle eastern complexion she looked nice with her long brown straight hair. One suggestion: she should lose the glasses when belly dancing as that distracted from the overall look.

Usually during the intermission people use this opportunity to talk and socialize. I noticed that when she demonstrated the belly dance moves most everyone - men and women - stopped and watched.

And - dang - I had forgotten my camera at home.