January 2006 Activity -- Civil War Dancing

Activity: Civil War Dance Class
Date/Time/Location: Thursday, January 19th, Gadsby's Tavern Old Town Alexandria, VA
Ever wondered what Civil War re-enactors do in the off-season? Go to Civil War dance class, it appears. (Spoiler alert for any re-enactors that may be reading this -- the North won). I used to work with a guy who did Civil War re-enacting as a hobby. He used to whine about not being able to meet women. Dude...you're spending every weekend with a bunch of other guys, wearing woolen underpants and pretending you've never heard of American Idol. I'm sure that there are chicks somewhere that find that hot, I just don't know that you'd want to date them.
I digress. The Civil War dance class was actually pretty fun.

1. Is this an activity where someone would feel comfortable going alone or is it better to go with a partner? Definitely would be more comfortable attending with a partner and/or friends, although not mandatory. Is it easy to meet people at this activity? You do end up dancing with everyone in the class...although other than at breaks or at the end of the class, there is really no time for socializing. Note: there is a LOT of touching of strangers while dancing. If you have an issue with this (as some of us did), this may not be for you
2. Was it convenient to participate in this activity? Registration was very easy, however, the venue was very difficult to find. The class is held in the museum attached to the Tavern and there were no lights on in the museum, nor were there any signs indicating where the class was held. We had to search for about 15 mnutes to find the class, which could have been easily remedied with a few well-placed signs.
3. Was the activity a good value based on the registration fee? The fee was only $12 which covered about 3 hours of dance instruction -- a very good value for the money.
4. What were the participant demographics? Even mix of men and women and a pretty good distribution of ages.
5. Logistics - parking was a little difficult -- about what you'd expect in Old Town Alexandria on a Thursday night. Street parking is available, it just requires a little patience. The venue itself was beautiful -- a historic ballroom with wooden floors, a fireplace, and leaded glass windows.
6. What should one wear/bring to the activity for maximum enjoyment? Comfortable clothing and shoes -- you'll work up a sweat and need to have comfortable footwear to master steps and be able to dance comfortably.
7. Level of physical fitness required (if applicable) - need to be in reasonably good shape as this does provide somewhat of a workout.
8. Should participants be there early to get a good seat? Meet people? Get set up? Getting there a few minutes early is a good idea to ensure you can find the place. You may also want to chat with some of the others. There is no set up time necessary.
9. Size group that could be accommodated (if you wanted to organize a group outing). Any.