Back in November, French President Macron was visiting New Orleans. His trip was very brief and the city is very small, so it was inevitable we would cross paths. I just had a feeling. He was set to visit the Lycee that I work for, but I wasn't working that day. A few people I knew got the opportunity to talk with him outside of the Degas House or on Royal Street. It was clear he was making his rounds through the Big Easy. When I arrived to Frenchman street to dance I began to notice signs around the area welcoming him. Soon the presence of the French secret service began to appear.
Some friends were busking and a few of us began dancing. The atmosphere of the evening felt so joyous. Some dancers were in from LA and my friend Ryan and I were dancing with them. We were dancing on the dirty street next to some garbage cans and were happy as could be. That's the thing about Lindy Hop it can go back and forth between the ballroom and the street and still hold the same creative expression between dancers and musicians. It seemed that maybe Macron was making his way down the street, some people from the crowd had turned away from the band to look towards the parade of politicians, but we kept on dancing to the punks playing jazz while avoiding the dirty gutters of Frenchman while the French man made his way towards our little piece of playfulness. Once I realized the president was close by I suggested we start dancing closer to the parade so that we could present our traditional American dance to the president.
Well, it worked! We caught the attention of him and his krewe, he stopped to watch us and the musicians, he shook Ryan's hand, tipped the band, and we snagged a few pics. What a special night it was!
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