That Conga Line

It’s the party where everyone wants to be … or crash. It’s the Harlequin party at the RWAs. Everyone dresses up, and dances. Harlequin shows off their appreciation for their authors (and, by extension, their clout) by throwing a very nice party. This year the Harlequin featured giant metallic towers with their diamond logo on the side, completed by having fake flames coming out the top… really cool. (If this was naturally part of the ballroom’s decor, I’ll be very surprised)

Everyone files in and immediately begins to hit the bar.

Harlequin folks, led by VP of PR, Katherine Orr and HQ Pres. Donna Hayes, dole out book awards to authors who have reached milestones in their partnership with Harlequin. One received a pin for her 75th Harlequin novel. Others for their 25th. And then the party really gets started. And by that I mean, the DJ cranks up the music. Harlequin has had parties with live music before, but canned music actually works better.

Nora Roberts always dances the first dance. It’s like a tradition or something — started by Nora, most likely, I’d wager. In Chicago (1999), Ms. Roberts (and her pal Ruth Langan??) were the only ones to dance for the first few songs. In more recent years, the first few bars of the first song entails a bit of a rush of the newer authors to the dance floor. Ah, the younger generation advances…

I’ve learned not to try to take photos of dancing authors at the Harlequin party. All you get are nicely dressed backsides in mid shuffle. But I just can’t resist trying. I just took a small camera with me and set it on video capture. The party is a bit dark, so what follows has had a brightening filter added. It’s also pretty damn loud in there; the souped up bass of the music was just too much for the microphone in my four year old Canon A70 snapshot camera. The total effect is one of a poor cell phone video.

Since everyone is talking about the “Conga Line” that got everyone hopping, I’ll embed that one here.

After watching it, you’ll come to the same conclusion as I did in making it. Which I’ll tell you after the jump

I’ve concluded that it’s a whole lot more fun dancing in a conga line than it is watching it.

So, the next time a conga line passes you by, don’t miss out!

[YouTube]