Tuesday, June 30

There was no dancing in my world on Sunday.  A day without dance is like a day without sunshine.  You just don't want to have too many days like that!

Yesterday, Monday, was the first of 2 review days before I leave on vacation.  We spent a lot of time on Stonecold and Like A Phoenix.  Both were looking quite good by the time we were done!  Several dancers are "feeling" Like A Phoenix like I do.  Such a great dance!  The entire class time was spent reviewing dances - which we'll do again on Friday.

Today, we had our dancersize session and there's Chris' class tonight - her last night class until September.  Don't forget Tuesday nights are changing to Thursday afternoons for July and August.

Saturday, June 27

Great dance day in Orlando today with Rachael McEnaney-White.  Learned "Do What You Do" (Intermediate dance), "Faded" (Intermediate dance from 2003), "Lean Way Back" (Beginner dance), "Making Me Feel" (Improver), and Mr. Put It Down (Intermediate/Advanced).  Kathy also learned "Riversoul" (Intermediate/Advanced) - which ended up being her favorite of the day.

IF I were teaching any new dances this week (which I am NOT), I would think about teaching "Making Me Feel" a 32-count, 3 wall, Improver Level dance to Laura Bell Bundy's "Making Me Feel".   Cute dance, not terribly difficult, only two restarts.  And I would think about teaching "Lean Way Back" - a 32 count, 4 wall, beginner dance to "High Time" by Kasey Musgraves.  One really, super easy tag and another dance to music recommended by Rachael's mom (that's where Caught In The Moonlight came from).  These would be my teaches for the Thursday group.

IF I were teaching any new dances to the Monday/Friday group (which I am NOT), I would think about teaching "Do What You Do", a 64 count, 2 wall intermediate dance to the music "That's What I Like" by Flo Rida featuring Fitz.  There's a funky tag done three times in this dance but the dance itself is not that difficult and was fun.  And I would think about teaching "Mr. Put It Down" which Rachael choreographed with Trevor Thorton (of Sugar Rush fame).  This is a 64 count, 2 wall, high intermediate/advanced dance to "Mr. Put It Down" by Ricky Martin featuring Pitbull.  Out of all the dances done today - this was probably my favorite.

I didn't take the teach on Riversoul, which, unfortunately, turned out being a really nice dance (Kathy's favorite for today).  This is a 64 count, High Intermediate/Advanced dance to the music "The River" by Jacksoul.  No tags, no restarts, and the music was recommended by DJ Louis St. George (who also recommended "The Other Side" for the choreographers to come up with WOW Hawaii).  But, I couldn't teach it right now even if I wanted to - I didn't take the teach on it.  So it'll have to wait.

The playlist for the open dance segments of today was an awesome undertaking - which we gave our best effort to.  Danced some of our new ones:  Make It Rain, Stonecold, Slam Goes The Door, I'm Ready; and danced a whole bunch of other dances like Jesse James, Washed In The Water, Rock & Roll King, Say Geronimo.  Was on the floor A LOT!

Just an all-around excellent day of dance!

Friday, June 26

Everyone did really well in class today!  We had a pretty intensive review of Stonecold - and it looks like we've got a pretty good grasp of that dance!  Such a big dance to be doing that well after just one teach and one review!  Yay!

We thought we could do Beautiful Goodbye as a "no-brainer" dance - but had to go back to the step sheet for the samba steps since all 7 dancers (myself included!) went in different directions!  Pretty funny!  So, it became another dance reviewed.  As did Body Goes Boom.

The teach of "Like A Phoenix" went well and we danced it 3 times.

Brains are sufficiently fried at this point.  I will not teach any more new ones before I leave on vacation...  Unless, of course, there's a dance from Rachael this weekend that is an absolute MUST teach!  LOL!

Both the Monday/Friday class and the Thursday class will have just reviews next week.

NOTE:  there is no Dancersize on Saturday and there is no Practice on Sunday.

Thursday, June 25

Kept everyone hoppin' in class today but we were able to review all the new ones, teach a new one (Alcazar Lite) and "just dance" all the requests!  Feet are tired!

But - they need to recover because I'm off to more dance tonight!  Yay!

Wednesday, June 24

Heard back from Scott Blevin's today.  The changes to "Lay It Right" won't be anything more than the changes made right at the workshop.  We can keep dancing it. Yay!

Monday, June 22

Make sure you check out the pages on the right...  You'll find a page for the Monday-Friday class, Thursday class, Dance Practice, Socials, and Dancersize.  A list of dances being taught, reviewed, and danced will show up on those pages.

Big teach of Stonecold today.  Whew!  But, when we danced it again at the end of class - was looking really good!  Everyone did a great job in sticking with it!  Well done!

Also demo'ed Like A Phoenix, which will be taught Friday.  Have I said lately how much I like that dance?  I really do!

Sunday, June 21

Happy Father's Day!  What better way to celebrate than to dance!

Have I mentioned lately how much I like Rhoda Lai's "Like A Phoenix"?  That dance just "gets me!"  I love it!  Can't wait to teach it!

Also got to practice "Fun" today and learned "Alcazar Lite" so I can teach it on Thursday.  Will be a challenge for me since my feet want to do "Alcazar" when the music comes on and John was nice enough to make the first 8 of A Lite very similar to the first 8 of A.  So now my feet are totally confused!  They'll get over it!  And, of course, did another run of Stonecold for tomorrow's teach.  Yay!

Saturday, June 20

Very excited to be able to work on "Like a Phoenix" by Rhoda Lai!  REALLY like this dance!  Also worked on Stonecold - will be teaching it on Monday.

And just when I thought I was finished with new teaches for Thursday, I've been asked to teach John Robinson's "Alcazar Lite."  So I'll have one more that I'll need to work on before Thursday.

Didn't get a chance to look at "Fun" - hopefully during my practice session tomorrow!