Vegas Dance Explosion! November, 2016

Vegas, baby! What an experience!!!

We got out there on late Monday night. The event started at noon on Tuesday with registration and several technique and classic dance teaches. I didn't attend any of those (we played pickleball instead) and there were demos followed by open dance Tuesday night - which we did attend. 2 main ballrooms of great dancing with a beginner room just down the hall.  (When we go again, I would consider going on Tuesday instead of Monday...)

Wednesday's classes included:
Agua Y Fuego (Verdonk, Sarlemijn, Trepat) and Howling At The Moon (Verdonk and Holtland) taught by Roy Verdonk. Cute dances - I think a little harder than my beginner class can handle, but we'll see; Do Something Crazy (the towel dance) - since everyone else had taken this class in Tampa, I knew I had to get it under my belt. Bought the towel, too!; Blessed (Jackie Miranda) taught by Ray Sarlemijn - AWESOME dance!!!; Keep It Groovin' (Thompson Szymanski/Blevins) taught by Jo - this is just a funky fun dance - really like it!; Neverland (Kinser/Luna/Lai) by Jo Kinser - not sure about this one - it may be one that I'll keep?; Gimme Gimme by Rebecca Lee - this is just a funky fun dance that will take a lot more work on my part before I have it!; and I wanted to take Kat Painter's "Boomerang" but my brain couldn't absorb her teach of the first dance in that block so I gave up and went back to my room.  We went to see the show "Purple Reign" Wednesday night and then went to open dance after that.

Thursday's classes included:
Tonight by Ivonne Verhagen (very nice night club - improver level - will end up teaching this); Lemonade with Jo Thompson Szymanski (one of those HAVE TO KEEP dances according to everyone who took it! LOL!); and Risk It All with Simon Ward (not everyone's favorite - I liked it and will end up teaching it). We played pickleball in the morning so this was the extent of class time. Went to the show and open dance Thursday night.

Friday's classes included:
Gangsta Walk (Sarlemijn/Murray/Hadisubroto/de Kok) taught by Ray Sarlemijn (just a fun little dance); Keep It Groovin' (again - nice to have a refresher on this one!); Hard Workin' Man by Philip Sobrielo; A New Day by Ivonne Verhagen; Sound of Silence with Guyton (OMG!!! such a powerful dance! goosebumps every single time!!!). Friday was flash mob dance day as well - we all did American Kids out in the hotel lobby. That was fun!  And again, show and open dance Friday night.

Saturday's classes included:
If I Wuz U (Neville & Julie) and EZ So Just Dance Dance Dance (Tina Foster) by Jill Babinec (these will be taught to my beginners); Sound of Silence (again); Till The Diggy Dawn by Will Craig (fun and funky - will most likely end up being taught); and then I ran between two rooms to catch Thinkin' Country by Simon (definite teach for Thursday) and 80's Model by Chris Watson (may also end up being a Thursday teach). Show and open dance Saturday night (with the goal of staying on the dance floor past midnight - we made it - it was 1am when we gave it up!). Again - a lighter load of classes on Saturday because we took the rental car back in the morning.

Sunday's classes included:
Heaven On Earth by Simon Ward (just an AWESOME waltz!); Back Home (Craig/Malenfant/Bunker) by Will Craig (might end up teaching this on Thursday); A Country High by Norman Gifford (this will definitely be taught on Thursday); and That Love by Will Craig (another dance of Will's with a million restarts). We watched football in the morning and I gave up the Packer game to catch a lunchtime, unscheduled teach of One Reason by Guyton (Mundy/Murray/Hadisubroto) - and I'm so glad I did! Another AWESOME dance!  We went to the final show and open dance Sunday night - but we were so tired from the night before that we gave up the floor at about 10:30pm.

And then we stayed for a couple extra days (cheaper flights to come home) and spent Monday on the Strip, Monday night on Fremont Street, and Tuesday at Valley of Fire state park. A great couple of days playing tourist!

Returning home Sunday night will work just fine next time - by 10:30 Sunday night we were cashing it in after having stayed out so late the night before. Would be just as easy to be heading to the airport instead of our room.

Rachael Workshop October, 2016

October 22, 2016

Attended another Rachael workshop - I didn't walk away from this one with a lot of "have to" teaches/dances. They were all good dances - just nothing that really hit a spark for me.  We learned Falling and Pull Me Closer - both of which are challenging dances. She also taught Italiano and Vegas Baby - both of which could be taught on Thursday. The remaining two dances were Looking Like That and Lost In You (her oldie's selection for the day).

I only have two more classes before the Vegas break and then the start of season - I think I'll wait to teach anything new until after Vegas and see what comes from there.

Rachael Workshop 12/3/16t

Apparently I missed posting Rachael's workshop from October and also left out the Vegas Dance Explosion! I'll have to backtrack and do those later.

Today is about yesterday's workshop in Orlando. Another great day of dance!

Rachael taught 5 dances - 4 new ones and one of her "oldies" - Purple Rain (great dance!).

New dances included "Oops Baby" by Rachael and Cody Flowers; "Shady" by Fred Whitehouse, Amy Glass, and Darren Bailey; "Stomp Your Feet" by Shane McKeever, and "A Little More Love" by Rachael and Jo Thompson Szymanski.

All were really good - I expect to teach at least 3 of the 5 to my Thursday class.