NYSOL 2021

 NYSOL 2021

Thurs 11/11 - Day 1

Flew into the Stewart/Newburgh airport on Frontier. Elaine picked us up at the door. Walmart run (of course) and then the drive up to Honors Haven. Beautiful country!

Checked in, found our room, unloaded, then when for a walk out to the waterfall. Very pretty.

Buffet dinner was at 6:30 - our table is a Florida table with Betsy & Catherine and 2 other dancers that I didn’t know. Minnesota arrived while we were eating. So good to see Pam & Robyn & Linda et al!

Bonus teaches started at 8:30. Open dance started at 9 with a DJ that actually played requests! How novel!!

Chris Jacques taught his new one “Never Calming Down” (like it!) at about 10:30; Guillaume taught his (with Niels & Shane) “Out, Out” at about 11:00. Fun, fast!

Kathy & I headed to bed just after midnight…

Fri 11/12 - Day 2

The first workshop of the day was Games You Play by Derek Steele. I like the music; the dance is phrased but very doable. I’m not sure if I’ll teach it or not. May need to wait and see if it hits the charts at all.

Then it was a Guillaume Richard day! Started with Cold Sets In; ended with More (and another review of Cold Sets In).  Both are good dances.

Friday is when NYSOL officially begins and they have a “Welcome Party” with open dancing from 1-4 and hot and cold hors d’oeuvres starting at 2. It must’ve been right about 3:00 that I was done and it was naptime!

Last workshop (More) was at 5:00; dinner buffet opened at 6:30. Open dance started around 8:15. Made it slightly later than the night before.

Sat 11/13 - Day 3

The busiest day by far. Started right away with Rona teaching Gary’s “Easy On Me” at 9, John Robinson taught his new waltz “Come Waste My Time” at 10. I was going to go over Zoom again, but they switched rooms and I didn’t want to walk that far.

2:00 repeat teach of Thursday night’s “Out, Out”; 3:00 & 4:00 with Scott teaching his & Joey’s newest “Oh So Easy” and his & Jo Thompson’s “Latin Fusion”.  Then a tour of the “west wing” where all our Minnesota friends were housed.

Buffet dinner and then open dance around 8:30 - followed by Ice Cream Sundaes starting at 10pm! The ice cream pretty much finished me off - I was back in our room by about 11:30pm.

Sunday 11/14 - Day 4

Our flight back to SWFlorida was at 1pm - so we needed to take our “grab ’n go” lunch and hit the road about 10am. But I did have a chance to sneak into Jill Weiss’ 9:30am class where she was teaching two dances, with “Just Fly” being the first one. This is just the cutest dance - marked as improver but I’m going to teach it to my beginners - by Roy Hadisubroto, Fiona Murray, and Jo Thompson Szymanski. 

Flight to Tampa was uneventful; drive home the same. Good to be back in Florida where there’s no ice on the top of cars and I can’t see my breath when I’m outside!!! LOL!

FUN IN THE SUN 2021

 My first JC Dance Productions (and - bonus! FINALLY got myself a JC Dance Productions Shirt! Woo hoo!) since…. Florida Classic 2019! Seems like FOREVER ago!

Excellent dance weekend! Like with Raleigh, there were several offerings that I’ve already learned/taught, but still a nice selection of new and classic to keep me busy all weekend long.

Thursday night opened with Trevor Thornton teaching his new beginner dance “I Was On A Boat” to everyone - such a cute dance that my beginners are going to enjoy. On Friday, I enjoyed a re -teach of Amy Glass’ “I’m Here For You” and Rachael McEnaney-White’s new dance “After Taste”. 

Saturday was choreography competition day and WOW!!! What great choreography was presented! I wouldn’t want to be a judge! Way too many great dances to settle on just 2 from each category! Congratulations to all the the 1st & 2nd place winners as well as everyone who entered the competition! If you weren’t there, the competition can be found on 7ArrowMedia’s YouTube channel; and be sure to watch CopperKnob for the stepsheet releases!

Newcomer/Novice

Laura Gordon: We Got All Night

Wendie Smith: Laurie’s Walk

Intermediate/Advanced

Mark Paulino: Rude Dude

Jason Turner (with Laura Gordon): Salt

Phrased

Laura Gordon: So Electric

Wendie Smith: Little Big Mouth

The two workshops I attended on Saturday were “Gotta Have It” with Joey Warren (it was so good to see Joey again! I’ve missed those hugs!) and “A Sexy Lady” with Cody Flowers (co-choreographed with Kerry Maus). And finally, on Sunday I attended Dustin Betts presenting his new dance “Stressed” - such a cool dance! And then Chris Jacques taught Vicky St. Pierre’s “Madness”, which I learned years ago and absolutely LOVE! Am thrilled to be bringing it back for awhile!

Many thanks to ALL the choreographers for sharing their time and talents with us! So good to see everyone live and in person! The JC Productions staff and volunteers were on top of everything, as always, with a special shout-out to Kelly and Kellie for their outstanding efforts! Kelly was even able to “zoom in” on the show this year - if you haven’t seen it yet, go to their YouTube channel and check it out! Besides - you HAVE to see the kids!!! Such a special feature of this event.

The Marriott was top-notch as always. Front desk, event, housekeeping, and restaurant staff were all smiles and so helpful. They looked sincerely happy to have us all underfoot again! Even our server in the restaurant remembered us from past events and had tears in her eyes to see us back again! Awwwww!

Well done, Jen & Jason! Another successful event completed! Thank you for all you’ve done for us!

 

MARATHON 2021!

The Line Dance Marathon 2021 - Dr. Suess - is in the books! A great event - my FIRST ONE since February, 2020! How fitting that my last event before COVID and first one after COVID were Scott events!

We flew in to Raleigh on Wednesday so we wouldn’t miss a thing starting on Thursday. It was an interesting schedule of workshops - the international choreographers couldn’t be there - but their dances were still taught… there was a mixture of older dances that each instructor/choreographer chose to “reteach” along with all the new dances that are hitting the circuit. Because of virtual workshops, several dances being taught were not new to me, which made the daily schedule much easier to navigate (it’s been a long time since I’ve had to actually choose which class to take… they weren’t just all offered one at a time on my TV!)

On the first day, I attended Darren Bailey’s teach of “Just Be”. I learned this beautiful waltz years ago and was happy to get a refresher. Another class being held at the same time was Niels Poulsen’s “Lifeline”, which I’ve been dancing for months and thoroughly enjoy! Jo Thompson Szymanski/Maddison Glover/Michele Burton’s “Country In 3” and Fred Whitehouse’s “Sadness” (both of which I currently dance) were also taught.

Even though I’d already reviewed “Suffer” by Brenna Stith, it was good to attend her workshop teach of the dance. During the same hour, Amy Bailey taught her fun dance “Moses Roses Toeses” (my class loves!).

Next, I sat through Adia Nuno’s teach of “Money On My Mind” (choreographed with Jonno Liberman and Rick Dominguez). This was one of the top favorites of those I was with.

Another exciting event on the very first day - I got to meet Craig and Donna Stott - the live stream hosts (LiveLoveLine) I’ve been working with to keep my students connected over the summer. I knew they were going to be there but had no idea who to look for… fortunately for me - they knew what I look like! Hahahaha!

Thursday night’s social dancing kept me on the floor until after 1:30am. Great mix of old and new, current and classic, pre- and virtual COVID. And everyone was in the same boat - wondering what would be remembered… and trying to reestablish the “walls” of a ballroom (and for many, dancing in a group again!).

The second day brought me a couple new dances - I attended Amy’s “Best Day Ever”, sat through Adia’s “Dazed and Confused”, and attended Jason Takahashi’s “No Expectations”. Workshops offered that I had already been taught included Everybody Get Nuts, Tooty Fruity, Would Have Loved Her (another favorite of those I was with), Do My Thing, Madelyn, Mesmerized, Wait For It, Nobody, Oops Baby, Where Oh Where (a favorite of my beginner and intermediate classes), and Feel The Heat.

The other class I attended was John Robinson’s “Top Tips for Teachers” Q&A session. Lots of tried and true tips from Mr. Showcase himself!

And finally, our last day… I started the day with dancing Tim Johnson’s “The Vibe” at the end of Cody Flowers’ teach, attended Debi Pancoast’s workshop “Fall On Me” (choreographed by Kerry Maus and Paul Snooke) - my FAVORITE of the whole weekend! Also attended Cody’s teach of “Upside Shake” (funky fun!); Jason’s “Authentically You” (beautiful nightclub), and Jo’s teach of Maddison Glover’s “Going Going Gone” wrapped up my day. Other workshops held during the day that I’ve already learned/am currently dancing included Call My Bluff, Take A Picture, Midnight Mess Around, As Good As It Gets, River Road Dream, I’ve Seen It All, Your Chewing Gum, Good To Go, Tension, Foolish, Spiderweb, It’s Go Time, and You You You.

Our flight to return home left early enough Sunday morning that we didn’t have a chance to attend any of the workshops. There were lots of amazing options including Money In My Pocket, Amor-ish*, Trouble Maker, Smooth & Easy, You’ve Got What It Takes, All Of Me*, It’s OK, Soul-Stirring, I Can’t Stand The Rain, All The Girls, Catch*, CMB*, Colors*, Muddy Water Healing, Hell Raiser, Destination Love, Regenbogenfarben, Blindsided*, and Miracles Happen Like That (*=dances already dancing).

It was a wonderful weekend - desperately needed - and just being with all the dancers live and in person was exhilarating. Seeing the choreographers and instructors “live” instead of on my TV screen - heartwarming. Not to take away from the fabulous virtual sessions and classes that kept us all dancing from the start of the pandemic through today - those have been AMAZING!!! Those are the reason we were able to get back on the floor with the confidence we had!

Many thanks to Scott & Jean for pulling off this event so quickly; the staff and volunteers who made it all go smoothly; all the choreographers and instructors for sharing their time & talents; the DJs who kept us on the floor; and the dancers who brought all their energy and enthusiasm to help us achieve a sense of “normalcy” we haven’t had in the longest time! Until the next time… stay safe and keep on dancin’!