Social in Pinnellas Park

Monday, May 23

We really had good time in Pinnellas Park yesterday at the Bayou Dance Studio.  We got there early - but the music was already playing and people were already dancing when we arrived so we dove right in! Great requests all afternoon long - and it seemed like the DJ would've continued to play as long as there were people looking to dance. Awesome!

This was my first time attending this social - and it was really nice. Wooden floor to dance on,  plenty of food (people bring something to share if they want and pizza comes during the afternoon), lots of beverages available and lots and lots of dancing!

Three teaches during the afternoon - Lindy Bowers taught "I Never Knew" by Simon Ward; Larry Bass taught "The Queen" by Guillame Richard; and Debbie Carpenter taught "Linger" by Neville & Julie (which we had learned at the Experience).

I taught "I Never Knew" right away today at class - one sure fire way of helping to remember how it goes!

FloriDance!

May 15, 2015...

Just got home from FloriDance - my first time at that event. Choreographers were Trevor Thornton, Will Craig, Guyton Mundy and Amy Glass. The event is put on by Patrick Fleming..

There were two rooms with teaches taking place all day - I never went in to the "beginner" or "other" room so I don't know what was taught there. In the main room, there were six teaches during the day and one more in the evening at the social.

Guyton taught "Work From Home" which is a phrased ABCD dance choreographed with Roy Hadisabroto and Fred Whitehouse. I think I have parts B and C. A and D need some (a LOT) of work!

He also taught "Work Song" which is also phrased (AB) and choreographed with Klara Wallman, Roy Hadisabroto and Fred Whitehouse.  An "easier" dance (if any of Guyton's dances can be classified as "easy") than the other one but not a dance I could just walk out on the floor today and do - it's gonna need some work!

Will taught "Right About Now"  A phrased (AB) dance which may be my favorite of the weekend. He also taught "High On Loving You" which was a 48 count, 4 wall nightclub with several restarts. A pretty dance if you're in the market for a nightclub.

Amy taught "You Make It Real" - another "nightclubby" feel dance with an easy 6-count tag. 32 count and 2 walls. Pretty dance. She also taught "Sunshine In My Pocket" which may also be my favorite from the weekend. Again, a phrased (ABC) dance but fun and funky. Upbeat new music from Justin Timberlake.

The one teach I had from Trevor was "Coconut Water" - a phrased (AB) dance that I'm hoping my Thursday class will like. I need to work on it a little more before I teach it - but I think I'll bring it to them within the next couple of weeks.

We spent all day Saturday in workshops and then had Saturday night for open/social dancing. JP Potter was the DJ for the event. We had several dances played during the course of the night that we knew how to do (or used to know how to do and faked it really well!). Love going to events - the requests bring up dances I'd never think of on my own!

April 20 - Dance Xperience!

I had an amazing time at the Dance Xperience Orlando last weekend!  Had never met choreographers Neville Fitzgerald and Julie Harris before, or DJ Dave Baycroft and wife Pauline.  Great people!

There were 11 dances scheduled to be taught over the weekend - and then there was a bonus teach!  Some of the dances I had been taught before (Part of the List, Die A Happy Man, You're So Beautiful,  Go To Work, and How I Want Ya) which meant my brain didn't have to totally fry!

Everything I learned I want to keep! Joey taught "The Waiting Game"; Rachael taught "Feel Good" by Shane McKeever; Neville and Julie taught "Linger", "Girls Like", "Desperado", "Wearing Your Jeans" and the bonus teach "Shouldn't Be That Hard" (which I didn't take - but it shouldn't be too hard - hahahahaha!).

I have all these new dances which are competing in my head for which one do I work on to teach first!  Ultimately, I think I'll end up teaching most of them - just need to figure out when!

Sunday, April 10

First time on a dance floor since the social a week ago Saturday. Been down with bronchitis/early pnuemonia - couldn't do a thing.

With the Xperience Orlando coming up next weekend, need to spend some time this week building up my stamina for the weekend. Lost some valuable practice time - guess I'll know what I know and have to sit out the rest.

After the 2-hour practice this morning, I need a nap! Boy! My muscles certainly knew they hadn't really moved for a week! Yikes!

Sunday, March 20

Had the opportunity to attend Rachael's workshop yesterday in Orlando.  She taught six dances - 4 of which I'd like to see continue, one that I would be happy to see continue but not sure that it will and the sixth was one that I need to work more on.

She taught:  Die A Happy Man (the one I need to work more on), From the Ground Up (great waltz! - hoping Nancy will let me teach it to her class),  How I Want Ya (not sure that it will go anywhere), Part Of The List (I'll teach it to Nancy's class tonmorrow), ST1 (I'll teach to Thursday class this week), and Young & Stupid (which is actually Fred Whitehouse's dance that I think Deb will teach on Thursday night so it has a chance to continue).

Saturday, March 12

Oldies Workshop today with Larry Bass and Jamie Marshall.

Some good dances taught - including HAVE FUN, GO MAD!!!  Yay!  I'll teach it on Thursday just to keep it going.

Seems to be a tie between Cool Whip, What A Shock, and Crown Royal as the favorites of others in our group who attended.  I'll have to look at those sheets again and see if any of them (I'm thinking What A Shock) are easy enough as a second teach on Thursday.

Larry taught Have Fun Go Mad, What A Shock, and Cool Whip.  Jamie taught Bomshel Stomp, Crown Royal, and Sho 'Nuf.  And Larry did turbo teaches on King Of The Road and Rhumba & Roses and Jamie did turbo teaches on Por Ti Sere and Picnic Polka.  I might want to keep Rhumba and Roses around for the beginners - would be nice for them to have another rumba for floor splits on social nights.

Open dances for the day included Come Dance With Me, Beautiful Goodbye, Better When I'm Dancin', Askin' Questions, Ticket To The Blues, Girl Crush, Caught In The Moonlight, Bittersweet Memories, Baby Doll Waltz, Backstreet Attitude, Tuesday Blues, American Kids, Wagon Wheel Rock, Chill Factor, Happy In Love, No Man's Land, Rita's Waltz, and Ain't Misbehavin'.  There were also some "pre-event" dancing taking place earlier in the morning - Imelda's Way, Love Me Or Leave Me, Bosa Nova....

We had a lot of our folks there - and some last minute cancellations:  Cheri Booth, Linda Mains, Nancy Dixon.  They would've had a good time.

Sunday, February 21, 2016

Reading back over some recent old posts (haven't really said much of anything since December!) - I was wondering what dances have come along that I've really liked since the last time I posted anything.  I guess Ain't Misbehavin' took off like a shot - that dance was an instant hit...

Wish I would've thought about posting something after the Scott Blevin's workshop in January - he did some good stuff there - Cake By The Ocean being the favorite.

And now people are back from The Big Bang and, for our group anyway, Spiderweb by Brenna Stith is the big hit.  And for me - Spiderweb is one of those dances that I instantly fell in love with - the kind of "love love LOVE this dance" kind of love.  The goosebumps - absolutely HAVE TO DANCE this dance kind of dance.  It is GREAT!  72-count, 2 wall, one easy restart.  Fabulous music of the same name. Brenna hit this one out of the park!

The other new one that I was just exposed to was "Heart In My Hand" by Debbie Rushton.  I really like this one, too. Maybe because it's so challenging? Maybe because of the music and the way she just made it all fit.  But I really like it.

I guess Joey Warren's "Go To Work" is another favorite - but nothing has hit me like Spiderweb. It's just a fabulous dance!