Hotlanta! 2017

Hotlanta!

DAY 1

Started with Trevor's teach of "The Mack" (Thornton & Craig). It seemed somewhat familiar - yes, I had taken it before. At FITS. Amazing that it was just over a month ago and only seemed somewhat familiar!

Then on to Fred's teach of "Safe In Your Arms" (Whitehouse & Musk). A definite winner! But, before I can teach it to my class, I'll have to do something like The Mack because they will draw and quarter me if I bring them one more NC2 right now!

After lunch we had a fun teach by Shane McKeever of Shea McCafferty's "Up In Here". Another good one to put in between night club teaches!

And then on to Darcie's teach of "Got The Vibes" (DeAngelis & Betts). Phrased AB (32 count A and 16 count B) intermediate dance with some zip to it.

DAY 2

Only 2 teaches today!

First was Shane's "No Stress". Cute! (Peppy!) 32 count, 4 wall, 1 16-count tag done both times on the 9:00 wall. Just cute! Might have to be my first teach.

Second was Fred's "Peculiar Game" (Whitehouse & Dixon). 64 count cha cha with a 4-count tag at the end of walls 1 & 3. It's got some pep to it! It was fun!

We also watched John Robinson's teach of Michael Barr's "Yeah!" - also a cute little 32-count that I might start with right away... hmmmm.....

DAY 3

First class today - Fred's "Everyday's A Holiday" (Whitehouse). What fun! 64 count cha cha - just fun!

Second class was a two-fer by Trevor. "Honky Tonk Highway" (Cavallaro) & "Obsessed" (Moates & Watsonx2). Honky Tonk was a cute 32-count, 4 wall dance that has placed first in the choreography comp at FITS as well as WDM in Blackpool. Obsessed is an awesome 48-count, 2 wall dance geared more to the improver/low intermediate side. One 6-count tag at the end of wall 5. Great dance!

Third class was also a two-fer by Shane. "Cake" (McKeever) and "Stuck In My Head" (Tonteri & McKeever). Cake is just a cute, fun little 32-count, 2 wall beginner/improver dance. Stuck In My Head, also 32-count, 2-wall improver dance with a 16-count tag done twice (both times on the front wall). My Thursday class is going to get some really nice new dances!

I was going to take Scott Schrank's teach on "We Are Fighters" (Schrank & Dominguez) but we had sat down. Once down, it was extremely difficult to get back up. And, apparently, everyone else who went in that room already knew it, so they all sat and visited together as well. So I didn't miss a thing.

We did go into open dance (dancing the floor away) for another couple hours - then it was time to leave.

It was a great inaugural event! The hotel was nice, very accommodating (supersonic fast elevators), food was good, shuttle dependable, housekeeping very thorough. And refrigerators in all the rooms (fancy glass-fronted ones!). Excellent location right by the airport.

Many thanks to Jen Cameron and the JC Dance Productions staff and volunteers for another great event, the choreographers and instructors who kept our brains and feet engaged hour after hour, and the DJs who kept the music playing all day and all night! It was fun seeing familiar faces along with meeting new ones, too! And special congratulations to not only the winners but ALL the entries in the choreography competition - everyone really brought their A-game! There are several dances that I am taking home with me!

Fun In The Sun!

Day 1

Marilyn McNeal taught such a pretty dance!!! "Somebody Wants You!" (40 count, 2 wall, high intermediate nightclub with 1 restart, 1 tag, and 1 bridge) by Daniel Trepat, Niels Poulsen, Neville Fitzgerald, Julie Harris, Roy Hadisuboto, and Fionna Murray.

Rhoda Lai taught her dance "Summerthing" (96 count, 2 wall phrased intermediate). FUN!!! (This was a dance that was a favorite of some of my group so they'll be thrilled at the possibility of having it taught!)

Sandy Albano taught "First Thing First" (96 count, 2 wall phrased intermediate/advanced dance with 1 restart) by Klara Wallman & Lina Hokdahl. OMG!!! So need more work on B! Love the music, tho!

Day 2

Started the day with John Robinson's teach of his and Melissa Culbertson's dance, "Brother" (32 count, 2 wall intermediate nightclub 2-step with 2 different tags). Such a powerful dance! May have to be my first teach on Monday!

Scott Blevins taught "Happy Dance" (176 count, 2 wall, phrased advanced) by Kerry Maus. Don't let the count or phrasing of this dance scare you off! Such a fun, happy dance! This dance took first place in the USLDCC phrased competition at the Marathon!

My ultimate favorite of the whole weekend ended up being Neville Fitzgerald & Julie Harris' dance "To Be Human" (48 count, 2 wall advanced with 1 restart) taught by Sandy Albano. Goosebumps!

I enjoyed Will Craig's teach of his dance "Helium" (40 count, 4 wall intermediate), Trevor Thornton's teach of his & Will's dance "The Mack" (32 count, 4 wall low intermediate with 2 restarts), Larry Bass' teach of Maggie Gallagher & Tim Johnson's "Strip That Down" (64 count, 2 wall high intermediate with 1 restart and 1 tag) and Scott's teach of his & Jo Szymanski Thompson's dance "Boom Pow" (32 count, 4 wall intermediate dance with 2 restarts) - even though I didn't have any boom left in my pow by the time it was taught at the end of the day!!!

Day 3

So, after my backpack was held hostage until 2am Saturday night/Sunday morning, I only made it to 2 classes on Sunday - but they were excellent classes!!!

Rachael McEnaney-White taught her & Paul McAdam's classic "Nu Flow" (40 count, 2 wall, advanced). Awesome dance! So glad I had a chance to learn it!

Trevor taught his & Brandon Roman & Branden Swift's (TB2's) dance "Take It Off" (128 count, 1 wall phrased advanced with 1 tag) in the final teaching block of the day. What a fun dance!!! It's not for the faint of heart - an ABCD dance with one tag - but all sections are very doable and the tag is easy. Just a super fun dance! So glad I stuck around to the end in order to get this teach!

Gary/Joey Workshop 5-20-17

Day-Long Workshop with Joey Warren and Gary O'Reilly - Saturday, May 20, 2017

Sandy Albano and Diane Petoskey put together an awesome weekend of dance for us! We danced until we could do no more on Friday night at the Women's Club of Castleberry - starting at 7 and ending after midnight to an all-request playlist that kept everyone on the floor all night long!

Saturday, we started at 9:30 am with the first teach at 10. We had three teaches from Joey and three from Gary. One improver and two intermediate/advanced from each. With open dancing from the request list in between them all. If anyone did not get enough dancing.... well - I guess for some of us there's just NEVER enough dancing... But I did go home with a full brain and very tired, happy feet!

Joey's teaches included:

Thinkin' & Drivin' - 32 count, 2 wall, tag (3 times) and restart. One of the favorites of our group.

Straight To The Castle - which is just an AWESOME dance.

Slow Burn 17 - Maddison Glover's improver dance that was fun to learn.

Gary's teaches included:

A Friend Like You - his improver dance that really got us moving (it's got some pep to it!)

Slowly, Gently, Softly - this was THE favorite (Castle not included) of the day! 32 count, 2 wall, intermediate "samba" to the Justin Bieber featured song of Despacito. If you haven't seen this one yet, keep your eyes open for it!

You Better Believe - Gary did this one with Maggie Gallagher. 32 count, 4 wall advanced night club to a track by the same name by Train. Very nice dance with lots of turns. One that I'll have to look at again to make the walls come out right!

And then, if you're in the mood to shop - Gary has a couple of shirts (A Life Of Linedance!) and Joey has his new shirts out - still in the Joey Zone but now it's with the soundwave of Straight To The Castle in colors of coral or royal blue or baseball shirt style. Very nice! I came away with a shirt from both guys!

Many thanks to Diane and Sandy for putting this together and kudos to Gary and Joey for a great day of teaches! Well done!

Dance Xperience New Orleans 2017

Xperience New Orleans 2017

What an amazing trip! We went a day early so we were able to spend two days touring and exploring the New Orleans area. Day 1 was downtown... Cafe du Monde (beignets, of course!) and riding the Hop On/Hop Off bus getting the tour and stopping off at the Garden District and Lafayette Cemetery. In the evening we went to Lafayette Square for the concert in the park and then strolled the downtown area.

On Day 2 we went to the Whitney Plantation. Such stories and history! If given the opportunity, I would highly recommend it!

But, enough of the touristy stuff! Time for the DANCE stuff!

I skipped a total of three classes. 2 because I'm lucky enough to live in Florida and get to attend Rachael's workshops on a regular basis so I didn't

have to take Let It Out and She Used To Be Mine. The other, unfortunately, was Fred's waltz offered as the very last teach of the very last day. Sorry, Fred! Just COULD NOT do one more step or think about one more move! (But, I did record it so I can "take the teach" later!)

I took every other teach offered and what a fantastic offering it was! 

Simon Ward taught Fooling Around, Lady In Red, and Time To Surrender. My absolute favorite of Simon's was the waltz! But they were ALL great dances and we're already dancing Lady In Red in a couple of the classes I attend!

Ria Vos (my first time meeting Ria!) taught Refund To My Heart, When The Music Hits, and Taking Care Of You. My absolute favorite was Taking Care Of You - and it ended up being my MOST FAVORITE of the entire event! But ALL of Ria's were great and I expect to be teaching them all!

Niels Poulsen taught Now & Later, I Am Your Man, and With The Lights On. I think I Am Your Man was my favorite of his teaches - but they were all good.

Fred Whitehouse taught Like A Cowboy (great dance for country music lovers!), The Boogie, and You're My Remedy. The Boogie was my favorite of Fred's - and was my all-event favorite until Ria taught hers! I even got air under my feet with that hitch when we danced it at night! Super fun!

Joey Warren taught Pins & Needles, Thinkin' & Drivin', and Straight To The Castle. Straight To The Castle is an super awesome dance! And I liked the other two, as well! I am really excited that Joey gets to teach the Castle dance again at his Florida workshop with Gary O'Reilly in a couple weeks - I definitely need some fine-tuning on it!!!

Rachael McEnaney-White taught Let It Out and She Used To Be Mine (which I had learned already so those were great breaks for me!) and Kissing Strangers - which, in typical Rachael style, will be another great dance! Very fun! And now, in addition to "Joey fast" to describe a dance, we have the "Simon Walk" to describe a step! Always good to add new terminology to the dance vocab!

Dave (and Kelly) kept the music going day and night and there was a nice mix of current and past favorites being played all the time!

A big shout out to Diane and Sandy for all their hard work in putting this whole thing together! There is so much work that goes into planning events like this and the work doesn't stop once we get there - it doesn't even stop when it's over! My thanks to them for all they do!

The hotel was quite nice - great rooms, good food and service, attentive housekeeping, friendly staff! And the ballroom - while FREEZING when you first go in - was kept at a great temperature for dancing! So nice to not be glistening all the time!

I began writing this on the plane on the return trip home (since it was the first opportunity I'd had to do so!), but couldn't get back to finish it until now since I went immediately to the US Open Pickleball Championships and spent my life at the pickleball courts for the last week! 

I would have to say that all in all, it was a great week away! And - I've already done my registration for 2018, so I can do it all again next year!

Rachael's Workshop 3/18/17

Another great workshop from Rachael!  We had 9 of us - Debbie, Nancy, Marlene, Brenda, Vicki, Terry, Valerie, Kathy, and I - and all but Valerie drove up and back to this one in a rented 12-passenger van! What a trip! Debbie did all the driving and we all got to be together! Fun!!

Rachael taught six dances and we danced all day long! Two easier dances that my Thursday class will like:  1159 and Stomp Like Hell; two classics that were fun to learn: Guilty and Raise Your Glass; and two more challenging dances that we all liked: Let It Out (on the funkier side) and She Used To Be Mine (beautiful waltz).

Sunday, 2/26/17

Attended the 4th Annual Scott Blevins workshop yesterday. Betsy really puts on a great event.

Scott taught 5 dances - The Anthem (his), Thumbs Up (new - his with Amy Glass), Jonno Liberman's
"Grab Your Skates" (cute), "Chunky" by Caroline Pillar, and "No Regrets" (Scott's). I REALLY REALLY REALLY like both Thumbs Up and The Anthem. I think Thumbs Up wins as the very favorite - only because it was taught first. LOL!

Since I'll be teaching Nancy's class at the Vineyards both Monday and Friday this week, I'll be teaching both of these dances right away (even without a step sheet for Thumbs Up yet!)

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.