SCOTT BLEVINS WORKSHOP 2020

We had a great trip to the East Coast this weekend — the 7th Annual Scott Blevins Workshop. There was a social Friday night with 54 dances... 24 of which I did not dance; there was a playlist for the daytime on Saturday (both during the workshop day as well as over the lunch break)... of which there were 4 dances I did not know (out of 40!); and there was a Saturday Night social with another 49 dances... of which I did not know 4. (At one point I had danced 15 straight! Whew!!!)

Scott taught us 4 dances: “What A Man Gotta Do” (stepsheet is on Copperknob); “Nobody” (stepsheet to be released soon); “Take It Further” (by Tim Johnson - which Deb had already taught); and Scott’s classic “Drive Me Wild”. 

SCOOTER LEE - DANCING FOR THE DREAM

So exhilarating to watch my students on the dance floor with a big crowd of dancers - and see them excel! So fun to witness such excitement and sense of accomplishment! So very proud of each one of you!!!

We attended the “Dancing For The Dream” Bootscooter Line Dance Camp today with Scooter Lee, Jo Thompson Szymanski, Frank Trace, and deejay Lee Conwell at the Siesta Bay RV Resort in Ft. Myers today. I had students from my Absolute Beginner Class (Laura, Maria, John, Sally, & Brad), my Beginner class (Mary Jo & Shirley), and my Improver/Intermediate class (Linda). Other students from my Imp/Int class (Karen, Connie, and Cindy) were also there - as were students from Chris’ class (Louise, Yvonne, Joann)! There were lots of other familiar faces as well - fun to see everyone there!

The beginners learned dances like “Little Cupid” by Frank Trace and “Cut A Rug” by Jo Thompson Szymanski (which they had already learned) and “Swinging Thing” by Jo Thompson and the “Cowboy Charleston” by Jeanette Hall & Tonya Miller. These dances were paired with other teaches today including “It’s Time To Swing” by John Robinson & Jo Thompson Szymanski, “I Ain’t Never” by Michael Barr, Michele Burton, & Jo Thompson Szymanski, “Codigo” by Pat Stott, and “Until The Dawn” by Gary Lafferty. Plus we warmed up in the morning, and again after lunch, with a little dance called “Good Morning” by Jo and Machelle Cook Holloway.

Great dance day!

RACHAEL WORKSHOP

October 26, 2019

Another great Rachael Workshop! 6 dances taught: 10,000 More (Shane), Choose Joy, Half Past Tipsy (with Maddy), Honestly (my favorite of the day), She Will Be Loved (classic), Teeth (Guillaume).

Just the 4 of us here this trip - me, Deb, Nancy, & Brenda. Rare to only have 1 car here! Next workshop is April 4 - we’ll probably have more here then.

More new teaches.......

SIMON WARD - ORLANDO 9/28/19

The Simon Ward workshop was exceptional! Five dances taught: two from Nashville: Moves & Reminiscence; a classic - Show Me The Love; and Rolling In Love (with Heather Barton) and Up In The Air (with Rachael).

First teaches will be Reminiscence (me), Show Me The Love (Nancy), Up In The Air (Valerie), and Rolling In Love (Annie).

WINDY CITY 2019

Chicago - Windy City 2019

Another excellent weekend in Chicago! Many thanks to Mark & Eve for putting on such a great event, to all the staff and volunteers that help make it amazing, and the choreographers that bring their “A” games to teach us the best dances!

Thursday night was open dance.

Friday’s schedule was jam-packed with 43 different dances! I took one new teach - “Unforgettable” by Darren Bailey and two repeat teaches (from Nashville) - “Take A Look At This” by Joey Warren & “Party In The HIlls” by Fred Whitehouse (with Joey Warren & Shane McKeever). And more dancing Friday night.

Saturday’s schedule included the professional choreographer competitions - and I was in the ballroom for both. The returning champions debuted “Chicago Gold” - which is a really fun dance; and the challengers debuted “Cherry On Top” which was the winning choreography - an excellent dance! I learned them both and will be teaching each of them! There were several classes held during the day that I had the best intentions of attending - but... didn’t. LOL!

Saturday night’s show was a wonderful display of such amazing talent! We are so lucky to have these folks as the creators of all the awesome dances we enjoy! And congratulations to the amateur choreographers who competed during the day on Friday! The winners of Heat 1 (Chris Jacques) and Heat 2 (Rob Holley) competed Saturday night and each are winners in my book! Congratulations to Chris Jacques who was the overall winner!

With our flight schedule on Sunday, the opportunity to dance was pretty limited... I did make it to Dance Monkey Dance (Roy & Fiona) before heading to the airport. Crazy fun!

Again - thanks to everyone who worked so hard to bring together such an amazing event!

Xperience Nashville 2019

Xperience 2019 - Nashville

We came early so we could tour! Nashville Cultural Tour (some history and a thoroughbred plantation) & Music City Tour (Ryman Auditorium, Country Music Hall Of Fame, legendary Studio B); spend some time on Music Row (both during the day & at night); generally get a feel for Music City USA. Well worth the time!

The Xperience began for me with registration & social dancing (until 2am) on Thursday. 

Classes began on Friday. I took all 6 teaches! These are all intermediate & above dances - six in a day is a little more than my brain can handle... I fixed that on Saturday! LOL!

Friday classes:

Rachael - “A Little Swing”

Fred - “Down For Your Lovin’” (with Shane) - phrased - will be great once I hit the timing in C.

Joey - “Take A Look At This” - Joey says “easy 32 count with just 2 tags and a tiny little restart” LOL!!!

Simon - “Moves” (with Shane) (https://www.copperknob.co.uk/stepsheets/moves-ID136160.aspx)

Debbie - “About Last Night” - probably my favorite of the day!

Maddy - “Woke Up Late”

Saturday classes:

Fred - “Limelight” - LOVE IT!

Maddy - “Danny’s Song” - Very nice!

Rachael - “I Can Do Hard Things” - AWESOME! (https://www.copperknob.co.uk/stepsheets/i-can-do-hard-things-ID136090.aspx)

Watched:

Joey - “Party On The Hill”

Simon - “Reminiscence” (https://www.copperknob.co.uk/stepsheets/reminiscence-ID135565.aspx)

Debbie - “Juicy Fruit” (by Shane) (https://www.copperknob.co.uk/stepsheets/juicy-fruit-ID136044.aspx)

Sunday:

Maddy - “Bobby McGee” (I didn’t wake up in time)

Debbie - “Tiny Voice” (I watched)

Joey - “Oceans Deep” - Really like the way this hits the beat of the music

Simon - “Nothing to Hide” (with Chris Watson). Great country dance.

Fred - “Gettin’ A Rush” (I watched)

Rachael - “Legends Tonight” (by Mark Furnell, Chris Godden, Matt Lewis and Ray Jones - winner at Worlds) - I enjoyed this one! (https://www.copperknob.co.uk/stepsheets/legends-tonight-ID135521.aspx)

Friday night social dancing - gave it up at midnight. Too tired to continue. Saturday night opened with a live country band - fun!!! And Sunday night closed with dancing all night - left the dance floor in enough time to catch a nap, change my clothes, grab luggage, and head for the airport at 4am.

Many thanks to Sandy & Diane for another awesome event; all the choreographers for bringing fabulous dances to us (thank you, Debbie Rushton for filling in for daddy Shane - but Shane, you were missed!); Big Dave and Pauline - the BEST!; Kelly & Kellie for all the hats they wear; and all the volunteers behind the scenes who help make this the magnificent event that it is! Bring on 2020!!!

FITS 2019

FUN IN THE SUN (FITS) 2019

Another great dance event! Many thanks to Jen Cameron & JC Dance Productions, staff, and volunteers for all their time and effort in putting together a well run event! As always, thanks to Kelly & Kellie for all their work with the floors, pictures, videos, live streams, and everything else they do that we don’t even see! All the choreographers brought their A-games - a real treat to see Jackie & Doug Miranda! And fun, as always, to learn from Roy & Fiona! And to have little Mason White crawling to the dance floor! Cute!!! Rachael & Paul have their hands full!

For me, the weekend was a more “relaxed” event - meaning I didn’t need to be in a class every hour of every day! I was able to take just a few classes and brush up on some technique & styling on some I already know/have taught.

Classes I took included:

Trevor Thornton - Sunshine 365

Roy & Fiona - Dance On The Weekend, Made For Now, People Help The People,  Look At You, We Love It

Jackie Miranda - No Matter What

Looking forward to seeing these on a dance floor soon!