Bonanza Bash
Ontario, CA
Sept 26- 28, 2006
EVENT DIRECTORS:
Doug & Jackie Miranda
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Bonanza Bash |
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When people mention the “big” events, a number of great events come to mind – Boston, Chicago, JG2, Tampa and Vegas. And while the Bonanza Bash may not rank up there in terms of numbers, I sincerely can rank it towards the top in terms of quality. If a smaller event is done right, the experience can be one that really can be a lot more memorable than just taking back some dances. And in the case of the Bash, we are not talking tiny here, just a bit more intimate with numbers between 100 and 200 dancers. The time when this intimacy is most noticed is during the time when the instructors are not teaching as they are around and a lot more accessible for the dancers. I also noticed that despite having a number of workshops to attend, I was still able to take a number of classes from most of the other instructors and they all presented some very high quality dances. The other nice thing about this intimacy is with less workshops and more reteaches, just about every dance could be done during open dance without fear of a cleared dance floor. And speaking of keeping the dance floor full, DJ Wildman Louie was present the entire weekend and did his usual EXCELLENT job of mixing in the new, the established and the classic dances all day in between workshops and during open dance. All I can say to that is - WOW!!! Did we have a great time and did I take back some terrific dances from some terrific instructors. Previous reports have already notified you have the dance list, so I’ll dispense with that and just list my personal favs (outside of my own teaches):
Promiscuous – Guyton Mundy: I liked the music and I liked the dance. I couldn’t take the class so I’ll need to learn it from the video.
Come Into My World –
Peter Metelnick & Alison Biggs (Taught by Trish and Bob Boesel).
King Of The Road –
Barry & Dari-Anne Amato: This is a beginner dance that because of Devil and the Deep Blue Sea - Barry & Dari-Anne Amato: Another dance I only observed but it looked excellent and the music was great. This one deserves some support.
Other dances I'm going to look further into based on the music and demoes are Vivian Scott's Dance-Zone (taught by the Boesels), Boogie Fever from The Mirandas done to that fun 70's tune of the same name, and Maybe Not Tonight which another Miranda dance from Barry and Dari Anne's CD. The dancers really seemed to like this one a lot. The one dance we already do that was taught was a John Robinson teach of Joy Huggin's Talk About It. The dance was choreographed to a fun little tune of the same name by Nicole C. Mullen, however, our class prefers it to Jailhouse Creole by Billy Swan which Glen discovered by trial and error. The
energy over this weekend was so high thanks to Louie, Doug & Jackie and the
rest of
And after all
was over, we got some time for food .......
And some rest........ Pics courtesy of CJ - Thanks!!! |
Happy
Hour – Guyton Mundy (co-choreographed with Junior Willis): Enjoyed this one
because it was different and it’s just meant to be a fun dance not to be
taken seriously. Only Guyton could be part of some dance that looks better
doing after a few drinks. Anyhow, I loved it and I loved the music which
happens to be country (gasp!). 
This one was a keeper and special thanks to Trish for taking me aside and
showing me this one since I could not make either workshop. Bob and Trish
are such a friendly couple and have been part of the Bonanza Bash for the
entire ten years it’s been in existence. 
Cold
Hard Cash – John Robinson: A couple of restarts make it a little tricky, but
the basic steps are easy enough (without being boring) for this to not be
difficult to pick up. A definite teach for our Thursday night class.
the song, I would have never paid much attention to it – mostly because our
group had done a dance to that song for years and years. However, thanks to
Louie, another song was played called Fever by Michael Buble that really
made this a fun dance to try and it’s easy enough to pick up off of the
dancefloor. 
Anyhow,
that should keep me busy for a few weeks. My teaches included Robbie
McGowan’s excellent high energy dance 
the instructors setting the tone, which everyone seemed to have a smile on
their face. The dinner contained an entertaining video that included many
years of the classic YMCA sketches from previous
years. The show following dinner was a
Tonight Show theme that included a Jacaranda jean sponsorship that put all
of the male instructors in model mode showing off these female fashions.
(Yes that explains us in some of these pics!) Somehow, Doug got out of
having to do this with us – hmmmm. The rest was an interview style and
entertainment that needs to be viewed to fully
appreciate. The event video is available from CJ as
Doug
and Jackie never fail to give the dancers their money’s worth and this time
is no exception. Even though Jackie couldn't join us on the dance floor
this time around (I know it must have killed her!), she was very much a huge
part of this event. I very much look forward to many more years of
this event. I just don’t want to tell too many people because then the
event may lose its intimacy, so let’s just keep this one between us, OK?
For more viewpoints on the Bash, go to
