What can I say, but what a wonderful year we had this time around.    The biggest question is always about numbers and ours held up well considering the economy woos.  In fact, our hotel told us that we are one of the only events to continue to make our numbers and sell out in comparison to previous years.  I have the attendees to thank for their continuing support and left me with the impression that we did our job well enough for a return next year.

Registration as always was a breeze thanks to a top notch staff lead by Tina Veliotis along with full time staffer Peggy Hall.  These two and the others working throughout the weekend made our jobs a breeze and the registrations went smoothly for the dancers.  The floor crew also worked their butts off to make sure everything was ready for dancing before open dance began on Thursday night.  And let me tell you, the number of dancers coming out on Thursday night was unbelievable and open dancing went on Thursday night until well after 3am! 

 

The complete schedule and instructor list is posted here. 

 

Before I mention the dances that stood out to me, I need to preface this to mention that I teach a class that loves the intermediate dances and some of the fun beginner offerings for an occasional break, so the mix of dances I bring back to my Thursday Night class caters to that.  The majority are also not highly into hip-hop music, but that doesn't mean we don't throw a few in once in awhile, so keep that in mind when you read through the dances below that we'll be teaching.

 

Dances that we already have taught include:

 

Drop The Beat: John Robinson - This dance is THE most underrated and overlooked dance of 2008!  Our class has always loved this dance done to the track of Sheila E's Droppin' Like Flies and yet I read little about it on the newsletters, reports from around the world etc....  What gives dancers?  Are there some politics I'm unaware of?  Does John Robinson need to change his name and develop a foreign accent to get people to look at this dance?  I'm entertaining answers to that one, so please fill me in on what I am missing here!

 

Turn Me Loose: Nadia Friel (taught by Glen Pospieszny ) - This song was played numerous times over the weekend.  The only name to be mentioned when DJ's called out the dance was Simon Ward, yet the Nadia Friel creation held it's own in terms of numbers of dancers.  I'd have to say it was usually 55 to 45% split in terms of dancers doing the Simon Ward version over this one, however, the fact that this many people did this particular dance from a relatively unknown choreographer that has had zero exposure/promotion in the USA is nothing short of amazing.  (And the ones who write to the newsletters the most have not made mention of this one either.)  I personally prefer this one because it is 32 counts, a lot of fun and the dance really doesn't need to be any longer.

 

Like A Dream: Peter & Allison - I learned this one back at Bonanza Bash and our class continues to enjoy this one. 

 

Do It For Love: Judy McDonald - Arguably my all time favorite dance from Judy McDonald was resurrected for this event.  If you missed this one the first time or just want a nice slow dance to give your students a break from the glut of high energy dances out there, another one to check out.

 

Mystery Cha - Paul McAdam - Played many times over the weekend, this dance was mostly done to the Charles and Eddie track, however, I still prefer the Lemon Ice track (and it seems to stay on phrase much longer).  Am I in the minority here or did people not know what version to request? 

 

Fine & Free - Mark Cosenza - I taught this one to my Thursday class as well.  View and judge for yourself and send me your thoughts -J

 

Now onward to the new dances that I either managed to find the time to take a class for or thought the demos might be a good fit for my class!

 

Tango Cha - Jo Thompson Szymanski & Deborah Szekely  (taught by Bryan McWherter) - This most likely will by my first teach.  Like Hideaway Cha, this should become a classic.

 

Bossy - Michelle Perron - Fun music and fun dance.  A little tricky in places but worth taking the time to learn.

 

My Veronica - Peter & Alison - Music if fun and missed the class, but will have to try and squeeze this one in.

 

Just Dance - Peter & Alison - A lot of my class attended this workshop and they liked it a lot so will be getting taught in the area.

 

The Way You Look - Craig Bennett - A lovely night club 2 that fits the song well and the Elton John track is a winner.

 

Brazil - Frank Trace - Music was fun and Frank's class was filled with eager learners for this beginner dance.

 

Purple Rain-  Rachael McEnaney - Those learning from Rachael also got treated to her singing the track as the class practiced the moves. 

 

A Thousand Kisses - Paul McAdam - One wall dance that has some tricky restarts, but then again, it's one wall so how can you complain about that.

 

Competition Dances:

 

What a wonderful year it was for the Choreography Competition!  Lots of participation from the dancers with most of the dances and very high quality.  As many of you know, at our event we allow each competitor to teach their dances so that the judges and dancers have the opportunity to learn the dance and have an idea as to how well the steps fit the music.

 

The winning dance, Sting Me by Pamela Leader will be taught at the Tampa Event by Kathy G.

Other dances I will look into based on the instructional competition demos are:

 

All This Talk - Andrew Long - Everyone really looked like they were having fun with this dance and the music was great.

 

I Dance - Susan Purelski - Watching this dance done by the instructor/judges along side Susan sold me on this one.

 

Between Us - Myrtle Guice - Myrtle is one of my students and she did a great job with this dance.  Overall, she ranked 3^rd in her heat on this and given the tough competition, I'm sure she is pleased with her accomplishment on this one.

 

The professional competition dances once again, were outstanding! 

 

Hot Spot - Peter Metelnick and Paul McAdam demoed this dance and eventually placed first with the dancers vote.  I will be teaching this one at next month's Tampa Event so you can check it out for yourself!

 

Triple M - Michelle Perron, Maurice Rowe, Max Perry placed first with the judges vote, but overall was edged out by Hot Spot.  This one is pretty easy and makes a fun event dance done to my song pick of Keeps Me Hanging On (Almighty Edit Mix) by Diana Ross.

Did I miss some?  I'm sure I did, so let me know your favorites and I'll be happy to share them. 

 

The dinner show was loads of fun as it has been in previous years and the open dancing was lots of fun thanks to the talents of Louie St. George and Jill Babinec.  I don't think I can recall being on the dance floor so much at an event thanks to the fun mix of popular oldies and new dances that I was familiar with.

 

Glen kept the instructors happy all weekend by keeping food and drink available for all in the hospitality room and Eve was constantly working to make sure the rooms were kept comfortable, dancers were happy and water was aplenty (along with numerous other behind the scenes things that are important for all).  This couldn't have been possible without them.  And finally, I have to remark on the hardest working videographer in the industry, CJ continues to amaze me with all the hours he puts in to make sure you have the perfect event video.  You are going to want to purchase his latest creation and you'll feel like you are reliving (or at) the event.  You can purchase your own by going here.

 

 

I honestly didn't get any flack about anything all weekend  Perhaps everyone is scared of me and talked to Eve- oh wait, that would just be silly.  We had a running joke all weekend that I was good cop and Eve was bad cop.  I think the only continuing debate seemed to be with the whole name badge vs. wrist band idea.  There really is no way to resolve this because many (including me) love to see the names and where people are from.  And many people don't like to be saddled with wrist bands all weekend.  And yes, it is a little of a hassle to enforce folks wearing the badges all weekend, but I think it's worth it for us to match some names with the faces and turn this into more of an extended dancer family atmosphere.  Although if any of you have an even better answer to this dilemma, let me know!  But more importantly, if that's the biggest issue facing this event, we're all really thankful.

Your thoughts are welcome so let me know by sending me your comments.

Special Thanks to CJ for providing all of the videos you see on this page!

 

Tango Cha - Jo Thompson Szymanski & Deborah Szekely (Demo by Bryan McWherter & Rachael McEnaney)

The Way You Look - Craig Bennett