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"Welcome to the bash fellas. I'm Lola, and I'll be taking care of all of your needs"
Many of the dancers had problems getting access to Workshop Room #3.
"Praaaaaise the lord!"
Meanwhile, in Workshop #1, the dancers had to dance around the Ontario Baptist Revival that was double booked at the Doubletree hotel.
Newlywed Larry Bass was thrilled to introduce his wife Carol (seen here without her makeup) to her first event.
"Larry's new wife reminds me of someone I know, but I can't quite place it...."
Mike Sliter and Charlotte Skeeters enjoy Larry and Carol Bass' demo.
"Scott taught his new dance and I was able to learn it after only one lesson!"
"No way!"
"Check out this backflip..... whoops!"
Joanne Brady got a bit carried away during her dinner show gymnastics routine. Fortunately, Scott Blevins was there to save her from injury. (Heck, she almost fell into my soup!)
"I'm really hungry and have no food."
Glen Pospieszny disguised himself as a poor peasant woman in order to get into the dinner show for free.
"Scott, can you please take your hand off of my behind."
"Oh sorry, Ernie...."Scott Blevins spends some quality time with Ernie and Carmel Hutchinson.
Larry Bass' new wife looks a lot different after all of the makeup is in place.
"Attention! Forward, shuffle! Left, Right, Left, halt!"
In keeping with the Memorial Day theme, Doug Miranda insisted on the dancers saluting him and standing at attention after each set.
"Say what you want, but this look is all the rage in Scotland."
Yvonne Anderson believes that if the dancers can see her boots better, they can follow her feet easier.
"Then shuffle forward ... achoo, achoo. Then shuffle back ... achoo achoo"
The folks attending Joanne Brady's workshop thought it would be funny to put some black pepper on her microphone.
Joe Boxer made a special guest appearance at the Saturday night show.
No one was more thrilled than Glen when it was publicly announced that Mark Cosenza was invited to return again next year at the next Bonanza Bash!!!Pictures courtesy of CJ.
Captions courtesy of Mark.
Bonanza Bash
Ontario, CA
Sept 23 - 25, 2003
EVENT DIRECTORS:
Doug & Jackie Miranda
Event
Directors Doug & Jackie Miranda
The Bonanza Bash is one of the country's best kept secrets when it comes to dancing at what should be a national event. Whether it be the fantastic talent, the organization of the activities or the quality of the dances taught to the estimated crowd of 250 dancers mostly coming from the West Coast area.
| Larry Bass | Joanne Brady | Yvonne Anderson |
| Scott Blevins | Ernie & Carmel Hutchinson | Bob & Trish Boesel |
| Mark Cosenza & Glen Pospieszny | Charlotte Skeeters | Evelyn Khinoo |
| Doug & Jackie Miranda | Joan Price & Robert Rice | JP Potter (Instructor & DJ) |
The instructors
and staff from the Bonanza Bash 2003 Event
Standing from Left to Right:
Evelyn Khinoo, Yvonne Anderson, Ernie Hutchinson, Glen Pospieszny, Carmel
Hutchinson, Scott Blevins, Joanne Brady, Mark Cosenza, Charlotte Skeeters,
Bob Boesel, Larry Bass, Trish Boesel, Doug Miranda
Seated: JP Potter, Jackie Miranda
Not Pictured: Joan Price & Robert Rice
Doug & Jackie continually manage to tweak things each year and offer additional improvements as well as unique ideas that not all events have. One reason I really like this event is that these two get it. They understand the things that bring people to events and they understand the things that drive people away from events.
First of all, the Bonanza Bash offers something for everyone. A beginner workshop room along with a couple of intermediate/advance rooms for them to choose from each hour. Another big plus is that most of the dances taught are repeated once more over the weekend, so if you can't attend a workshop the first time due to a conflicting schedule, you have a second chance to catch it at another time. Or some just need two classes on a favorite dance just so they can feel a bit more comfortable with it. This was really a plus for the instructors who wanted to check out some of the other workshops. And of course, the demos presented offered us an excellent way to pick and choose the classes we wanted to attend.
Before I go into the favorite dance highlights, I also will point out one other unique offering. This event featured "classic dances" being reintroduced from some of the choreographers. Since many of the dancers weren't into the line dance scene the first time these dances were introduced, it was a great way to enjoy a great dance to a whole new group of dancers. These included Scott Blevins' Swingtime Boogie and Evelyn Khinoo's That's My Hat. For a list of all of the dances taught, check out the workshop schedule.
Here are the dances that Glen and I immediately put onto our must teach list (all of these step sheets can be found on my "current playlist" page under the "new and upcoming section" as soon as they are available):
Chase The Sun - Yvonne Anderson: I enjoyed the dance watching it demoed to the choreographed song by Shannon Lawson, however, I fell in love with the dance after seeing it done to the "practice track". A tune by Stuart called "(Now I'm) Free". Another hit in the works for Yvonne. And on a side note: Evelyn Khinoo would like everyone to know that the country track is better and nobody cares about my opinion -:).
Evelyn Khinoo prefers the country track to Yvonne Anderson's Chase The Sun
Bidness - Scott Blevins: Those looking to get a peek at just how cool this dance is can check out Doris Volz' site for the video clip. This one will definitely be HUGE! Long Train Running - Doug & Jackie Miranda: I love the music (remake of the Doobie Bros tune by Bananarama in the 80's), I love the dance. So did a lot of other folks there as this one packed the floor. Although I must warn you that there are a few versions of the choreographed tune floating around, so to make sure you get the right one, click here.Don't Keep Me Waiting
- Bracken Ellis (Taught by JP Potter): This looked to be the most crowded class of the weekend. Excellent dance done to a great Anastacia tune from her first album. Not too hard and a definite winner.Huey Lewie
- Charlotte Skeeters: This is an older dance that never got the exposure it deserved here the first time around. I plan to rectify that with this dance that is done to an excellent Huey Lewis tune. One of those dances I had so much fun doing the whole goosebump thing was going on there.As for the rest, here are my honorable mentions:
Zoom Zoom Zoom - Charlotte Skeeters: My vote goes to this one for top beginner dance offered. Donegan's Reel - Maggie Gallagher (Taught by Bo & Trisha Boesel): From the demo, this looked like a very good dance and the music was infectious. Unfortunately, I missed the lessons on it.
Trish & Bob Boesel introduced the popular Donegan's Reel
Going Postal -
Carmel Hutchinson: Love the country music to this dance.My teaches were:
(Me, Glen and Eve) (Just Me)....Raise Your Hands - Kevin & Rena Ward
All had a great representation during the open dance review, so I consider them a success already. Hope you'll check 'em both out. The high speed videos are up and running so check 'em out here!
Other dances taught I have previously mentioned include:
Over You - Lady In Black (taught by Scott Blevins)
Normally, I have a much longer list here, but everything here was relatively new except for the ones that were from the classic category.
Open dancing was decent this year with JP Potter conducting the music selections. Most of the dances were reviewed on the dance floor during both nights and the songs played filled the floor in most instances. Other than JP making me wait for way too long to do Swing Your Chains, the choices were excellent. After all, I needed to make sure that I would have it down for next week's marathon, where I am sure it will be played quite often.
Familiar dances during open dance included: Tic Toc (Amato), Chihuahua (Anderson), Neutron Dance (Bader), Phloor Philla (Stevens/McWherter), Weak In The Knees (Hunyadi), Have Fun Go Mad (Blevins), Irresistible (Biggs/Metelnick), Sorrento (Perry/Perron), Sweet Sweet Smile (2-step/Fi), Shakatak (Sala), Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride (Vreeland), Automatic (Nevil), San Antone Rose (Sliter), And They Danced (Metelnick), Sugar Sugar (Mirandas), Kick N Drag (Bass) - yeah there were many many others, including a lot of the dances taught, but I was too busy dancing to write 'em all down.
The dinner show, as appropriate, featured a war remembrance theme. Netty Mesa's Tucson group put on a wonderful dance act. Incidentally, Netty has a couple of class A number one events lined up for the Tuscon area early next year, check out her web site for more details!
The Arizona Dancers (with Jackie Miranda) were just one of the many great acts during the nightly dinner show.
The Joanne Brady/Scott Blevins dance routine provided the most humor. The show ran about an hour and was worth every minute.
This is my third year in a row here and I already can't wait until next year. It would be nice to see more folks from the east because this event is certainly worth the airfare. (Not too mention being in a great city with lots of things to do!)
For other events I will be attending and teaching at, check out my
Event Schedule page. Hope to see you soon at another event!Check out these other Bonanza Bash 6 event reports:
Annette "Netty"
Mesa (Tuscon)
Doris "Line Dance Fun" Volz (San
Francisco)
If there is anything you wish to add about this event, please feel free to put your thoughts up on my message board by clicking on the icon below.
View or Post to the CountryEdge Message Board!
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