Categories
competitions

In Soviet Russia, dancefloor hits you!

[Will “Soviet Russia” in post title attract Russian spambots? We’ll see.]

We returned Sunday night from the High Point Classic Dancesport Championships. There are no pictures from this competition, for good reason: we danced very badly! Out of 6 events entered we placed in only one. Sigh.

As Daniel and I discussed on the way home yesterday, everyone is bound to have a bad competition sometimes. We were due: all our experiences so far had been excellent. And, really, even though we didn’t place well, we had a good time and met some great new people. But our heads were not quite in the game. Up until Friday morning we were undecided about whether we’d even attend the competition and that affected our performance. Also, we’ve been dancing a lot of the same steps and routines for about a year and a half now and we think we need some new material. It’s too easy to zone out during a round if you are just auto-piloting through your steps.

So now we have some ideas about what to work on for the rest of this year and early next year. No more competitions in 2009; the calendar for 2010 is to be decided but likely to include the Triangle Open (Raleigh, NC in February) and possibly the Royal Palm Dancesport Extravaganza in Coconut Creek, FL in January. Who doesn’t love Florida in January?

Categories
dance events social dancing USA Dance

Weekend Excitement, parts 1 and 2

Weekend Excitement, part 1: Paula East’s dancers, including yours truly, will be performing at the opening of Macon Mall’s new Art Space on Friday, October 30 and Saturday, October 31 at 7:00 p.m. Paula’s Thursday night advanced class is presenting a rumba formation (group dance), then individual couples will be dancing some exhibitions. A salsa lesson will follow the exhibition performances. Come check it out!

Weekend Excitement, part 2: Saturday, November 7 is the second annual Stars over Macon Ball at the Wellness Center, 3797 Northside Drive in Macon. Doors open at 7:00 with music starting at 8:00; dress is black tie optional. This event is a fundraiser for Hospice of Central Georgia, co-sponsored by the USA Dance Greater Macon Chapter and the Medical Center of Central Georgia. The ball will feature music by the Celebration Band and performances by Eddie Ares Productions. Call 478-633-7396 for tickets, but don’t wait. October 29 is the deadline for reservations.

See you soon on the dancefloor!

Categories
Friday Night Dance Parties social dancing

SNDP: Special Edition

Daniel and I will be at the High Point Classic Dancesport Championships this weekend, so we are leaving the Sunday Night Dance Party in the capable hands of Joyce Newman (local tanguera and owner of many a fabulous shoe) and John Herren (USA Dance Greater Macon Chapter 6059 president).  The dance will proceed as usual; you just won’t be seeing our smiling faces.  So come on out Sunday, Oct. 25, from 6:30 to 9:00.  Dress casually; bring $5 and your song requests.  Behave nicely while we’re gone.  Don’t make me come over there!

Categories
competitions

In first place…

We are back from the Hotlanta Dance Challenge/Rising Star Newcomers’ Ball after dancing 18 heats on Friday, 18 on Saturday, and 28 today–by far the most we have danced at any competition we’ve participated in.  I expected to have fun but it was even MORE fun than I imagined.  So much positive energy and excitement.  And it was great to see Carson, Elaine, John, Jorge, and Suzanne, who all came up from Macon at various times and stopped in to see us.  Props also to Bill & Grace for letting us stay at their condo.  All in all it was an amazing weekend.

We danced well (most of the time!) and placed pretty well–a lot of 1st places thanks to being uncontested in our category, but some “real” 1sts too.  The great thing about dancing so many events is that you have room to make some mistakes without feeling like you’ve blown all your chances.  Eddie said he just wanted us to get comfortable on the floor and by the end of today, we definitely were.  I knew we’d get better at managing our nerves and cooperating on the floor, and we did.  What I didn’t expect was to also learn how to keep our energy up when the dances just keep coming.  It’s one thing to go all-out in practice but having to be “on” and give a performance multiple times over a period of hours. . . well, we found reserves of charisma we didn’t know we had!

I will post results in a couple of days when I’ve had a chance to compare our heat list with the program.  We did not get any videos, unfortunately: personal video was not allowed and the “official” video service was just too expensive.  Elaine took some pictures for us that I need to look at and get posted, and DecaDance Photography was there taking professional pictures, so I should be able to link to their gallery.  Stay tuned!

Categories
competitions

Turning up the heat at Hotlanta

The heat lists for the Hotlanta Dance Challenge came out last night.  We initially entered just a few amateur events, but Eddie wanted us to dance more.  Now we are doing 64 heats!  Most of them are single dances, so that’s not quite as crazy as it sounds, but it’s still a heck of a lot.  So if you want to see us dance this weekend, here are the specifics:

The competition is being held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel at Ravinia, 4355 Ashford Dunwoody, Atlanta 30346.

  • Friday, we are dancing almost straight through from 9:50 a.m. to noon in the Rising Star ballroom.
  • Saturday, we dance from 11:30 to noon and from 12:45 to 1:45 in the Rising Star ballroom.
  • Sunday, we dance at 10:45, 11:00, and from 11:45 to 2:10 (with a few breaks), mostly in Ballroom A but a few heats in Ballroom B.

We are very excited to be participating in such a huge competition.  No matter the results, we are sure to have a great time!  We would love to have a cheering section, too.  Hopefully you can come and see us in action!  Here’s the link to buy spectator tickets.  Tickets are for admission to both the Rising Star ballroom and the Hotlanta ballroom where the top professional and pro-am couples will be dancing, so you can definitely see a lot of great dancing.  Several very enticing vendors will be on hand as well, so if you are a fan of shoes and gowns, bring your credit card (or leave it in the car…).

Hope to see you this weekend–remember to cheer for couple #300!

Categories
competitions

Georgia Golden Olympics!

Last week I attended the ballroom dance competition at the Georgia Golden Olympics.  In the past, this competition has not been very well attended.  This year the area’s USA Dance chapters promoted the event for months in advance, and it paid off.  The two chapters (#6059 Greater Macon and #6100 Houston County) entered a total of 7 couples.  Isabel and Azmi Kabbani from Greater Macon Chapter #6059 swept the gold medals.  Congratulations, Dr. and Mrs. Kabbani!  All the competitors had a great time:

It was hard to sit on the sidelines of a competition without doing any dancing myself.  Luckily we will get our turn in just a few weeks at Hotlanta and High Point.