Author: lauraet

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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.

Categories
USA Dance

Getting Involved at MSC

A few weeks ago, Daniel and I attended the “Get Involved” fair, an event showcasing student organizations and community groups, at Macon State College.  We helped represent USA Dance Greater Macon #6059 in hopes of attracting students to our classes and events.  It was so much fun to dance in the lobby of the Jones Building as many students I know and have worked with passed by.  Several students took part in a mini-lesson on East Coast Swing, and even more students picked up information and joined our mailing list.  It was a very successful event and we’re so glad we could take part.

My former student and newspaper advisee Walter Perry took some photos and a video at the event:

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Uncategorized

Workshop and dance tomorrow!

We hope to see you all tomorrow afternoon at the Howard Community Club where Jim Riley will be teaching a workshop on the Waltz.  Here are the details:

You will learn

  • footwork and styling,
  • leading and following,
  • timing and rhythm, and
  • a choreographed routine to use for practice and social dancing.

This workshop will help you add elegance, grace, and movement to your waltz.

The workshop will take place from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m., then our dance will start at 6:30 p.m. as usual.  Cost is $20, which includes admission to the dance along with the workshop.

If you have any questions please call or email Daniel or me.  See you tomorrow!

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Uncategorized

October is competition time

In October we are competing on two consecutive weekends.  Can you believe it?  One of my New Year’s resolutions for 2009 was to do 3 dance competitions; by the end of next month we’ll have done 4.  Woohoo!  Here’s where we’re going:

On October 18 we’ll be dancing at the SouthEastern Amateur Challenge that is part of the Hotlanta Dance Challenge in Atlanta.  Our own Eddie Ares is the brains behind Hotlanta and it is, as they say, a Really Big Shew.  The Southeast Regional Championship is no longer held in Atlanta (as it used to be every year), so hopefully this event will become a draw for amateur couples as well as pro-am competitors.  I’ve not yet been to Hotlanta even as a spectator–as much as I am looking forward to dancing, I’m looking forward to watching even more!

The weekend of October 23-25 we’ll be in High Point, North Carolina at the High Point Classic Dancesport Championships.  This competition is organized by Wayne Crowder, the same gentleman who runs the Triangle Open where we had so much fun back in February.  So we expect to enjoy this one a lot.  We may also have some long-lost friends coming to watch us dance.  Hooray!

That will probably be the end of our competitive trajectory for 2009, which means it’s time to sit down and figure out where we want to go in 2010…Montréal, perhaps?

Categories
dance events USA Dance

Dancing for Literacy in Warner Robins

Last night, USA Dance Greater Macon Chapter #6059 had the honor to be invited to the annual Les Still Big Band Night at the Warner Robins Civic Center. The event is a fundraiser for the Houston County Certified Literate Community Program, an organization promoting adult literacy, and this year’s event was the 9th annual celebration. The Les Still Big Band, Still Swinging, was tons of fun to listen to and dance to. We had a great time dancing, and the organizers and spectators really seemed to appreciate our presence there, adding a little “floor show” element to the evening.  Click each thumbnail to see the full-sized photo.

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Uncategorized

Back To School

Granted, we Southern types have already been in school for weeks, but Labor Day weekend is the traditional end of summer.  Time to pack away the bathing suits and lawn chairs and get out the pencils and notebooks–or in our case, the pencils, notebooks, and dancing shoes!  Paula East has been working hard on her new schedule of classes and also on helping us promote our workshop at the end of this month.  If you are interested in attending the workshop and haven’t already talked to Daniel, Paula, or me, please call or email one of us soon.  It is filling up really fast!

Paula is also offering a full slate of classes this fall.  You can visit her Web site for the schedule and registration information; here’s a rundown of the classes she’s offering:

  • Fridays beginning September 4 at the Macon Health Club: Social Ballroom with Dianne Kent, 6:30-7:30 p.m. ($40.00 per person, 4 week session)
  • Thursdays beginning September 17 at the Macon Health Club: Advanced Ballroom (Bronze level & up), 7:15-8:45 p.m. ($60.00 per person, 4 week session)
  • Sundays beginning September 20 at the Wellness Center:
    • Beginning Ballroom/Refresher, 1:15-2:15 p.m. ($40.00 per person, 4 week session)
    • Semi-Advanced, 2:30-3:30 p.m. ($40.00 per person, 4 week session)
    • Advanced Latin Dance, 3:45-5:15 p.m. ($45.00 per person for 3 classes: Sept. 20, Oct. 4, Oct. 11)
  • September 21 at the Wellness Center: complimentary lesson for a new class, “No Partner-No Problem.”   Sign up that night for the class, which will begin October 12.
  • Mondays beginning October 12 at the Wellness Center: No Partner-No Problem, 7:15-8:45 p.m.
    • 1st half of class: Line Dancing ($35.00 per person, 4 week session)
    • 2nd half of class: Ballroom, ($35.00 per person, 4 week session)

It’s time to hit the dancefloor!

Categories
dance events USA Dance

Dancing For Our Heroes

At last night’s “Dancing For Our Heroes” charity dance at the Aviation Museum in Warner Robins, USA Dance #6059 Greater Macon  and USA Dance #6100 Houston County raised just over $2,000 for each of two organizations supporting our military and our veterans.  Hearts to Heroes and the Wounded Warrior Project each received a check for (if memory serves) $2,085.  Hooray!

It was an excellent event, too.  Our two chapters did an amazing job and thought of everything from table decorations to door prizes.  The turnout was great, the hors d’oeuvres were delicious, and the dancefloor was packed.  A few couples even came from Atlanta to attend.  We met one couple, Bob and Vanessa, who will be competing alongside us (and possibly against us!) at the High Point Classic in October.  They are awesome dancers and very friendly people.  Bob helped me fake my way through a West Coast Swing, which was big fun!  Later, Jim Riley allowed me to step all over him in a quickstep–I got up expecting a foxtrot and learned a whole new dance instead.  SSQQ, SSQQ, SS, lockstep, rinse and repeat!  The quickstep is just one more reason to keep up one’s cardio endurance, let me tell you.

Daniel took some good pictures last night–here are a few of them. Click each thumbnail to open the full image.

The Macon Telegraph was on hand last night taking photographs and interviewing dancers, but I haven’t found an article online yet.  If I do, I’ll post it.

Categories
Friday Night Dance Parties lessons

Tango and waltz workshops coming soon

Clint Rauscher of Tango Evolution, assisted by our own Joyce Newman, will be teaching two Argentine Tango workshops in Macon on September 20 and October 18, with plans for a regular third Sunday workshop if turnout is good for those two dates. Each workshop will be 2 hours followed by a one-hour “practica” (practice time). Click here for details and online registration.

On Sunday, September 27 in conjunction with our Sunday Night Dance Party, Jim Riley, assisted by JoyDawn Perry, will teach a 90-minute workshop on technique and styling in Waltz. Last week, Jim, JoyDawn, and I got together and he demonstrated for me some of the material he plans to teach. Having seen what Jim has planned, I can safely say that this workshop will be great for those who already know some waltz steps but want to add more movement, flow, and grace to their dancing. Jim will also teach a short routine you can use for practice or social dancing. Click over to our Fall Dance Workshop page for information.