Author: lauraet

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dance events

Dealing with Dancefloor Downtime

Daniel is working 7 nights a week right now, our teachers have been on a break, and I had to go to New Orleans for a conference last weekend. Hence, little to no dancing going on unless you count the moves we threw down in the bars on Bourbon St. last Friday.  I hate dance droughts. Dancing is a great antidote to a desk job; it keeps excess pounds off like nothing else I’ve found.  Besides, our next competition is creeping closer and closer!  But I’ve been trying to find things to do in the meantime: run laps around the trail on campus, get the zipper on my Smooth gown replaced, stretch and do yoga to improve flexibility, have my favorite dance shoes re-soled…

Of course, as we’ve learned recently here in Georgia, every drought eventually ends.  Paula’s next set of group classes starts this coming week.  (Check out her Web site for details.)  Sunday, April 26th is our next Sunday Night Dance Party at the Howard Community Club–Daniel is already working up some new music for the occasion.  And Friday, May 1 is the 10th anniversary of the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame.  USA Dance Greater Macon is helping the GSHF put on an extra-large celebration with live music and free admission!  I’d better get those shoes to the cobbler right away so I’ll be ready.

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behind the curtain

New design

Just finished knocking together this new design for the site.  The theme is Atahualpa; header image photos by Jerry Lucas, assembled by yours truly using SUMO Paint.  Special thanks to Brandon Thompson for the idea of customizing a “desk”-style layout and for encouraging me to make us a favicon.

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in other news

DLDancers.com now listed on blogsRoundTown Middle Georgia!

Big thanks to Larry at goRoundTown Middle Georgia for inviting us to be listed on the site blogsRoundTown.  Please visit the site and give us a rating–and check out some other great local blogs while you are there.

Categories
behind the curtain

Shoes as they must be

At Saturday’s USA Dance monthly social, I complimented Joyce Newman (top local tanguera) on her amazing shoes.  They were open-toed sandals with skyscraping stiletto heels, unbelievably flattering on the foot.  The fabric was the real attention-getter: brown silk with white polka dots.  “Joyce,” I said, “I just love your shoes.”

“Thank you,” she replied.  “They’re Comme il Faut.”

It took me a second to work out that Comme il Faut is a brand name–clearly, among tango dancers, it needs no explanation or clarification.  Googling reveals that Comme il Faut tango shoes are made in Buenos Aires (home of the Argentine tango) and are quite exclusive: only a limited number of each style is made, so one is unlikely to see the same pair twice.  And the company is so guarded about its styles that online retailers aren’t allowed to display pictures of an entire shoe on their Web sites–just a close-up of a detail like a toe decoration or heel cage.  As a dancer and a shoe nut, that kind of mystique makes my mouth water a little!

The real reason I paused when Joyce said “They’re Comme il Faut” is that my brain immediately translated the phrase: “as they must be.”  My first instinct was to reply “Yes, they certainly are.”  Our friend Misty quipped that I should have added “Mine are Comme ci, comme ça“–which means “so-so.”

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social dancing USA Dance

Big dancing weekend

For a city of its size (about 100,000 people), Macon offers a lot more dance events than one would expect.  Various individuals and groups host dances every weekend of the month.  Sometimes, one dance will fall on a Friday and  one on a Saturday.  Then we all spend Sunday with big smiles on our faces, resting our tired feet!  This weekend has been one of those two-dance weekends.  I have my fuzzy slippers on as we speak.

This past Friday evening was Macon’s First Friday celebration.  On the first Friday of each month, downtown restaurants and entertainment venues throw open their doors with special events to encourage people to enjoy downtown nightlife.  We always attend Paula East’s First Friday dance at the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame.  Paula always kicks off the evening with a complimentary lesson, then we take over the center rotunda of the building to practice what we’ve just learned.  This month we learned some samba steps.  Someday, when our samba is all grown up, it will look like this one, but it’s not there yet.

Saturday night was our USA Dance chapter’s monthly social at the Howard Community Club.  Lately we have been mooching new steps from Paula’s assistant instructor Jim Riley at every chance we get; last night he taught us this crazy pretzel-y step in swing that is going to look very cool if we can get it clean and crisp enough.  Between ballroom CDs, John (chapter president) always plays a few line dances.  Daniel got up and learned the “Swamp Thing,” a complicated-looking line dance that I’d never seen before moving here.  It reminds me a little of the “South Side Shuffle,” which I used to dance back in Oklahoma.

The best part of going to these regular weekend dances is seeing the people who AREN’T regulars.  I’m always excited to see new dancers showing up and having a good time, because that means our dance “scene” is growing and gaining momentum.  Hooray!

Categories
dance events social dancing

Inaugural Sunday Night Dance Party: Success!

Daniel’s first Sunday night dance (March 29) went even better than we hoped it would.  About 40 people turned out and everyone danced and had a good time:sdc10401sdc10398sdc10397sdc10396

Several people brought requests and Daniel enjoyed playing them all, in addition to the music he brought with him.  One of our main goals in hosting this dance was to branch out and diversify the music we dance to, and that goal was achieved!  We got a lot of positive feedback from the people who attended.  It was wonderful to see everyone come and dance in a casual and relaxed setting–perfect for squeezing in a last bit of enjoyment before heading back to work on Monday morning!

If you attended the dance on Sunday night, please leave a comment and give us your impressions.  What did you think?  In particular, we are considering moving to earlier start  & end times–possibly 6:30 to 9:30 instead of 7:30 to 10:30.  We’d appreciate your thoughts on that idea or anything else you’d like to comment on.  Also, please mark your calendars for the next Sunday Night Dance Party, April 26.  We’ll be sure to finalize and confirm the time beforehand.

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Thank you for attending and making our dance a success!

Categories
dance events social dancing

Gearing up for tomorrow night’s dance

Daniel is excitedly preparing for his first Sunday Night Dance Party tomorrow night.  We have sodas and bottled water and ice and plenty of change and a guestbook for collecting people’s emails and about 1,000,000 MP3s.  This dance will be a great novelty compared to my usual Sunday night spent folding the laundry and watching 60 Minutes!  If you, too, would rather dance than fold laundry (or whatever your standard Sunday evening gig is), please come and join us at the Howard Community Club from 7:30 to 10:30.  Admission is $5 per person. Dress casually and get ready to dance to some great new music!

This dance will be a monthly event, typically the 4th Sunday of each month, so if you can’t make it tomorrow night, please mark your calendar for April 26.  Daniel has big plans for future dances, including contests, giveaways, and reacquainting us all with the Macarena.  (Hey, we can’t dance ballroom all the time, can we?)

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dancing in the media USA Dance

USA Dance president on the radio

Via Angela Prince, USA Dance PR Director:  In the coming weeks, Dr. Kay Picart will conduct 2 interviews on her radio show with Peter Pover, USA Dance’s president.  They will discuss the upcoming National DanceSport Championships, the future of ballroom dancing, and USA Dance. 

The first interview segment will air Sunday, March 29 from 12:30-1:00 p.m. EDT and the second will air Sunday, April 5 from 12:30-1:00 p.m. EDT.  The interviews will be carried on WJZT–click the link and then click on “Listen Live.”

Categories
dance events social dancing

Cherry Blossom Gala Ball

In a “casual Friday” world, dressing up and attending an elegant ball is a rare treat.  Before I started ballroom dancing, I had never been to anything called a “ball!”  Now I attend at least one a year, usually more.  Even in a small city such as Macon, dance opportunities (with and without dress codes) are more plentiful than one might imagine. 

For dancers, the Gala Ball is the highlight of the annual Cherry Blossom Festival.  It is held in the beautiful Macon City Auditorium, with two live bands, a big dance floor, drinks, hors d’oeuvres, remarks by local dignitaries, and the presentation of the Cherry Blossom Festival royalty.  If you are not a dancer, it’s worth attending just to watch–my parents, who attended with Daniel and me this year, can attest to that.  If you are a dancers, then it’s an opportunity to look your best and dance your best in a really lovely atmosphere.  Here are a couple of pictures:

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dancing in the media USA Dance

DWTS cancels juniors competition

As a USA Dance member I received an email this afternoon from the organization announcing that Dancing with the Stars “will not be able to hold the Juniors Competition this season.”  The message says that the producers love the juniors comp. and hope to do it again in the future, but it doesn’t explain why it was dropped this season.  Mysterious!  I feel bad for the kids who tried out–and for my own part, I’m sorry I don’t get to see them dance on the show.  They are amazingly talented and accomplished.

On a happier note, Paula sent me two photos this afternoon from the exhibition that Daniel and I performed in a few months ago.  Her Webmaster, Rick, took and edited the pictures.  You can see them on the Photo Gallery page in the “Exhibitions” album.