Last weekend, we celebrated Halloween at the Macon Mall with the opening of the mall’s new ArtSpace. Along with dancers from Philips Performing Arts’ studio, USA Dance Greater Macon Chapter 6059 presented a dance exhibition for shoppers and trick-or-treaters at the mall. An enthusiastic crowd was on hand to watch and participate in the dancing. Jim & JoyDawn danced a swing and a tango; Daniel and I danced a cha-cha and a foxtrot; Charles & Leneta danced a samba; and Paula’s entire Thursday night class danced a rumba formation. Chester, our DJ-in-residence, announced the dancers and played the music. Jorge took a video, which I will post here as soon as I get it uploaded. The night was great fun and generated lots of interest in ballroom dancing. Hooray!
Category: dance events
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!
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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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.
Local TV station WMAZ ran their promotion of the “Dancing for our Heroes” event as part of their “Scene 13” weekend entertainment roundup on last night’s 11:00 news and again on today’s morning news. Here is the story; our event is the first one presented in the package:
Hope to see everyone at the Aviation Museum tomorrow night!
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Dance trifecta
Around here, the dance scene always slows down over the summer. A lot of people are traveling, so not many events are scheduled. As the summer winds down (our schools start early, so for all intents & purposes the summer is now over), the dance events wind up. On Friday we attended the monthly dance at the Howard hosted by John Herren et al.; tonight is our Sunday Night Dance Party, also at the Howard.
Last night we went to Warner Robins for Dance Houston County‘s monthly social. They have recently moved their monthly dances to an excellent new venue, the Warner Robins Conference Center. The facility offers nice chairs, adequate air conditioning, and most importantly, a good floor! The Houston County chapter offered free admission to last night’s dance to anyone who had bought a ticket to the Dancing for our Heroes event that is coming up on August 29. Their chapter president, Kristin Streilin, said that hardly anyone had paid to get in, so it sounds like ticket sales are going well.
But if you don’t already have a ticket to Dancing for our Heroes, I know that some are still available. The event is a fundraiser for the Hearts to Heroes chapter of the Wounded Warrior Project and will be held at the Museum of Aviation’s “Century of Flight” hangar. Tickets are $20 in advance or $25 at the door and are available from board members of Dance Houston County and USA Dance Greater Macon.
For the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame’s 10th anniversary celebration on May 1, Paula and GSHF superstar Ben Sapp moved the usual monthly dance outside to the courtyard in front of the Hall. Paula, Jim, and Dianne taught a lesson, Mark Brooker & the Soul Proprietors played, and several of us did exhibition performances. For maximum technical correctness, I don’t recommend dancing on a brick-and-concrete courtyard, but luckily for us all, no judges were present. Jorge took video of our cha-cha performance:
Also, Chester gave me permission to link to his pictures. Take a look!
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GSHF 10th Anniversary
The Georgia Sports Hall of Fame was turned into an outdoor dance venue for its 10th anniversary celebration last night as part of Macon’s First Friday. Dianne Kent kicked off the festivities by leading us in the Electric Slide and “New York, New York.” Paula took over to teach everyone basic steps in the rumba and merengue. Fascinated onlookers found themselves joining in the chant of “Quick quick slow! Quick quick slow!” as we all learned the rumba basic. At 7:45, Mark Brooker and the Soul Proprietors took the stage to keep everyone’s newly trained feet moving.
Between sets, we put on a Dance Show Extravaganza (I’m thinking of Moulin Rouge: “We’ll call it…Spectacular Spectacular!”). Charles and Leneta led off with an amazing and energetic samba; Daniel and I danced a cha-cha; Isabel put on her castanets for a solo paso doble, then Azmi joined her for a fiery tango; and Jim and JoyDawn got everyone clapping and cheering with their swing/lindy routine. After the performances, Daniel lined everyone up for a surprise dance contest: The Twist! The winners got t-shirts from the Sports Hall of Fame.
The dancing and music were great, but for me the highlight of the evening was having someone ask me about taking lessons. Dancing is an addiction that’s actually good for you, and I’m always happy to be a “pusher!”
Jorge was on hand with his video camera and Chester kept straying from the DJ booth to take pictures, so stay tuned for photos and video.
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Is ballroom dancing a sport?
We certainly hope so, since the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame is such a good friend to us dancers.
Our instructor Paula East is “professional dance consultant” to the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame. Each month on the first Friday of the month (Macon’s designated “enjoy the downtown nightlife” day) she hosts a dance at the GSHF with a complimentary lesson followed by open dancing.
On May 1, the GSHF celebrates 10 years in its permanent home at 301 Cherry Street. The usual ballroom shenanigans are moving outside into the courtyard; Mark Brooker and the Soul Proprietors are playing live music, several of Paula’s students (including yours truly) are doing exhibition performances, and best of all, it’s all FREE. The festivities begin at 7:30 with a line dancing lesson from Dianne Kent, then a Latin dance lesson from Paula, then the exhibitions. Daniel and I are dancing a cha-cha to the 80s one-hit wonder “Word Up.” Cheesetastic, but it’s a really good cha-cha!
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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.