Categories
dance events Linktastic social dancing

Bring your date to Shadows this weekend

Daniel and I will be returning to Shadows Dinner Theatre on Saturday, November 16 to teach a beginning rumba lesson and enjoy the great romantic atmosphere and delicious meal at Shadows’s “Date Night” event. It’s not too late to reserve a table for yourself and your sweetie! Call 478-321-7526, or you can reserve and pay directly from Shadows’s online calendar. Just click on “Date Night” and we’ll see you Saturday!

Categories
social dancing teaching

Dancing in the Shadows

Daniel and I were very excited to début at Shadows Dinner Theatre tonight as part of their monthly Date Night event. This gorgeous downtown venue (on 2nd Street between Poplar and Cherry) hosts interactive murder mystery dinners, private events for corporations, parties, and birthdays, and a special couples’ evening once a month–that’s Date Night. Couples share an intimate, elegant dinner in a romantic atmosphere,  have a professional photo taken to commemorate their evening, and enjoy a “date night” activity.  The couples present tonight got to learn the rumba from Daniel and me.  Everybody including us had a great time and we are already looking forward to teaching again next month.  Date Night is every third Saturday and the owner of Shadows has assured me that the website will be updated by Monday with November’s events. As soon as the calendar is set, you can book online via their Events page.  Be quick quick, not slow to check it out because seatings are limited.

Categories
dance events MSDC social dancing

Spring Formal at Macon State College

It used to be the case (18th-19th centuries, after the invention of partner dancing as we know it) that “older” and/or married people didn’t dance at parties or balls.  Dancing was for the young people and those who were courting.  I’m glad that’s not true anymore or Daniel and I would not have had as much fun last night as we did!  Macon State College hosted its first Spring Formal and we attended as “chaperones.”  Actual chaperoning was unnecessary but we got some good dancing in and some excellent publicity for the dance club.  The club members tried out their new tango steps to the Glee version of “Bust Your Windows,” experimented with the rumba (which Daniel taught them at last week’s meeting after I left: very sneaky!), and we saw some swing, merengue, and hustle happening as well.  Not to mention the panoply of non-ballroom dances that we all participated in.  Club president Minwoo Kim helped me remember how to do the Wobble; Daniel and I did the Cha-Cha Slide right on the edge of the floor because it was so crowded, and we saw a slightly funkier version of the Electric Slide called the “G Slide.”  As for the “Stanky Legg”. . . I’m going to have to practice that one at home.  In dark of night.  And maybe leave it at that.

A total of about 160 students and guests attended, all dressed in their best and ready to have a good time.  Everyone was shy about getting on the floor at first but once the ice was broken, the floor was never empty.  By the end of the night we were all wishing the floor were bigger!  After the tango, I grabbed a microphone from the DJ and gave a little plug for the dance club.  Nothing like trying to speak to a crowd when you’re out of breath from dancing.  Whew.  The whole event was an unqualified success and we’re glad we could be there.  I took a few videos and still photos with my phone, we had a professional photo taken, MSC-TV had cameras there, and someone was taking candids, so I should be able to post some media soon.  So great to see our students looking elegant and having fun DANCING!

Categories
Ballerina Corner competitions exhibitions & performances social dancing

Back to school/Back to getting schooled

Well, sports fans, it’s been a long, hot summer.  Not much to report…or is there?

At the end of July I went to Austria for an academic conference and also found out about the Vienna ball season.  The Viennese waltz is called that for a reason, y’know!  My dream is to attend the New Year’s Eve Kaiserball at Hofburg Palace, but I would also settle for a lesser ball such as the Coffeehouse Owners’ Ball.  The challenges are considerable (airfare, ball ticket prices, transcontinental ballgown transport), but wouldn’t it be an amazing experience?

A week after my return from Austria, we performed our rumba exhibition at the third annual Dancing for our Heroes charity ball at the Museum of Aviation.  It went REALLY well, probably the best we’ve ever danced it even though we had to put water on our shoes because the floor was so slick.  Somehow (absent-mindedness) we did not get any video of our routine, but I think I have video of Jim and JoyDawn’s gorgeous waltz as well as Derrek and Wendy’s très avant-garde cha-cha to Rammstein’s “Du Hast” on my phone.  It was a great night for everybody!

That was the last time Daniel and I danced before he went to Canada for two weeks to see his family.  He returns early next week and we are going to jump into preparation for Carolina Fall Classic, Atlanta Dance Classic, and maybe Christmas in Dixie if we have any money left.

We are also starting to work with a new wedding couple (Hi Tiffany & Tyler!), looking forward to seeing Stacey & JT dance at their wedding over Labor Day weekend (thanks for the invite, guys!), and getting excited about jumping back into ballroom class on Wednesday nights.  I am practically counting the HOURS until my first ballet class–either Tuesday night or Thursday night depending on exactly when Daniel rolls back into town (relevant because he went to Canada in MY car).

Meanwhile, I went to Academy Ballroom last weekend with JoyDawn and Beth for their monthly party and the next installment of the Jack & Jill competition (read up on the J&J here and here).  This month’s dance was the cha-cha.  My standard line re: the cha-cha is that I love it, but it doesn’t love me back.  I am slowly getting better at it, but doing that characteristic Latin hip motion at cha-cha tempo continues to be a challenge.  Plus, I am really out of shape right now and the cha-cha requires some stamina.  I had NO expectations whatsoever.  Well, check that: I expected to make it through the first round and into the final, which I duly did, dancing with a cool gentleman named Phil.  For the final I drew another cool gentleman, Martin, who seemed (unlike me) not to be wheezing even though the song went on for a while (it’s possible that I’ve been spoiled by 90-second competition rounds).  When Rachel announced the placements and I was not 5th, 4th, 3rd, or 2nd, I thought “Oh, I didn’t place, minor bummer.”  Then she said that the first-place couple was “possibly the oddest pairing ever in the Jack and Jill” and it turned out that Martin and I had won!  We were an “odd couple” because with dance shoes on, I am a good bit taller than he is.  So now I am tied for the top of the J&J leaderboard.  Can you believe it?

I’ve now ended the majority of the paragraphs in this post with questions.  Can I keep it up?

As soon as I hit “post” I’m going over to the Local Dance Opportunities page to post some updates.  Will you please look at them?

Categories
dance events social dancing Uncategorized

Special events this month (and week, and year)

I’ve just updated the “Local Dance Opportunities” page with

  • 3 special events happening this month,
  • the date for this year’s Stars Over Macon in October, and
  • a “weekly events” section.

Seriously, if you’re not finding enough times and places to dance around town, maybe you are not trying hard enough.  Or not spending enough time on this website?

Categories
competitions social dancing

To fetch a mirror-ball trophy

We went up to Atlanta last night to attend a dance at Academy Ballroom (home of our instructor Eddie and many of his talented brethren & sistren).  At the dance, the hosts were putting on a Jack & Jill competition as part of their ongoing project to crown “Atlanta’s Best Social Dancer.”  Jack & Jills are well known to West Coast Swing dancers but little practiced in the ballroom world.  In a Jack & Jill, you dance with a randomly chosen partner rather than with your regular partner.  There’s no choreography and no preparation time.  The pair of you rely on your shared vocabulary of steps, musicality, and respective ability to lead and follow.  The instructors are doing a Jack & Jill at each monthly dance between now and October.  Those who place in the top five accumulate points toward being the overall winner, who gets a mini mirror-ball trophy à la Dancing with the Star. Cue Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction: “I want to dance.  I want to win.  I want that trophy.”  The top three each month also get prizes: last night’s prizes were a free dance admission (3rd), a shoe bag (2nd), and a free private lesson (1st).

Last month, in the first installment of the J&J, the chosen dance was East Coast Swing.  Our friend JoyDawn won the competition!  Not surprising, because she is awesome.  This month, the dance was the foxtrot—our nemesis.  I did not have high hopes for Daniel or myself, especially when I noticed that nearly twice as many women as men had entered.  In the first round, some of the men, including Daniel, danced twice so that all the ladies would have a chance to dance.  Of course, I did not dance with Daniel since he is my regular partner.  I was in the second group to dance and my partner knew a lot of steps that I didn’t know.  I felt like I wasn’t following very well, but I tried to keep up while keeping my posture strong and my frame in position.  Daniel danced with a couple of beginners and said later that he hadn’t felt very confident either.  This is the challenge of Jack & Jill: unless you both happen to know a lot of the same steps, you have to rely on lead and follow.

I knew Daniel would get through to the final but I was surprised when I did, too.  JoyDawn also made the cut and so did her partner Jim. Ten leads and ten follows were chosen and then randomly assigned to NEW partners.  No one danced with the same person in both rounds.  There were 2 or 3 husband-and-wife pairs in the final, which required some maneuvering so that no one got to dance with his or her spouse.  Finally we were all paired up and off we went.  Daniel was with Ann Yearian, an all-around superstar.  She runs the consignment boutique at Academy, dances pro-am with Eddie, and regularly lays beat-downs on Daniel and me when dancing with her husband Thomas.  My partner (whom I didn’t know at all—Hi, “Chad,” if that is your real name…) was really good.  He asked me about what steps I knew and I just said I could fake a lot.  Everyone knows steps by different names, and the truth is that I can follow steps I don’t technically know if I have a strong leader.  He started out just doing basic Bronze steps for a couple of walls but then went into some Silver basics.  We didn’t dance perfectly but we didn’t trip over each other’s feet, either.  I just stayed left, stretched away, and smiled like a maniac till the song was over.  It was fun!

After a few general dances they announced the top 5.  Unlike in the semifinal, where they called back individuals, for the placements they placed couples.  Daniel and Ann came in 5th, hooray!  Jim and his partner came in first, which surprised me not at all because he is such a great technician.  And Chad somehow led me into 2nd, at which I was surprised and quite pleased.  So now I have 5 points toward this mini mirror-ball trophy, and I have a new shoe bag with the Bama Ballroom Classic logo on it.  A triumphant night for team DLDancers.  Next month is the cha-cha.  Can’t wait!

Categories
dance events social dancing

For Our Heroes

Daniel and I are excited to have been asked to perform at USA Dance Houston County’s third annual “Dancing for our Heroes” charity ball on July 30.  Proceeds from the event benefit Hearts to Heroes and the Wounded Warrior Project, an organization dedicated to helping injured service members by raising awareness, providing services, and encouraging wounded warriors to support each other.  The ball is held at the Museum of Aviation‘s Century of Flight hangar and will feature the Georgia Big Band.  Tickets are $30; heavy hors d’oeuvres will be offered and door prizes given away.  We will probably be dancing our new rumba routine.  Dance Houston County has two or three other awesome exhibition numbers on tap…but I don’t want to give away all the surprises.

See Dance Houston County’s website for details or look up the event on Facebook.  You can get tickets at any Dance Houston County event or by contacting one of their officers.

Categories
Friday Night Dance Parties social dancing

New Year, New Dance Dates

Happy 2011, everybody!  After a slow-and-steady year of monthly Sunday night dances we’ve had the opportunity to move our monthly dances to the second Friday of each month.  Dances will start at 7:30 p.m. and end at 10 p.m. Everything else stays the same: Howard Community Club, $5 admission, casual dress.  Dates are as follows:

  • January 14
  • February 25 (not the second Friday, obviously–something was already booked)
  • March 11
  • April 8
  • May 13
  • June 10
  • July 8
  • August 12
  • September 9
  • October 14
  • November 11
  • December 16

We hope to see you for another year of great dancing!

Categories
dance events friends & family social dancing

More video stars!

Friday night, our friends Jim & JoyDawn performed an exhibition for Sai Rehab’s holiday party at Le Piada.  They did an amazing job!  Here they are:

Categories
dance events lessons social dancing

Upcoming Good Stuff

Coming soon to a dance venue near you:

  • USA Dance Greater Macon Chapter #6059 monthly dance, November 13. 7:30-10:30 p.m. including a complimentary dance lesson from 7:30 to 8:00 followed by general dancing.  Dressy casual; light refreshments; $7 for members/$10 non-members.
  • Our Sunday Night Dance Party is moving to the 3rd Sunday–November 21–for this month.  This will be the last SNDP of 2010!  7 p.m.; $5 admission; casual dress; bring CDs and song requests.  Stay tuned for dance dates in 2011 coming soon!
  • By popular demand (no, really!), we are doing one more session of group classes at Madison Studio this year: Monday evenings at 7 p.m., November 15 through December 20.  Each class is one hour; the total cost for the 6-week session is $78 per person which breaks down to $13 per class.  Private lessons are also available.  Contact us or Madison Studio for more information.

See you on the dancefloor!