For “hockey” read “dancing”; for “bowling” read “all activities other than dancing”:
“Ovi” creeps me out even when his head is firmly attached to his body but I love this commercial.
Categories
Category: Uncategorized
Categories
Video stars, YA RLY
Everybody remembers this, right? No? Okay, to recap: back in late September we were asked to take part in a video shoot that would become part of a big promotional effort for the city of Macon. We spent a jolly few hours feeling like movie stars but then we had no proof that the whole thing had even happened or was real, because the producers were keeping it so tightly under wraps. The photographer who shot the stills wouldn’t even sneak us a peek or two via Facebook. We just had to wait along with the rest of the city, until…
…a few photos came out on Gateway Macon’s Facebook page…
…Then they released the song (free download! get it!)…
…and then I got a message from a friend today “You all look great dancing by the riverfront!”
I fell over myself (in cyberspace? IDK.) going to the Web site to see the video. We are only in it for a few seconds but we are incredibly pleased and proud all the same. They have embedding disabled so you have to click up there where it says “the video” or go to gatewaymacon.org or ItsHotterHere.com.
Super exciting!
Categories
Save the Halls!
The Georgia Sports Hall of Fame and Music Hall of Fame, both mainstays of tourism and history in downtown Macon for over 10 years, are in danger of closing and moving to other cities. The state of Georgia plans to phase out funding for the halls over the next few years, requiring them to become self-sufficient or to receive funding from other sources. The Georgia General Assembly is requesting bids from cities on both halls, opening the possibility that one or both will leave Macon and move to another city. Meanwhile, a group called Halls of Fame, Inc. is bidding to keep both halls in Macon and a petition drive has started at SavetheHalls.com.
As ballroom dancers in Macon, Daniel and I are most familiar with the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame, where USA Dance Greater Macon Chapter #6059 has hosted dances on First Fridays for the last several years. The first dance event I ever attended in Macon was at the Sports Hall of Fame. The connection between our chapter and that venue seems to me like an obvious choice for promoting dancesport toward its eventual recognition as an Olympic event, which is one of the goals of USA Dance. The Sports Hall of Fame has been extremely generous toward our chapter and I hope we can repay that generosity by joining in the effort to keep it and the Music Hall of Fame here in Macon.
We want to keep the Halls of Fame in Macon as part of the city’s overall effort toward growth and renewal. The presence of the Halls of Fame here gives visitors to Georgia another reason to explore beyond Atlanta, Savannah, or other typical tourist destinations. It also provides an anchor for the expansion of downtown commerce into tourism and after-hours nightlife. AND it gives dancers a place to dance. So…
Categories
New dance venue! Le Piada
This Friday, ballroom dancing in Macon finds a new home at Le Piada, an elegant and lively event venue located at 4295 Interstate Drive, Suite B. The dance begins at 8:00 with a complimentary lesson from Paula East. General dancing continues till 1:00 a.m. with music by DJ Pocholo. Admission is $10; light snacks are provided and a cash bar is available. Call 478-474-3566 for more information. We hope everyone will turn out and make this a successful event!
Yesterday afternoon at a press conference, the Peyton Anderson Foundation announced a $1.5 million one-year grant to promote Macon to the rest of Georgia and around the U.S. (Here’s the Macon Telegraph story.) The project, which is called the Gateway Initiative, includes a video featuring performing artists in iconic and beautiful Macon settings. Two of the performing artists in the video are Daniel and me! How cool is that?
Tuesday morning we got a call from Paula East with the news that Elliott Dunwody of Bright Blue Sky Productions had called her looking for dancers to appear in a video that would be shooting early Friday morning on the Ocmulgee Heritage Trail, and she had very generously recommended us. Fortunately, Daniel works at night and I am off most Fridays, so we were both available and very excited to be involved with the project. I called Elliott that morning to make the arrangements. One trip to Target for false eyelashes later, we were ready for video stardom.
Promptly at 8:15 Friday morning (we are not the kind of divas who turn up late to a shoot) we were waiting in the parking lot at the trail entrance, not quite knowing what to expect. Elliott D. drove up on his four-wheeler/golf cart and introduced himself by saying “Are you walking or dancing?” He picked out our outfits–white tie with black shirt, pants, and vest for Daniel and aqua practice dress for me–and we got in the cart to ride over to the location. Thus we learned that on a professional shoot, “the talent” (i.e., us) does not have to do anything except show up and perform their part. At a picturesque bend in the trail, two producers (Stephanie & Tabitha) were waiting for us along with Maryann Bates, a local photographer that we’d met a few times. She was taking still photos that will also be part of the Gateway Initiative projects.
When we got there, I was still in yoga pants and a tank top with no lipstick on. Granted, dancers are not modest, but stripping down and changing while walkers, joggers, dogs on leashes, and babies in strollers went by might have been a bit much. Elliott had found a tarp in his van which Daniel managed to rig into a curtain for me to stand behind and put my dress on. After some setup time during which we practiced and the producers made inscrutable adjustments to a pair of large square reflectors on stands (Daniel: “Can I help?” Stephanie: “No! The talent doesn’t have to help!”), it was time to dance for the cameras.
The strangest part of the process was dancing with no music. The production team will add the music separately, and Elliott didn’t have a power supply for a CD player or similar, so we just counted to ourselves and went without it. The second strangest part was dancing on concrete instead of a wood floor. Our technique probably would not have won us any ribbons. Nevertheless, it was exciting and we definitely felt like stars. We did our waltz routine at least a half-dozen times at different spots on the trail while the camera rolled and Maryann shot stills. Hearing her shutter clicking was like affirmation that we were looking good. The setting was gorgeous and everyone who went past during the shoot was very interested and complimentary. Elliott also showed us some of Maryann’s photos taken during other segments of the video and they were amazing. If our part looks as good as that, I will be totally blown away!
Everyone will have to be patient for a while until the finished video comes out. Because of copyright and so forth, we could not take any personal pictures or use our video camera. Producer Stephanie said the video would hopefully be done “by the end of the year” but the Telegraph article said November. Let’s hope for sooner rather than later. Stay tuned for our big debut. As soon as I get a copy or it’s up online, I’ll post it for all to see.
After a few weeks’ delay (they were busy; we understand 100%) we received via email a photo of me and some fellow competitors with the excellent women of Kappa Delta Sorority, Epsilon Tau Chapter at Clemson University. These young ladies were at the Hyatt Regency in Greenville, SC for a Kappa Delta event while we were there for the Greenville Newcomers’ Challenge. Late in the evening, just when we needed some support and enthusiasm, they came into the ballroom to watch us dance and struck up a conversation with Daniel and me. After a little coaching they proved to be an excellent cheering section, not to mention enviably photogenic:
Thanks, Hannah and her sisters!
Categories
Upcoming Shenanigans
On Monday, August 9 we return to the stage at Carlyle Place to present a dance exhibition for their “Dinner Theatre” series. We are dancing a cha-cha and a swing; Jim Riley and Dianne Kent are dancing a waltz; Jim (who will be busy) is dancing a tango with Paula East; and Cameron Pyle from Madison Studio of Dance Education is doing a classical ballet number and a contemporary/lyrical routine. It’s going to be spectacular (“We’ll call it ‘Spectacular Spectacular!'”), particularly if I can figure out what to wear for our swing dance.
Then, after a week of meetings and more meetings at my job, we run away to Greenville, SC for the Greenville Newcomers’ Challenge. Our own Eddie Ares is running the competition and his studio manager entered us in a staggering 54 heats–all in one day! She has assured me that it’s okay if we get tired and have to scratch some.
And then! Starting August 16, Daniel and I will be teaching “Ballroom for Kids” and “Ballroom for Big Kids” (i.e., adults) at Madison Studio. As amateurs, we are allowed by USA Dance to teach as long as we don’t compete or “promote ourselves” as professionals. We are very excited about the opportunity and hope we get a good turnout. I have been taking ballet at Madison since January; it’s a great facility with an excellent faculty (if I do say so myself) and a very positive atmosphere. It’s an honor to be joining their team. Please check Madison Studio’s Web site for details about the class, pricing, etc.
Updates to follow soon!
Categories
“Aaaaaand, she’s back!”
(my friend Steph Thompson’s ballroom instructor’s tagline every time his dancers completed an underarm turn)
Sunday afternoon saw us back from the Gumbo Dancesport Championships in Baton Rouge, LA just in time to host our Sunday Night Dance Party for an awesome crowd. Thank you, everyone who attended! The Gumbo competition was a great experience and we are so glad that we went. Although we didn’t place as well as we’d hoped, we had a fantastic time and got to see all of our comp buddies as well as meeting some new ones. The Louisiana Gumbo chapter of USA Dance is full of nice people and they put on a well-run, classy, enjoyable competition. Our only regret was not getting to do more sightseeing around Baton Rouge, but at least we did get a great view of the river Saturday night from the terrace at Tsunami.
The highlight of the comp came on Saturday afternoon when we lined up on deck with 10 other couples for the Smooth portion of the Open American 6-Dance. While we were lining up, 8 couples were on the floor dancing the Smooth portion of an Open 9-Dance event. Daniel got everyone in the on-deck area to sway back & forth and wave our arms in unison as the Viennese waltz played for the 9-Dancers. By the end of the song, all the judges were staring and everyone, including us, was laughing so hard we had tears in our eyes. The announcer said, “All of you on deck, cut it out! I’m getting seasick!” So when we lined up for the Rhythm part of the 6-Dance and the 9-Dancers were dancing swing, Daniel cued everyone to do the basic swing step together. He led us through underarm turns and everything. It was hiLARious. Rumor has it that someone got this exploit on video, so stay tuned.
Meanwhile, click through for some video that our various dance friends captured for us. I also have a few pictures but WordPress does not seem to want to upload them right now, so look for those in a later post.
So it turns out that this month, the 4th Sunday is the same day we will return from the Gumbo Championships in Baton Rouge. We’ll get off the plane at 1:20 p.m. and head back to Macon just in time to set up for our dance. Since we will have tales to tell and, hopefully, ribbons to show off, we hope everyone can come and help us celebrate a great competition experience.
Join us at the Howard Community Club at 7 p.m. as usual on Sunday, June 27. Daniel would like me to particularly remind everyone that song requests are welcome, so please bring any CDs with songs you’d like him to play.
See you soon!
Categories
Red Hat Cha-Cha
On Friday, April 16, Daniel and I, along with Paula East, visited Carlyle Place to perform an exhibition at their Red Hat Society luncheon. Paula had arranged to do a short demonstration with Will Norris, the activities director (and favorite beau of all the Red Hats, I’m fairly sure). Then Daniel and I got to dance 3 dances: waltz, cha-cha, and foxtrot. It was so much fun, and it all came together so quickly that I didn’t have time to get nervous. Paula called me on Tuesday to see if we could do it, and I went to see her last night to pick up some music and get a rundown of the planned program. As she pointed out, it’s a good thing we have worked together before and can do this sort of thing with no rehearsal!
We danced on the stage in the “Grande Ballroom,” where someone (probably Will) had even put down a wooden floor for us. The Society ladies were a great audience and very welcoming, and Carlyle Place itself is absolutely gorgeous–perfect landscaping, elegant public areas, and delicious food: we got to eat lunch after we danced, and packed away an embarrassing quantity of chicken salad and croissants. I even ate 2 strawberry tartlets (don’t tell)!
Our friend Agnes Bikus, who is also on the board of USA Dance Greater Macon #6059, was kind enough to capture our performance on video: