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competitions USA Dance

2016 Royal Palm Winter Frolic videos!

Just a quick post on the fly to show you the videos we had taken at the competition on Saturday! It was a great day of fun dancing and I’m planning to write a better recap later in the week. Stay tuned!

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lessons social dancing USA Dance

What we’re up to this week

The Royal Palm Dancesport Winter Frolic is getting closer and we are getting ready! Had a great lesson on Sunday drilling waltz technique with an emphasis on rotation. I learned that the root word of “waltz” is a word that means “revolve,” so dancers should never forget that a good-looking waltz relies on rotation. It doesn’t have to be dizzying–just enough motion and changes of direction to keep the momentum consistent. We still need to work on this emphasis but it’s already adding a lot of dynamism and energy to our dancing.

Last weekend was USA Dance Greater Macon’s monthly social, which was lots of fun as usual. Paula East did a great job with the music after our usual DJ, Chester Gibbs, had to drop out at the last minute due to an emergency. Thanks, Paula!

Our next dance (our first of 2016!) is coming right up on the 22nd. Mark your calendars and we hope to see you there. Stay tuned to this website for our February group class schedule and don’t forget we are available for private lessons too.

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competitions USA Dance

Carolina Fall Classic videos!

Here we go, sports fans: a little footage of Daniel & Laura in action on the dance floor at the Carolina Fall Classic:

Bronze waltz:

Bronze foxtrot:

Bronze rhythm (cha-cha & rumba):

Major thanks to our friends & dance role models John & Penny DeFino for taking these videos for us.

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lessons USA Dance

Demonstrations from James Mulac’s workshops, October 10, 2015

Here are the video clips I took at James’s workshop last weekend. I have these set as “unlisted” on YouTube so please save the link to this post if you’d like to view the videos again. Thanks!

Rumba open breaks:

 

Rumba underarm turn:

 

Waltz left box, change step, right box:

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competitions dance events exhibitions & performances lessons Mercer Ballroom teaching Uncategorized USA Dance

What we’re up to this week

Oh MAN, October is flying by. It’s already been 2 weeks since we got back from the Carolina Fall Classic (I’m about to update our Competitive Highlights page; stand by) and a week since I got to take a workshop and private lesson with a new instructor for us, James. Can’t wait to work with him again tomorrow. We’re also rehearsing with Denise Froemeke for the Kay Center’s Dancing for the Stars event in November. She and Daniel have come up with a really cute routine and I have the perfect dress for her to wear! Oh–AND–we are teaching for Mercer University’s ballroom club this coming Monday as well. Busy Busy Dancers and we love it!

Okay–going to post this update now and get some other photos, videos, and posts up later today and tomorrow. Stay tuned and check back soon. Thanks!

Categories
competitions dance events exhibitions & performances Friday Night Dance Parties Uncategorized USA Dance

What we’re up to this week

The schedule for next weekend’s Carolina Fall Classic was posted last night and I have printed out our heat lists. SO EXCITED. It’s the first time in a few years that we’ve been able to attend this competition. It has gone from fairly humble beginnings to a record number of entries this year largely through the good offices of the organizers, Wayne and Marie Crowder (who also founded the awesome Triangle Open where we got to dance several years ago–college students now run that comp themselves, which gladdens this dancing professor’s heart!). We are going to be dancing a lot next weekend, especially if we make it into some semi-finals and finals. Cross your fingers for us and watch @dldancers on Twitter for updates. Special thanks to USA Dance Greater Macon Chapter 6059 for their generous support of our entries and hotel for this competition.

We’ve also been practicing with the lovely Denise Froemke for the Kay Community Service Center’s “Dancing for the Stars” event in Fort Valley on November 15. Daniel will be Denise’s partner for this event and they are getting ready to dance a cha-cha that you will not want to miss! Lots of the performers are contemporary/urban style ballroom dancers–if you don’t know this style of dance, it is definitely worth checking out. You could be seeing the next evolution of ballroom!

Finally, we are hosting our 4th Friday dance tonight and expecting a great turnout. Daniel has been scoping out new music again. Have you ever danced a cha-cha to a song in Turkish? Tonight, you will get your chance. Join us at the Howard Community Club at 8 p.m. for just $5 per person.

See you on the dance floor!

Categories
exhibitions & performances USA Dance

September is National Ballroom Month!

On September 12 we got to dance a little exhibition at USA Dance Greater Macon’s monthly dance in honor of National Ballroom Month. Here’s a link to the video–from Facebook but it is public so hopefully it will work for everyone.

Posted by Bob Morgan on Sunday, September 13, 2015

Our thanks to Bob for shooting and posting the video!

 

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dance events exhibitions & performances teaching USA Dance

What we’re up to lately

We’ll be attending the Summer’s Night Picnic & Dance at Macon City Auditorium tomorrow night. This event is a fundraiser for Pine Pointe Hospice and thus an heir (so to speak) to the Stars Over Macon Ball for which USA Dance Greater Macon was a co-sponsor. I’ve heard that the event is sold out, but they are still advertising, so tickets may still be available.

On August 30 we will be performing at the Tubman African-American Museum’s International Taste of Soul event. The only question here is whether we’ll be able to stop eating long enough to dance! Seriously though, this will be our first time performing at the Tubman so we are very excited and honored.

Next month (September 12) we’ll be dancing an exhibition at USA Dance Greater Macon’s monthly dance in honor of National Ballroom Month. We are choreographing a new rumba routine for the occasion. This is the music we are using–we love it!

We are also back to teaching group classes on Tuesday nights as well as private lessons. Tuesday night group class will continue in September and a silver level class may be added on Thursdays at 8 p.m. Would you like a silver level class? Leave a comment and let us know!

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exhibitions & performances friends & family social dancing USA Dance

A new partner???

On Saturday, September 13 I’ll be dancing a little tango exhibition with Stephen Coshatt at USA Dance Greater Macon Chapter #6059’s monthly dance. It is National Ballroom Dance Month so the chapter is presenting some exhibition dances instead of teaching a lesson. Carl Candiano and his partner Natalie Greene are dancing a rumba. Daniel and I were asked to dance but Daniel already had another commitment. I asked Stephen, who has been coming to our classes for a while now, to dance with me and he agreed! I am more excited for him than I am for myself. It’ll be his first time performing! I started choreographing our routine today and he has already learned most of it. On a quick turnaround like this we can’t do anything too elaborate, but simpler steps done well tend to look better anyway. Come see us dance next Saturday at Howard Community Club. Open dancing will start at 8:00 and the exhibitions will start at 8:30.

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exhibitions & performances USA Dance

Professional dance instructors in action in Macon

This past Saturday, USA Dance Greater Macon once again welcomed Josh Jones down from Atlanta with his gorgeous partner Anne-Marie Edwards. They taught us some great lessons in waltz (“Throw your body!”) and foxtrot with introduction to quickstep (“Ah-one two three four five six seven eight slow, quick quick, slow). That evening at the dance they did a beautiful foxtrot exhibition:

And then we harassed them into doing a tango as an encore:

Anne-Marie is so beautiful and sweet, and Josh is just an impeccable technician. Every move he makes on the floor is a balance of control and energy. Just watching them work is so exciting and it was a privilege to learn from them again.