Category: USA Dance

Categories
Friday Night Dance Parties social dancing USA Dance

USA Dance last weekend, our dance this weekend!

In case you missed it (did you know that’s become an abbreviation? ICYMI.), here’s a great video clip of Minwoo & Anna dancing the cha-cha step that Jim Riley taught us at USA Dance #6059’s monthly chapter dance this past Saturday. Gotta admit, that step was challenging. But it’s very cool once you put it all together. We had a great time that night.

Keeping the fun going, we are hosting our dance this coming weekend, Friday, Jan. 17. It’ll be at the Howard Community Club from 8-10:30 p.m. Casual dress, $5 admission, bring your song requests. We will be continuing our friendly dance competition, so if you would like to take home a Sparkly Trophy for the month, this could be your chance!  Hope to see you then!

Categories
lessons teaching USA Dance

Ballroom workshops & lessons coming up

As members of USA Dance Greater Macon chapter 6059, we are very excited that the chapter is bringing professional instructor Josh Jones to Macon for two hours of workshops on Saturday, October 12 at the Howard Community Club. Josh is a National Dance Council of America (NDCA) certified instructor who holds Highly Commended Licentiate and Associate qualifications in International (Standard) Ballroom, as well as a Highly Commended Associate qualification in American Smooth Ballroom from the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing (ISTD). He will teach American Smooth Tango at 10:00 a.m. and American Rhythm Cha-cha at 11:00 a.m.  Each workshop is $20 or you can attend both for $35. Plus if you attend both workshops you can also attend the chapter’s monthly dance that evening for free! It doesn’t get much better than that.  I will be there for sure!

Meanwhile we’ve been working with our group class at Madison Studio on the rumba and it’s going great. It turns out that martial artists make excellent dancers (did you know?). This winter we’ll be scheduling our group classes around the studio’s rehearsals for Alice, a version of the Alice in Wonderland story. So if you are interested in joining a group class please let us know so we can verify dates and times. Private lessons are also available and remember: no partner needed.

Stay tuned for more dance, music, and fun coming up soon!

Categories
dance events teaching USA Dance

Back to School, 2013 edition

Je dois commencer par dire un bonjour à nos amis français qui ont reçu une carte de visite de moi ou de Daniel pendant notre séjour à Paris. Merci de visiter notre site web!

After a big summer–lots of work, a little dancing, and a big trip to Paris–we are looking forward to getting back to dance in the next few weeks. We will be continuing our group classes at Madison Studio of Dance Education in Macon on Sunday afternoons starting September 8. Please contact us ASAP if you’d like to join the class! Meanwhile we are working with some new wedding couples and have been asked to perform at a wedding reception for one of Daniel’s co-workers. Bible Belt Burlesque celebrated their first birthday the day we came back from Paris so we missed dancing in that show, but hopefully we’ll be invited for the next one.

Next weekend we’ll be attending the Summer’s Night Picnic and Dance benefiting Pine Pointe Hospice. USA Dance Greater Macon has been a long-time supporter of Pine Pointe via the Stars Over Macon Ball. It’s not too late to get a ticket and join the party.

More updates coming soon as this school year/dance year gets rolling. Thanks for all your support!

Categories
exhibitions & performances USA Dance

Come for the rumba, stay for the. . . rumba.

This video is from the “Dancing for our Heroes” charity ball back in July; I just got a copy on DVD a few weeks ago. Those of you who are Internet stalkers observant viewers will notice common elements between this routine and the one in the previous video. We took this version as a basis when we added the exhibition “tricks” in the more recent version of the routine.  Kind of necessary if, like me, you have not lost stamina or flexibility with age but have entirely lost the ability to remember choreography.  Sigh.

One more thing: the picture is funky for about the first 10 seconds of the video, but it does clear up.  More video soon; stay tuned!

Categories
dance events USA Dance

Dancing for our Heroes 2010

Behold, I bring you photos and video from last weekend’s “Dancing for our Heroes” charity ball, hosted by Dance Houston County to benefit Hearts to Heroes and the Wounded Warrior Project. Each organization was presented with a check for $1000, and Dance Houston Country received an American flag presented by Daughters of the American Revolution. We also got to see great exhibitions by little kids (Eldad Albalak’s nieces & nephews) and big kids (JoyDawn and Philip). Woohoo! Click through for goodies, and thank you for disregarding the camerawoman’s small talk.

Continue reading “Dancing for our Heroes 2010”
Categories
social dancing USA Dance

Who’s filling in for us this weekend?

Daniel and I are heading to Savannah for a wedding this weekend, and we’ll be missing not one but TWO great dance events:

Friday night is the First Friday dance at the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame.  The dance starts at 7:30; admission is $5.00 per person.  Paula just sent me a note that there is a special event on Cherry Street that night; the street will be blocked off and the event organizers are charging to attend the party.  She recommends entering Cherry Street from the Music Hall of Fame and Terminal Station and letting the organizers know that you are going to the Sports Hall of Fame.

Saturday night is USA Dance Greater Macon Chapter 6059’s monthly dance.  Admission is $7 for USA Dance members or $10 for non-members.  The evening gets started at 7:30 with a dance lesson–this month, Kim & Vic Oteghem are teaching West Coast Swing!  The lesson will be followed by general dancing from 8:00 to 10:30.  Light snacks are furnished and soft drinks and water are available for a donation.

If you are Daniel & Laura fans (or, better yet, fans of dancing in general), please turn out for these dances and represent on our behalf!  Both are sure to be a lot of fun.

Categories
dance events social dancing USA Dance

Backward & Forward

Looking backward, last night’s USA Dance monthly social was big fun.  Excited as always to see some new faces.  Our chapter is hoping to grow to 100 members this year–if last night was any indication, I bet we’ll get there.

Looking forward, next Friday is this year’s Cherry Blossom Ball!  It’s one of my favorite dance events of the year.  First, I love a black-tie do at any time, for any reason.  Second, it’s held at the Macon City Auditorium, which is such a pretty venue.  Third, I found out last night that the Georgia Big Band is playing.  They are always fun to dance to.  As a bonus, this year’s event is being called the “Diamond Ball” because a local jewelry store is donating a one-carat diamond which someone at the ball will win.  I’m not saying I expect to win–in fact, I hadn’t really thought about it–but if I did, I know exactly what I’d do with that diamond…

Flashy prizes aside, the real fun of an event like this is that it feels like a reward for the hard work and discipline of going to lessons and practicing every week.  Elegance, grace, beauty, and romance are the qualities that draw people to ballroom dancing.  Dancing to a live band in a gorgeous auditorium while wearing the perfect dress or tuxedo embodies all those qualities.

Plus there are always a lot of desserts and you might win a diamond! (^_^)  Buy tickets here or call (478) 301-5470.

Categories
social dancing USA Dance

We can also walk and chew gum simultaneously.

How hard is it to count to 4 while walking in a circle?  Just ask everyone who learned a new line dance from Dianne Kent at our USA Dance chapter’s Valentine’s Day dance last month:

A lot of ballroom dancers who consider themselves “serious” won’t go anywhere near a line dance.  We are serious about ballroom but don’t believe in taking dancing, or ourselves, too seriously!

Categories
friends & family social dancing USA Dance

Rumba with Kecky and Teeb

Yesterday afternoon we met up with our friends Kelly & Steve (known to Kelly’s toddler niece as Kecky and Teeb) to help them work on their wedding dance. They are getting married at the beginning of May. Kelly started ballroom at the same time I did, but didn’t stick with it seriously for want of a steady partner. Maybe this wedding dance will be the gateway drug that turns the newlyweds into dedicated dancers!

They already had a song picked out and we agreed that they should dance a rumba.  They are quick studies and worked up a routine in less than an hour.  I can’t wait to see them dance it at their wedding.

Surprisingly, they had not had enough dancing in the afternoon and agreed to have dinner with us and then go to the USA Dance chapter’s monthly dance in the evening.  Paula taught some waltz basics at the lesson before the dance, which was very well attended.  Everyone was decked out in their Valentine’s Day red.  Daniel got to be one of several “dance hosts”: women paid $1 for a ticket to dance with a dance host, with the money going to our chapter.  He collected ten tickets!  He also took a bunch of videos during the evening, including the debut of a new line dance/mixer that Dianne taught us.  I’ll post that to our YouTube channel as soon as Daniel figures out how to get the videos off his camera–it’s brand new.

Categories
dance events USA Dance

Macon Mall ArtSpace Grand Opening

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!