Category: USA Dance

Categories
dance events social dancing USA Dance

Weekend Excitement, parts 1 and 2

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!

Categories
USA Dance

Getting Involved at MSC

A few weeks ago, Daniel and I attended the “Get Involved” fair, an event showcasing student organizations and community groups, at Macon State College.  We helped represent USA Dance Greater Macon #6059 in hopes of attracting students to our classes and events.  It was so much fun to dance in the lobby of the Jones Building as many students I know and have worked with passed by.  Several students took part in a mini-lesson on East Coast Swing, and even more students picked up information and joined our mailing list.  It was a very successful event and we’re so glad we could take part.

My former student and newspaper advisee Walter Perry took some photos and a video at the event:

Categories
dance events USA Dance

Dancing for Literacy in Warner Robins

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.

Categories
dance events USA Dance

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.

Categories
social dancing USA Dance

Hello, Gary & Kelly!

I am late in posting this but I wanted to give a shout out to 2 new dancers, Gary & Kelly, whom we met at USA Dance 6059’s monthly social this past Saturday.  About 6 of us joined together to teach them some steps that night–I hope their heads weren’t spinning too much by the time they left.

This kind of welcome is my first and fondest memory of coming to a USA Dance event.  I was by myself and didn’t know anything, but everyone greeted me, helped me, taught me steps, and asked me to dance even though I was new and clueless.  The dancing itself is great, of course, but I also think dancers are some of the nicest people around.  We are always happy to welcome newcomers.

The turnout Saturday night was excellent and a good time was had by all.  Daniel even defied his doctor’s orders and danced a half-dozen or so dances.  He is not supposed to be dancing till after his knee pain is diagnosed and treated, but really, where’s the fun in that?

Categories
behind the curtain USA Dance

Say “hello” to Hello Gorgeous!

I am very excited to welcome Hello Gorgeous! Salon as a new sponsor.  Crissy Watts, stylist, has been cutting my hair for years, and now Teresa Atkinson, the owner of Hello Gorgeous!, has generously agreed to help support our dancing.  Thank you, Teresa!  If you need high quality, professional salon services in a relaxed atmosphere and at a great price, Hello Gorgeous! is the place to go.  They offer DHA spray tanning, waxing, and nails (manicures, pedicures, acrylics) as well as all kinds of hair services: cuts, styling, color, highlights, you name it.

And on top of everything else, it’s fun to call the salon and hear “Hello Gorgeous!” when they answer the phone!

Hello Gorgeous! is located at 2440 Ingleside Ave., Ste. B, in Macon, just across Corbin Avenue from Ingleside Village.  Check out their Web site or call them at 478-749-8098.

Categories
social dancing USA Dance

Big dancing weekend

For a city of its size (about 100,000 people), Macon offers a lot more dance events than one would expect.  Various individuals and groups host dances every weekend of the month.  Sometimes, one dance will fall on a Friday and  one on a Saturday.  Then we all spend Sunday with big smiles on our faces, resting our tired feet!  This weekend has been one of those two-dance weekends.  I have my fuzzy slippers on as we speak.

This past Friday evening was Macon’s First Friday celebration.  On the first Friday of each month, downtown restaurants and entertainment venues throw open their doors with special events to encourage people to enjoy downtown nightlife.  We always attend Paula East’s First Friday dance at the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame.  Paula always kicks off the evening with a complimentary lesson, then we take over the center rotunda of the building to practice what we’ve just learned.  This month we learned some samba steps.  Someday, when our samba is all grown up, it will look like this one, but it’s not there yet.

Saturday night was our USA Dance chapter’s monthly social at the Howard Community Club.  Lately we have been mooching new steps from Paula’s assistant instructor Jim Riley at every chance we get; last night he taught us this crazy pretzel-y step in swing that is going to look very cool if we can get it clean and crisp enough.  Between ballroom CDs, John (chapter president) always plays a few line dances.  Daniel got up and learned the “Swamp Thing,” a complicated-looking line dance that I’d never seen before moving here.  It reminds me a little of the “South Side Shuffle,” which I used to dance back in Oklahoma.

The best part of going to these regular weekend dances is seeing the people who AREN’T regulars.  I’m always excited to see new dancers showing up and having a good time, because that means our dance “scene” is growing and gaining momentum.  Hooray!

Categories
dancing in the media USA Dance

USA Dance president on the radio

Via Angela Prince, USA Dance PR Director:  In the coming weeks, Dr. Kay Picart will conduct 2 interviews on her radio show with Peter Pover, USA Dance’s president.  They will discuss the upcoming National DanceSport Championships, the future of ballroom dancing, and USA Dance. 

The first interview segment will air Sunday, March 29 from 12:30-1:00 p.m. EDT and the second will air Sunday, April 5 from 12:30-1:00 p.m. EDT.  The interviews will be carried on WJZT–click the link and then click on “Listen Live.”

Categories
dancing in the media USA Dance

DWTS cancels juniors competition

As a USA Dance member I received an email this afternoon from the organization announcing that Dancing with the Stars “will not be able to hold the Juniors Competition this season.”  The message says that the producers love the juniors comp. and hope to do it again in the future, but it doesn’t explain why it was dropped this season.  Mysterious!  I feel bad for the kids who tried out–and for my own part, I’m sorry I don’t get to see them dance on the show.  They are amazingly talented and accomplished.

On a happier note, Paula sent me two photos this afternoon from the exhibition that Daniel and I performed in a few months ago.  Her Webmaster, Rick, took and edited the pictures.  You can see them on the Photo Gallery page in the “Exhibitions” album.