Oct 6, 2007

Thank you to the Leather N' Lace Country Dance Club for inviting us to teach and DJ at their annual Fall Barn Dance. The dance was located in the Showalter Barn in Linville, Virgina. This was a huge barn with lots of hay and the biggest wooden dance floor I have ever seen. Our hosts graciously invited us to their pot luck supper before the dance started and the food was awesome. During lessons I taught my new dance, Shooters Walk, and a partner dance called Dance It Out by Paula Frohn. The barn was located in a beautiful scenic area, looking out the back doors that opened onto rolling pastures and watching the sunset made me feel like I had stepped into a painting. I met many wonderful dancers, a special shout-out to my new friends, the hooter girls!!!! We literally danced till the cows came home and I hope to see you all again on the dance floor soon.

2007 So You Think You Can Dance Tour At The Meadowlands Arena

We had the best seats, front and center, for the show and it was two and a half hours of awesome. The top ten dancers were there along with a few guests like Hok, Anya, Jesus and Shauna. The show opened with a video of Nigel Lythgoe welcoming us and reviewing the best and worst of the tryouts. The top ten came out to do their opening routine and the audience went wild. They are even better in person than they were on TV. They performed most of my favorite routines including Jamie and Hok's Hummingbird and Flower routine, Pasha and Lauren's Fuego Hip Hop, and of course Lacey and Neil performing Mia's comtemporary routine honoring her late father. Another favorite of mine was the Lion King performance with the entire group. There were also some new routines written just for the show. We got to see Pasha (who is from NJ) do a beautiful ballroom routine with Anya. Each performer also got to do their solos and we were treated to their farewell videos once again. Each performer got a chance to come out and introduce the acts adding little background stories and jokes about the cast and show - Dominik was my favorite. During the mid-show break we were entertained with trivia videos about each dancer, do you know who eats a pickel with every meal and likes to drink the pickel juice? If you guessed Pasha, you were right. The show ended on a high with You Can't Stop The Beat from Hairspray. It kept us humming and smiling all of the way out to our cars. Did I mention all of the great tour merchandise? Pricey but what the heck, who can resist the tour t-shirt with all of their photos and those great dance pants with So You Can Think You Can Dance on the backside.........can't wait till next season!

I was lucky enough to see the dance troupe Philadanco at the Algonquin Arts Theatre Saturday night. There were four high energy dance routines. The first one called "Echoes" was described as a "tapestry made up of various moods of Alvin Aiely". It was a beautiful piece that showed off the talents and beauty of the whole troupe. The next routine, "Pulse", demonstrated their "sliding" technique. Quiet music let you hear the gentle swoosh of their special footware as they gracefully posed across the floor and then interacted with each other with each slide. "Gate Keepers" and "Enemy Behind The Gates" were my favorite routines. The first had an interesting play of lights and movements that gave the dancers a "matrix" look. "Enemy Behind The Gates" was inspired by " enemies within our midst. They look like you....they act like you.....they live like you but, they are not one of you." Read the bios of these wonderful dancers and hopefully you will get a chance to see them on a stage near you soon! www.philadanco.org