Hanging out in DC. My second home.

Ft. Lauderdale

Summer is coming to an end. Only 2 beach movies left to go. 2nite is The Waterhorse.

Hurricane gone. Feeling much better now!

LandWarNet

[he storm got really bad last night. Alarms went off in the hotel and i thought we might evacuate but it was just a glitch. Everyone is used to this here.

Fwd: Quite a show

Still here - we haven't blown away yet.....

my work friends.....

sunrise...now its on to LandWarNet.......

View from my room balcony in ft. lauderdale. Fay is sending clouds and wind. Very cool.

Josh Gracin concert at Point Pleasant.

Pepper And Jam At Myrtle Beach!

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I am back from Orlando. DJ Jam and I attended a conference all week at the Florida Hotel. It was a fabulous hotel right in the middle of a really huge mall. Long days, the working groups started early but we got out in time to head over to some great line dance clubs every night. First we drove to Altamonte Springs to visit Sandy Albano's class. Sandy and Diane taught us many dances including the newest one from Theresa and Vera called Black and Gold. The next night we drove to Ocala to dance at the Midnight Rodeo with Marilyn McNeal (with me in the photo above). We learned Barry Amato's "Don't" plus reviewed some other great dances, including Feed The Fetish and Crazy Mambo. I was excited to find out that Marilyn and I are birthday twins, today is our big day.....Happy Birthday Marilyn. Friday night we headed over to the Jesse Black saloon to meet up with Sandy, Diane and some of their class and to dance with Suzanne Wilson. Suzanne is the instructor and DJ and she does a fabulous job mixing it up to keep everyone happy. We had a fantastic week, it was a great warm-up for this week coming up, the Line Dancer's Spring Break in Myrtle Beach.....hope to see you there!

I am back from the Big D Bash in Dallas, Texas and I have to say, I had a really great time from every aspect of the weekend. Our AA flights were on-time and really comfortable from Philly to Dallas. I rented a car with GPS so we could toot around and see the sights which was very handy because there are many complicated highways with lots of confusing intersections. Our GPS got us safely everywhere that we wanted to go except for Luby's. Every Luby's it took us to had been long closed which was very sad, they don't have them here in New Jersey and we didn't find one that was open until we were on our way back to the airport. Next time I know where to go! We were not completely disappointed though because we found lots of great authentic mexican food and Sonny's Smokehouse Texas Bar-B-Que!





Our gracious hostesses/co-directors of the Big D Bash were Barbara Albright and Sondra Crank. They worked very hard all weekend long to keep everyone happy and I personally think they did a wonderful job.
The Sterling hotel was really nice, my room was just steps away from the ballrooms where the event was being held. The restaurant in the hotel also had great food and was very reasonable. There was a nice lobby with comfy chairs to hang out in that had free Internet and a Starbuck's coffee bar in the center of it. The workshop ballrooms were comfortable and they all had nice floors. The workshops were fun, I was able to learn lots of dances from Michael Barr and Michelle Burton, Doug and Jackie Miranda, Nancy Morgan, John Dembiec, John Robinson and several local guest instructors, Judy Guiterrez, Rosalee Musgrave, Merilyn Jerome, and Anita Williams plus one from Scotland, Olive Borland. I was also very honored to be asked to teach a workshop too. I wrote and taught a new dance called "Worry B Gone" and was very excited to have a packed room. Texas line dancers are all very warm and friendly - thank you for being so nice to me and making me feel so welcome!


Dances that we learned included: Country As A Boy Can Be, Tiggerific, Going With The Flow, Firecracker, Country Girl, Shades, Escape My Love, Make A Memory, Hello Again, Imagine That!, Seal Our Fate, Reason To Cha, Sexy Oreo, Let It Be, Bam-A-Lam, Worry B Gone, Don't Stop, Old Tears, She Ain't Mine, Foolish, Western Kick, She's A Firecracker, Doors Of Life, Push Play, Cupid Shuffle, Bring Me Water, Don't Stop, Rock With You, Mama Don't Dance, Dutchess Beguine, Big Blonde and Beautiful, Bandstand Boogie, How Long, Cantaloop, Less In Time, Mustang Sally (Cajun Style), World On A String, What Y'all Came To Do, Testify To Love, More Than Life, Hound Dog, Love 2-Step, Texas Jam, Dreaming, Hey Diddle Diddle (Michele Burton/Michael Barr), Georgette's Cadillac, Sing Sing Sing, Taking Off The Edge, Quantum Leap, Foolish Heart, Charleston Freeze, Wallflower and Quickie. There were also technique classes in Arm Lines & Styling, Spins & Turn Technique and Latin Cha-Cha. It was a full weekend that covered all levels of dance from beginner through competitive level. There were also several competitors in choreography, classic and showcase. Many of the dancers came out to cheer for us. The choreography winners also won workshop teach spots on Sunday morning.





This event has something different from other events, box lunches and dinners with the instructors which also include a special lesson. Michael Barr and Michele Burton held a Friday night dinner workshop where they taught their group a really cute dance called Here Comes The Rain in a team performance style so that they could perform it on Friday night, it was awesome. John Robinson taught his workshop/lunch routine on Saturday so that his group could perform in the Saturday night show which had a Mardi Gras party theme. I have to confess that I missed the Saturday night show which from what I hear was very cute. Doug Miranda was an excellent emcee and brought many games to keep the audience entertained in between acts. I apologize for sneaking out for a few hours but just down the road was an awesome country nightclub called Billy Bob's that I have always wanted to see and Delbert McClinton was playing that night. I have never seen such a large club, it dwarfed Raleigh's Longbranch Saloon which I used to think was huge. The inside of Billy Bob's looks like a little city. We had a blast dancing the Texas 2 Step all night long to Delbert's music, the concert was awesome. We high-tailed it out of there and made it back a little after midnight and the Saturday night party was still going with DJ Louie at the helm.


We had a late night flight on Sunday so we had extra time to tour downtown Dallas, see the grassy knoll, walk around the West End clubs, visit a really big mall and eat at another great mexican restaurant called Cadillac. Best of all was touring the Dallas Aquarium - this was the most interesting aquarium that I have seen yet with many levels of waterfalls, reptiles, birds, bugs, exotic plants and animals from all over the world. It was more like an indoor zoo with entertainment, there was even an authentic American Indian dance show. I was amazed at the size of it - I guess everything really is bigger in Texas!





All-in-all it was a great weekend from beginning to end. Next year I would get there early and go line dancing at Billy Bob's on Thursday night (I hear they do Badonkadonk there) so that I won't miss the show and open dancing on Saturday. Did I say next year? Absolutely, this is an all line dancing event that you should not miss, make sure to add it to your dancing agenda!

Local line dance instructors get together at the Ballroom Etc. studio in Sea Girt, NJ. Pepper, Renegade Rich (www.RenegadeRich.com) and Double D's Linda Dellett are shown in the photo above. Double D hosts a line dance party the first Saturday of each month at the Ballroom Etc. studio - you can contact them for info at DBDellett@aol.com. Rich has a dance party every Friday night at Indian Rock Resort in Jackson, NJ. Pepper's Monday night class is growing every week, we have a new record of over fifty dancers this session!









Other NJ clubs to visit in our area: Join Michael and Kathleen on Thursdays at Club Centro, The Colorado Cafe and Prospectors.

Worlds 2008

Christmas At Disney

Another UCWDC Worlds has gone by, trophies have been handed out and we are already starting a new competition year. I enjoy Worlds on many levels. Being a competitor there is so much to experience - writing choreography for your routines, preparing your costumes, meeting fellow competitors from around the world, the excitement of performing under those bright lights on the big floor and nervously waiting to see who gets to stand in the 1st place spot on the awards podium - nothing can compare to it. Worlds also offers a wonderful social dancing opportunity and workshops with choreographers that you don't normally get to see. This year I followed Robbie Mcgowan Hickie around, I am his new number one fan :-) I also really enjoy the dance shows and I love to watch the Masters Couples compete. If you want to experience it for yourself next year, check out UCWDCWORLDS.COM Worlds moves from Nashville to a new location, my favorite place on earth - Disney World. The photo above is from the 2007 Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party - we had a blast. I love to dance and I love to visit Mickey so I can't wait to mix the best of both worlds at Worlds 2009.

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