Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Line Dance The Great Big Party June 23-25/06
Yesterday, I couldn't write about The Great Big Party in Toronto over the
weekend because I had PWD (Post Workshop Depression). It's that withdrawal
you feel after spending 3 days with two dance floors available with always
something playing or something being taught. So many familiar faces and
smiles as we sway, step, slide and bop to the music.
Adele Plantamura did an amazing job organising and decorating for the event.
The theme was cruise ship with the workshop rooms renamed the Lido and
Promenade deck; fake mooring posts, ropes, plastic fish and rafts. Looking
forward to next year theme of Toys. Judging by the winks and smiles from
people, I think they will be misbehaving more than average with toys that are
not so innocent. LOL.
Anyway, let me tell you about workshops. Most were repeats from JG2 except
for FIREFLY (John Robinson), SECRET (Johanna Barnes) and BAILA SALSA TONIGHT!
(Abby Mina) which were brand new for this event.
Personal Favourites are:
Taught by Gerard Murphy
ONLY YOU (already knew it)
PROBABLY ON THURSDAY (already knew it)
GET YOUR GROOVE ON. Got the body rolls going.
John Robinson
CHAMPAGNE ON ICE. I was told by others this was their favourite of the
weekend.
COLD HARD CASH. Popular from JG2.
BATTER UP. Easy and fun dance taught in 10 minutes.
EASIER TOUCH. Easy dance to Pointer Sisters' Slow Hand.
Scott Blevins.
HEY! PEOPLE. The Mundy dance that seems to have really taken off.
BREAK FREE CHA. Probably the most requested song during open dance time.
People still walk off the floor saying they need to dance it a few more times
to get it.
SOS now renamed BOOTY CHECK. Choreographed by Carole Daugherty who also
helped teach it. 32 count with lots of style options including Carole's
squiggle move.
I SCREAM. Played a number of times in open dance.
Johanna Barnes
GEEK IN THE PINK. A handful got a private lesson on this.
START TO SWAY. Easy dance Johanna added.
Junior Willis
HAPPY HOUR. Some people don't like the track but the dance is fun to do.
Debi Pancoast
PUMP IT. Becoming a favourite for many.
Nelson Clarke taught PROMISCUOUS that he co-choreographed with Guyton. I
didn't take but people seemed to like it. Other local instructors were Fred
Buckley, Zandra McCallum, Val Keller and Christine Mui. Other dances taught
are still listed at http://thegreatbigparty.com/ but I didn't take them. All
of them got played in open dance time. Popular ones included Venus, Mandolin
Dreams, Hips and Holding a Dream.
Open dance hit pretty much all of the latest popular dances like Bosa Nova,
Bomshel Stomp, Come Tomorrow, Upside Down, Heartbreaker, Simplemente,
Crabbuckit, The Way, Irish Stew, Go Greased Lightning, Kowboy Krazy, After
Party. DJ's Mike Bishop and Lynn Warden kept us hopping in both dance rooms
for as long as we could go.
A few of things made this weekend unique. For one workshop, Gerard Murphy
had 5 groups choreograph a dance in 25 minutes. Each group had 8 members who
each added 4 beats to a 32 count dance. It seemed to work really well.
Four of the groups presented and danced their creation during the show
Saturday evening. Gerard also did synchronised swimming each morning in the
pool. The midnight Chocolate Dessert Dream Buffet was way over the top:
fruit skewers, melted chocolate fountain, numerous rich cakes and tortes.
Sugar and chocolate overload.
The Great Big Party continues to be one of the premier line dance events in
the Toronto area. Adele moved it back to an airport hotel this year so it's
more accessible to those from out of town. The hotel has promised her larger
dance floors for next year. Looking forward to it.
Just to add something about The Great Big Party that hasn't been mentioned.
FOOD.
Adele had the hotel set up a sandwich shop inside the coatroom. This was
great to grab a sandwich, drink and chips while they did 15 minute re-teaches
over the lunch hour. The instructors went back through the schedule and
re-did all the dances they taught. You could go to the other "ship" deck and
try all the other dances. I prefer to re-do the same dances since I find it
burns into my head better. Those who missed Friday didn't miss much since
these these re-teaches were at lunch on Saturday.
Dinner break of 2 hours was ideal to relax a bit. You could have dinner at
the hotel but there was also a Lone Star and Keg Restaurant right next door
(3 minute walk). It's a great location for The Great Big Party. Hope to see
everyone next year.
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weekend because I had PWD (Post Workshop Depression). It's that withdrawal
you feel after spending 3 days with two dance floors available with always
something playing or something being taught. So many familiar faces and
smiles as we sway, step, slide and bop to the music.
Adele Plantamura did an amazing job organising and decorating for the event.
The theme was cruise ship with the workshop rooms renamed the Lido and
Promenade deck; fake mooring posts, ropes, plastic fish and rafts. Looking
forward to next year theme of Toys. Judging by the winks and smiles from
people, I think they will be misbehaving more than average with toys that are
not so innocent. LOL.
Anyway, let me tell you about workshops. Most were repeats from JG2 except
for FIREFLY (John Robinson), SECRET (Johanna Barnes) and BAILA SALSA TONIGHT!
(Abby Mina) which were brand new for this event.
Personal Favourites are:
Taught by Gerard Murphy
ONLY YOU (already knew it)
PROBABLY ON THURSDAY (already knew it)
GET YOUR GROOVE ON. Got the body rolls going.
John Robinson
CHAMPAGNE ON ICE. I was told by others this was their favourite of the
weekend.
COLD HARD CASH. Popular from JG2.
BATTER UP. Easy and fun dance taught in 10 minutes.
EASIER TOUCH. Easy dance to Pointer Sisters' Slow Hand.
Scott Blevins.
HEY! PEOPLE. The Mundy dance that seems to have really taken off.
BREAK FREE CHA. Probably the most requested song during open dance time.
People still walk off the floor saying they need to dance it a few more times
to get it.
SOS now renamed BOOTY CHECK. Choreographed by Carole Daugherty who also
helped teach it. 32 count with lots of style options including Carole's
squiggle move.
I SCREAM. Played a number of times in open dance.
Johanna Barnes
GEEK IN THE PINK. A handful got a private lesson on this.
START TO SWAY. Easy dance Johanna added.
Junior Willis
HAPPY HOUR. Some people don't like the track but the dance is fun to do.
Debi Pancoast
PUMP IT. Becoming a favourite for many.
Nelson Clarke taught PROMISCUOUS that he co-choreographed with Guyton. I
didn't take but people seemed to like it. Other local instructors were Fred
Buckley, Zandra McCallum, Val Keller and Christine Mui. Other dances taught
are still listed at http://thegreatbigparty.com/ but I didn't take them. All
of them got played in open dance time. Popular ones included Venus, Mandolin
Dreams, Hips and Holding a Dream.
Open dance hit pretty much all of the latest popular dances like Bosa Nova,
Bomshel Stomp, Come Tomorrow, Upside Down, Heartbreaker, Simplemente,
Crabbuckit, The Way, Irish Stew, Go Greased Lightning, Kowboy Krazy, After
Party. DJ's Mike Bishop and Lynn Warden kept us hopping in both dance rooms
for as long as we could go.
A few of things made this weekend unique. For one workshop, Gerard Murphy
had 5 groups choreograph a dance in 25 minutes. Each group had 8 members who
each added 4 beats to a 32 count dance. It seemed to work really well.
Four of the groups presented and danced their creation during the show
Saturday evening. Gerard also did synchronised swimming each morning in the
pool. The midnight Chocolate Dessert Dream Buffet was way over the top:
fruit skewers, melted chocolate fountain, numerous rich cakes and tortes.
Sugar and chocolate overload.
The Great Big Party continues to be one of the premier line dance events in
the Toronto area. Adele moved it back to an airport hotel this year so it's
more accessible to those from out of town. The hotel has promised her larger
dance floors for next year. Looking forward to it.
Just to add something about The Great Big Party that hasn't been mentioned.
FOOD.
Adele had the hotel set up a sandwich shop inside the coatroom. This was
great to grab a sandwich, drink and chips while they did 15 minute re-teaches
over the lunch hour. The instructors went back through the schedule and
re-did all the dances they taught. You could go to the other "ship" deck and
try all the other dances. I prefer to re-do the same dances since I find it
burns into my head better. Those who missed Friday didn't miss much since
these these re-teaches were at lunch on Saturday.
Dinner break of 2 hours was ideal to relax a bit. You could have dinner at
the hotel but there was also a Lone Star and Keg Restaurant right next door
(3 minute walk). It's a great location for The Great Big Party. Hope to see
everyone next year.
Thursday, June 15, 2006
Life
May I say that I consider it irresponsible that a doctor would say 24 hours
until you die. Medicine is not that precise an art. I recently lost my Aunt in
Ottawa she spent 6 weeks in the hospital on oxygen and was unconscious for
the last 24 hours. We die because we loose Hope.
The human mind is immensely powerful at healing the body. That is why all
drugs studies are blind. The placebo effect is well known and a factor in
many recoveries.
Yesterday, I dropped off a scooter to a family friend who is 81 and has
leukaemia. He received the scooter like a kid getting a Christmas present.
He rode it with glee then had to check the garage once more before we left.
Presumably to see if the battery charge completed but almost just to see if
it was still there. I guess this was a distraction from the pain of having
four bone marrow samples taken in the afternoon. The young in spirit live
on.
On my last visit to see my Aunt in Ottawa I asked if I could take her in a
wheelchair around the ward. The nurse was happy to help although we had to
transfer the IV bags and she had to get an oxygen tank for the wheelchair.
The windows in my Aunt's hospital room faced another building so it was
revitalising to get out in the sun bathed corridors. After one loop around
the ward she was fatigued and we returned to the room where the nurses
happily transferred her back to bed. In retrospect, it is satisfying to know
I had shown my Aunt her last sunset.
(0) comments
until you die. Medicine is not that precise an art. I recently lost my Aunt in
Ottawa she spent 6 weeks in the hospital on oxygen and was unconscious for
the last 24 hours. We die because we loose Hope.
The human mind is immensely powerful at healing the body. That is why all
drugs studies are blind. The placebo effect is well known and a factor in
many recoveries.
Yesterday, I dropped off a scooter to a family friend who is 81 and has
leukaemia. He received the scooter like a kid getting a Christmas present.
He rode it with glee then had to check the garage once more before we left.
Presumably to see if the battery charge completed but almost just to see if
it was still there. I guess this was a distraction from the pain of having
four bone marrow samples taken in the afternoon. The young in spirit live
on.
On my last visit to see my Aunt in Ottawa I asked if I could take her in a
wheelchair around the ward. The nurse was happy to help although we had to
transfer the IV bags and she had to get an oxygen tank for the wheelchair.
The windows in my Aunt's hospital room faced another building so it was
revitalising to get out in the sun bathed corridors. After one loop around
the ward she was fatigued and we returned to the room where the nurses
happily transferred her back to bed. In retrospect, it is satisfying to know
I had shown my Aunt her last sunset.
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Line Dance Event Review JG2 June 1-4/06
First time at JG2.
I always appreciate hearing about LD events in Carol's newsletter, especially to know what ones to consider attending in the future. JG2 is in their 13th year. It's easy to understand why it's an enduring event. Everything ran smoothly from the demos, competitions, shows, costume parade and lots of open dance time in multiple rooms. James and Jean ask choreographers to bring their latest and only teach their own dances. While this sounds restrictive it has earned the reputation for the place to learn the new dances for the year in North America. Like the Line Dance "new model" year.
There were also international dancers because of this reputation. Choreographers came from the US, Canada, Iceland, Scotland and the UK. (I'm just writing this on the airplane from memory so I hope I didn't leave out any country.)
Thursday James and Jean relaxed the rules and let instructors teach other people's dances. There were 6 dance rooms plus one extra open dancing room. Teaches ran 10 am to 7 pm on the hour Friday and Saturday then Sunday morning.
That being said, you could only take so many classes. The morning demos really helped. You can see what it looks like and what the music sounds like. I prefer morning demos. Yeah it's hard to get up but evening demos seem to break into dance time and somehow after all that dancing you forget what they all looked like the next morning. Especially, if you were undecided between two. Part of what I picked was determined by who I will be seeing next. Scott, Gerard and John are going to be at The Big Party in Toronto in 3 weeks. So I gravitated to other instructors.
I always appreciate hearing about LD events in Carol's newsletter, especially to know what ones to consider attending in the future. JG2 is in their 13th year. It's easy to understand why it's an enduring event. Everything ran smoothly from the demos, competitions, shows, costume parade and lots of open dance time in multiple rooms. James and Jean ask choreographers to bring their latest and only teach their own dances. While this sounds restrictive it has earned the reputation for the place to learn the new dances for the year in North America. Like the Line Dance "new model" year.
There were also international dancers because of this reputation. Choreographers came from the US, Canada, Iceland, Scotland and the UK. (I'm just writing this on the airplane from memory so I hope I didn't leave out any country.)
Thursday James and Jean relaxed the rules and let instructors teach other people's dances. There were 6 dance rooms plus one extra open dancing room. Teaches ran 10 am to 7 pm on the hour Friday and Saturday then Sunday morning.
That being said, you could only take so many classes. The morning demos really helped. You can see what it looks like and what the music sounds like. I prefer morning demos. Yeah it's hard to get up but evening demos seem to break into dance time and somehow after all that dancing you forget what they all looked like the next morning. Especially, if you were undecided between two. Part of what I picked was determined by who I will be seeing next. Scott, Gerard and John are going to be at The Big Party in Toronto in 3 weeks. So I gravitated to other instructors.
I really liked Liz Clarke. Took a class from her for the first time. WALKING BACKWARDS was an easy dance with a song that Pepper mentioned seemed to stick in your head. (Of course you're walking backwards when he sings the words.) I really enjoyed learning THE PROMISE and WISH I. Easy dances that you can play with. Michael Barr also taught an easy dance (but fairly fast beat) BORN TO BE BLUE. I liked playing with that one. Neville Fitzgerald taught PUMP IT. For me it was a review from when Rachel and Paul taught it at the One Day Fun Workshop in Markham/Toronto. It got a lot of play at JG2, always filling the floor. Pepper Siquieros taught CELTIC KITTENS that you can warm up your Scottish or Irish feet to.
I really like Guyton Mundy's HEY! PEOPLE. Fast, fun, no arms, no tags. Bracken Ellis did her one teach of FANTABULOUS before the �accident�. It seems a lot of people know this dance and really like it. Alison Biggs taught COME INTO MY WORLD to the Barbara Streisand track. I thought: Great, another track that Louie will only play if really pressed. It's a great dance with a few tags that you can really hear easily in the music.
Everyone seems to like Guyton's SHAKE even though it's 128 counts. It's good to get a real teach on it. Some people jump up just to do the B part. Hmmm, fake and shake. LOL.
Scott Blevin's BREAK FREE CHA is a dance to a great song. Unfortunately, no single wall completes the 64 counts. There's a restart at a different wall almost every time. The restarts are obvious. The panic is: Have I danced this wall before and which way should I face after the turn? (Read your step sheet before class.)
We've been doing Michael Barr and Michele Burton's GO GREASED LIGHTNING since Ft. Wayne. At lot of people like dancing it and it won the top Choreography Pro prize.
Other teaches I liked:
Max Perry WITH THESE EYES
Oli Geir MANDY (we managed to remember it at night)
John Robinson CHA CHA HEELS, COLD HARD CASH, TOUCH ME TONIGHT, AQUARIUS, KOWBOY KRAZY (I've finally realised that this dance matched the Wild West Theme.)
Pepper Siquieros JUICY (too bad more people didn't take this)
Max Perry START A LOVE TRAIN, SUMMERTIME CHA CHA (one of Max's old ones with no actual cha cha.)
Neville Fitzgerald LOCK ALL THE DOORS
Thanks to Kermit Dukes for all the event photos.
http://www.printroom.com/ViewGalleryPhoto.asp?userid=kermitdukes&gallery_id=401681&image_id=271 (Bracken's such a trooper, keeps on teaching!)
http://www.printroom.com/ViewGallery.asp?userid=kermitdukes&gallery_id=401681&curpage=16 (Blundy sisters, as never before.)
