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DANCE EVENT REPORTS FROM OTHERS

	JG2 Marathon June 1-4, 2006
JG 2 DVD/VIDEOS -- THE INFORMATION IS NOW LISTED AT http://www.worldlinedancenewsletter.com/CJsVideos.html There's an order form and the complete list of dances on the DVDs or Videos and an awesome list it is. Every dance that was taught at the JG 2 Marathon is on the list and you can also order the show and the parade if you wish or if you just want the dances, you can just order the dances. If you've never seen the videos from an event they have a quick teach of each dance and they are a great help when trying to figure out dances from the step sheet alone. Many of these dances will be done for at least the next year and will be done at coming events so take a look and I promise you will get prompt delivery from CJ because he is great at doing his job!! I know I sound like his mother but really I just like to acknowledge how happy I am when I know he's doing the videos at an event because I know I will get a fast turnaround, quality product. ***************** JG2 PHOTOS NOW ON THE SITE Kermit's photos from the weekend are now on the site. There's lot's of them and you can order them from him so check them out. He does a great job!! Be sure and look at the ones of the Parade and there's hundreds of pictures that you can order or just look at. http://www.jg2country.com/ ****************** FROM: tgml@bellsouth.net What an awesome event. I just got back from Raleigh and wanted to say that this is such a well run event. All the classes start on time and they don't run over. Jean and James did another excellent job. And all the staff at the hotel did such a good job and they were very helpful in any thing you needed. The instructors were all great and danced with us at night. GREAT dances were taught---many dances. But I would like to comment on one of the instructors---Michael Barr. He is not here on the east coast so we on the east coast have really not seen him much. But he is one of the most gracious instructors. I truly enjoyed getting to take his classes again. But he will be in Tampa this year, so that is a plus for us. My thanks to all for such a wonderful event and all the hard work. tgml@bellsouth.net ********************* FROM: Cathy Falconer It was my first time at the JG2 Line Dance Marathon this year and it was fantastic!! There was not one negative thing to say about the entire weekend! The hotel was great and everything went so smoothly, every moment was packed with fun things to do and see! What I liked best was the casual, friendly atmosphere that made you feel like you were at a giant family reunion. Favorite moments were: 1) Meeting MICHAEL BARR for the first time and learning GO GREASED LIGHTENING this was my all time favorite dance for the weekend! What Grease fan has not imagined themselves on top of that car with John Travolta pumping those arms and singing that song, now we have a legitimate excuse to get out in front of folks and do it!!!!! :o) I was also very impressed with how he handled the class. There were a ton of people in a small room and when I started I was at the back of the class and all I could see was his face. I was thinking, hmmm I hope I can pick this up by just listening to what he says. Then after he taught a bit of the dance he had us rotate so that those in the front went to the back and everyone moved up some. He did this several time so that everyone got a chance to be up front and really see how to do the dance. He also came down into the crowd and moved around as necessary to make sure each and every one of us got that dance and some how he was able to get ! a room full of people to do this dance without taking out our neighbors with all the arm movements! Michael was high energy, very nice and lots of fun, I will definitely take another class from him in the future! 2) Dancing with BARRY DURAND showing JALAPEN-YO!, the dance we wrote together, and BEEP IT (Love this dance!) also dancing SPIDERMAN with him in the show and choreography. 3) Learning the Tennessee Body Roll from JUNIOR WILLIS during his class for RUN IT. I love Junior, I loved the dance and as usual I have another great Junior saying that will be stuck in my head forever. He gives great toasts too! ;o) 4) Learning GET IT WHILE IT'S HOT and BATTER UP from JOHN ROBINSON. BATTER UP was an extra teach and it is an easy, fun new dance to a Trace Adkins song. I can't wait to teach this one at The Barn! Thanks to John too for writing the new marching song for the BNG! ;o) 5) Meeting Liz Clark for the first time and taking a couple classes with her, she is so much fun! You never know what she is going to say next! I liked the cha cha, "Wish I", the waltz, "Curious Soul" and the very easy 2-step "Bull By The Horns". Of course the Flying Scot was her big hit of the weekend, I didn't get to learn it but all my friends really enjoyed dancing it! 6) FANTABULOUS by BRACKEN ELLIS. This was my second favorite dance of the weekend! I loved the dance though I wasn't too sure what I thought about the way she taught it. She taught a little bit of the dance to each wall so that you learned some on this wall, some on that and then had to put it all together by the end. It was a bit confusing to learn that way but it did force you to really learn the sequence of the dance and not look to landmarks as reference points so while it seemed hard to learn that way at the time, I did learn the dance, I do remember the dance and I felt a really strong sense of accomplishment at the end because I felt like I got the dance and solved a puzzle all at once! Bracken hurt her toe during this dance and she still kept calling it for us even while she was lying on the stage and they were doctoring her foot! Simply amazing! I hope you get better soon Bracken! 7) Last but certainly not least, learning WORDS UNSPOKEN from PETER METELNICK. I just love Peter and Alison, I have never met a P&A dance I didn't like!!! They also taught COME INTO MY WORLD and PUSH THE BUTTON this weekend and they are already two of my favorite dances!! I want to say THANK YOU to James & Jean for a great weekend! I also want to say a BIG THANK YOU to Sandy, Melinda, Diane, Lindy, Janis, Patti, Theresa, Karen, Paulette & Sodie!! You girls sure know how to have a good time!! :o) BNG Forever! -Cathy Falconer www.cathyfalconer.com ******************** FROM: Marilyn McNeal, BoarsNestFarm@aol.com Florida was well represented and a fabulous crowd of dancers from all over the world attended the Line Dance Marathon in Raleigh. Ray was committed to a legal conference in Tampa, but I was happy to see many dancers Ray and I have known for a decade or more at this “good time” weekend event with great instructors, great DJs, happy people and a really great hotel. The weekend flew by, smooth and efficiently, each class right on schedule, and I know James and Jean are proud of another successful event! Choreographers from everywhere taught a huge variety of dances, some new, some old, for every level and style. I enjoyed all the classes I took and regret missing some I really wanted to take. Two “over the top” show pieces were taught and performed Sat. night: Barry’s “Spiderman” and Michael’s “Greased Lightning”, which you MUST see and learn whenever they are taught again by these two talented guys, hopefully this year in Florida! Everyone had TOO much fun with both of these dances! You have to learn each of them from Barry and Michael because the “extra” stuff they do and say just adds to the whole experience!! I met Oli Geir from Iceland, who is new to us in the States and I’ve chosen WALK ON ICE as one of my dance teaches at the Florida Masters in Orlando in July. There are many great dances are out right now to choose from our USA and European choreographers, plus our own Florida teachers! Also, I believe every dancer especially appreciates all those instructors who stay to dance with us at night. Having you on the floor as we try to remember what you taught us, gives us a feeling of accomplishment. Florida was a big part of the choreography contest. I have not heard the results yet (had to catch our plane) but gals competing from our area were Sandy, Lindy, and Janis, Kathy Brown, Terri Alexander and Christine Bass. There will be many write-ups on this event this week in Carol’s newsletter, so read them all to get the whole story! Thanks James and Jean for a quality event and a fun weekend and to ALL the instructors, staff and volunteers. See you on a dance floor somewhere soon! Dance with us at Midnight Rodeo this Thursday night for Line Dance from 7-10PM, in Ocala. Best dance floor in the state and the friendliest dancers too!! (Of course, I’m partial!) I’ll be teaching something new from the Marathon! See you here! *************************** FROM: Alison Biggs & Peter Metelnick What can I say? This is the first time I have been invited to teach at The Marathon and I had a ball. This is truly a well run event, James and Jean do a great job! I met lots of dancers who I hadn’t seen in a long time and met up with lots of friends made through the world of dance and also managed to meet dancers/instructors of whom I knew but by name only. These people came to North Carolina from all over the USA and beyond. It was lovely to be part of this great attraction. The workshops themselves run like clockwork and the dancers attending the event had lots of choices. I think both their brains and their feet must have been frazzled by the time Sunday afternoon came along. Mind you they also must have been happy bunnies as they were part of what was a good event. I would like to thank on behalf or Peter and I, the volunteers who did a great job at keeping everything running like clockwork, the hotel staff who were always helpful and courteous, James and Jean for allowing us to be part of their weekend and last but not least we would like to thank you ‘the dancers’. If it wasn’t for you none of these things would be possible. You are the inspiration, you are the ones who give these events what they have become……..a place to be! Keep on dancing…..keep on smiling…… and keep on coming……we all need you….we all need each other to keep our wonderful pastime alive!!!! Hope to see you somewhere during our visit and a big ‘thank you’ to all the dancers who attended and supported our workshops, we appreciate you all very much. Hope to see and be with you all again soon. Have fun on the dancefloor! Alison Biggs & Peter Metelnick ***************** FROM: Karen Just back from the Marathon and wanted to say what a good time I had this year. My favorite dance of the weekend was Peter Metelnick & Alison Bigg's COME INTO MY WORLD. It is such a beautiful dance to a wonderful rendition of Woman In Love. This was played many times in open dancing and filled the floor each time. I had never taken a class with Alison before and have to say she is an excellent instructor. Another instructor who I took classes from for the first time was Oli Geir and he was very good as well. Other dances that I really enjoyed - in no particular order: ONLY YOU - Gerard Murphy; lovely NC2 BREAK FREE CHA - Scott Blevins; the best of his new dances JUST A MATTER OF TIME; Michael Barr; good WCS line dance RED DRESS/PUSH THE BUTTON; 2 great dances from Peter & Alison to music by the Sugababes FANTABULOUS - Bracken Ellis; In a word - fantabulous! HEY PEOPLE - Guyton. Good dance and music WORDS UNSPOKEN - Peter & Alison; The dance fits the music so well. It's a challenging dance but was well worth the effort spent learning it. Recommended. FLYING SCOT - Liz Clarke; It was fast and fun on the floor. DROP THE HEAT/SHAKE - Guyton; another 2 good dances HELLUVA POLKA - Kathy Hunyadi; Fun, easy country dance with a great song PRE PARTY - Maurice Rowe; Nice smooth dance from Maurice PORCELANOSA - Peter & ALison; You have to hear the music for this one - it makes you want to dance. Good dance too. There were a lot of good dances this year - it was hard to chose what classes to take. Other dances that were taught on the weekend and did well on the floor - WALK BACK TO ME, KEEP ON DANCING, PUMP IT, GET IT WHILE IT's HOT, RACEY LACEY, SYNCOPATED KISS, SALSARIA, HAPPY HOUR, AFTER PARTY, GREASED LIGHTNING and START A LOVE TRAIN. Thanks to James & Jean, all their staff, the DJs and the hard working choreographer/instructors who year after year keep giving us more great new dances to enjoy. See you at next year's Marathon! Karen ************** FROM: BONNIE STEIN (Bonnie@AceWalker.com) Carol asked for impressions of the JG2 Line Dance Marathon from any first timers, so here it goes. I’ve been to other dance weekends (including Worlds) but this was my first time at the Line Dance Marathon. I truly can not think of one single suggestion for James and Jean. They have thought of everything. The hotel was perfect – clean, comfortable, great dancing rooms with appropriate temperature, (the most comfortable hotel beds that I’ve ever slept in), and a free shuttle from the airport. There was a buffet dinner every night for only $10.95. Granted it wasn’t the most fabulous food, but considering how most hotels overcharge for food, this was very well priced. We paid for a refrigerator in the room so that’s where I had breakfast and lunch every day. There was also a deli in the hotel with a Starbucks Coffee. If you wanted to go out to a restaurant for dinner, the hotel shuttle would take you, but it was so much easier just eating in the hotel restaurant. The staff was unbelievably friendly and helpful. This was the first time I’ve felt that the hotel staff was delighted to have us there and went out of their way to make us feel welcome. When I arrived on Thursday afternoon – the wooden floors were already down in all of the ballrooms. Often when I arrive at a weekend event, floors are still being assembled and often the dance classes don’t start on time because of the delay. In this case, dance classes were very punctual. They started and ended on time. There was a door person at each door to make the transition between classes very smooth. And this was no small feat at Marathon since six dance rooms were open every hour. I loved having the previews every morning so we knew what classes to attend. The instructors were fabulous and there was a tremendous variety. Although I consider myself an Intermediate line dancer (and also on a dance team) one day I decided to attend a beginners class. It had been so long since I attended such a class at a weekend workshop that I just wanted to remind myself what goes on. I saw people in that class that I hadn’t noticed all weekend – some brand new dancers, some older dancers, and some dancers who were less fit and less mobile than most of the hundreds of line dancers dancing in the other rooms. These dancers were having a wonderful time. They clapped for themselves when they got the steps right. They smiled and laughed the whole 50 minutes that they were on the dance floor. They made plenty of mistakes, even though the dance was pretty easy in my mind. But, the instructor (Steve Lescarbeau) handled the class beautifully. He repeated the steps as often as they needed it, positively reinforced the struggling dancers, and by the end of class everyone was very pleased with their progress. Although the dances were probably two that I would never do again, I loved being part of this class. What a nice reminder of how excited I used to be 7 years ago when I first learned line dancing and would be able to catch on to a dance. Sunday’s schedule included choreography competition which was fun to watch. If there was one thing I’d like to see more of it would be some line dancing competition and especially Pro Am Line Dance competition to encourage new people to compete. I understand that many event directors have dropped or are dropping LD competition because so few people sign up even when they have it scheduled and have paid for judges. I’d love to hear from some event directors as to what they think would bring back LD competition. I hear that LD competition used to be pretty big at one time. What happened? Congratulations to James and Jean for a very professional and organized line dance weekend. There was something for everyone from the beginner to the advanced dancer to the choreographer. I have heard that there are some other “not to be missed” weekend events such as Windy City in Chicago in October and Boston in February. I plan to try both of those in the future. Meanwhile, I must say that if you can go to only one line dance weekend out of town – this would be the one not to miss. ---------------------- Bonnie Stein, M.Ed., CPTS AceWalker Walk Your Way to Fitness Programs Email: Bonnie@AceWalker.com Visit us at: www.AceWalker.com ********************* FROM: Robert Mah, P.Eng. 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. A 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/ghome.asp?domain_name=KERMITDUKESPHOTOS 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.) Robert Mah, P.Eng. Applications Consultant RM Systems Integrators rmah@computer.org http://rmsystems.ca ******************** FROM: Trish – Keep on Dancin’ – California Just back from Raleigh – and summing up our 4 day weekend at the 2006 JG2 Line Dance Marathon – fabulous and fun!!! I feel like I was at a summer camp for adults! As Carol Craven said, the event is so well organized, there never seems to be any blips – at least any that are visible to the dancers. The instructors were wonderful – we particularly enjoyed Scott Blevins, Guyton Mundy and Neville Fitzgerald. Since we already knew (and love) Neville’s dances that he taught, I’ll just talk about the new ones we learned there. Loved Hey People (Guyton’s dance) and Pump It (MIL), but taught by Neville. Hey People filled the floor every night after he taught it – it’s fast, but relatively easy and there are no arm movements! (not that I mind the arm movements – love Shake as well). Pump It is also fast, but so much fun and it filled the floor as well, so it’s not too hard – if we can learn a dance with just one one hour workshop and dance it that night, then it can’t be too hard, can it? And we did that even with our brains fried ;-) I also think that Scott’s new dance Break Free Cha will be a big hit. The music is great, and the dance is not _that_ hard. You can hear all the restarts perfectly since they’re just breaks in the music, except the 2nd wall, and that needs just a bit of work. But this dance also filled the floor duing social dancing. And Shake – we learned this dance last weekend at Bonanza Bash X, but I took the workshop again from Guyton as you can always pick up a new bit of technique that he uses. This dance is already a hit as it also filled the floor every night! Also, Alison Biggs taught Come Into My World which I taught last weekend at Bonanza Bash X – this dance was also popular at JG2. We missed having Wildman Louie DJ all night long – he didn’t start until 10:00 pm each night. But since we danced until 3:00 or later each night, I guess we were able to get our “dance fix” in. And then just seeing old friends and meeting new friends – this is the best part of these weekend events – loved the late (or early ?) breakfasts at the Waffle House around 2:00 am every night/morning, and then back to the dance floor to try to wear off the calories! I need a few days to digest all the dances from JG2 as well as Bonanza Bash X and decide what I want to teach first!! This is a huge job as there are so many to choose from. I know there are more dances and fun things from this event that I’ve forgotten about – I’ll add more next week. Hope people will put this event on their calendar for next year (May 31, 2007) – we plan on being there! Trish Boesel ************************* FROM: Lynne Flanders, CT lynnes-lines@juno.com It was great to see you all there. This was my 1st time (But, NOT the last) at the JG2 Marathon in NC. My adventure started when we left CT for an overnight in PA where we hitched a ride with our friends from PA (Jamie thanks for the ride). We arrived too late to take any classes on Thurs, but made up for that over the weekend and we danced all night (enjoyed the DJ battles too). We split up to take in as much as possible to share with each other later. The list of favorites grew & grew = there was so much talent everywhere. I'm sure everyone will write in about the hottest dances & instructors so I won't write about that. I found a few easy dances (country & oldies) to bring back for my Senior and Park & Rec classes and several unique, higher level dances for the Clubs. (I'll write about them later). The weekend's cues are in a big BOOK (not a little pamphlet) with enough "stuff" to satisfy any taste. As part of the Staff, I met many new friends & though it was my first time to the Marathon (and to NC) I felt at home = there were smiles everywhere. Friday night's show was amazing (we used up the batteries in all our cameras). Saturday night's Wild West parade was soooo much fun with Indians, teepees, horses, gold diggers, the "F" troop, can-can dancers, saloon girls and more. I'm told that the theme changes every year. Sunday was competition day - A BIG Thank you to my friends from CT, NY, MA & PA that came by to show me their support and to wish me luck (my dances placed 2nd & 3rd). Then, the Pros strutted their stuff - wearing wigs, tablecloths, wheelchairs & arm slings - waving drinks & flags - it was more like another show than a competition !!! Congrats to all that won!!! We are now home in CT, but not before stopping in PA to dance with Michael Diven at the "Winning Circle" where we danced the overall winning dance "Go Greased Lightening" (and tried to remember the others we learned). Thank you James & Jean (& Steve & Fran etc)!! Your hospitality was greatly appreciated (& the hugs too). This is a trip that was well worth making. See you again next year. Lynne Flanders, CT lynnes-lines@juno.com ******************* FROM: barbfashions@aol and bigdbash@yahoo.com Congratulations to JG2 for a fantastic event, as usual!!!! They are truly a talented couple and have one of the best line dance events in the World! Everyone is looking forward to what surprises they have in store for next year! This is the first year I have had to miss due to a broken elbow and major shoulder problems, but Sondra was there with bells on and met so many of you. I will certainly be there next year! ****************** FROM: pdstonge@aol.com Carol, here's the dances I enjoyed at the Marathon. My plane landed at 3 pm Thurs and I rushed to make the 4 pm class with Christopher Petre and was so glad he was going to teach "KEEP ON DANCING." If I hadn't seen the Thursday schedule Pepper posted on line, I wouldn't have known until too late. (Thanks, Pepper) My other choices were all determined by the music. If I liked the music, I wanted to learn the dance. I loved "HAPPY HOUR" by Junior Willis & Guyton and so glad someone wrote a dance for a current hit by Toby Keith. I enjoyed Peter Metelnick's RED DRESS but need another lesson on it because by the time it was played in open dancing my memory couldn't function fast enough to keep up with the music. I went to Bracken Ellis's 4 o'clock class on Fri only to find her in a wheel chair with her foot propped up on the back of a chair. Her mother said she had hurt her toe in the previous class. After getting some medical attention, Bracken cued ASPIRE and PERF! ECT MATCH from her wheel chair while her mother showed us the steps. Both dances were beginner/intermediate dances and fun to do and I was trying not to "fry" my brain too early in the week end. Next I went to Liz Clarke's FLYING SCOT class as knew it would be highly entertaining and it sure was. I decided to go to Michael Barr's class GO GREASED LIGHTNING after seeing his demo that morning, even if I never saw or heard the dance again as knew it would be so much fun and it was. As always, Michael did a fantastic job of teaching and gave full credit to Michele for putting it together and trying to make it as close to the movie "Grease" as feasible for line dancers. He then invited all in the class to join him and a few dancers while they performed it that night for the show. I couldn't stop laughing while doing this dance but did have to put extra practice into the arm movements so I would be in sync with everyone else that night. Alison Biggs's "COME INTO MY WORLD" was a b! eautiful dance to a beautiful song and she gave us plenty of time to p ractice it and even with the extra steps and the two restarts, I was able to do it that night in open dancing. "WALK BACK TO ME" was another dance I was glad to see Peter Metelnick teach that I already knew but would now get some practice doing it. Sunday I had time to do Carolyn Robinson's HEY, DIDDLE DIDDLE to an Arrowsmith tune which I liked also. Since most in my area already knew BOMSHEL STOMP by Karen Hedges, I went to her class. I had missed learning it when I had knee surgery last year and it was as fun as it looks on the floor. So my favorites for the whole week end were the two novelty dances, GO GREASED LIGHTNING and HAPPY HOUR. Max reviewed SALSARIA which we do a lot in my area already, so just danced it and Michael Barr reviewed BLACK DRESSES on which I did need a refresher. The hotel staff was outstanding, James and Jean always do a fantastic job along with all their volunteers. The DJ's did a good job of playing the music for the dances taught and the instruct! ors were up front leading the dance every time played. The DJ's even managed to fit in other popular requests. I didn't hear music played for every dance taught but would still be there if they had. In other words, way too many dances taught (over 175), how about narrowing them down and maybe each taught more than once??? Tricia *************** FROM: Barbara, NJ - What A First Class Event!!!!!! This was my third marathon (not in a row) I like to mix it up and attend different LD weekends each year. This was one of the BEST! I would just like to acknowledge James & Jean and ALL the fabulous instructors, mc, dj’s and volunteers and hotel staff and shuttle bus drivers and pool staff (the pool was also terrific). A big "thank you". And those heavenly beds !!!! The weather & dance floor were hot but the dance room temperatures were nice and cool!! Hard to believe with so many dancers. OK – now to my favorite dances: COME INTO MY WORLD – taught by Alison – the most beautiful music and smooth flowing dance – it took a while to nail the restarts and a few extra walks but you can really hear it in the music. This was my favorite before this past weekend and STILL is right now! WALKING BACKWARDS – taught by Liz Clarke – I am still singing this song – it was such a fun class and easy dance so you have time to add some styling. Liz should be a stand-up comedian. WALK BACK TO ME – taught by Peter – I never get tired of this dance and lyrics and it was also done to a pop song (which I have to get the name of) It was definite floor filler in open dancing. WORDS UNSPOKEN – taught by Peter – High intermediate dance took some time but worth the effort. Hopefully I will get another lesson this week in NY or NJ where Peter & Alison are doing some more workshops. Lucky us! SHAKE – taught by Guyton – I didn’t really get this dance or all the arm movements but had so much fun trying to learn it that it didn’t matter. Guyton has a great personality and it shows in all his classes. RED DRESS – taught by Peter – Lively music with a few tags but the dance really moves with a lot of spirit. Everyone seemed to love it in the class. PUMPIN’ FOR LOVE – taught by Neville – I took a few lessons from him for the first time and it took a little while to understand him and his teaching style (this was one of the things I enjoyed about the Marathon) many different teaching styles – this dance was GREAT and requested (I think) in the top five in open dancing. I AM AFRAID – taught by Neville – Great Kelly Clarkson music – I was happy to learn this as my West Coast friends have been dancing it for a while. This dance was heavily requested in open dancing. KEEP ON DANCING – taught by Christopher – this was his first time teaching at the Marathon and I think he will be back – he is a very thorough instructor and we are lucky enough to dance with him in the NY area. JUST A MATTER OF TIME – taught by Michael Barr – I have never seen an instructor smile as much while teaching. His enthusiasm is contagious and this dance was a keeper. I hadn’t seen Michael since the Golden Gate Classic on the West Coast a few years back and he was fun to dance with again. SOUL TO SOUL – taught by Michael Barr – I learned this dance from Barry Amato previously but I really love to retake dances from the original choreographer and it was a great experience and he had some interesting dance techniques. And listening to Barry & DariAnne singing is always a pleasure. CARELESS WHISPER – was taught very well with lots of patience by Carolyn Robinson. Not the easiest dance to learn but beautiful music. SYNCOPATED KISS – was taught by Gerard and I can’t wait to dance again with him at the Tim Gillis weekend in Reading, PA next month. BREAK FREE CHA – taught by Scott – 64 counts and a little too confusing for me but I did try it cause it was such a great dance to watch and was a floor filler. This was my fifth lesson in a row and I think I was brain dead and had to head to the pool. ABRACADABRA – taught by Liz Clarke – a fun class again – her sense of humor just stands out in each lesson she teaches. She has a lot of energy and really enjoys teaching and it shows. Terrific intermediate dance. FANTABULOUS – taught by Bracken – nice intermediate dance and catchy music. HEY PEOPLE - taught by Guyton - I think this was the MOST requested dance of the event. (but you would have to check with the dj's) I could go on and on but I have to get back to work. My ONLY negative comment is that so many great dances were taught from 6 – 7PM and the class attendance was very light as everyone was trying to eat dinner at some point. But it is a Marathon!! I thought DJ Jam was the best dj – very courteous, friendly and polite while you were up at the desk trying to make your requests. All the shows and competitions and parade and the Blundy Sisters added to all the fun this past weekend. It was also fun seeing so many instructors there who were in attendance and not teaching. Especially Bryan McWherter, Eve (from Chicago), Johanna Barnes and Judy MacDonald. This is a mark of a great event to me! It went by sooooooooooo fast and furious! ************************** FROM: Terri Alexander jalexan5@tampabay.rr.com This was my first time attending the JG2 Marathon, actually my first weekend event ever! It was amazing. My husband, John and I decided to make the whole week a vacation. Important tip- Don't ever decide to go mountain hiking right before the marathon! Sore legs before we even started dancing! LOL We arrrived at the hotel Wed night and found James, Jean, and crew working hard to get things set up. We volunteered to help and tied so many balloons that night that our fingers hurt......along with our ribs from so much laughter. Back up at 9am Thursday. John joined the floor crew and they laid 6 floors in 6 hours! What a great job. I joined Pepper and a group of volunteers putting easels together, hanging signs, moving balloon columns to the different rooms, etc. James and Jean have every little detail planned and things move like clockwork. I then joined Steve and helped at the registration table. Everyone buzzed right through and you could see the excitement building. It was fun seeing this side of a dance event, and realizing how much work goes into preparing. 2pm Thursday and the dancing begins. I must apologize to anyone I meet Thursday night at the line dance party- I was so amazed at the number of dancers in one area, I had never seen so many people line dancing! - I know I must of been walking around, agape, and missed talking with so many people.....I promise next time, not to be in a daze!! LOL I know I did more watching than dancing that night. Back up at 8:30 am Friday to watch the previews of the dances being taught. What decisions to make! I wanted to take them all. At least the previews gave me a chance to mark down dances I wanted to be sure and look at again that I thought my classes would enjoy.....workshops all day, open dancing until the wee hours of the morning, and back up Sat. to start all over! Saturday night show was fantastic and the costume parade was great- lots of creative ideas. Sunday choreography contest in the am, my 2 dances took 1st and 4th, and then in to watch the pro-choreography. I would have hated to be a judge for that- so many wonderful dances! I can't possibly tell you about all the great dances- this would end up being a book! My personal 2 favorites were Guyton's "Hey People" - I predict this will be REALLY big- and Lizzie's "Flying Scots", such a fun dance.. If you've never taken a class from Liz, you must fit that in the first chance you get.....absolutely the most fun I have EVER had in a class. We laughed as hard as we danced. I liked her Abracadabra too. I also liked Pepper's dance "Something Right", although I can't remember any of it right now LOL, it was my first class Friday morning. She is such a down to earth, friendly person- I just adored her! I liked her "Juicy" too, but couldn't get my brain to work at the end of the day. LOL John Robinson's "Kowboy Krazy" will be great for the club and filled the floor. I also think his easy "Batter Up" will be a great one for class. I went to Zac's class and really enjoyed all 3 of his dances, I couldn't stay on the floor the entire time....so sorry Zac....! I had an upset stomach, but I was "chair dancing" these and will do them again. I think my class will really like his cha "Not Ashamed", "Hips" has some cute foot work, and "I like That" has some really different steps that hit with the music, all 3 very do-able for classes. I liked Kathy Brown's dance "Lovin' Aint Easy" and was thrilled that she chose "Getta Little Bump" for her Thurs. teach. Can't wait to dance with her again at the Buck Wild Bash in Sept. Karen Hedges is a doll and what a trooper, dancing in her sling. Our club has been doing Bomshel Stomp for awhile now and will have to add "Finger Lickin" soon! I hate that I missed the class for "Greased Lightning". It looked like so much fun- I'll just have to add that to my "have-to" learn list and make a point to take one of Micheal's classes at the Tampa event! I also have to learn "Fantabulous", "Pre-Party", "Verse"....so many more! I know I forgot to mention a ton of dances and people - Garth and Johnny 2-step, w! onderful guys, I met Lou Ann Schemmel and Terry Leap, who I had talked to often in emails- Lou Ann I met on Thursday my daze day (sorry Lou Ann, I promise my brain will be working next time we met!) I got to dance Crash with Terry, Christine Bass - we'll have to get together and dance, such a friendly lady and I saw a couple of her dances in the competition that I just have to learn and she's moving close to me!!! I saw many familiar Florida faces- great to see and dance with all of you again, also enjoyed having a chance to talk with Max and Kathy again, hadn't seen them since our Connections workshop. If you're not already doing Kathy's "Helluva Polka", you have to add that to your dance list, a fun, easy, everyone enjoys kinda dance. Carol, thanks so much for pushing me to go- I had the BEST time ever! Hats off the James and Jean- absolutely a first class event, and you two are the greatest! ******************** FROM: DEAD DOG, PA! Well it was a first time run to jg2 for some dancers from the DEAD DOG and the BWI - IBEW and what a GREAT TIME!!!!! We met several of our fellow BWI - IBEW dancers there who have been going for years. Their positive assessments of jg2 were correct!!!! First of all a big thank you to jg and his staff for an outstanding event!!! When you attend an event like this you really don't know who to thank first or which dance you want to praise...there are so many........ GO GREASED LIGHTNING is a real winner with SPIDERMAN a close follow up! As dancers we all feel a little "Broadway" while on the dance floor...these 2 dances take you there. If you want to have fun (they are not hard dances)....try both and your friends will join you! We need to thank Michael Barr for his instruction of GO GREASED LIGHTNING. Michele should know that Michael constantly gave her the credits and accolades for this great dance! Many have commented on Michael Barr, his upbeat attitude, style and gracious friendly spirit. He taught like the experienced pro that he is yet made us all feel right in step with him. He also sat, talked and listened…he really helped to make the weekend! Barry Durand said that he just wanted to do something stupid or silly and put together SPIDERMAN...stupid it's not! It's a great dance, and jumping around to that big Band sound is FUN!!!! Thanks Barry! Oh....The best new dance I saw on the floor, that was not on the schedule for the workshop, was called MY FIRST aka EVERYTHING IS A HUSTLE, by Lynne Martino. It's done to You're My First, My Last, My Everything by Barry White. Couples can do Six Pack Summer on the outside. This is Lynne's first dance and she was the 1st place winner at the Tim Gillis Spring Dance Weekend this year!!!! HAPPY HOUR will be another fun dance on the floor....we can stagger around a bit and still dance sober! ..and so many more. Gerard Murphy was surprised to hear the song YOUR BACKYARD, by Burton Cummings playing and saw 6 of us doing YOUR BACKYARD, a dance he's been teaching in Canada, and quickly joined us on the floor! If you liked the 70's band Guess Who..check out this dance! Over all it was a great time talking to many of the Choreographers and meeting new people. It's wonderful to see this many people having this much fun after counting 5-6-7-8…..so much more!!!!! ...and “ThankYou” Carol for always keeping us updated!!!!! You also make our dancing real and your survey allows dancers to go anywhere to dance and know what’s playing on the dance floor!!! **************************** FROM: JulieJ@tampabay.rr.com I was a first time attendee, although I’d been to other events in the past year. This was big and spectacular and very well run, you could tell that James and Jean really know what they are doing. I particularly appreciated the ease of getting to the hotel (for free even!), the affordable and quick eating options. It was also great to be able to stay up as late as we could last, and I can’t believe that I was still up dancing at 4:30am, and who knows how much longer it kept going! The music was truly a mix of old/new/fast/slow even late and all of my requests were played. I couldn’t get up early enough for previews though, I prefer those at night myself. But enough people got up early for them so I was able to ask around. I don’t know how the choreographers do it, so many of them stayed around late and danced with us. I also really appreciated having that Open Dance room open all day, we could pop in and review what we’d learned, the instructors even poked their heads i! n and came in for reviews for us. The costume parade and the show were entertaining and timed perfectly, not too long or too short, and I was so excited when our friend Diane won Guyton’s fox puppet – although she said it scared her when she woke up and saw it sitting in the chair in her hotel room!! One thing I was not aware of is that we couldn’t enter a class after 15 min. It disturbs the instructors I suppose, and they have to count heads to know how much to pay them, so it makes sense. But I did at other events enjoy leaving one class and picking up the 2nd half of another, especially when there are 2 dances taught that hour. Or at least being able to be a spectator at the end. I understand why they had it set up that way, just wish there was a workaround or alternate way to do it. Now that I know, I’ll make my choices differently next year so that I get there in time. Some of my favorite dances of the weekend hadn’t been mentioned here yet, my favorite 3 from the weekend were: Joey Warren’s RESTRICTED to I Like That (Stop), busy and funky and great music and seeing Joey dance is so entertaining. Scott’s I SCREAM to a Pink song, typical Scott style fitting the music perfectly, especially the last 8 ‘I Scream You Scream we all Scream for Ice Cream’. It was simple for Scott I think, he took it easy on us, and I think after a couple more teaches, people are going to go nuts over this one. Guyton’s PROMISCUOUS was my favorite of Guyton’s new ones, great music, no arms, also very fast. I also liked PUMP IT, PUMPIN FOR LOVE, BREAK FREE CHA, HEY PEOPLE that have been mentioned. Although taking a Scott/Guyton/Scott classes back to back was insane, we were all brain dead by the end of that! Will be retaking those in July in Orlando! Joey Warren’s waltz THE FINAL GOODBYE was really nice and unfortunately missed by many, it was lovely and brisk to a Rihanna song. Maurice’s PRE-PARTY is a clever follow up to his hit After Party, and even though it was straightforward, I’ll need 1 more teach on that too. Also worth mentioning were the 2 technique classes by Brian B that I took, he is a brilliant dancer and we are lucky to have the opportunity to get his technique tips basically for free. He made it fun, and they say you always get something from these technique classes, even if you are experienced. For me, it was the secret to full Monterey turns, I get it now! And I could just kick myself for missing classes with Oli Geir, the feedback I heard about him was wonderful, I’m so glad to hear Marilyn will be teaching one of his in Orlando in July, WALK ON ICE, because I heard it had some different moves. I saw Oli and his gang doing O-ZONE in the open dancing room and the music to that is different too, very Euro nightclub. There was quite a buzz about everything he taught, and his technique and talent. And another instructor that I stupidly missed is Michael Barr, and thank goodness he’ll be in Florida in November, I won’t miss him again. But what a hoot watching everyone do Go Greased Lightning, they looked like they were really having a ball. Michael just oozes positivity, and at least I did get to see him during the open dancing, very talented. A phenomenal talent-filled gigantic event, well done, well attended. It amazes me to read the other reviews and hear about the wonderful things I missed. I feel like I did so much, and still there’s more…. **************** FROM: Steve Lescarbeau WOW! Another great year. It just seems to get better and better. This year was my first year instructing at the Marathon and I had a blast. The students made me feel very welcome and very proud. I had beginners in my class that hadn't been dancing very long. But before our 50 minutes were up, I had them doing Apple Jacks, Moon Walks, Vaudevilles, and more! From a volunteer point, the crowd was one of the best I've seen in all the years I have worked for the Marathon. They all seemed to have a great attitude and huge passion for our beloved sport, "DANCING" It's because of all of the wonderful dancers from Switzerland, England, Ireland, Canada, Scotland, Iceland, Taiwan, and the United States, (I'm sure that there are more countries I have missed.) that really makes this event a huge success. There were many many new faces that I saw this year, which is a wonderful thing! We need to keep attracting new people to keep our sport alive. There are so many dance events to choose from, so having new blood coming in helps out with them all. It is always great seeing old friends like as Liz Clarke from Scotland, Johnny 2-Step, Nigel Amon, Neville Fitzgerald from England, Gerard Murphy from Canada, and of course all of the great instructors from the US. Thank you for attending my classes, for your support during the Pro Challenge (I really had fun doing this) and for your support of the Marathon. A special thank you to James and Jean for the opportunity to teach at your very famous event. Steve Lescarbeau, PSS, MCC, DS A+ Vacations 420 Curran Hwy, Ste 2 North Adams, MA 01247 (413) 662-2323 www.aplusvacations.com steve@aplusvacations.com NOTE FROM ME: Steve is always helping at the Marathon as a volunteer and it was good to see him on the schedule this year. I saw lots of UK people dancing his cousin's popular dance ENERGY this weekend, too, so I guess all that talent runs in the family. ************************************ FROM: Trish – Keep on Dancin’ in California Another question that came up recently was not only what was taught JG2, but also what was played during open dancing. Just taking Carol’s survey, I’m going to go down the list of all the dances that were done during open dancing over the weekend. Her survey does pretty accurately reflect a nationwide list of dances that everyone knows and likes. Here is a quick list: Bosa Nova, Heartbreaker (this one was done a lot!), Simplement (done a lot too), Keep on Dancing, (I don’t think that they played Kill the Spiders, but it could have been played while we were at the Waffle House), Geek in the Pink (a lot – this dance was very popular there), Come Tomorrow, Walk Back to Me (done quite a bit), It’s Up to You (done quite a bit), After Party, Be Strong (done a lot), Crabbuckit (this was done to such a fun new piece of music – it was great), The Way, Holding a Dream, Soul to Soul, Syncopated Love (done quite a bit), Careless Whisper (done a lot), Soluna, Keep It Burning, Red Dr! ess, The Reel Thing, Fantabulous, All the Way, Poetry in Motion (to new music, I prefer the original music), Amazing, Drop the Heat (done quite a bit), I’m Moving On, Meltdown, Pumpin’ for Love, Caught in the Act, No Regrets, Shake Yourself Loose (done a lot – a floor filler there), SOS (floor split with Bryan’s dance Sending Signals), X, Bombshel Stomp (done quite a bit – this is a cute dance – a floor filler there), Home, Drivin’ Me Crazy (this one was done every night – I was happy as I really like this dance), Just for Tonight, Over the Rainbow, Black Horse, Toy Soldier, Trippin’, Baby Com’ On (this was done, but a huge floor split was Chill Factor), I Am Afraid, Solo Humano, Sinfull, Cha Cha Tonight, etc. (The workshop dances were also done each night). With so many nights of dancing – and the dancing hours were 8:00 pm to about 4:00 or 5:00 in the am you could dance all your favorite dances – and then still miss some ;-) So you can see that I probably missed a lot of ! dances. But the important thing – there were dances for everyone. ; This is not an event that you plan to get much sleep at – in fact, Stacy was caught sound asleep across 4 chairs in one of the workshops on Saturday afternoon - we all empathized completely with her ;-) Trish Boesel ********************** FROM: Carolyn Robinson I haven’t been to the Marathon since 1999 and to be invited to instruct this year was a huge honor for me! It was Rick’s FIRST visit to the Marathon and we both volunteered so we could see “behind the scenes” of the event. As most dancers have mentioned the marathon is one of the most organized and festive event around. The instructors are always top-notch and it’s always a pleasure to meet the people behind the names on the dance step sheets, as well as getting with old favorites too! I thoroughly enjoyed meeting Michael Barr, Gerard Murphy, Kathy Brown, Karen Hedges, Liz Clarke, Johnny 2-step Houston, Christopher Petre and Michael Thompson for the first time! Spending time chatting with Bracken, JP, John, Junior, Louie and dancers I haven’t seen in ages was also a great thrill for Rick and me. And it was fun working with Steve Lescarbeau, Adele, Eileen, Fran and the other volunteers at the Registration Booth and also “in the closet!” Rick met several instructors while! deejaying during their classes and he also learned some really cute dances too. Watching Kathy Hunyadi knit gave me the idea for an afghan to raffle off at the Epilepsy Foundation Workshop in September (thanks to Junior who suggested the idea of raffling a quilt and then I just happened to see Kathy knitting. It’s amazing how things work out, isn’t it?) And I finally met Christine Bass who is as cute as a button! A big thank you to Junior and John for helping me demo “Hey Diddie Diddie” and then dancing it with me during the competition. Thank you also to those dancers who came to my classes….you guys did a great job and I really appreciated your support!!! It was a GREAT weekend for Rick and me and we sincerely thank Jean and James for inviting us to be a part of it! Carolyn Robinson Instructor/Choreographer 843-607-5048 flrkilr@bellsouth.net www.love2dance.ws LOWCOUNTRY LINE DANCE FEST JANUARY 26-28, 2007 **************************** FROM: Kathy Brown Raliegh, NC What a fabulous weekend event. Sandy Collins-Burbage and I started out Wednesday morning. The trip was pretty much uneventful which is good when you are driving. We did get stuck in a traffic jam somewhere outside Savannah GA for an hour and and half. Got to Raliegh around 6:30pm and dancers were already gathering. Thursday Sandy and I took off for a liquor run, just around the corner from the hotel they said, yea right, and hour and a half later, and after driving in circles lost, we were ready to party when we finally found the hotel again. Thursday afternoon I taught Terri Alexander's dance Getta Little Bump. I chose this dance because it fits the music so fabulously. Music is Getta little bump by Raven. Thursday evening we had open dancing with DJ Jim and Louie. Think I saw the room around 2am. Friday, the alarm seemed to go off too early, but made it to the main ballroom for the demos. Friday afternoon I taught The Breeze (beg), had a new song for it by the Cigar Store Indians called Who Dat. (Good little swing number), the next dance was Lovin ain't easy, a nightclub 2 (int) to One heart one love by Phil Perry. That evening was back in the main ballroom for more open dancing. Saw the room around 2:30, and this is early for some because there was a room full of dancers when I left. Saturday again that darn alarm clock was just going off. Down to the main ballroom for the morning demos. Saturday afternoon I taught Drive me mad (int), Chayanne's Vaiven and also used Paulina Rubio Se Tu Te Vas (class favorite). Also taught Alibi's and Lies (beg), Aaron Watson, I don't want you to go (but I need you to leave). The 2nd session on Saturday was Break my Stride (low int), Club Lagoon, easy 32ct. and debuted One drop of love by Ray Charles, One heart One Love (int). Saturday night the ballroom was packed, everyone seemed to be having a ball. This year I decided to do something special and handed out 400 glow braclets to everyone in the the ballroom, everyone was glowing. Some of the Florida ladies had on glow ropes around their bodies, it was very festive. Around 11pm some of left to get ready for the costume parade. Dancers are very creative, we had saloon girls, tee pee's, cowboys and indians, and F troop. Carol should have some good pictures on her web site. Sunday's class was great, I thought most would have been packing to leave, but the die hard dancers came out ready to dance some more. I taught Silent Memories, Kenny Chesney, Only time will tell (low int), and Par Ti Cha (int), to Vince Gill, She never makes me cry, both intermediate cha's. Sunday evening Jean and James throw a pizza party for everyone that is left, and we danced, and talked through the night. Monday morning Sandy and I headed home, somehow missed I-95 and was misplaced for a short time, but being reslient women we are, stopped bought a map and saw parts of NC/SC we might not have seen if we had stayed on the interstate. What makes a perfect dance weekend, workshops that start on time, good DJ's, great hotel, and staff. Happy volunteers and two people that want you to have a good time and make it happen. This is what the jg2 Line Dance Marathon is. Thank you Jean and James for the invite, I had a blast. Thank you to all the volunteers for all of your hard work. And thank you to all the dancers that came out to make this a very special weekend. Kathy Brown PS: Bob the Bee was never found, guess he flew away to enjoy the beautiful NC weather. ******************* FROM: Lynne Martino, NYC Many thanks to the dynamic duo for an absolutely fabulous weekend in Raleigh, NC. This is my favorite out-of-state dance weekend. The dancing is endless with instruction all day long. You can pick and choose from a jam packed selection of dances on the schedule that runs from 10:30am through 7pm. Having the demos each morning makes it alot easier to decide where you want to go. And if you don't want to take instruction, there is always the open dance room. Some of us would use that room just to go over dances we had just learned. The DJ would play whatever we requested. From 8pm and on the partying begins. DJ Jam(Jim Henning) and Louie St. George kept us rocking. Many thanks to Louie for playing my dance, My First. Some of my favorites were: Go Greased Lightning taught by Michael Barr;Verse 2, Neville Fitzgerald;What a Trip, Kathy Hunyadi;Sloopy Do and Young & Sexy, Steve Lescarbeau;Pre Party, Maurice Rowe;Words Unspoken, Peter Metelnick, Drop The Heat and Shake, Guyton Mundy. I also took classes on Thursday that were not written by the instructors. They were Syncopated Kiss(Forty Arroyo), It's Up to You, With These Eyes, & Sinfull. Dances that I wanted to take but did not: Juicy, Manilow Dreams by Pepper Siquieros; Rock This Thang by Joey Warren; Helluva Polka by Kathy Hunyadi; Hey! People by Guyton Mundy;Flying Scot by Liz Clarke; One of the best things about this weekend is the people. The staff, volunteers, instructors, merchants, hotel staff and of course my fellow dancers. It was great catching up with people that I haven't seen for a while. David from Baltimore(thanks for the invite and for your interest in my dance)the girls from Long Branch(fun, fun, fun)the nice folks from California(wow you remember me!)The Jersey girls(thanks for translating what the DJ's were saying, lol)my friends from Massachusetts, Conn., Upstate NY. Congrats to Lynne Flanders. You go girl.Thanks to Steve Lescarbeau, my new friend, for always supporting my efforts. Of course, the show was great. The talented staff strutted their stuff. And some of us actually got to be in it with Michael Barr and his dance Go Greased Lightning. That was fun!!! The Wild, wild West parade was hysterical. Teepees, Indians, F Troop, Goldminers, Sheriffs, Barmaids, Medicine Man. Very cute! Can't wait for next year. The theme is Medieval Times( knights, princesses, jesters, etc.) Our creative juices are already flowing. I know that there is alot more I could say about this weekend. And you can probably read about it from others. All I can say is that we dancers are the luckiest people in the world. We get to share our love of dance with people who love it too. Can't get better than that. ******************** FROM: Terry Leap I've enjoyed reading all the event reports and have to agree with all the positive things that were said! The Marathon was a great event, as usual. And, it was so nice to see so many old friends, and finally meet some new ones, such as Terri Alexander, I enjoyed dancing Crash with her! I also enjoyed every class I took and look forward to teaching quite of few of the dances. My personal favorites (new to me) were Mandy, Pumpin' For Love, If I Ain't Got You, Come Into My World, Something Right, Words Unspoken, I Am Afraid, Fool No More and Hips. I also liked Hey People, but did not learn it, yet! There were quite a few other dances that I saw that will be on my "to learn" list. **************** FROM: Bracken@MoveInLine.com As always, I had a great time at the Marathon! Thanks to James & Jean for inviting me & JP Potter to teach for our second year, and for having JP DJ, too! If you missed the DJ CHALLENGE on Saturday night in the Empire room, you missed a great night of dancing! I just wanted to THANK EVERYONE for their help, advice, and well wishes after my injury on Friday. SPECIAL THANKS to ZAC DETWEILLER and JOHN ROBINSON for so quickly learning my two new dances - ECLIPSE, the nightclub 2-step co-choreographed with Jamie Marshall, and PERDONATO, my newest waltz. Zac & John not only demo'd the dances Saturday morning in my place (for those who missed Zac's performance, buy the video!), but they also helped in my classes Saturday by being my "body men" in the workshops while I was on the mic. I'm sure everyone knows how dedicated and generous John Robinson is when it comes to dancing and how wonderful an instructor John is. For those who haven't had the pleasure of taking a class with ZAC DETWEILLER, he is one you don't want to miss. I was not only impressed with Zac's dancing, but also his genuine enthusiasm for line dancing. And he is such a gentleman - polite and helpful to all the dancers! Check out his dances - I wasn't able to dance them, but I love HIPS and NOT ASHAMED (to the Dirty Dancing song). I heard great feedback on all the dances I taught - FANTABULOUS, ASPIRE (that beginner disco one...), PERFECT MATCH, PERDONATO (Forgiven), and ECLIPSE. And I heard great feedback on JP's dances - WE'LL BE TOGETHER (cha to a Sting track), YOU & ME (fast waltz to Lifehouse), and WHAT'S LEFT OF ME (beautiful nightclub to Nick Lachey's latest release - I was sooooooo bummed I didn't get to dance it with him this weekend!). I also had a wonderful time team-teaching with GERARD MURPHY - we taught our latest dance GO CRAZY - thanks to all the ladies who learned this one on Friday night to demo it with Gerard on Saturday, too - you are awesome! Just a couple notes on my dance sheets: FANTABULOUS - When using the ITUNES, SESSIONS @ AOL track, slow down at the end, pause, and pick it up where you left off (the weave with a sweep) to finish out the rest of the track - this track has an actual ending to it (it doesn't fade). When using any other Michael Buble Moondance track, on your last wall (starts facing 9:00), just continue the step touches with clicks/snaps to walk off the floor (this is how John Robinson has been teaching it) so then it's clear to the DJ to fade it. Now, how do you tell the difference between the tracks you ask? Well, I've heard the song so much that I know the two tracks are sung in different keys and I know the SESSIONS @ AOL has a jazzy feel to it. The best hint I can give others is that JP Potter & Louie St. George have the SESSIONS @ AOL track now and I've asked them to use that one. ASPIRE & PERFECT MATCH - step sheets are fine! PERDONATO (Forgiven) - This is my newest waltz. If you liked UNDER YOUR SPELL, I REALLY encourage you to check out PERDONATO. John Robinson found a mistake on the sheet though, it tells you to turn left when you should actually turn right. So a revised sheet is posted on my website - WWW.MOVEINLINE.COM ECLIPSE - This is the nightclub two-step co-choreographed with Jamie Marshall. I've also had to make a slight revision to this sheet. Zac Detweiller learned it from the sheet and amazingly did it correctly. I looked at the sheet and found a little mistake in the first 8 count, so the revised sheet is also posted on my website - WWW.MOVEINLINE.COM Dancing it the way the stepsheet is in the jg2 marathon books will not cause grand commotion on the floor, but the revised sheet is how it was taught. And finally, for GO CRAZY - Gerard and I co-choreographed this one via email and just fine-tuned it a bit when we were able to dance it together at the Marathon on Thursday night. So, some little touches and hitches have been added to make it flow better for the dancers. The revised sheet is posted on my website - WWW.MOVEINLINE.COM Again, dancing GO CRAZY by the stepsheet that was in the jg2 marathon books will not cause grand commotion on the floor, but the revised sheet is how it was taught. And just a couple more things - the Pro Challenge Choreography Competition was the most entertaining one I've ever seen!! Congratulations to the winners - Go Greased Lightning! (Michael & Michele), Hey! People (Guyton Mundy), and Bombshel Stomp (Karen Hedges & Jamie Marshall). My favorite dances from the weekend, aside from my own and JP Potter's - I would be biased to those anyhow: GET YOUR GROOVE ON RACEY LACEY FLYING SCOT WALKING BACKWARDS - easy beginner dance TOGETHER FOREVER HIPS - I was waiting for a cool dance to this song (Shakira's) and Zac has done it! CHA CHA HEELS HELLUVA POLKA HEY! PEOPLE - I actually learned this from the sheet and was looking forward to dancing it! ONLY YOU - a beginner nightclub 2-step! BREAK FREE CHA! TOUCH ME TONIGHT NOT ASHAMED - to the Dirty Dancing song COME INTO MY WORLD MOVE IT! MOVE IT! - love the song! BOP THE B - easy beginner dance Make sure not to miss next year's Marathon! Bracken Ellis Instructor, Choreographer, Team Director www.MoveInLine.com San Diego, California ***************************** FROM: BUCKY CRAVEN I saw a favorable comment about Michael Barr's teaching skills. I would like to point out and suggest to other instructors that Michael, John Robinson, and a few others often teach 16 counts to one wall and then have you face a different wall and repeat those counts and then they add another 16 counts and do the same thing so when you are ready to face the last wall, it does not feel like a new dance. Also, one of my highlights at the marathon is passing James in the hallway and telling him that the electricity has just gone off in the main room LOL. I wouldn't suggest trying this at home. Bucky Craven *************** FROM: Patty Howells This was my 2nd year at the Marathon and I had an even better time than last year, which I didn't think possible!! I've been reading all the reports in Carol's newsletter and all the "Big Name" choreographers seem to get all the attention. I just wanted to say that without, Karen Hedges, Kathy Brown, Michael Thompson and some of the others, alot of people in my category would not have as much fun. I did take Michael Barr's, Greased Lightning class and had a great time!! I love watching John Robinson (my personal favorite dancer), Guyton, and Junior dance, but there's no way I can do their moves!! ha! But just wanted to give the other choreographers alot of credit too! Thanks! Patty Howells Franklin, N.C. ****************** FROM: Catherine Péguet My friend Wendy di Silvestro kindly forwards your reports to me from time to time. I am not one for writing post mortems after events but, as you specifically asked for opinions from "first timers" at the event, I have given you some of my impressions below. This is also the very first time I have attended a dance event in the United States. First, I must say what impressed me the most was the excellent organization of the event. Everything was ready for registration at midday on the Thursday, we got the Dance Books in the early afternoon and everything went liked clockwork. Most importantly, the staff and everyone I met were so friendly and helpful. It made it easy for a newcomer like myself to find her way around this huge event. Also the hotel and all the services offered were excellent and the staff courteous and helpful. The variety of music played during the week-end was extensive and I must have enjoyed dancing between 80-90% of the dances, which is pretty good. SOME SUGGESTIONS I realise that this is a "marathon" but II feel that there are too many workshops each day to do comfortably. If one wanted to take a workshop each hour one would be busy from 10.00 a.m. until 7 p.m. non-stop with just one hour to eat and prepare oneself in the evening. This is definitely not enough time to relax and eat if one then goes on to dance from 8 p.m. until the early hours. As I rarely went to bed before 4 a.m. I never managed to get up for one of the dance demos at 8.30! This is really far too early for most dancers who cannot "burn the candle at both ends". So I tried to select the dances I would do by choreographer instead as I never saw any of the previews. I was wondering if the afternoon's programme of workshops could not be shortened to make time for the dance demos at the end of each afternoon instead of the following morning. This way people could better plan their next day's programme and sleep later if they were not interested in dances at the first workshops of the day. It would also give the choreographers, who work so hard during the day and then participate in the evening's social dancing, to rest a bit more too. I also regretted the fact that no recaps of dances were done during the week-end. This is done in the U.K. and proves very useful. With so many new dances to learn each day it would be helpful to make time for a quick recap at some point in the day (even for the choreographer to do a couple of walls during the evening just before a new dance is played would be better than nothing at all). This would help many more people to be able to dance newly taught dances during the week-end and help them remember them when they get home. I hope these views will be of help to you, and thank you again for a wonderful linedance experience at JG2. Catherine Péguet Geneva Switzerland ******************* FROM: KAREN HEDGES I wanted to say a very big THANK YOU to James and Jean for inviting me back to the marathon again this year. Out of all the years I have been at the marathon I have to say this was the most fun of all, despite the sling J. I got to put a lot of faces to names Christine Bass and Carolyn Robinson what a delight to finally meet you. Thank you so very much to the wonderful guests who attended my classes, you were awesome. Everyone was smiling everywhere I looked, I didn’t hear one negative comment about anything, believe me when I say it is so nice for we instructors to see all the smiles during our classes. I wish I could remember the ladies name who got the attention in my classes by whistling (something I could never develop) she was too much fun. If anyone knows her name please send to me J. I can’t tell you how much it meant to me to get third place for bomshel stomp in the pro challenge, and how surprised I was when, John, Junior, Jill, Christine and cj walked out to the floor in slings (what a hoot)(I heard this was Jill’s idea) it made me laugh throughout the entire dance. Thank you guys you’re the best. Again thank you to all of you that attended my classes, you are wonderful. Hugs karen Karen Hedges Event Director Dancin Up A Storm to Benefit Shriners Hospitals For Children Event Director NTA Dance Camp NTA Zone W Director 816-728-3750 Fax-816-524-7990 www.dancinupastorm.com ************** FROM: FENG CHEN  I've been enjoying reading all the great reports and comments about JG2 Line Dance Marathon and like to add a couple comments about the comments. "Too many workshops each day" 159 workshop dances (not including the ones taught on Thursday afternoon) does sound a bit overwhelming. But what makes the Line Dance Marathon a Marathon event is it's almost non-stopping teaching and non-stopping dancing. And I'm glad I did take Bracken Ellis's Eclipse at 6:00-7:00pm (a bit inconvenient hour) on Saturday. What a lovely, gorgeous Night-Club-2. And big thanks to Jean and James for adding the Thursday teaching again this year. I don't know how much extra effort they made to have everything (the floor in each room, the instructors, the volunteer stuff, the hotel stuff, etc) ready at 2:pm. It went so smooth and seemed so effortless. "Give credit to the other choreographers (other than just to the 'Big Name' ones)" Ditto! I'm happy to see Michael Thompson, the young choreographer/instructor from Georgia (my home state) teaching again this year at the Marathon. He taught Come On Over (funky intermediate to a Christina Aguilera track), One More Time and Let's Shuffle Forever (two easy intermediate dances to country songs). All three dances are well choreographed and fun to do. *************************** FROM: Frank Trace - Canton, Ohio WOW....I'M HOOKED! This was my first year attending the JG2 Marathon and only one word can describe it... WOW! I was overwhelmed by the entire event. Everything was organized and professional. James and Jean Garr were very welcoming and Pepper Siquieros was great as the MC. Here are a few things that this first time attendee observed: 1) Everyone was very friendly. Just say hello to someone and you had a new friend. Enjoyed talking with fellow line dance teachers from across the country and to find that we had so much in common. 2) A big thrill for me was to meet so many choreographers of the current popular line dances. All were friendly and easy to talk with. It was also great to have the opportunity to learn new dances directly from the original choreographer. 3) The morning previews was a fantastic idea. Gave you a chance to see the new dances to be taught that day and to decide which workshop to attend. This was NOT an easy decision since so many dances looked great. 4) The dance parties each evening were real eye openers. Being my first time at a major workshop event, I was amazed at how little country music was played and how much Hip-Hop has taken over line dancing. I love all types of music and I love to dance, so this didn't really bother me. It just surprised me since most of MY students don't really care for the hip-hop funky line dances. They really like the smoother dances to Latin, pop and country music. 5) Some of my favorite new dances were MANDY, WALK ON ICE & 7th HEAVEN all by Oli Geir, ASPIRE & FANTABULOUS by Bracken Ellis, HAPPY HOUR & LA TORTURA by Junior Willis, AUSTIN J easy beginner dance by Karen Hedges, ALIBIS AND LIES by Kathy Brown, START A LOVE TRAIN by Max Perry, JUST A MATTER OF TIME by Michael Barr and HEY PEOPLE by Guyton Mundy. So many more looked great on the dance floor. 6) Most of the teachers I spoke with said they were looking for new Beginner Plus and solid Intermediate line dances with no tags and re-starts. It was a GREAT weekend. One thing is certain, I will be back next year! NOTE FROM ME: This was the first even Frank had attended and we rode to the airport on the bus together and I asked him to write. Hopefully, he will encourage some of you others who haven't attended an event to try it out!! Thanks for writing, Frank, and it was nice meeting you. *************************** FROM: GARTH BOCK What a fantastic vacation I just had. I decided to go to the JG2 Line Dance Marathon to get away from life here in Illinois. I had a blast ! Got to see a whole lot of old friends from other events and make a whole bunch of new ones ( It was very nice to finally meet you Carol ) and learn some great dances. I even helped lay some of the dance floors ( to me…helping out is fun even though I missed all of the Thursday sessions). It was great there were so many sessions to choose from because it gave everyone the chance to sample something from each instructor/choreographer. Some of the dances that I really liked were Aspire and Eclipse (Bracken Ellis), Makes You Wanna Dance and Rumba in The Keys (Tim Hand/Alice Daugherty), Move it Move it (Carol Robinson), and Kowboy Krazy and Don’t Cry for Louie (John Robinson). One dance that was done I think almost as much as Bossa Nova (Dennington) at the workshop was Bomshel Stomp (Karen Hedges\Jamie Marshall). I have never Bomshel’ed so much in my life…and it was fun doing it. Karen’s other dances Finger Lickin’ , Austin J , and Local Girls were very well received with the room packed to capacity. One session I found very challenging was Donna Caudill’s Giggle Wiggle and Body Rolls. I enjoy learning technique and I think everyone should have tried it out. Donna teaches some excellent sessions and being the token man in the session well lets just say that I helped the “Giggle” part along. The Saturday evening dance theme of Wild Wild West was something else. Everyone in wild west costume assembled in the lobby of the hotel before midnight. Everyone looked great ! There were indians, cavalry, dance hall ladies, a mountain man, town folk, a sheriff (me), some cowboys riding bulls, and a whole lot of other wild west characters. Before we parad! ed into the ballroom I looked around and realized that the Indians had “TP’ed” themselves (sorry couldn’t resist it). I want to thank James and Jean and their staff and volunteers for putting on an excellent workshop. I can’t wait for next year. I have a whole bunch of new dances posted on my website with some of my pictures. Garth Bock The Country Dancer www.countrydancer.com ******************** FROM: LIZZIE CLARK Re the JG2 Marathon, once more I had so much FUN at the recent Marathon, everyone is so friendly and all of James & Jean's staff work so hard to make it a great weekend. Also what about all those dancers who attend this event, if it wasn't for them, then I wouldn't be having so much fun, teaching and socialising and generelly having a great time. I really enjoy taking part in the workshops and we always have a laugh, and I must say I really enjoyed teaching this year as everyone was so relaxed and it made my job so easy. I must admit the dance I had the most fun with was the Flying Scot, our feet were going like little pistons, but they all got it, well done guys. Finally I am back home here in Bonnie Scotland, yes the sun does shine, the temperature has been in the high 70's since my return, so have been busy in the garden, but will have to get back to teaching this week, which of course I love, then it's off to do some more weekend festivals. I will keep in touch and let you know what we do at this side of the pond. Take care and you are all doing a grand job. Aw'ra'best to you all. Luv n' hugs Liz xxx Thanks again Luv Liz xxx ******************** FROM: Teresa – UK Thank you James and Jean and all the people whose time and effort went into organising this event. It was again, truly, superb. This was my second year at this event and I was not disappointed, it ran like clockwork and they don't call it the Marathon for nothing. Although, once I got home with hardly any sleep (Louies fault! as he kept playing our requests) at the event and the jetlag I was complety tired out. It was great catching up with the friends that I made last year and indeed making more new friends this year Yippee! (note to Carol, Hope you are making good use of the fan) Special thank you to Bryan MrWherter for taking Shirley, KT, Debbie and I out on the Wednesday night so at least we got to see a little bit more than the hotel and another thank you to Maurice who had us in fits of laughter the whole weekend. Cheers babe! Can’t wait for next years event. kt8009@hotmail.com ******************** FROM: just-cant-dance@hotmail.com Thank you, I had a great time. This was my first ever marathon and it was very overwhelming. Maybe somebody with more experience at these events could help me with some of the areas of confusion. I had a hard time picking workshops to attend because: 1. I do not know the instructors. Question: Is there a site, book, resource or other place to see Photos of the popular instructors, maybe some of their recent popular dances, etc. so I could learn who they are and decide whose classes to attend. By the time I figured out who was who and saw them dance, by watching the dances in the evenings, after everyone else had learned them, it was too late. I did not know enough to make good decisions, and nothing was there to help me decide. l was able to attend the Saturday morning preview, but again, not knowing who was who, it was hard to follow the schedule, no room to really write comments next to a dance, or an instructor, like: slow, fast, music tempo, etc. I couldn't always c! atch the announcer saying who the demonstrators were, etc. Everyone else seemed to know what they were doing, so I felt pretty stupid. I paid my registration for three days, but I missed almost all of Fridays classes, because I did not really realize the full schedule planned for Friday, and I traveled on that day. I kept checking the website for the schedule ahead of time, but the Friday schedule was never posted. Upon checking in, I asked about it and was told that the schedule isn't posted because the dance names are not decided until the last minute. The actual dance is minor l compared to the schedule of instructors and times, which COULD have been made available. Then I planned all day Sunday for workshops, and it was over at noon. This was my fault for not knowing how things worked, maybe I didn't know where to look ahead of time. I did try e-mailing and even telephoning ahead, the week before, but no one acknowledged me. Also, I did not know in advance enough to purchase "the book" whatever that is, but is it possible to obtain, as part of the Registration, a simple list of Instructors, the dance(s) they taught and the recommended music for each. Surely this could be made up, even on site, and made available to attendees. Using the time-oriented workshop schedule for this is cumbersome to say the least. I really don't need step sheets or videos of all 163 dances taught there, but would like to have a list, so i could pick out the ones I think I could reasonably learn. would this be reasonable? If I get to attend again, I am sure I will do much better, I evidently am the only one out of hundreds there that was this overwhelmed. I do also agree with everyone else about how great the instructors were, the dances were fun, and everyone was extremely nice. I totally agree with all positive things said, my confusion was due to my lack of knowing what to do. just-cant-dance@hotmail.com NOTE FROM ME: Well, any of you attending events for the first time are always welcome to write me and ask how things are done as far as the schedule because most of them start on Thursday night with a dance party and then lessons are all day Friday, Sat, and usually half a day on Sunday with dance parties Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. The Marathon started this year having lessons at 2 on Thursday and they go all the way into Sunday evening but that's because it's the Marathon!! Also if you want to see how the Marathon and other events are run, I always put the reviews of the events I attend on my site under EVENT REVIEWS and usually talk about each day and what happened and you can also see the pictures and I think just reading the newsletters and looking at the different surveys you will start seeing dances that you might be interested in taking or choosing from the previews done at the events. If I don't have them on my site, I! will direct you to where they are on other sites. I know there's a lot to kind of take in when you first start going to events but that's part of the adventure. Jean is usually very good about answering her mail so I hope you had the correct address to inquire. The entire list of dances are on the DVDs or Videos at this site and if you missed any of the classes you will be able to learn them from the videos or DVDs and you will also get to see all of the instructors and see which ones look like fun or you think are good teachers. Here's the link to that http://www.worldlinedancenewsletter.com/CJsVideos.html PLEASE, and this applies to anyone, don't hesitate to write me if you have questions about anything and especially if you don't go to seminars or events because you are apprehensive about what they are like. I promise we will all make you feel welcome and I will personally make sure you have someone to ask if you need anything. If I don't know the answer, I will contact someone who does have the answer and make sure you are all prepared to attend events or seminars. No matter what you have a question about, from what to bring to wear to how to navigate the schedule to transportation to and from the airport or any question you have, I want you to ask. I love going to weekend events and I want it to be a positive experience for all of you and especially people who are going for the first time because, since we've been going since 1988, sometimes we forget what a first time feels like. ******************** FROM: Misty This is my first time to the jg2 and I had a blast. I am a teacher and a couple of my students went for the first time as well. The first thing I want to say is "thank you", to the 3 people we met at the Ft. Wayne Showdown who told us we just HAD to go to this event: KRISSIE, BONNIE and ANDREA. You guys were SO right! I had a great time seeing you guys again and meeting your other PA buddies....Yeah Yeah, Jill I know you're from Youngstown, OH!! Bye-the way, Jill, I hope to get some of my other students to make the trip to your line dance workshop--we are all JOANNE BRADY fans and love MICHAEL BARR and MICHELE BURTON too. For everyone's information it's a one day workshop and dance Sept. 30. You can contact Jill Babinec at TOOFDDS1@AOL.COM for more info. PS--KRISSIE--YOU ROCK! Thanks for the help on the dance floor. It was awesome! The jg2 event was awesome. My favorite thing about it is that you get to see a demo of each dance at the beginning of the day so you can decide what to take. This is something that they don't do at Ft. Wayne, (the only workshops I've ever been to before this one) that I now wish they would do. I would have to say that I agree with Carol though about having the demo section at night rather than in the morning so early after late night dancing. I wrote down each dance and choreographer and then made quick notes on each dance so I could keep track of them later regardless of whether I took the class here, somewhere else or decided to learn it from a step sheet. The thing I was looking forward to doing the most was taking a GUYTON MUNDY class...something that I have been waiting over a year to do! I was not disappointed!! Guyton was so nice and a super instructor. I had an awesome time in his classes. GUYTON'S dance "HEY! PEOPLE" is my favorite dance of the event. It is a great dance with great feel to it. I feel awesome when I dance it. It gives me a great feeling of accomplishment when I get it just right. I love the way the "big side step"" on the first count and the 5th count of the dance (it's done as a sort of hop where you land on 5) both go RIGHT with the music. It's like it adds a certain power to the dance. Feels great!!! I'm still working on his dance "SHAKE" another great dance with awesome moves. I love all the funky arm and body moves. I hope to do the FL Masters in July and keep working on this dance. I also really liked how when he taught this dance, he mentioned that if this was your first time of taking this class, you probably wouldn't get the whole dance. However, what you would get from it is knowing what the moves are supposed to look like and therefore when you go home and read the step sheet you can work on the dance. He is right. With it's ripple chorus it would make an awesome looking demo dance! I also had the pleasure of meeting his lovely wife NATALIE on the shuttle on my way from the airport to the hotel. She is a very sweet lady and a great dancer herself. I still think she should have her own class and teach all of us ladies how to "shake" like she does! Other dances that I really enjoyed learning were: "DROP THE HEAT" by GUYTON-- A great dance with one funky arm move that really funks the dance well. I liked how he taught the arm moves in class. It took a little practice to do, but the effect is well worth the time! "GET RIGHT" by HEIDI HOLLAN and MEGAN OLSON was taught by GUYTON on Thursday-- Nice funky little dance. (I loved how he described the shoulder roll as "like you're throwing down with somebody"! That really kicked...oh well!) "JUST A MATTER OF TIME" by MICHAEL BARR --I actually took this dance in Ft. Wayne but loved the dance so much I had to take it again just to work on styling it. Great dance with a really nice feel to it. Well choreographed. "GET IT WHILE IT'S HOT" by JOHN ROBINSON --I also took this dance in Ft Wayne and liked the dance so much I took it again just for fun!! Great dance-- Great song. "GET A LITTLE" , "HAPPY HOUR" and "LA TORTURA" all taught and at least CO-CHOREOGRAPHED by JUNIOR WILLIS. All really nice dances. "GET A LITTLE" has a great little shoulder rock and head look that sold me on the dance instantly in the demo. "LA TORTURA" is quick-- but fun and "HAPPY HOUR" is a fun dance to Toby Keith's "Let's Get Drunk and Be Somebody". Everyone that took this class now knows how to properly pronounce the words "Left, Riiight, Left, Riiight, Left, Riiight, Left, Riiight!!"-- thanks Junior! STEVE LESCARBEAU choreographed and taught 3 dances that my students and I took that were nice dances that were easy to learn and fun to do. They were, "RING", "SLOOPY-DO" (a must for any OSU fan!) and "YOUNG & SEXY" (a fun little dance that can be done to A LOT of music--nice for those that dance at clubs when a particular song you know a dance to isn't always played. "THE FINAL GOODBYE" by JOEY WARREN is a very quick but beautiful waltz. My only complaint about it would be the long (I think it's) 12 counts of no dancing toward the end of the dance, however, it truly is a beautiful dance. I wish it would have been played in the big ballroom at night so we could have tried it with Joey one more time. "KEEP ON DANCING" by ROBBIE MCGOWAN HICKIE (nice dance!) was taught by CHRISTOPHER PETRE and he did a great job teaching the dance. I loved his description of the one turn as "backassward turn" I have done that particular turn in other dances and always felt that way about it. I never missed the turn in the dance when I thought of it in that term. Other dances that were taught there but I already had taken at Ft. Wayne but really enjoyed are: "BOMSHEL STOMP" by KAREN HEDGES and JAMIE MARSHALL "GO GREASED LIGHTNING" by MICHELE BURTON and MICHAEL BARR --taught this weekend by Michael. I love "Go Greased Lightning". My group and I have done it as a finale in a show and brought down the house. I want to mention a few of the instructors that I felt did a really super job. GUYTON MUNDY, MICHAEL BARR, and STEVE LESCARBEAU. GUYTON was awesome in choreography, in his classes and in coming down to the dances to lead his students in those dances (not to mention willing to dance the other dances he taught that weekend while waiting for his current class to begin. That really made the difference between taking a class and really LEARNING a dance! Thank you, Guyton! (He was also great in the shows and I found out he is an artist as well!) Also thanks for letting us dance with you in "Hey! People" during your competition. It was an awesome experience and very nice of you to do. MICHEAL is a great instructor. I have taken his classes at the last two Ft. Wayne Showdowns. He is fun and thorough in his teaching. Great dances too. I also want to thank him for dancing with us at night and letting those of us that already knew "Go Greased Lightning" demo it with him. That was very nice of him. I missed dancing it in the competition as I arrived late, but it was really nice of him to do. STEVE was a super instructor. The class I took from him was small and contained a very new line dancer. He did a super job. I really liked his teaching style. He included alternative moves for those that teach seniors or beginners (I teach all levels including seniors and beginners so that was really nice). Also, after class he took the time to discuss other issues of teaching with me. I was glad that I took his class, liked his dances and enjoyed meeting him. Finally, I really enjoyed the jg2 and I want to thank JAMES and JEAN for a great time. Also thanks to their staff for keeping things running so smoothly. I also want to thank all of the instructors for their hard work and a great time. It was good to see BRYAN MCWHERTER there since I was disappointed that he wasn't on the teaching schedule there. I thank him for once again being sweet and for leading me through "Pon De Replay" which he was nice enough to teach a couple of other ladies and myself at Ft. Wayne after one of his classes. I also want to mention the staff at the Sheraton and thank them for all of their assistance especially in running us to places we wanted to go. I wish I had known about the 2:00am trip to the Waffle House that someone else mentioned in another letter. (I assume it was by shuttle but I could be wrong.) Oh well, there's always next year! I had a blast!! Misty ******************** FROM: Jennie (UK) Just like to add that this was our first trip from the UK. The days/nights flew by, and we all tried to be selective whilst choosing which Workshop to attend, so, as not to burn ourselves out!! Thanks to all concerned with the successful format. Especially, to Louie for keeping us so well entertained with all our favourite requests till gone 5am in the morning. And, to our dear friend Maurice, who made us feel so at home, and is such fun to be on the dance floor with. See you when you are next over, ******************** FROM: GERARD MURPHY Well 'hats off' to James and Jean....and all their volunteers for yet another super weekend in Raleigh, North Carolina! If you haven't attended this event, it's about time you did! The amount of options for worshops and the built in fun throughout the four days is awesome - and perversely exhausting!!! I've been travelling a lot since I left NC, but didn't want to miss the opportunity to say thank you to all the dancers that hit the event and attended my workshops...! This was my third time at JG2 and as always I had a super time! Special thanks to all the Ontario, Canada dancers who created space for