WINDY CITY LINE DANCE MANIA 2008
FROM: DORIS VOLZ www.linedancefun.com
October 2008, 600+ spoiled dancers were offered two large ballrooms to dance the night away w/Mark, Glen & Eve in Chicago. Mark's Country Edge posted the Windy City workshop schedule for those of us needing to plan break times.
Louie kept his ballroom going w/all requests favoring towards funky music and intermediate/advanced dances. Although his floor jammed to capacity when he played Bosa Nova or Crazy Foot Mambo ...or Boo-Taaay & Elevator ..there was room for all to dance.
Jill's ballroom was doubled this year which made room for all those enjoying the older floor fillin' classic's ...Islands in the Stream, It's Up to You, Simplemente & Larger Than Life. The newer ones danced numerous times: My New Life, Firecracker, Amor de Hielo, Fire on Ice, Faith In Love, Am I, Mystery Cha, Head Phones Too Deep, & Feed The Fetish. Jill is one diehard dancer who just happens to DJ. She can bounce off that stage & into line before we can say Swing Sweet Pussycat.
The other social requests I recognized/observed (list taken from the weekly dance survey) but perhaps not total floor fillers: Tango Cha, Turn Me Loose (most were dancing Simon Ward's dance), Catch The Rain, Sea Salt Sally, Doors of Life, Duck Soup, Footsteps in the Sand, Keep It Real, Brucie, GIRL (numerous times) Purple Rain, Rebel Amor, More Than Life, Fade Away, Keep It Real, Cry to Me, Wonderful, Chilli Hot, Charanga, A Gigolo, Ain't Got No Money, Yes, You Won't, So Glamorous (numerous times), Not Like That, Show Me What U Got, Rock this Party, Swamp Thang, Break Free Cha, Jukebox (to the NIMBY music, but no NIMBY dancers), Hound Dog, Swing Sweet Pussycat, MJ Moves, Home, Let's Get Saved, Creepin, Burning, Nu Flow, Poetry in Motion (to Hotel California), Dizzy, Isle of Paradise, Have Fun Go Mad, Dreamin', Into the Night, Irish Spirit, Higher and Higher, Guardian Angel, Love Vein, Fuego, Phenomenon, Jazz It Up, My Heart is Broken Too, Last Minute, To Love Somebody, Cool Whip, Come Tomorrow, Now or Never, Hideaway Cha, Waltz Across Texas, Red Hot Rock n' Roller, MJ Moves, Suds in the Bucket, Splish Splash, S.X.E., Don't Feel Like Dancing, Rock this Party, Drizabone, I Scream, Inside Your Heaven, Rainy Night, Over the Rainbow, Sail Away Cha, The Dance, Vida La Vida and The Way You Look (numerous times).
I can say with certainty that most every Scott Blevins dance including his classic Swing Time Boogie was played. Same w/Guyton Munday dances ...Guyton even re taught his classic advanced dance: Cadillac Ride.
Amame - those CA dancers in sparkling 'Robbie' black tee's owned this RMH dance!
JR Drop McEnaney/Langstaff...filled the floor to In The Ayer just after Louie played
Boo-Taaay which always packed the floor to Move Move Shake Shake NOW Drop!
The eye catching dance on Jill's floor - they all owned All Summer Long (van Grootel/Trepat)
Waiting ...~ 2 dozen on the floor for this advanced one. Guyton knew the restarts perfectly!
Frank Cooper was on the floor dancing his HOME ~ 2AMish while Craig Bennett took the mic and 'sang' the words perfectly for the enjoyment of all ...and here we thought Craig was a shy guy.
John Robinson came into the teach room while Junior was mentioning it was the first time that he and Craig have danced Faith In Love together. The music played and John danced while he dramatically mouthed the words for all of us ...and then he came between the two of them and held their hands while all three danced that long weave ...all of us there could tell that Faith in Love is one of JOHN's favorite dances! It packed the floor each night.
Maurice Rowe - (his variations) really 'sold' Triple M (the competition dance he created w/Max and Michele) to the Saturday Night Show audience; team International won first prize.
Neville and Julie were on the floor w/the dancers for their newest creations: Is This Is Love, No One's Gonna Stop Me, and the newest one that they taught to a full workshop on Saturday Morning: When I Grow Up.
Not all the ~60 dancers on the floor for any one intermediate/adv dance owns the dance. 47 were on the floor Saturday nite for When I Grow Up and we noticed some were still counting to themselves and keeping watch on Nev or Julie to see if they were on plot. The teach was brillant and in my opinion, so is the dance. It is as hard as Elevator, It's Murda and No One's Gonna Stop Me ...that's all.
90% of the dancers at this event (not including the 20 something event instructors) ...are at least 2, even 3 decades OLDER than Neville and Julie ...duh ...we owe them thanks for creating RAINY NIGHT ...a dance that all age groups can enjoy.
Everyone had a great time dancing, catching up with friends and meeting new ones. The event directors really want everyone to dance ...and provide a great venue every 2nd weekend October.
FROM: MARILYN MCNEAL, BoarsNestFarm@aol.com
WOW! Did we have a great time in Chicago this weekend! This event is always a happy and carefree one. People come with one purpose: “I’m here to dance and enjoy this time together.” That attitude and the experience and planning of Eve, Mark and Glenn, always results in a successful event! Ray and I were happy to see many of our Asian friends
here after meeting them on Judy Chen’s Asian Cruise earlier this year and we especially enjoyed their company this weekend. Thanks to Mas and Kaz for all the picture taking! That dynamite lady was all over the place with her camera every time you turned around!! Dinner was really good this year too, and the dance floors were all perfect.
There were so many great dances this weekend that Carol was taking a survey to record the most popular. But wherever YOUR dance favorite falls, you must check out the entire list at www.countryedge.com
and also those from the choreography contests. We’ll never be able to teach all of them and there were MANY good ones.
My personal favorite is FEEL (Scott Blevins). It’s an amazing NC2 perfectly choreographed to one of those emotional songs that takes your breath away for a moment. We all hope he’ll teach it again in NY and Tampa.
My choices for Arline’s event in Tampa in November are: =20BOSSY( Int), by Michele Perron – fun, playful and interesting, and PURPLE RAIN(I/A) by Rachael – incredible NC2. I will also teach BOSSY at the upcoming Tim Gillis weekend on November 6-8, along with a couple more!
Beides BOSSY and PURPLE RAIN, some other class I took and enjoyed are: MULTIPLY (Paul McAdams), DREAMS (Guyton), SUGAR LIPS (John & Junior) cute and country, CREEPIN’ (Scott Blevens) TANGO CHA (Jo T.), RAINY NIGHT (Nev & Julie). There were several dances on the schedule this weekend that I’ve already taught at Midnight Rodeo and it was good to see big crowds in those rooms! Also, one whole ballroom was designated for Beginner dances with a good variety of music choices.
Team International won the professional choreography contest with HOT SPOT but second place Team USA’s dance, TRIPLE M was a crowd pleaser too!
Choreography Competition winners Pan Leader & Ray Crum have a GREAT dance that Kathy G will teach in Tampa called STING ME. I hope it becomes a favorite!!
Open dance with Louie and Jill was terrific and both huge ballrooms were connected, so it was easy going back and forth between the two and dancing in both!. Jill’s room was “all requests” and full of happy dancers. Louie played ALL the weekend dances many times over, and they both played all the current favorites and tons of requested oldies! More happy dancers!! Both dance20floors were still full and going strong when I left for the room at 2:30 AM!
I finally met Michele Perron in person, though we've been in email contacto over the years. It was also great to meet Dan McInerny (Let’s Get Saved) and Denise Boyle (Home USA). Ray, George and Bob didn’t get into any trouble out and about in Chicago (thank goodness) and GO RAYS and GO GATORS! And a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO PAUL!
On to the Tim Gillis weekend in the beautiful Catskill Mountains the first weekend in November where we’ll meet up with the rest of the infamous Jersey Girls and Ringleader Linda! Florida vs. Jersey at the “Sing Off-Key” Karaoke party LATE Friday night! We KNOW this will be a weekend to remember!
The very next weekend we’ll all be attending the Tampa Bay Line Dance Classic! I think everyone I know will be there!! If you aren’t registered yet, HURRY!!! You don’t want to miss this one. Lots of dancing coming up and we’ll look forward to seeing you again!
Mark, Eve and Glenn, we had a great time in Chicago! Congratulations on another successful event. We’ll be back again next year!
FROM: JILL BABINEC
Hey ya'll... just wanted to say thanks for another great year of dancing and fun. I had a blast as usual seeing every one and getting to dance. I appreciate all the requests that you place and hope that i at least was able to get to 1 of yours, it was pretty hectic hehe.
Thanks to Mark , Eve, and Glenn for another fine year.
**Love's On The Inside** the new dance that I taught was well received and thanks for the great reviews. **PLEASE note that they put the incorrect sheet in the syllabus....intro should be 64 not 48 count (that is the only correction)
I have fwd the correct one to Carol and it will be on the other line dance sites as well.
You can also go to www.scottschrank.com and d/l it from there since he co-choreo'd it with me.
You can also email me toofdds1@aol.com if you'd like it emailed to you.
SEE YOU AGAIN next year !!!!
Jill Babinec
FROM: SCOTT SCHRANK
What an event this was!!! I have been to this event every year except one, and always look forward to it. I am always amazed at how well it seems to run. As Carol said, there doesn't seem to been any major "Drama"
I thought that being on the other side as one of the instructors for this event, it would be No-Stop frenzy. Boy was I wrong. If there were any issues - Mark, Eve and Glen truly kept it under control. It felt like a vacation.
As for those who attended the event, especially those who came to my classes, (Did I see Carol C. in my class?) thank you for making this a great experience for me. You are why we do this (Definitely not the money) Again, a big thank you to Mark, Eve and Glen for giving us an event that seemed effortless.
Let's all meet there again next year!!!
Scott Schrank
FROM: ROBERY MAH
Wow I’m amazed at Carol’s exhaustive list of dances for the report on this weekend. Someone said to me, “There’s not a single class I took that I didn’t like.” I couldn’t agree more. Here’s what I took:
Junior Willis – SUGAR LIPS
Rachael McEnaney - PURPLE RAIN My favourite for the weekend.
Scott Blevins - CREEPIN’ You can’t stop moving to this beat.
Guyton Mundy (w. Bennett)- DREAMS I could feel like floating around this NC2.
Guyton Mundy - NOTICE THE DANGER Everyone had great fun with this funky contra dance.
Michele/Max/Maurice - TRIPLE M
Michele Perron -INVITATION TO PARTY
Carole Daugherty - CLEVELAND SHUFFLE A club dance taught in the beginner room. A rest for my brain.
Scott Blevins - KEEP IT REAL I think I can finally hear all the phrasing..
Guyton Mundy - CADILLAC RIDE I got a real teach on this classic.
Neville Fitzgerald - WHEN I GROW UP
Neville Fitzgerald - RAINY NIGHT
Frank Cooper - THERE’S NOT PLACE LIKE HOME
Jackie Miranda - GAZEBO WALTZ The only waltz I know that starts with a rock, cross and turn. You tend to not step but just flow through the music.
I still like dancing:
MY VERONICA
TANGO CHA
A THOUSAND KISSES
FAITH IN LOVE
THE WAY YOU LOOK
GIRL
Eve, Mark and Glenn put on a smooth running event. I expected demos to start late but I arrived at 8:03 and the first demo was almost finished. Windy City is one event we try to make every year.
I’ll have to take Scott’s FEEL in Tampa. My feet are just ready to get goin’ again. See you there.
Robert Mah
Toronto, ON
FROM: PAM LEADER
I am still so excited and amazed that the dance that I co-choreagraphed with Ray Crum (Sting Me) was good enough to win 1st place at the Windy City event. There were so many wonderful dances that I'm sure it was very difficult to chose the winners. My hat goes off to Susan for a wonderful dance (I Dance). I look forward to passing it on to my group of dancers in the Baltimore area. A Huge thanks to anyone who came up to me after the competition to either get a step sheet or to congratulate me. The love and support that we as a dance community have for one another is truly awesome. John, Junior, Bryan, Craig and Jackie - you all looked great out there - KUDOS to you all. Sting Me is on Carols website with a video already - not marked as new since it has been in for about a month. I also understand that there are a couple of teaching videos online for it.
On to my synopsis of the event. From the moment we hit the door on Thursday night, we knew we were in for a wonderful weekend. I didn't think we'd be able to get up the next morning to start the day off with the demos, but much to my surprise, there we were at 9:00 waiting with baited breath to see what dances we would try to learn. I started the day off with SUGAR LIPS (Junior Willis/John Robinson). One of my favorites of the weekend! THERE"S NO PLACE LIKE HOME (Frank Cooper) was a tricky little dance. Dance is not that difficult, but it makes up for it in speed! TANGO CHA (Jo Thompson) has to be my favorite of the weekend. MULTIPLY (Paul McAdam) was a wonderful teach. I need some extra work on this one though as well as NO ONE'S GONNA STOP ME (Neville Fitzgerald) and ONLY GETS BETTER (Guyton Mundy). Open dancing continued until the wee hours of the morning. Louie and Jill never cease to amaze me. They do a wonderful job keeping the floor as packed as possible, while trying to get in the dances from the day so that I can get the steps stored for safe keeping. Saturday was a wash for me. Great team dances were debuted and I'm hoping to get the sheets for them and run them through our group as well. Dinner brought Birthday wishes to Paul - we had a blast. Keep that DiSarona pouring!!!! BNS - all I have to say is Yummy! Had heard good things about WHEN I GROW UP (Neville Fitzgerald) and after going to the class on Sunday, sets my goals to master this dance. Music had grown on me all weekend. I think that FADE AWAY was the most played at the event for a dance that wasn't taught there, and I'm glad. I'm so glad I knew that one. Where does the time go when you get to these things. Before we knew it the weekend was over and back to reality set in. :( I am looking forward to being a guest instructor at next years event. I hope to see everyone at World's or if our paths don't cross there, hopefully on the dance floor soon.
Mark, Glen and Eve - great job! Each year this event seems to get better. I can't wait for the next one.
Pam Leader (Hellonutagain@aol.com)
FROM: JOHN KORMAN
It was so great to see many folks since....BOSTON SHOWDOWN (for some) and FL MASTERS for others, since I could not make JG2. As a second year attendee, I feel WINDY CITY is the "reunion" line dance event. It feels like the first of several large scale fall-winter events in the U.S. Like last year, WINDY CITY was warm outside, but plenty of air conditioning and circulation inside - thankfully since the last couple of host hotels seem to cutback on the air conditioning, or turn it off altogether making it unpleasant for attendees. The workshops were great, floors were perfect, choreography rocked (GO PAM!), nightly dancers were superb (Louie's double room had the main room hopping all night with a great mix of dances, and Jill's room doubled in size too this year playing any and all requests), and the "birthday" dinner/show was spectacular; kudos to Paul McAdam who closed the show with his routine to Michael Buble's song Moondance. Congratulations to team International on the pro-choreography win, but I lean on learning team USA's dance first, just for the song. After the Saturday night show, both songs were played quite a bit. Meeting Dan McInerney for the first time (thanks Marilyn!) was a privilege--unfortunately he is not working on a dance to another Prince song, not that LET'S GET SAVED is going out of style--and as always, dancing with Paul, Debbie (and Rachael) with Booo-Keesha on the sidelines to HOW COME THE WORLD WON'T STOP was beautiful (I highly recommend this dance by Rachael McEnaney which was introduced at WOW 2007). Although Guyton changed his workshop schedule, he still (and finally) taught one of his all-time classics CADILLAC RIDE (mine's pink!) which solidified a long day of workshops on Saturday. Even with a complete schedule redo he still managed to earn my most favorite dance of the weekend award--NOTICE THE DANGER. Learning parts A & B with everyone facing front, then when it came to contra lines it was quite different, but everyone seemed to get dangerous (including me...shreek!). Thankfully HERE WE GO is not contra! Lastly, congratulations to local homegirl, Pam Leader, on her choreography competition win with STING ME (co-choreographed with Ray Crum Jr). I hear Kathy G is teaching this in Tampa! And, shout out to Susan who came in second place with her dance called I DANCE which is now on my list to learn. Now onto the workshop reviews:
BOSSY (perron): Fun dance to a hip song. Some sequence steps repeat so there is relief during this 64-count dance. Not a hard dance, but it did take some concentration at times (could be since it was a late night on Thursday and this was the first dance after demos on Friday morning). Wish I mastered this more, but I hear it's being taught in Tampa so I'll be one of the first ones in the door for that workshop. Highly recommend to learn!
WHEN I GROW UP (fitzgerald, harris): fast-paced dance to a popular song by the Pussycat Dolls. At first I did not think the steps fit well, but come Sunday during the reteach, I changed my mind. Well choreographed. Floor filler each time it was played. Played several times during open dancing.
THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME (cooper): Introduced last year at Windy City on Sunday but it did not get the popularity it deserves. Frank decided to re-teach it this year. I did not take this class, but close friends thoroughly enjoyed it. Heck, it's Michael Buble, and who doesn't love that voice?
TANGO CHA (thompson): Bryan did a great job teaching this dance to the packed class. The dance was tricky at first but Bryan broke the barrier breaking down the steps and counts. This was popular dance played throughout the weekend during open dancing. Not fast and well choreographed. Each class was packed full of attendees. Highly recommend to learn and teach others.
TURN ME LOOSE (friel): Easy dance to the popular song by Young Divas. No tricky parts, I really liked how the turns matched the "turn me loose" lyrics. Since I did not know the other dances, I had to take this class so I too could be on the floor when this song is played. Glen was on the floor each time the song was played so it was a good floor split predominately between this version and Simon Ward's. Very popular song and various dance versions throughout the weekend - one of the most frequently played each night!
A THOUSAND KISSES (mcadam): This was a re-take for me because it fell through the wayside after FL MASTERS. A great dance to a classic song by Luther Vandross. The dance does have some tricky parts due to the timing and the 11-count tag, but the more you dance to the music, the more you feel how it fits well. I hope to raise the popularity of this dance locally, although Paul choreographed another 15 dances just before Windy City so I'll have to choose, but the song alone certainly puts this one ahead of the rest. Recommend to learn and teach others.
LET IT GO (mcwherter): Easy dance to a fun hip song from a funny group - The Ting Tings. It was a relief for my brain to learn this as an easier dance during the first day of lessons (Friday). Recommend as a high beginner dance that everyone can enjoy and folks will just have fun with the music. A teach for all classes.
NOTICE THE DANGER (mundy, lloyd): Perfectly choreographed to a very popular song called Dangerous. After learning the steps facing the front and back walls, folks stayed with it when the class was broken into 4 lines, 2 facing each other to make it contra. The steps are not hard and the more you hear the song, the more you can pick up the AB sequence...it starts with B which is the easier of the two, but A is more fun. I just think of this like a funky, hardcore DING DING DONG for some reason. I found it a challenge to learn the dance--most challenging was part A facing away from the line, but when practicing after lessons, it's not as tricky as other Guyton dances. Thanks to Debbie from Florida who helped me conquer this one in the lesson and open dancing. Highly recommend learning.
NO ONE'S GONNA STOP ME (fitzgerald, harris): Good dance to a popular song by Madonna. The dance is of the same calibur as WHEN I GROW UP, but I like this one better. Tricky in places, like WHEN I GROW UP, so it's a good challenge - my concentration wanders as I find myself lip syncing the song, fortunately karaoke is not part of this dance.
DREAMS (mundy, bennett): Beautiful NC2. I was not fond of the song until I learned the dance. The tricky bits are the diagonals, but they are easily overcome with practice. The dance was taught with 2 restarts, but now there is only one to fit the phrasing of the music. A pleasure to learn as a calmer dance compared to others from the weekend. Just remember to take you time coming to the dancefloor as you have 5 minutes and 32-counts until the dance starts.
ONLY GETS BETTER (mundy): fast paced dance to a new Christina Aguilera song. I found this trickier than NOTICE THE DANGER and slightly faster.
LOVE'S ON THE INSIDE (babinec, schrank): Fun dance to a hustle-type song that just makes you "feel good." No tricky steps or sequences. The last 8 counts hit the music each time. Recommend to learn and teach all classes.
INVITATION TO PARTY (perron): This has been on the Event Dances list for some time, but have not consistently heard at the events, until now! The dance was more of a challenge than I expected, but everyone stuck with it and got it by the second time dancing. Great west coast swing song and a well choreographed dance with just enough challenges for every dancer. Hope to hear this played more often. Recommend to learn.
CADILLAC RIDE (mundy): Classic Guyton dance that has been resurrected from the dance teaching archives. Great dance that looks much hard than it really is, I expected the dance to be much faster too. The most challenging for me were the Crip Walks and hops. So hang your arm out the driver's side window of your long caddy like the pimp we are and turn that wheel to the left while step-locking and kick-step-locking. Highly recommend to learn this is a dance since it is played every night.
CREEPIN' (blevins): Fun dance to a song that is mainly instrumental, but with an excellent beat. Not hard, but does have some turning and one restart. The first 8-counts are my favorite. If you like TOO DEEP, keep it real and learn Creepin'. Highly recommend to learn and teach.
RAINY NIGHTS (fitzgerald, harris): Great smooth NC2 dance to a mellow track. No hard steps which fit the song. I picked this up during Sunday's review. Highly recommend to learn.
The dinner was good and the show was a hoot. Congratulations to all choreography contestants as it was a close call between the winner of Heat 1 and Heat 2 - go Pam!!!
Glen, Eve, and Mark have done it again with one outstanding event. One last question, where did GEM get shipped to?
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