DANCE event reports

LINE DANCE SHOWDOWN 2008
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS

We had a great time, as usual, at the LINE DANCE SHOWDOWN in Boston. It was cold (and I was happy about that because it was hot in Florida when I left and hot and raining when I got home). I didn't even run into any traffic getting to the airport when I left, the shuttle was waiting when we got off the plane in Boston and the shuttle from the place where you switch shuttles was waiting when we got there so it was a pleasant arrival all the way around. It's a little bit of a hassle to get from the airport to the hotel but I just really like this hotel and the rooms. They have a very nice bar/restaurant and the staff really act like they are happy to have us there. The rooms are close to the dance area and everything is just convenient so you only have to go from one place to the other quickly. They always had water out. I wish you could order from the menu for breakfast instead of having to do the buffet but the buffet was good and it's about $12. They had better fruit than we have in Florida. What's up with that!! I also liked the way that food for lunch was set up so you could grab a salad or sandwich (and those yummy chocolate chip cookies) between classes. There were good vendors and shoes and jewelry and all the things that are fun to look at and buy.

Every year Jennifer and Jason have the most wonderful staff. Everything always seems effortless from registration to classes to everything for the entire weekend. You'll have to see the picture of Jennifer and Jason and Jaden. I always make sure to get a picture of the three of them from year-to-year and it's fun to see him grow and want to get on the floor and DANCE!! He looks just like a miniature Jason with the beautiful blue eyes of both of his parents. I tell you every year how much fun I have at this event and they never disappoint me. There is always a mix of event people and local club people who come to this event so there's always a bunch of young people who come to dance and play and Jennifer and Jason make sure that the music mix includes everyone. We did everything from the Watermelon Crawl to Fuego and it gave everyone an opportunity to see how much fun a weekend event can be. I love when there are a lot of young people who come to events because they never want to get to sleep and even very late at night the room is packed and everyone is dancing and visiting and just enjoying the few moments we have together. The weekends just go too fast!!!

Thursday night was a party with reviews for the next day's dances. Some of the instructors got delayed with travel so I didn't see all of the dances demoed for Friday but there were plenty of classes. I took the first four hours straight and was pooped!! I wish I could take all the classes but I can't so I'm counting on everyone who took different ones to send in reports about the dances you liked. I'm just going to write about the ones that I heard the most about but I didn't get off the floor long enough to talk much so be sure and check out all of the dances. I thought the quality of ALL the dances taught was exceptional. I was watching the choreography competition and I was REALLY impressed with the dances, from the easy country ones to the more difficult ones. I hope you will look at them and give these newer choreographers a chance to get their dances taught. All of them would be good for any classes and all of them were very good dances with great music. I'm glad I wasn't a judge!! Every person who came out, I thought, hum, I like that one, and then the next person would come out and I was, hum, I like that one. Well, you get the idea.

Here's a link for all of the dances taught and I'll highlight a few of them that I saw or took the lesson or remembered seeing on the floor.
http://linedanceshowdown.com/schedule/workshop.shtml

Here's the dances that I thought were done more or that I really liked: (in the order they appear on the schedule and not in order of preference)

POISON PARADISE, Scott Blevins. This isn't new but I really like this dance and I don't think a lot of people knew it yet.

DREAMIN', Barry and Dari Anne Amato. This was taught and many knew it already so it was danced quite a few times.

WHAT LOVE IS, Rachael McEnaney. I took this class and liked this dance.

SO GLAMOROUS, Francien Sittrop (taught by Rona Kaye.) This dance was played and danced a lot. I already knew it but it's a very popular dance and will be done at the next event you attend.

BAM-A-LAM, Guyton Mundy and Joey Warren. I took this class again and could do it in the class but not later. I need to practice this one. It's not difficult. I just can't get it in my head. LOL

THERE'S HOPE, Johanna Barnes. I didn't take this class but I really liked this dance and hope it's taught somewhere soon.

TECHNIQUE FOR CHA CHA, Brian B. I had taken a class of Brian's at a previous event and was very impressed with it and I heard very good feedback about this one, too.

GET ON THE FLOOR, John Robinson. This is a fun intermediate dance with a fun instructor.

AMOR DE HIELO, Dancin' Dean. Well, you know this is doing very well on the survey so I would suggest you learn it and Dean is another instructor that is as much fun to take a lesson from as John. They both make me laugh.

PHENOMENON, Paul McAdam. This was one of the BIG HITS of the weekend. Everyone was mentioning it as one of their favorites. It's not very difficult but a little tricky.

DING DING DONG, Zac Detweiller. This is a fun little contra dance that people just can't help but have fun doing (other than Diane Poole who messed up the clapping part and Zac ended up slapping her in the face. LOL) This can be a dangerous dance!!!

THOSE APPLE BOTTOM JEANS, Joey Warren. Another HIT of the weekend. I really enjoyed learning this dance and it was played often during the weekend.

BLEEDING LOVE, taught by Scott Blevins. I really wanted to take this class but I also wanted to take THOSE APPLE BOTTOM JEANS so I missed it. Hope it's taught again somewhere. I really love the music for this one.

WHEN YOU BELIEVE, Neville and Julie. Beautiful music. I took this class and like this dance too.

BOOM BOOM BOOM, Rosie Multari. I already knew this dance but it's a fun little peppy dance and everyone was having fun doing it.

FOOL IN LOVE, Amatos. This one got good reviews in my little informal survey.

FEED THE FETISH (or is it feed the fish?). This one filled the floor before Scott even had a chance to teach it and afterwards, it more than filled the floor. I think this is one of the easiest dances that Scott has done in awhile and I know it's going to be a big dance for him. This too was one of the HITS of the weekend.

IT'S MURDA, Neville Fitzgerald and Julie Harris. Another HIT of the weekend. Most of us in Florida and California already knew it but after it was taught it also filled the floor. It's one of my favorites at the moment.

THROW IT ON ME, Guyton Mundy. This one was very popular with the funky crowd and it looked great on the floor.

MJ MOVES, Michele Perron and Jo Thompson (taught by Johanna Barnes). This is one of my all-time favorite dances -- in fact, when I was thinking about dances that would be my all-time favorite it was my all-time favorite. LOL. I was happy to see it being taught and we did it to the original music and the Louie music and it's a great dance no matter what is played. If you're looking for a classic to teach, this is a great pick.

CRAZY FOOT MAMBO, Paul McAdam. I'm sure you've seen how fast this dance is moving up the survey. It's fun, it's easy, and it filled the floor.

INTO THE NIGHT, Rachael McEnaney. Another of Rachael's that was a favorite of the intermediate crowd. I have to learn this one!! I love the music.

MERMAID IN THE NIGHT, Bracken Ellis. I didn't take this class but three people who did made it a point to tell me how much they liked it and I liked it when I saw it being danced.

HIP HOP FLAVA AND FUNK, Amy Spencer. I didn't take this class but I did take another of Amy's classes and I was IMPRESSED!! What a wonderful teacher she is. She will be at the Florida Masters and you should make it a point to take one of her classes. If you think you can't do hip hop for the masses, then you haven't taken a class from her. She was wonderful. I think we will be hearing a lot more about Ms. Spencer in the future and I can't wait for you to take a class from her. She has a wonderful following of amazing young dancers and she is what we need to get them interested and keep them interested. I thought it was so cute when I was in the BIG class she taught on Sunday that when people were too noisy her students all dressed in their hip hop clothes and hip hop attitudes shussed them so she could continue teaching. I just thought it was sweet to see the respect they have for her. As a side note, her house burned down the week of the Showdown and I'm sure most people would never have known that, at least I didn't. What a sad thing to happen but what a trooper she was!!

NO DIGGITY, Paul McAdam. I took this class and it is a tricky dance. I'm going to be practicing it and it was done quite often at night.

MORE THAN LIFE, Scott Shrank (taught by John Robinson). I have liked this dance for a long time and more and more people were on the floor doing it this weekend. If you haven't learned it yet, you should.

ELEVATOR, Neville Fitzgerald and Julie Harris. I really wanted to take this class but I also wanted to see the choreography competition and it was at the same time but I learned part of it in the hallway, thanks to some friends and EVERYONE who teaches the dances I like was excited about this being their first teach when they got home.

BRING IT, Paul McAdam (adv). He had a large class for this one and everyone was trying to do it and I'm sure they will have it perfected by the next event. Heard a lot of buzz about this one.

SAUCY SALSA, Robert Glover. I had never taken a class from Robert before and he was FUN!!! I really enjoyed it. This is a fast dance that reverses the pattern throughout. It isn't hard but you can't sleep through it for sure!!

BABY COME TO ME, Neville and Julie. I learned this one this weekend and I really like this dance to this great music.

LIKE IT LOUD, Christopher Petre and Nancy Morgan (taught by Dancin' Dean). This is a fun dance that has been moving up the survey.

DANCE LIKE YOU'RE THE ONLY ONE. Teresa and Vera (taught by Dancin' Dean). This is another dance moving up the survey. I wish I had taken the class. I liked it.

BOO-TAAAY, Amy Spenser. This is the hip hop class I took on Sunday at 11 am to a full class. She made this easy enough for anyone to do and I learned some new terminology like "chicken head" LOL. It was really fun and really easy to learn because she did such a good job of teaching it.

REESE'S PIECES, Maurice Rowe and Jeff (taught by Eve Yeaton). I just really like this little dance. I already knew it but it's just a cool-feeling dance.

Those are the ones that stuck in my head but we will be hearing about many more of them in the reports to come. There were just too many good dances and not enough time to learn them all!! There's always the next event though and I'm sure you'll be seeing them at the Tim Gillis Event and also at the Marathon which is only about six weeks away. Yippee!!

VIDEOS OF SOME OF THE DANCES TAUGHT: (Thanks, Stacy, for gathering them up!)

THE SHOWDOWN: (I named what these were according to the theme because I didn't know the real name they gave them)

If you have never been to the Line Dance Showdown, it revolves around THE SHOWDOWN. The rules are NO RULES!!! The prize is MONEY!!
People go all out with this event that has the buildup to Saturday night and it is always amazing to me to see the quality of line dancers we have today. The placements were as follows but they were all winners in my opinion. Thanks to all of you for the great amount of work you put into doing this each year with such enthusiasm and professionalism. This isn't just a thrown-together endeavor and it's obvious that every one of them put a great deal of time, effort and money into presenting their original creations. It's a special part of this special weekend and I just love it!!

1ST PLACE - BARRY AND DARI ANNE AMATO as Barbie and Ken. Amazing.
2ND PLACE - SYDNEY SMYTH AND LEE EASTON Super Heros
3RD PLACE - ROBERTO, RICARDO AND ADAM
4TH PLACE - RACHAEL MCENANEY Keeping her date waiting
5TH PLACE - BRIAN B. AND CANDACE CRAVALHO

GUYTON MUNDY AND HOLLY, SEEING THROUGH A DIFFERENT LIGHT
ROB GLOVER, PURGATORY
JOEY WARREN, WAR
SABRINA AND MARTIN, JITTERY JIVE - COUPLES DANCES

As I was watching the Showdown I was thinking that next year the Amatos and Joey probably wouldn't be participating as we've become used to them participating because of their new venture with the Mirandas in Tennessee.  This weekend the Amatos announced that they would be joined in Tennessee for their theater by JOEY WARREN.  They said they have known Joey since he was about 10 years old and he is very close to them.  I just want to personally wish them all well in their endeavors with the Mirandas and I know that any of you visiting Tennessee will stop by to enjoy the performances.  It was a sentimental moment knowing that they are taking a different path in life but I'm sure they will always remain a part of their line dance family and all of them will be missed because they are an integral part of our community as fall-time participants but they will not be far and I'm sure they will be still participating with just an added little life-changing career on the side.  LOL

Thanks, Jason and Jennifer, for another wonderful weekend and another opportunity to see friends from all over the world doing what we love best -- hugging and dancing!!!  Can't wait to do it all over again next year and for all of you who have not experienced the LINE DANCE SHOWDOWN, you are missing a great treat in life.  They have a wonderful year planned for 2009 so mark your calendars and check often at www.linedanceshowdown.com for updates.  In the meantime the FLORIDA MASTERS is coming up in July and they will do another great job with that one.  Can't wait!!

CHOREOGRAPHY COMPETITION RESULTS:

I'll try to get the complete list of dances that were in the choreography competition but the winners were:

ABC:
1st Place, Tom Clemons with PERFECT SOUL
2nd Place, Todd Lescarbeau WITH OOH-OOH BABY
3rd Place, Todd Lescarbeau with COLOR MY WORLD

COUNTRY NEW/NOV
1st Place, Steve Lescarbeau, VIRGINIA CREEPER

COUNTRY I/A
1st Place, Steve Lescarbeau, WAGON WHEEL
2nd Place, Tom Clemons, MASON DIXON TAN LINE

NON-COUNTRY NEW/NOV
1st Place, Pam Leader, LIE IN THE SUN
2nd Place, Rosie Multari, SHUFFLIN ABOUT

NON-COUNTRY I/A
1st Place, Todd Lescarbeau TAP DAT
2nd Place, Mecky Martino, NO LLORES
3rd Place, Mecky Martino, FEEL SO FINE

I'll also get the list of people in the dance competition and the placements and send them out later. I couldn't get the list before I left.

To order videos e-mail CJ at contactcjthedj@aol.com (complete list of dances to follow)

Carol Craven
www.worldlinedancenewsletter.com