Well, Marilyn and Ray McNeil and their super duper helpers put on another great seminar. We were about 15 minutes late getting there and I'm glad because when we walked in the door it was PACKED!!!! There had to be at least 130 people there and probably more than that. I looked around the room and there were instructors and dancers there from all over the state of Florida and it just made me happy to see everyone out there dancing and waving and hugging each other and just being glad to see people we don't get to see often enough. It also made me happy for Marilyn because she is so great about supporting everyone's events and will travel miles and miles to get there and there are many of us who appreciate that and will make sure we get to her events. As soon as we put our things down, we grabbed a cup of coffe and a donut that Marilyn and Ray had waiting, said hi to not nearly enough people and jumped on the the floor and started dancing. Marilyn had chosen a good mix of music to be played during the day that kept everyone happy and the DJ did a super job as well as the bartenders in keeping us going. The dances taught were:

Bill McGee taught BOSA NOVA, Phil Dennington. Well, you've been hearing about this dance and it's going to be a biggie. It's an easy dance to catchy music so just go ahead and teach it because it's going to be filling the floor at upcoming events and seminars. Bill also taught LUCKY CHA, Jo Thompson and AT Kinson. This is an blast from the past dance that should be brought back. It is one of those timeless cha chas that are interesting and just challenging enough to make it fun to do over and over. Guyton Mundy taught DROP THE HEAT. I loved this dance. It was easy and you can do the hands or not or do the variation that Jennifer Toolan Cameron taught me and it's slap your legs, clap your hand, point to the right, point to the left. SORRY, GUYTON, but I can do that one!!! In fact, you don't even need to do the hands at all so if you haven't learned one of Guyton's dances I know you will like this one. I keep trying to get Guyton to teach some of his early dances that no one ever did because they were still standing there saying "Who IS that and WHAT is he doing?" Some of them were very easy and totally got missed and I would like to do them again. He also taught a brand new one by Guyton and Junior called THE DRUNK DANCE or OTIS or HAPPY HOUR or some name he'll give it later. It's very easy to do and to a really cute song. I'll send you the sheet as soon as they do it. Junior Willis taught BOMSHELL STOMP, Jamie Marshall and Karen Hedges. A lot of people knew this one (you have to be fast to teach a dance these Florida people don't know) but a lot of people hadn't learned it yet and of course it filled the floor as it always does. He also taught GET IT POPPIN by Junior and Judy McDonald. This is an easy, funky little dance. I saw a couple of other dances that haven't been taught in our area yet but filled the floor and I really liked them (both are easy dances). One is SIMPLEMENTE (I think by Kate Sala). I had been hearing about this dance here and there and it's a really fun, low int dance to Latin music that just makes you want to dance and another one by Kathy Brown and Lindy Bowers called BOP THE B. This is another one that is about a five-minute teach that filled the floor and was just fun. I also got to see LAST MAN STANDING, Lady in Black. This is another beautiful Nightclub Two dance. There are so many good Night Club Two dances out at the moment and I love doing them but sometimes I need something peppy to do and we had a good mix of both yesterday. I also saw Scott Blevin's FRICTION ADDICTION. What a cool dance. It doesn't look like other recent dances by Scott and in fact, didn't look that difficult although I didn't do it but I will take the class at the Tampa Dance Camp because I really liked it. We also did TRIPPIN', Neville Fitzgerald, and quite a few knew it but quite a few didn't and there was applause after it was finished. If you haven't learned this dance yet, you're missing a good one that we all hop up to do when it's played.

There were some great gifts given away yesterday. I'm sure Marilyn will give you the entire list but there were passes to all kinds of upcoming events and lots of other gifts given throughout the day. Marilyn and Ray and ALL OF YOU WHO WERE THERE, were so nice to do a 50/50 drawing for the newsletter and website and I was so surprised. I have been wanting to buy a laptop so when we go dancing I can do the newsletter and keep track of everything I keep track of and I PROMISE I'm going to contribute that money to doing just that. I want to thank everyone who has contributed to the website this year. I try to give Stacy as much as I can for the great job she does and the rest I use for paying for the site fees. And I want to thank the "Red Hat Ladies" for my darling plate that says -- what else???? IT'S ALL ABOUT ME!!!! It is so cute AND a beautiful dance pin that I will find out where they got it and let you know. I loved meeting a bunch of you I hadn't met before and I wish I had a photographic memory so you don't have to keep telling me who you are but I can never remember anyone if they change clothes. LOL. So just keep saying hi and pretend that you haven't told me a zillion times before who you are. We left after the semiar but tons of people were staying for the nighttime dancing and I"m sure they had a blast. Oh, and did I mention that Marilyn and Ray had a great FREE lunch? Now, that's going above and beyond but it wasn't just a lunch, it was a LUNCH!!! with barbecue beef and beans and salads and every condiment you could imagine and two huge cakes. It was fabulous.

Marilyn is having another seminar in April with Peter and Alison so if you missed this one, don't miss the next one she has. I PROMISE you cannot help but have a good time. Are we lucky to live in Florida or WHAT!!! Be sure and check the WORLD EVENT CALENDAR on the web site because we have a one week break and then we have the Dance Camp in Tampa and then a couple more week break and we have the Central Florida Dance Stampede and then a couple more seminars coming up in between and then we have the Florida Masters in July in Orlando and then the Tampa Bay Line Dance Classic in November in Tampa.

Thanks so much, Marilyn and Ray, for having another wonderful seminar for all of those who just HAVE to have them to look forward to. I met people who had never been to one before and they said there were going to start coming to them and I hope many more of you will give them a try. The day seminars and weekend events are just like a potato chip -- you can't do just one!!! We've been going to them since 1988 and I still cannot wait to go to the next one.
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