Midnight Rodeo Winter Workshop 2008
Well, Midnight Rodeo was the place to be on the evening of January 11, 2008 and all day and night on January 12, 2008. There was a packed house of dancers at this seminar hosted by Marilyn and Ray McNeal. There was a line waiting to get in the door when I got there and when the doors opened promptly at 9:30 the club filled up with eager dancers waiting to see what Bill McGee, Guyton Mundy and Junior Willis had in store for us. There was a large group from Florida, as always, at Marilyn and Ray's seminars, but this was the biggest ever!! Coffee and treats awaited everyone in the morning and everything ran like clockwork all day long. We had lessons and open dancing and visiting with friends and the McNeals and their staff worked so hard to make sure everyone had a good time. Marilyn DJ'd during the day and the club DJ did a great job at night making all the visiting dancers feel right at home. Marilyn's granddaughters were even helping this year and it's fun to see how much they have grown since the last time I was there.
It was nice to see Judy Chen, who stayed in the area after Worlds and also John and Paul from the D.C. area who also came to dance with all of us after Worlds. We had fun all weekend with them and I'm always happy when people from other places get to see why I call Florida Dancing Heaven and I think they know what I'm talking about now. I brought back some brochures for Judy Chen's cruise to the Orient so if you would like a copy, just let me know and I'll bring it with me or give you info on how to view the information online. Marilyn and Ray are going on this cruise and I think they are going to have a fabulous time on this trip of the lifetime -- but I digress -- back to the subject.
And lunch. What can I say about lunch? It is truly an amazing free lunch that they always prepare for this workshop and I think someone told me that Ray does most of the cooking along with help from their amazing volunteers. I'm talking pulled pork, sandwich fixings, salads, baked beans, pasta, cake and everything that goes along with it. DELICIOUS!! I truly don't know how everyone gets everything done for this seminar but they manage to pull it off without a hitch every year so they must have some sort of magic wand hidden somewhere. LOL.
There was a treasure trove of prizes given out in raffles throughout the day. Along with lots of Surprise Bags, the event directors of the following day events/seminars donated passes and what was so neat is that if the person who won couldn't use the pass, they returned it for a second drawing. I thought that was a very nice gesture!!
Day Events: JG2 EVENT IN BONITA SPRINGS; VILLAGES WORKSHOP WITH ARLINE, VIVIENNE AND MARILYN; SCOOTER LEE MEMORIAL WEEKEND IN THE VILLAGES; MIDNIGHT RODEO ANNUAL VIP PASS. There was also a yearly pass to Midnight Rodeo raffled off.
WEEKEND PASSES: JG 2 MARATHON plus MARATHON STEPSHEET BOOK; FLORIDA MASTERS; TIM GILLIS FALL WEEKEND, WINDY CITY LINE DANCE MANIA; TAMPA BAY CLASSIC, and UCWDC WORLD'S. Now that was a nice great lineup of raffle prizes if you ask me!!
Oh, I took a bunch of pictures with my new camera that I obviously should have read the manual (which I never do because manuals really bore me) because I had it on video for most of the day so I have some wonderful pictures of feet, floors, ceiling, inside of my purse, dangling hands and some other things that I can't figure out what they are. It's nice to know the video works though. Marilyn had a brilliant idea that will save the day as far as pictures are concerned. She bought some disposable cameras and passed them out so that people could take pictures from all vantage points. They turned the cameras in at the end of the day and when Stacy posts the report on Marilyn's site (she is web master for Marilyn), she will add those pictures so hopefully there will be a better variety than the ones I took -- although the ones that turned out as pictures were pretty cute once I figured out that you had to hold the little thingy down and little longer to activate the flash. LOL. Do you ever wonder how I make it through the day? If you see the picture of Muffy the cat in the pictures, she didn't dance this weekend but that's Stacy and Dallas' cat and she had been feeling puny all week and they didn't want to leave her at home alone so they brought her and I think she enjoyed the music!! She told me personally that she thought it was a purrfect day.
NOW FOR WHAT WAS TAUGHT:
Bill McGee taught:
Ooh Poo Pah Doo by Violet Ray (Beg/Int)
Music: Ooh Poo Pah Doo by Taj Mahal
This is an easy, peppy little dance that I see is getting some attention on the survey. I think your classes will like it just because it's fun and for fairly new beginners it introduces some of the easier steps so would be a fun way to learn them but it's also fun for the more experienced dancers.
Here's a video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZH0_c4sGsac
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Junior Willis taught:
As If by Junior Willis (Easy Int)
Music: "As If" by Sara Evans - Country
This was a medium speed dance that would be good for your classes and clubs. Junior did a good job of teaching it even though he was in severe back pain.
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Hot Stuff by Junior Willis (Int)
Music: Hot Stuff by Donna Summer - Disco
This is a cute dance to the disco music we all remember. In fact, just writing this makes me start singing in my head. Here's a video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pT7qRK4hMRw
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More Than Life by Scott Schrank (Int)
Music: More Than Life by Dan Gardner
Bill McGee did a good job of teaching this dance. It was very well received and one of my favorites of the day. I had seen Scott compete with this dance in Chicago and it got second place there. I liked it there and mentioned it after Chicago and I like it even better now that I actually learned the dance. Scott Schrank has done some very nice dances and I think he doesn't get enough recognition so remember that name!! I'm glad Bill picked this one to teach. Here's a link to Scott doing the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cBk6rsEJl0
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Guyton Mundy taught:
Bam-A-Lam by Guyton Mundy & Joey Warren (Funky Cha Cha)
Music: Dangerous by Ying Yang Twins Ft. Wyclef
I really liked this dance. It was challenging but there were no hands and it goes perfectly to the music. I think it shows the best of both Guyton and Joey so what more could you ask for?
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Get My Drink On by Guyton Mundy (Int)
Music: Get My Drink On by Toby Keith - Country
This is a brand new country dance that Guyton wrote especially for the weekend. It also is a little challenging so it will please the country music fans and the Guyton fans. I think he'll probably be teaching both of these in the UK this week when he and Joey and Junior and Cary go over. I know you probably don't know who Cary is YET but I have always loved to watch him dance and I'm sure he will be a special treat for the UK crowd to experience. What talent!!
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Hot Stuff by Junior Willis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pT7qRK4hMRw
This is to THE song Hot Stuff from the disco era. Unfortuantely Junior wasn't able to do the hip action justice this weekend but hopefully by the time he gets to the UK, you will see that it was a nice addition to this dance. I also liked the little arm movement. It looked great on the floor when everyone was doing it at the same time.
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Bill McGee taught
Cypress Shuffle Choreographed by Julia Ann Kennedy
(inspired by favorite steps of Cypress Class, Hilton Head, SC).
Music: Roger Williams – Ny Ny
The Deans – Dancing On A Saturday Night on CD Sweet Nothings [131 BPM]
Scooter Lee Tour song – Sweet Home New Orleans
2nd place winner Marathon 2007.
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Some of us went to Marilyn and Ray's for breakfast before we headed back on Sunday and it was a perfect ending to a perfect weekend other than the worst rain storm I have ever experienced on the road. Everyone on the freeway had to pull off the road because the rain was INCREDIBLE!!! We all made it home in one piece though. Whew!! Thanks to Marilyn and Ray and their incredible staff and the Midnight Rodeo for being so welcoming. If you haven't attended one of their events you are missing a treat and I hope to see you there at the next one. I had a great time and can't wait to do it again.
I want to THANK ALL OF YOU for sharing the 50/50 raffle with me for the newsletter and for Stacy and the website. I was totally surprised and it was so nice of everyone to do with such enthusiasm. That was very thoughtful of Marilyn and Ray to think of doing and it was so nice for all of you to participate. I am so lucky to have all of the dancers in my life and when something like that happens it always surprises me because I like reading everything that comes to me too!! Thanks again for adding a special "Kodak moment of life" to another weekend with friends. Carol