Event Reports: WOW Line Dance Spectacular
Wow was definitely a WOW event!!! There were over 100 dances taught ranging from Night Clubs to Funky dances and non-country dances to country dances!
The event kicked off Thursday night with a welcome party. The h’orderves were wonderful. The h’orderves even included pizza for picky eaters like me!!! Open dancing started at 730pm with previews at 9pm. The DJ in the main ballroom was Wildman Louie. Stompin’ Sue also had an open dance room. Each night following the previews, the choreographers spent the evening dancing and mingling with the crowd. Barry Amato did a first class job as emcee.
The hotel was very nice with a gym and an indoor/outdoor pool. The hotel offered a lunch buffet for 13 dollars and a dinner buffet for 18 dollars.
Judy Chen was an excellent hostess. She just totally amazed me. She was constantly on the go making sure everything was running smoothly. If one of the smaller rooms was filled up then she'd have it switch to one of the bigger rooms, etc. Plus she taught a dance AND she was taking lessons. She was just everywhere!!!!!!!
The schedule they handed out was really neat. They gave out two schedules. One was large print and the other was regular print. I have never seen an event that does that!!! I wish more would. It saved time for people who normally need to dig out their glasses to see the regular print.
Saturday night following an excellent dinner the choreographers and instructors performed to a array of music by the late Michael Jackson. They all gave a great performance. And by the way Barry Amato’s wife looked an awful lot like Scott Blevens.
There were a lot of great dances this weekend. It would be hard to list them all so you will just have to buy the DVD’s from CJ and see for yourself. I will mention a few that seemed to really pack the floor.
Swingin’ R’s
Laying It On The Line
Strobe Lights
Bella Bella
Smash It
La Secret
Do The Hoedown
Isn’t She Lovely
Bad Influence
Jesse James
Coochie Bang Bang
Hell If I
For The First TIme
Cumbia Semana
Go Baby Go
There were just so many good dances that you just need to do them all!
My goal was to take a class from someone I have never taken classes from before. It would be hard to list all the dances so I’m going to start off listing Instructor’s classes I have never taken before.
If you have never taken a class from Roy Verdonk, I highly recommend it. He was so much fun. I really enjoyed his classes. He taught DO THE HOEDOWN. He even taught us how to lay an egg like a chicken. Other dances I learned from Roy was ISN'T SHE LOVELY, which is a good fun dance especially the "surprise" aka: tag and SAMBA HUH. A lot of people mentioned liking his dance, ANGIE.
Cato Larsen taught SWINGIN' R'S by Roy “I” Ingenthron & Robert Royston. This was a fun dance that was definately a workout!!! This was my first time learning the dance and I'm happy to have learned it. I also learned Cato Larsen’s dance BELLA BELLA which is a good 5-10 minutes teach dance. Very cute and lots of fun. I heard his dance ROLLING WITH THE WIND was a hit too!
Rosie Multari: BAD INFLUENCE by the Kinsers and Mark Furnell. This is an upbeat fun dance. I knew this dance already but wanted to take a class by Rosie who was equally fun!
Kate Sala: I have taken a class from Kate before but it’s been such a long time. She taught her dance, BEAT AGAIN which is a 64 ct, 2 wall Intermediate dance. This very upbeat dance had no tags or restarts.
Other dances I enjoyed were:
Scott Blevins taught HELL IF I by the Kinsers & Mark Furnell. This is a 64 count 2 wall intermediate line dance with just one restart. I really like this dance.
Rachael McEnaney taught STROBE LIGHTS. This is a funky dance with arm movements, yet you do not have to do arms in this dance if you do not want to. Her dance, SHE WILL BE LOVED was getting a lot of good feedback also!
Marilyn McNeal taught FOR THE FIRST TIME by Niels Poulsen, a lovely nightclub 2 step dance to a smooth Rod Stewart song. This has some different and challenging turns with few restarts and a tag.
Barry Amato taught SMASH IT, by Barry & Dari Anne, which was a great dance and a floor filler. I definitely recommend that you check out this dance.
Stompin' Sue taught CUMBIA SEMANA by Ira Weisburd. This is an easy 48 count high beginner dance. You can even pick it up on the dance floor. It was a pleasure meeting you Ira!
Dancin' Dean taught I LIED by Andrew & Sheila. This is a 32 count, 4 wall Int/Adv dance. A lot of people liked this one!
Peter & Alison: HOLDING ON TO YESTERDAY. The music and the step fits very well together. I also heard their dance SPINNING TO THE SOUND went very well!
Max Perry had several nice dances but my favorite of his was NEED YOUR LOVIN ’. Max is always smooth.
Kathy Hunyadi taught hers and John Robinson’s dance WHAT A TRIP. This is a High Intermediate Phrased fun to do dance! I heard Kathy’s class for the classic EVERGREEN was packed!
Debie Pancoast taught SPANISH FLY by Debbie McLaughlin. This is a nice cha cha with some tricky but really cool turns to a smooth classy song.
John Robinson taught HOLD ON TIGHT by Robin Sin. As always John was a joy as an instructor.
Judy Chen taught LA SECRET by Robbie McGowan Hickie. The music kind of reminds me of Trust Me. This dance was one of the floor fillers.
The list just goes on and on and so you're just going to have to get the videos from CJ and decide what dances YOU want to learn!
Thank you Cathy Lee & Dallas Proveaux for sharing your pictures with us. Joyce, Connie, Terry, Sue Hall & Tajali it was fun playing tourist with you in New York! Many thanks to all the volunteers and Judy Chen who worked so hard to make this event happen!
Stacy Garcia