Event Report: Fun In The Sun 2011
What a great time we had at Fun in the Sun this year. I always have fun at this event because it just feels like a party the minute you walk in the door and are greeted by so many friends. The hotel is lovely and the huge pool is a major attraction during the day and night. The staff at the hotel are always accommodating and friendly and it's very close to the airport -- so close you can look at the planes take off and land if your room faces that way -- but you don't get the noise from the airport. There are nice places to eat in the hotel from a Starbucks-type coffee/light food place to a large restaurant adjacent to the pool for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and an upscale restaurant that serves steak and seafood. There are also many places to eat within no more than three blocks of the hotel -- places like Hooters, Chili's, fast food, etc. The rooms are spacious with the great linens that are always at the Sheraton Hotels. Another thing that the Sheratons have that is nice is the flavored water near the reception area -- flavored with cucumber or fruit in a big glass decanter.
The free dance party on Thursday night was packed and it was great to be able to get your registration packet that night with the schedule and information so when the previews are finished you can choose what you want to take on Friday. And speaking of the registration desk, one of the things that make this event special is that Jen and Jason always have close family and dear friends man the registration desk so it adds a continuity to the event because you start off greeting them and they pretty much know the people who have been coming to this event or Tampa or Boston because the same special group helps at all of them. They are great as well as the people who help install the WONDERFUL FLOOR and are around all weekend just checking to make sure things are running smoothly. After everything is done, Jen and Jason and the entire staff are out having fun with everyone and they are enjoying the results of all the hard work to get everything organized ahead of time so they can just dance and socialize.
Friday was lessons all day and another party at night and Saturday was again lessons all day and the dinner Saturday night. It was a very good banquet dinner -- salads, chicken, salmon, breads, pasta, veggies, wonderful desserts (I loved the pecan tarts), ice tea and coffee. Rob was the host/MC for the dinner and for the weekend and he does such a fabulous job of balancing leadership with humor. He's such a great addition to our line dance world. I hope you got to take a lesson from him. He's a fabulous teacher. Table numbers were drawn for the seating and the first seated were the last to choose places in the ballroom after dinner. I liked that since we were third from the last to be seated. LOL. Each table had instructors join them and that's a nice experience for people to get to know them a little better during dinner. We got Junior so you know we had fun.
After dinner, there was some open dancing and then THE SHOW. Oh, my goodness!! It was a great show. It was a spoof of SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE and I'm stealing Betsy's description because I couldn't possibly describe it any better (hope you don't mind, Betsy).
Saturday night we were treated to a special SYTYCD performance with the "5 guys (Guyton Mundy, Will Craig, Adam Berman, John Robinson & Junior Willis)" and the "5 guys (Joey Warren, Simon Ward, Scott Blevins, Ryan Lindsay and Niels Poulsen)". Also Cat (Rachael McEnaney) Deeley, and the judges Nigel (Rob Glover) Lythgoe, Adam (Zac Detweiller) Shankman and Mary (Amy Christian-Sohn) Murphy. The performances were great. The performances were great, especially the classical ballet by 4 of the guys. Unfortunately we have to wait til next year's FITs to find out who won! (By Betsy)
VIDEOS FROM SHOW |
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Louie was the DJ in the main ballroom and played a huge list of requests that were projected on the wall in big-enough writing to be seen all over the ballroom. I love that so you know if you want to go check out the beginner room, or go the bathroom, or get a drink, or whatever. I liked that there was one main ballroom and one beginner ballroom because it kept the momentum going all night. I have never liked having a bunch of ballrooms at night because it just feels like there are not enough people dancing together and as long as requests are played like they were this weekend in the main ballroom, it works just fine. I noticed that people stayed up later and more people danced together and it just kept the momentum going the entire weekend. Another thing that made this weekend special is that all of the instructors were dancing and socializing with everyone during the evening dances and it just added a special little icing on the cake. They were having fun and it showed. I had never met Simon before and he is a whole ball of energy just by himself. What a character and what a nice person. I think they played every dance he had ever written and he could remember them all.
LIST OF INSTRUCTORS:
Sandy Albano, Scott Blevins, Lindy Bowers, Zac Detweiller, Bracken Ellis Potter, Lisa Johns-Grose, Ferrel Mazzato, Rachel McEnaney, Marilyn McNeal, Guyton Mundy, John Robinson, Amy Spencer, Simon Ward, Junior Willis & more.
They had a room dedicated to dedicated primarily to the beginner or improver dancers and almost all of the instructors taught a beginner dance. I heard so many comments from the newer dancers about how much they appreciated and enjoyed that. I know that Jen and Jason are trying to do this at their events and it's just an added touch that I think is a great idea.
Here's the link to the workshop schedule for the weekend:
http://floridafuninsun.com/
There is no way I can pick dances but the ones I saw filling the floor or mentioned the most over the weekend were:
Papi, Party Freak, taught by Zac was very popular, The Wobble, Lady Luck, That Kinda Lovin, Scott's dances were popular but he just started teaching them at the Marathon and here so not as many people actually could dance them yet but he had big classes and I liked all of his new dances, especially Fangbanger's Cha and 5-10-15 Swing. I took About That Walk and liked it. 2 Nite was a floor filler. Marilyn taught Say Grace and a lot of people mentioned that they liked it. I love that dance and got the times mixed up so didn't take it. Junior taught Love Is Your Color, a very nice dance. Simon's A Perfect Day got a lot of attention and I liked the uplifting music. Amy Spencer taught High Off Ur Vibe. I learned this dance in Boston and it's a really good, sexy-feeling dance that needs some attention because I want to keep doing it. I think Jillian is teaching it in our class. Amy also taught The Wobble but I think the whole world knows that one and they were all on the floor dancing it.
Some others that were popular that people mentioned to me or wrote in their reports were:
Show Me the Love |
Midnight Swing |
I also got to learn Somewhere With You (Thanks Lou Ann) because I have been wanting to learn this dance by Junior and Scott Schrank and I'm going to teach it in our class. It's very easy to beautiful music. I think he did a quick teach of it during one of his beginner lessons.
Ferrell did a great job in the beginner room. She must have the magic touch because everyone loves her. I thought it was nice that all of the beginner/low int dances were in one room so people could practice the dances between teaches to the ones they all know and the new people felt comfortable not having to find their way around all day. Speaking of first-time attendees to an event, there were a LOT and all of them I talked to had a blast!! It was also nice that they would come and try dances to kind of wade into the water and I thought they did really great. There were a lot of good beginner dances and I hope you will take a look at them on the schedule because I know people are always looking for beginner dancers. Stacy has worked hard to get as many videos as she could find to go with the dances and with the help of quite a few people. She has also added the dances played. I know there were some that were missed but Ferrell gave me the list for the beginner room of the dances that were played. Thanks, Ferrell. Like I said, I heard so many compliments about her DJ'g skills and I thought Louie did a wonderful job in the main ballroom all weekend.
I know I probably forgot some important things or people but if I did, I apologize in advance. It's like trying to keep up with a three-ring circus on these weekends. LOL. I won't forget to thank Jen and Jason and their tremendous staff and all of the instructors, DJs, hotel staff, and everyone else who made this even more fun than I had had there before. I think you can tell by the reports, that I'm not alone in saying WE HAD FUN IN THE SUN!