Event Report: WOW Line Dance Spectacular 2011
I always try to think of one word that describes an event I attend and the word for the WOW Event is "CLASSY." Judy, along with Sue and Kathy and all of her wonderful staff, really did a wonderful job of making everyone felt welcome, relaxed, and taken care of. They were always around, making sure everyone was having a good time and seeing if anyone needed anything.
I got there on Wednesday so we could do the tour with Victor (no, this isn't Judy's husband but her husband was at WOW as well as her daughter, son-in-law, and adored grandbaby) on Thursday. We did a quick overview of City Hall, Twin Peaks, Castro Street (where we saw, and I'm not kidding, two totally naked men walking down the street at rush hour), Golden Gate Park, St. Mary's Cathedral, Union Square, Chinatown, North Beach, Russian Hill, Fisherman's Wharf and the seals on the docks, Palace of Fine Arts, and Golden Gate Bridge. Diane and I went back to San Francisco on Friday for an extended tour of Chinatown and the Wharf area. You could easily spend many days in the San Francisco Bay area and never run out of things to do. One thing I have always loved about the area is that, area wise, it is a relatively small area so you can get everywhere on BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit), cable cars, trolly, or bus and they run often. There was also a four-day tour happening after the event that many people were staying for. If you are interested in the history of the area or thinking about visiting this glorious city, here is all you need to know. I can't imagine a better place to visit if you haven't been there before. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco
The Airport Marriott is truly one of the most beautiful hotels I have stayed in for a dance event. The lobby and many of the rooms overlook San Francisco Bay through towering paned windows. There are comfortable couches and tables both inside and outside for people to sit and outside they even have tabletop firepits to enjoy as you watch the planes take off and land across the Bay or just to enjoy the scenery and birds along the water. There is a restaurant next to the lobby and also you can order food in the bar/lobby area from 2 p.m. until around 11:30 p.m. There is a long walkway that leads up and down the bay so you can walk to nearby restaurants. We ate at one called the Elephant Bar. The food and ambience were wonderful. If you have one in your area or on your travels, I would highly recommend it. http://www.elephantbar.com/
You can take the shuttle to the Bart Station at the airport and go directly into San Francisco and hop on the cable car to Fisherman's Wharf. The cable cars were not running when we got there in the morning but we took the bus instead, so I was a bad girl and didn't take any lessons on Friday but I did watch the demos and I will be sending you reports from other people who took lessons on Friday.
Registration was very quick and there was a reception on Thursday night that was amazing. We had pizza, prime rib sandwiches, sushi, cheese and crackers, and lots of other things to enjoy in the upstairs lobby area while people greeted old-and-new friends. The wrist bands in the packet are so cool!! They are wide bands with sparkling stones and you snap them on and off. I wanted one in every color!! The tee-shirts were also very nice and I loved the design on them.
I met so many people I had talked with online but who had never come to events on the East Coast before. Thanks to everyone who took a second to come up and introduce yourselves and make me feel so welcome on the West Coast. After the welcome party, dance reviews were done in the main ballroom for the Friday lessons. Here is the full schedule for the weekend:
http://www.wowlinedance.com/WOW_Line_Dance_2011_Schedule.pdf
There was an amazing staff teaching at this event, including:
| Michael Barr Craig Bennett Scott Blevins Joanne Brady Michele Burton Neville Fitzgerald Jo & John Kinser Ruben Luna |
Rachael McEnaney Marilyn McNeal Michele Perron Niels Poulsen Kate Sala Roy Verdonk Shaz Walton Junior Willis |
There were a LOT of good dances taught, all levels. I'm going to take the ones mentioned the most from the reports from others and the postings I see on Facebook and I HOPE some of you will send me your list of favorites from the event so I can give a fair recap of the best dances. It is impossible for me to pick and choose dances because many of them I just see in the demos and don't get a chance to take the lesson and it's not fair to the choreographers to only single out the dances I have time to take. I would say that there were two that people gave me a lots of feedback about and that was Scott's new one called FREAK A LITTLE MORE. I predict this is going to be a HUGE dance for Scott. It is the easiest one he has done in years, the music is really good, and everyone can do this dance. The floor was packed when it was played. Another dance that was mentioned a lot was LADY LUCK by Neils Poulsen (who was there with his mum on her birthday weekend and she is just as nice as he is!!) This isn't a brand new dance but it takes a couple of teaches to really get it. Everyone who took his class loved the dance and so do I. We have started doing it in our little class and will have it perfected by Tampa!! There were some easier dances, too, and one that was done in the show on Saturday was called PROUD MARY BURNIN'. What a darling dance!! I think this one, too, will be a floor filler in classes and events all over. It's easy, it's cute, and it's just one of those novelty dances that are going to make it big. Some of the other big hits were dances that have been out a little while but not everyone has had a chance to learn them yet.
The show on Saturday night was fun and included so many people who were at the event. Scott Blevins and Joann Brady started it off with a west coast swing as only they can do it. LOL. Junior then came on the floor with his entire group from his clogging class and got roaring applause at the end. I was IMPRESSED with how much they learned in his class and how well they did it. Good job!! Joann then led a huge class of people doing the dance I mentioned above called Proud Mary Burnin' and they did a great job. The show ended with the entire staff performing a medley of dances as only a staff with that much personality can do. Judy ended the show with the announcement about Taiwan for next year and a big thank you to everyone and then she announced the birthday celebrations of the people there for the month of September. I think there are a lot of September babies. There were at least three huge cakes to be shared by everyone and then we got back to dancing the night away. I left Sunday morning for the long trip home but I'm so happy I came and got to dance with everyone and just enjoy a fabulous weekend. I hope many of you get to do it all over with Judy in Taiwan. I promise you will have a fabulous time and be able to see the world at the same time. Here's the information for that trip:
http://www.wowlinedance.com/preview_2012.html
Thank you SO MUCH, Judy, and everyone who helped produce this weekend. I had a wonderful time and so did everyone else I talked with. It truly was a classy event and I loved that everyone looked so dressed up on Saturday night with sparkles everywhere. I took lots of pictures so please take a moment to share the weekend through photos and I'm sure there will be even more photos posted on Facebook.