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"That's a great job Mark, but I was thinking that it would be a lot nicer if you put one of the lighter wood boards over in this corner and that darker one over on the other end."
"Hey Doug, you know what I think?"
Fortunately, Glen Pospieszny stopped Mark Cosenza from finishing his thought.
"Hello dancers! We hope you enjoy all of our workshops!"Barry & Dari Ann made all of the dancers feel instantly at home the moment they arrived.
C'mon Jackie, quit mugging for the camera and bring us our food!
Joanne Brady and Bill Bader get a bit testy when they are hungry.
"Fly Like A Bird" 2004.
Rachael's latest MIL dance "Banana Split" didn't quite make the cut with the Gotta Dance crowd. (But she certainly looked great in the demo.)
"OK you, now turn around and you ...... OK, what wall are we supposed to be on anyway?"
Joanne Brady had a hard time remembering her new dance and had the dancers facing all different directions.
"C'mon put me down Joanne, I'm down to my last rib!"
Barry Amato held his last workshop at the San Bernadino Hospital. (The floors were pretty decent considering.)
"Mark, can you losen up your arm a bit?"
Mark Cosenza escorted Jackie Miranda to the dance floor.
"Hey, the event's over. Why are we still doing this?"
"Beats me. Maybe we'll be finished by next year."
Pictures courtesy of CJ.
Captions courtesy of Mark.
Gotta Dance
San Bernadino, CA
Jan 30 - Feb 1, 2004
EVENT DIRECTORS:
Doug & Jackie Miranda
Event
Directors Doug & Jackie Miranda
Glen Pospieszny and I arrived on Wednesday night so that we could take advantage of a few extra days away from the cold in always pleasantly temperate Southern California. Event directors Doug and Jackie Miranda were only too happy to put us up in their home for an extra few days. Of course, we weren't the only ones sharing room space as fellow instructors Barry & Dari Amato, Rachael McEnaney, Joanne Brady and Bill Bader as well as Grant Gadbous also had the same idea. The whole meshing of different personalities in one place couldn't help remind me of what it would be like to be on the WB's Surreal Life. (You know, that show that puts folks like Vanilla Ice, Erik Estrada, Tammy Faye Bakker and bunch of other diverse personalities all in the same place.)
Somehow, we all managed to get along just fine though as you can see from the below snap shot taken from where we spent the day at Knotts Berry Farm. OK, well this was before Bill and Grant showed up, but don't let our serious expressions lead you to believe otherwise.
Some of the
instructors and staff from the Gotta Dance Event
Standing from Left to Right:
Barry & Dari Amato, Glen Pospieszny, Rachael McEnaney, Mark Cosenza, Joanne
Brady, Jackie & Doug Miranda
The event featured 2 workshop rooms with a mixture of beginner and intermediate/advanced dances that offered something for everyone. The complete schedule of dances taught can be found here. And while this event may have been smaller than others out there, Glen and I managed to find a large number of excellent dances from everyone. The schedule was easy enough to allow me the opportunity to take at least one class from each of the instructors.
Dances that stood out the most for us include:
Funkytown - Barry & Dari Anne Amato: If you don't like dances with lots of hand movements, you probably best to skip this one, but we happen to like it. Much along the lines in styling as Derivative, this one captures the flavor of the 80's hit Funkytown and should go over well with our group.
Gotta Have Faith - Shabeda (taught by Trish Boesel): I already taught this one to the Thursday class right after the event. The dance hits the song well although it may be a bit fast for some to get used to.
Dit Dot Ditty - Fred & Ro Lord (taught by Joanne Brady): Beginner dance, but the music makes it fun and it hits well along with a nice flow to make this one a winner.
Swoop - Doug & Jackie Miranda: I overheard Joanne Brady remark that it was her favorite dance from the event. This one has some classic stylings to another fun song from Dazz Band (same band as from Cool Whip).
One Dream - Doug & Jackie Miranda: Flowy and slow, (classic Miranda) - this one was a crowd pleaser.
Wishes - Vivienne Scott: Very popular dance with the California dancers and filled the floor during open dance.
Tumbleweed 2 - Bill Bader: Don't confuse it with the original "Tumbleweed" as this one is phrased with the music very well.
My Guy - Rachael McEnaney: Very much enjoyed this dance done to the classic Mary Wells tune of the same name.
It's My Life - Barry Amato: The music, a cover of the tune done originally by Talk Talk, no it's done by No Doubt made this dance.
Chain Reaction - Glen Pospieszny: This one was already snapped up by Lou Ann Schemmel for a teach out at another California area event. I'll also be teaching this one very soon for our class - it goes well to the original Diana Ross version as well as the cover remake from the group Steps.
My teaches included Sway and No More Excuses, which both can be found on my New Dances page. (The video of No More Excuses can be spotted on my video page.)
Like many of their other events, Doug & Jackie arranged it so that each of the dances between the two workshops were repeated twice throughout the weekend. Given that the number of dances was not as many as with most workshops, it was amazing how many great dances were introduced over the weekend!
Open dancing was great as Doug Miranda spun the tunes and kept the dance floor packed all night. Many of you out on the east coast would be surprised at the number of dances you would recognize. Dances favorites included:
Beer For My Horses (Bass)
Bye Bye (Sala)
Cho-co-latte (Anderson)
Long Train Running (Miranda)
Romantasy (Metelnick/Biggs)
Start Walking (Cosenza)
Cheek To Cheek (Fowler)
Nu Flow (MIL)
Mr President (Ward)
Miss Independent (Boesels)
Swing Your Chains (Soares)
One Thin Dime (Perron)
Cold Blooded (Blevins)
Basha (Perron)
On The Rocks (Potter)
Another Quickie (Brady)
That was in addition to all of the teach reviews of the dances taught over
the weekend. Now given this above list, plus many other old standard
favorites, odds are that you East Coasters and Midwesterners would have
recognized a lot of the dances played over the weekend and wouldn't have
been sitting around bored.
Something to keep in mind next time you hear about a fun event happening out in West Coast area. (Perhaps you might want to think about the Phoenix Dance Fest in April or the Bonanza Bash in May?) Check 'em out - I'm sure you will have a fantastic time! (Details on the Phoenix event would be found on my schedule page and the Bonanza Bash on Doug & Jackie's website.)
The dinner show was short, but excellent for the most part. A little snafu with some guy attempting a Richard Simmons parady was the only downer, but Doug & Jackie quickly got him to wrap it up before we all fell asleep. The humor was a plenty as Joanne Brady and Trish Boesel once again faced off in a competition - remember Musical Chairs at Windy City?, well this time is was stuffing balloons down their shirts and pants. (see below....)
But that quickly changed!!
The crowd was certainly friendly and special thanks to Leslie from the San Diego group who presented us with a couple of their very sharp dance team T-shirts. (We love gifts!)
I definitely look forward to Gotta Dance again next year!!!
