Phoenix Dance Festival
Phoenix, AZ.
April 30 - May 2nd
EVENT DIRECTORS: Dwight & Sandi Nelson (Couples)
Fran DeWar
(Line)

Yvonne Anderson & Mark Cosenza          Dari Anne & Barry Amato

Although many of the dances I was happy to have learned or seen previously, I still heard a lot of great feedback on many of those taught here.

The complete workshop schedule can be found here.

Dances of note include:

Possibility Foxtrot (Max Perry): My favorite dance from the event I have mentioned previously, but finally got to learn it.  This one has taken over as my favorite dance of 2004. 

Real World (Ruthie B) - Taught by Max Perry: Excellent buzz regarding this dance.

We Are The Same (Barry & Dari Anne Amato, John Robinson, Jo Thompson) - This one filled the floor the most during open dance. 

Slow Burn - Kathy Hunyadi & John Robinson: Also had a lot of popularity during open dance.

Givin' It Up - Kathy Hunyadi, Peter Metelnick, Mark Cosenza (taught by Kathy H.): The music is by KC & The Sunshine Band and it's a phrased dance, but hopefully that won't scare you.

L-A-EX - Maggie Gallagher: Recommending solely on other dancer's feedback.  Wasn't able to take the class but worth a look.

Stand - Barry Amato: Recommending solely on other dancer's feedback.  Wasn't able to take the class but worth a look.

Max Perry and Kathy Hunyadi

Those were the hottest dances that folks seemed to pass the word back to me on.  Although all of the dances seemed to have a nice following when called during open dance.

Other previously noted dances taught were:

Funkyfied - Yvonne Anderson

Cha Cha Tonight - Scott Blevins (taught by JP Potter)

High Class Broads - Joanne Brady (taught by Michele Burton)

Wham! - Doug & Jackie Miranda

The following were taught by Glen and myself:

Chain Reaction - Glen Pospieszny
Sway - Mark Cosenza (taught by Glen)
Bugle Bop 2004 - Mark Cosenza
8-9-10 (Let's Do It Again)- Metelnick (taught by Glen)
No More Excuses - Mark Cosenza

Glen Pospieszny in action

The floors in two of the rooms were great.  The third room was much smaller and out of the way.  This proved to be a problem when the class was crowded.  Some of the folks purposely avoided that room even if they had wanted to learn the dance due to the floor.

Hopefully next year, this can be upgraded a little bit better, but overall, the quality and the quantity of the workshops offered was excellent.  Also fortunately, most of the time, if a dance was taught in the small room one time, it would be repeated in one of the other rooms most of the time.  This was a great practice that was done routinely.

Popular instructor and choreographer Bryan McWherter came out to play with dancers LouAnn Schemmel and Netty Mesa

The volunteer staff was awesome!  Netty Mesa (pictured above) and the gang were particularly helpful whenever we were in need of something.  This is not an easy task, so I hope they all understand the appreciation we have for them.

The dinner show featured a parody of the old 70's favorite - Gong Show.  Doug Miranda played Chuck Barris and was excellent as usually with the job that was done.  The show did run a tad long, but thanks to some fun breaks (with some truly classic Gong Show type of acts from the Line Dancers), the audience didn't seem to mind.  They also had the option to go and open dance in the line dance room if they did become bored, and my sources tell me the room only had around 15 - 20 dancers prior to the show's demise.

Nothing I could say to describe this would do it justice, except that if you really should be sure to purchase the video of this show! 

Below are some of the dances that were done for open dance on both Friday and Saturday night.  This list was taken from favorites that are done by the Arizona, Nevada and California dancers.  All of the dances that were taught over the weekend were also reviewed during the open dance nights.