• Home Page
• BIO
• Mark's New Dances
• Editorial
• Other Event Reviews
• Mark's Event Schedule
• Places To Dance
• Current Favorites
• Upcoming Teaches
• Current Playlist
• Video Clips (Mark's Dances)
• Video Clips (Other Dances)
• Links

  ---

   

  "Welcome to Cool Country... You are going to have fun this weekend... sign heeeeere...zzzzzz". 
  
  Good help is hard to find.

  

  "And then when I had my next hit dance 'Have Fun Go Mad,' I really knew that I had a niche for this whole choreography thing.  Now creating 'Brucie' was one of my biggest challenges.  Counts 25 through 32 were especially difficult,  I had to change them three times before I was satisfied, I think my favorite dance is still 'Drive Me Wild'. I had so much fun creating that one.  I remember that I was really hungry that night, but I never got around to eating until I had finished the first 16 counts......" 
  
  Mark Cosenza enjoys his time with Scott Blevins.

  
  
  "Another great tip is to slap your chest and rub your belly whenever you forget a step.  It really helps relieve the tension of having to remember the dance."

  John Robinson's private lessons are well received.

  
  
  Hey what is this?  All of the dances are written in Spanish.
  
  Step Books were included at Cool Country, but the English version cost an additional $50.
  
  

  When demoing "The Van Dance", Doug felt the need to spell out the name with his body for some reason.

  

  Rachael just loved to throw in an extra shimmy or two into all of the dances.

  
  
  "I'm sooooo happy you guys are here!!"

  
  Bryan McWherter entertained the folks with his pole dancing.
  
  
  
  "Woo Woo, Take it off!!!  Take it
  off!!!
  
  Well Doug was entertained anyway.

  

  "Hermia pleaded in excuse for her disobedience, that Demetrius had formerly professed love for her dear friend Helena, and that Helena loved Demetrius to distraction; but this honourable reason, which Hermia gave for not obeying her father's command, moved not the stem Egeus."

  Bryan thought the dancers would enjoy some lines from A Midsummer's Night Dream.

  
  Well I guess not everyone did....

  "Come back again next year.  I'll be waiting for you right heeeeeere...zzzz".

  Pictures & Video Clips courtesy of CJ
  Captions courtesy of Mark.
   

  Video Clip Summary (Currently Available):

  Last Days Of Disco
  I'm Moving On
  Oh Yeah (One Night Stand)
  This Night
  Cheetah
  Atlantis
  Right To Be Wrong

   

   

Although this was the second Cool Country event since moving from nearby Laughlin, NV, the new Vegas format has worked out to be somewhat of a pleasure.  While the Las Vegas Explosion caters to those yearning for tons of workshops and instructors to choose from, this event is quite the opposite and has a much more relaxed format utilizing only one room for all of the instructor’s latest and greatest creations (or someone else’s).  The instructor list was obviously less than the typical event, but each got to teach three dances over the weekend.

Instructors included:  Scott Blevins, Bryan McWherter, Rachael McEnaney, John Robinson,  Mark Cosenza, Craig Bennett (UK) along with event hosts Doug & Jackie Miranda and a bonus workshop from Glen Pospieszny.

 
John Robinson & Craig Bennett

Jackie Miranda & Bryan McWherter

What made this event so much more fun for me was the quality and caliber of the dancers that attended.   I always have so much fun with the folks who attend this event as the majority are either locals or from the Arizona and Southern California areas.   Music filled the floor throughout the day thanks to the DJ efforts of Doug Miranda and Melissa Daum.  Melissa is a true find and she always has a pleasant demeanor that makes the folks feel comfortable with asking for requests.  Even though sometimes a dancer or two would ask for dances that no one else knew.  When that happened to be the case, Melissa would quickly fade out the song and have another great dance ready that did fill the floor.  She then called out the person who requested the dance and publicly humiliated them by parading them out on the dancefloor and have the rest of the dancers point and laugh until they agreed not to make any more stupid requests.  (Ah, I kid of course…. That’s why I don’t DJ – he, he)  OK, all kidding aside, Melissa was a wonderful “new kid on the block!”

DJ Melissa Daum

The Thursday Night Open dance got things off to a great start hearing such favorites as Trust Me, On The Water, The Right Way, Maybe I Could and Sometimes When. 

OK, onto the dances.  My favorites from the others included a few that I had heard about before, but never had a chance to learn. 

Mars Attack – Rachael McEnaney: Yes, it’s already one of the top dances on the “Carol Craven” favorites list and has even been taught already in the Chicago area, but I never had the chance to write about it.  So for those of you who are even later than me jumping on the “Mars Attack” bandwagon, jump on now.  This one is easy and fun and we need these kinds of dances out there to balance out the more difficult ones.

Atlantis [Video Clip]– Jamie Marshall & John Robinson: All the hype on this one was accurate.  I saw a video clip from CJ earlier and knew that this dance looked great.  Now that I did it, it also felt great.  This should be big!

Cheetah [Video Clip]– MIL (taught by Rachael): Glen Pospieszny picked this one up for his first teach back in Chicago.  Music is decent enough.  I look forward to learning this one. 

Last Days Of Disco [Video Clip]– Michael Barr & John Robinson: This one seemed to be really fast!  The steps were very well put together and generated a lot of buzz from the dancers.  Incidentally, both of these creators will be at the Pikes Peak event coming up on April 1^st so you can learn it for yourself.  Anyone who is on the fence about attending this great event should let this be the note to push you over.  I have heard nothing but GREAT things about this event!!!  I wish I could be there.

Right To Be Wrong [Video Clip]– Scott Blevins: Scott mentioned that people have accused him of getting soft with the dances (I’m paraphrasing, but you get my drift).  Scott wanted to show everyone that he still enjoys throwing out some real challenges and this one certainly fits the bill.  I didn’t have to learn it because our local instructor already has it down, therefore, I will learn it later. Although I must admit, the turns look to be killers.  Music is nice though.

I’m Moving On [Video Clip]– Craig Bennett: I didn’t take the lesson, but the buzz generated from this one was decent and it looked nice to watch.  It’s also a pretty easy dance from what I could see.

The Van Dance – Doug & Jackie (along with a bunch of other folks): Looked cute and the music was familiar and fun.

EverCool - Yvonne Anderson & Glen Pospieszny: I really loved this dance to the new track - I Want Your Sex by George Michael.  Warning however, if you don't like turns, this dance will put you off, but stick with it and you will enjoy it!


Glen Pospieszny                     Doug Miranda & John Robinson

Of course I save the best for last – my brand new dances (giggle – oh lighten up people).  I will let the video clips speak for your decision on them and hopefully you will check them out and teach them to all of your friends.  My newest dances, This Night [Video Clip] and Oh Yeah (One Night Stand) [Video Clip] are now available for your dancing pleasure. 

For the full list of dances, please click here.

The dinner show was a lot of fun as always and all of the instructors got to be challenged to remember some of their earlier creations.  For Craig Bennett, that meant last year, but for folks like Scott and John Robinson, that was quite more challenging.  Unfortunately, Scott could not remember “Country With An Attitude”, but did much better with “Have Fun Go Mad” and "Sex Machine".  Glen and I also passed the test with our recollection of the “Da Limbo Dance” and “The Sombrero Waltz.” 

Jackie Miranda and Rachael did a dance salute to music through the 80’s that wowed me and I’m sure the audience.  Craig and Rachael also had a nice routine as did John Robinson, who performed a solo act to Clay Aiken’s The Way. 

Mark Cosenza, Scott Blevins, Rachael McEnaney & Jackie Miranda

The Sahara hotel, where the event was held, is on the latter end of the strip and now offers monorail service to take folks to other hotels on the strip.  The hotel is simple to get around and I didn’t get lost in the casino once – which is quite a feat for me! 

I hope this event continues again next year.  This was a truly a fun weekend.