The Tampa Bay Line Dance Classic continues to impress me as one of my favorite yearly events.  From the friendly instructors and attentive event director to the energetic dancers, this is a great weekend for all.

During the nighttime open dance, I was bouncing back and forth from Olivia’s room to Wildman Louie’s room continuously each night.

       


  Mark Cosenza hamming it up with Event Director Arlene Winerman

As with most instructors, we didn’t burn ourselves out teaching a million classes, so both Glen Pospieszny and I had some opportunity to sample many others and these were the ones we both enjoyed the most.  (Note, we were impressed with demos from all the instructors, and many other reports will cover many of the other dances, but these were the ones that stood out the most for us and for what we think will interest our class!)  

I’LL MAKE YOU DANCE – Neville Fitzgerald & Julie Harris: Challenging intermediate dance that I was happy that I was standing by Julie most of the times it was played.  If only Julie could be there at my dance class when this is taught. 

SHE’S LIKE THE WIND – Craig Bennett: A dance that’s not terribly difficult and the music is wonderful.  The last 8 counts were the trickiest for me because I was expecting some syncopation and failed to find it.

LOOKING FOR SOMETHING – Neville Fitzgerald & Julie Harris: Easier than I’ll Make You Dance, but tricky nevertheless.  I refused to do the first ball change on this dance and after that, I was fine.  Perhaps later I’ll throw it back in again. -:)

DANCING IN LINE – Robbie McGowan Hickie: I enjoyed meeting Robbie for the first time and this was my favorite dance of the weekend.  (It’s on our teach schedule for this week already!)  This was fortunate because he was scheduled at the same time as Glen or myself on both Friday and Saturday.

MOOOTOWN BOOGIE – Michael Barr: A nice easy dance I can probably throw in with another teach.  A lot of style to this dance and it doesn’t burn out your brain.  This was the perfect dance to learn on a Sunday morning after a lot of dancing.

FREAKY SKILLS – Shaz Walton: Very popular dance and Louie was pushing it like crazy all weekend. 


SEXY OREO - Maurice Rowe: This one was co-choreographed at the Windy City Line Dance Professionals competition last month by Jackie Miranda and Barry Amato and it took first place!  The class for this one was packed as well.

Dances taught by Glen and I included:

THE ELVIS BLUES – Mark Cosenza: I was glad to see such a large class for this and many of the enthusiastic dancers performed along side both of us in the Saturday Night Dinner show.  The energy of the class was awesome and they did a great job!  And it was nice seeing some of the folks from my Chicago class participate in the show number as well - I'm sure they can't wait to see the video! 

UNDER MY UMBRELLA – Mark Cosenza & Glen Pospieszny: Way too many people in the room to learn this, but Glen managed to teach everyone and I helped out best I could in the back. 

ISLE OF PARADISE – Audrey Watson: Fun dance that our class has enjoyed for a few months now.  People did have a hard time learning with the number of people, but I took care of the back and Glen took care of the front.  (True team work -:))

MY HEART IS DYING – Mark Cosenza: The Sunday 9am class is never short on space and this was no exception, but we all had fun with the dance.

 Other popular dances / classes that I couldn't make due to scheduling conflicts:

Whole Lot of Leavin' - Vivienne Scott (Fun Music!)
Because of You - Rita Arnett (Yes, the great duet with Kelly Clarkson and Reba!)
Boom Boom Boom - Bill McGee (Lots of open dance play on this one.)
Cheatin' On You - Guyton Mundy (Already taught, worth checking out.)
Boardroom - Maurice Rowe (Very popular dance)
Clothes Off - Kathy G (Will Craig's first place choreography dance at Windy City!)
Quantum Leap - John Robinson (A great dance from Jodi Wittman I really wanted to take, but was too brain dead.)
Toy Boy - Rosie Multari (A nice beginner dance and the song has been a favorite for a long time. Rosie is one of the nicest people out there!)
WTF - Bryan McWherter (Also taught at Windy City.)
The Dance - Craig Bennett (Another wonderful slow dance from this rising star.)
Tequila Cha - Marilyn McNeal (Marilyn is one of the best instructors you'll ever get to take a class from.)
Too Little Too Late - Junior Willis (Popular as well and done at open dance a few times)
Shy Waltz - Terri Alexander: It was pushed more as a beginner alternative to Michael Barr's Doors of Life (listed on the step sheet with Michael Barr's approval), but was choreographed to Englebert Humperdink's Last Waltz
 

Videos for these dances and more are up on the http://countryedge.com website.  The full list of dances taught can be found here.  I definitely couldn't hit them all especially with teaching each day, but every single instructor there taught some very good dances worth checking out!  To get the full video of all dances from CJ, go here!

 Instructors and Staff of the Tampa Bay Line Dance Classic!

Again, I can’t say enough great things about this event!   Louie, you are awesome as always and Olivia is a wonderful alternative DJ. But the event director Arlene Winerman is always available, treats both the instructors and dancers like gold and puts on a great event.  I look forward to coming back again in 2008.

Thanks to Kas Ozaki for the pics!