Events

JG MARATHON | MAY 27 – MAY 31

Once again the JG Marathon was fantastic. Jane Biordi and I arrived on Thursday just in time to take the bonus lessons, which started at 2pm. But first let me say that there were no hitches getting to the hotel. They have a shuttle running every 15 minutes. The registration was efficient and our room was ready
First up was Bryan McWherter with his own dance “Let It Go”. I haven’t taken a class with Bryan for a while, so it was fun being with him again. We then ran to Guyton Mundy’s workshop at 4pm. He is talented and entertaining so it was a great way to kick off the event. He taught Zac Detwieller’s “Comic Strip”, an easy, crazy no brainer that had us all laughing. He had some time left so he added in his own “Playa”. Boy, was I happy since I never learned that one. Then, I sat in on John Robinson’s class, “Life Without U”. Jane needed a review. I couldn’t wait to dance it with John. Another, fun party dance.

There were two other hours of workshops, but we decided to have dinner and gear up for the first night of dancing. The hotel has a great restaurant right in the lobby that offers both buffet and a la carte and a coffee shop that offers salad, sandwiches and Starbucks.
Dancing started at 8pm until whenever the last person went to bed! Sometimes that happens at 6am.
Each day at 9am the dances were demo’d. It was fast and efficient. The instructors lined up 5 at a time for each time slot. Each did 50 secs of the dance. Pepper turned it into a bit of a competition and sometimes we also had a little show of “backup” singers swaying to the music.
Friday was a busy day of workshops for me. You can check Jean’s website for all of the dances taught. I’m just going to mention what I took. So at 10am on Friday I started off with Junior Willis and his dance “How Do You Sleep”(I) Nice, easy intermediate dance. Didn’t hear it played very often though. My next lesson was special because it was my first one with Shaz Walton. She’s a wonderful instructor, very clear and very creative. I enjoyed myself so much. Her dance “Beautiful” is great. It’s labeled (I), but a very high intermediate. Good music and has high energy on the floor. Played quite a few times during open dance.

Next up I took a class from Rob Glover, another first for me. Rob is brilliantly talented. Not only did he teach his dance, “Sambalera”(I/A), but incorporated a technique class with it. I have a new understanding of Samba and it made the class so much more enjoyable. Another dance not played much at night.
Took a break at the pool for an hour for some sun and conversation. Then went off to Dee Musk’s classes “Lonely Nevermore” and “Hurst Don’t Know”.A lesson from Dee is worth the effort and I enjoy her immensely.
Now to Max Perry and “Aint Too Proud to Cha Cha”(B/I). Nice cha line dance and music. Max also gave his expertise on the difference between American and European cha cha. You always learn something with Max. He’s one of the experts on the dancefloor.

I took another pool/chat break to prepare for Scott’s “Coochie Bang Bang”(I). Needless to say, more lessons will be needed. Music is phenomenal. You just want to dance. High energy and styling. Scott’s dance is labeled (I), but it’s a very high intermediate.
Took off the last hour because it was on to “Kemps”, a great seafood restaurant, with Jane, Tom Cuthel, Angela Genduso, Terry Patella, & Ginny and Jim Callahan. Man, are those Hush Puppies good!
We arrived back to change our shoes for the open dancing which started at 8pm until ????? Let me also mention here that during the evening open dancings, beginner workshops were being offered each night.
Carol Craven had her “Cookie Party” for all of the attending instructors at 6:30pm on Friday. This was the second year for this networking party and what a wonderful idea. We were given good ideas for advertising our classes, beginner dances suggestions, email addresses and Michael Barr spoke a little about the workshop he and Michelle gave on instructing classes.

Dancing was a blast with running back and forth to the ballroom with Louie and the side room with Big Dave or J.P. Potter. Alsok the side room was used for one wall reviews during the evening. As the instructors arrived they’d jump in and go over the dances they taught that day.
The alarm rang at 7:30am and off we went to class. My intentions were good, but the temptation of the weather and the pool drew me outside for most of the day. However, I did take Dee Musks”s “Maybe”(l) and Daniel Trepat’s “I Got The Blues”(B/I). This young man from the Netherlands is a 5x European champ with so much energy and charisma. You’ll be seeing him more and more I’m sure.
So, although I played hookey most of the day, I did my homework through research. Niels Poulsen’s “Cuban Kiss”(I) is very sexy and gaining popularity. Shaz’s “Magic” was a-buzz for a must do(I/A). Max did a nice hustle “Higher & Higher” type dance “Need Your Loving”(I). Guyton’s “Roomba”(B/I), which I will be teaching definitely, is a fun latin doable dance. It is an AB but not difficult. JP Potter cowrote a dance with Rachael McEnaney and Bracken Ellis Potter called “Ease On Down”. This won the pro challenge. Another fun floor flowing dance with a party feel. I liked Cato Larsen’s “Soldiers”(I). It was pretty and lowing and very Cato! Guyton also wrote a non-hip hop dance called “Angels on the Moon”(I)
Saturday’s show started at 8pm. Pirates abound and cute. Dancing was until 11pm. Then onto the parade, which started at midnight. Great originality with ballerina pirates(Pirates of Dance), the Pittsburg Pirates, Yo Ho Ho’s(T shirts), Captains Kidd, Black and Queeg,and parrots. Dancing continued into the wee hours of the am.
Sunday was competition day. It started at 9:30am until 11am. I’m happy to report that I won 2nd place for my dance “Too Much” in the Intermediate/Advanced Country Division.There were approximately 30 competitors in all and the dances were wonderful. The largest division was Intermediate/Advanced Non Country. Johnny Two Step gave me the biggest compliment by offering to take my dance to Germany for an event. Wow – how nice. So after the competition we spent some more time at the pool and then went in for the Pro Challenge. Steve Lescarbeau entered his dance “Here’s Looking At You Kid”. Steve asked me to dance, so along with John Robinson, Junior Willis, Bracken Ellis, Johnny Two Step, Steve and Angela Genduso we gave it our all. It was so wonderful to be dancing side by side with all of these great dancers. Steve didn’t place, but his dance is very popular and is sure to become more popular after the competition.

Well, that’s about it. As you can see we had a wonderful time and this is one event that you should really consider. A lot more went on that I didn’t touch on. But, I just thought I’d let you know what we did while we were there.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~