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FT. WAYNE SHOWDOWN
2003
DTS 2003
Tanya & Dale Curry, the Hardwood Shiners, along with
the help of many other volunteers again hosted a great and inexpensive Couples AND Liners fundraising event. This
year's proceeds will benefit the Scottish Rite Learning Center. In the past 8 years, The Hardwood Shiners have donated
over $250,000 to various charities!!! Good on them eh?
DTS is the largest event in "our" area with more instructors,
vendors, and concurrent teaches than any other. Also with more participants - this year's event drew between
1500-2000 dancers! I lost track of how many of us locals were there....it was great seeing familiar favorite
faces from all the different dance locals we frequent...London, Sarnia, Windsor, Toronto, Lambton, Clio, Sterling
Heights, Port Huron, Chatham, Novi, Armada - We had lil line dancin' delegates from everywhere :) all
havin' a grand time!
A weekend pass costs only $35.00 w/ early reg or $40 at the door - lotsta bag for your buck!
Which covered the entire dancin' weekend...including shows, competitions and all workshops. Yes, that is correct - NO
PAY WORKSHOPS, for couples or line!
There were approx 65 classes offered for EACH
type of dance. Couples classes included L&F,
Pattern Partner and Technique with instruction by the best of the best Bigguns - Too many to list see
www.danceteam.com
Line classes also offered technique, plus oodles of
new dances! Many of the 65+ time slots had more than 1 dance taught.
My suggestion for future years (tho I thought they used to do
this) A simple white board posting changes in teach schedules or mutliple lessons when known in advance. Missin' stuff just
cuz ya don't know it's bein' taught, is no fun. This is a minor complaint considerin' the huge number of dances, rooms and different instructors that filled the weekend.
MY rilly BIG miss was Pedro's teach of MIL's Guilty (prolly
the big dance to watch for of the weekend) during Friday's choreography competition. I Hope someone can show
me it locally, ...psst are ya ready JEN! :)
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| Raise your hand if you know where John is ;) |
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| Dancers packed in for John Robinson's teach. John? Where ohhh where is John? |
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| John dashes out to buy gifts for his entire class. |
The list of line dance instructors along w/ some of the
dancers fave teaches included:
(* denotes currently being danced locally)
~MAX PERRY
As If, Cowboys Lie, In Too Deep*, Swing Your Chains, Sweet Sweet
Smile, Spanish Gypsy Dance
~JOHN ROBINSON
Shame on You, The Time Of Our Lives, Feel The Rush*
~PEDRO
Guilty, You Know, S.X.E.*, Stop It*
~JG2
Sexy Stir Fry, Sweet Little Dangerous*, Juke Joint Jive
~JUDY McDONALD
Do It For Love*, Fallin' For You, I'm On Your Side
~PETER METELNICK
Everywhere*, Irresistible, And They Danced*
~BARRY & DARIANNE AMATO
One Mississippi, Tic Toc, Jus' Being Me
~JAMIE DAVIS
What Goes Around, R.E.D., Funky Love Attack
~BRIAN BARAKUASKAS
Rock My Life Away*, We're Alive
~JENI ROUTION
Phloor Philla*, Just A Little Controversy*
Also teaching line were: Lou Ecken, Martin Moser, Dancin' Dean, Hillbilly
Rick, Jean Greenman, Bev Carpenter, R&J Schomas, G&M Phipps, R&D Bates, Tim Hand & Alice Daugherty, Alva Coats,
Ken Lasky. Barry Durand & Bob Bahrs even crossed over to the liner side of life this weekend with few
teaches also :)
All of these instructors do a great job and are sooooo unique and talented, No wonder
we have so many faves! They're all great at what they do - make dancing fun!
Isn't diversity grand :)
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| If I didn't know better, I'd swear this was Take It To Da Pokey ;) |
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| Tricky arm movements are in all the popular dances these days ;) |
A HUGE improvement in most dancer's opinion over last year was this
year's open Dance with DJs JG2 & co, along with Bryan McWherter (what a sweetie - catch him at Judy's Big
Party this June:)
Repeats were limited, music was current, just enough oldies
thrown in evy now n again, requests were even taken AND played!
I'm thinkin' the floor was less crowded than in years past, maybe
cuz the instructors weren't too present? Or maybe ya'll just headed to bed early??? For those of us that stayed
n played, we got in tons of dancing, more than I recall in past years.
AND For those that were able to keep UP all night, Brian B hosted
an after open dance party both Fri & Sat nights at a studio located near the Scottish Rite. Our "gang"
just went Sat night. We got to dance a bit...watch the pros a bit (saw a slightly more suggestive version of
Trois by Roystons & Baldovi, that was also done at Sunday's show)
Thanks to Brian B for the chance to dance and thanks to Bryan
M for the "Do Your Thing" variation - mighty satisfying ;) Dunno if we're ready for this one back home
yet ;)
Saturday night's show emceed by Jennifer Jeffries featured Jill King live performance of One Mississippi
- great country song complete with a new dance to go with it. We also had the pleasure of Barry & Darianne's
ever phenominal demo routine, a robotic dance demo, plus a Chill Factor competion - Congrats to the big winners! Hip
Hip Hurrahs to Dan & Carole & evyone else for giving it a fantastic go! Ya'll looked Mahvelous!
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| Jennifer Jeffries comically emceed Line portions of the weekend. |
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| Straighten up those lines! |
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| Jill King: Clik to visit Blue Diamond Records |
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| Glen wisely purchased the exclusive "Get Your Very Own Row" weekend event pass |
The competition results....
1st Place Line
Freshen Up by Bev Carpenter
Orange Colored Sky by Bob Izral
1st Place Partners
Bare by Chardonnet & Archembault
Echoes Through the Alley by Dick & Sandra Sharpe
As of JUNE 2003, competition results have not been posted to the DanceTeam site, nor have the rest of the
competitors been notified of their placements. (At least not Fwank n me)
Hmmmmm that doesn't seem quite right does it?
So beyond this, I rilly have no idea. There were a whole bunch
of choreography entries, lots n lots n lots. It's safe to say...yer not gonna see us hometowners (dat would be Fwank
n me :) in the top 10.... or 20..... or 50???? However many entries there were. To sum up, good
dances - just dismal performances on our parts. Tsk tsk we shoulda known betta ;)
A few of the competitors may have gone a tad overboard with
their entries. Guess once yer all yoked up, ya might as well stay on stage a while ;)
Congrats to everyone! Thanks to the floor coordinators for all
their help, esp. Dennis Mills, Kimberly Lechleitner and Ron Pemberton.
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| Pssst... Frank, ya think we shoulda practiced? |
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| "Nah...judges luv that unrehearsed just learnt freshness" ;) |
One of the best parts of the weekend was Sunday's show.
The Bigguns always perform so wonderfully. This year was no exception full of amazing dance routines.
The hi-lite had to be the Joe Boxer bit! Yea
I know - it sounds kinda dull right? Just how entertaining is it to see grown men walkin' around
in their briefs.... Heck you can
get that in your own living room! right? ;)
It was utterly and absolutely hilarious! We laughed ourselves to
tears! The entire skit from start to finish was just too funny for words. Hey - I didn't miss the good part
for a change!!!! Tho I think the ladies need equal time - maybe a Victoria Secret spoof next year????? Dunno if
it's included in any of the videos, or if video could really do it justice...but it would be worth seeing again if only
for that!
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| The most fun you can have with your "Joe Boxers" on! |
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| Barry explains exactly why he couldn't be in the "Joe Boxer" routine. ;) |
DTS TOP TEN
10. It's cheap!
9. It's for charity!
8. It's BIG!
7. It's close!
6. Vendors galore!
5. Bigguns Galore!
4. It's one of the few events that actually blends both LINE dancing
and COUPLES dancing equitably!
3. Rockin' open dancing!
2. A great event for the "watch" factor alone. You could fill the weekend just
watchin'...fantastic dancing of just about any style, varied & interesting competitions, awesome
show performances. 3 days of total eye candy!
1. Pedro, Pedro, Pedro - Like he said, his "white a** will be there every year!"
And so will we! Tayna announced they will be putting on the event again next year,
(despite rumors to the contrary.) Keep the 1st weekend in March open. See ya there!
For at least 10 more reasons why you should go, check out Mark's review at http://countryedge.com
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| The yearly traditional Flag Finale |
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