By Karen Green, Assistant Director of the New England Region
One small region. Sixteen studios. Three sold out hotels. More than 200 competitors. Almost 6,000 entries. Sounds like a recipe for disaster. Instead it went off with hardly a hitch.
On August 6-9, the New England Region held its 43rd Colonial Classic at the Mystic Marriott Hotel and Spa in Groton, CT and, what is usually our smallest competition throughout the year, unexpectedly became our biggest ever. Up until this point, our “biggest ever” was November of 2007 with 5,300 entries. Many may remember the story of that competition – the hotel lost power for 3½ hours and organizers ran the competition from a generator they purchased at Home Depot!
“August is typically small for us with about 3,500 to 4,000 entries probably due to summer vacation schedules,” said Kim Haidinger, the New England Area Director. She also explained that our August comp didn’t really have a “home” until this summer. We had tried out various locations before deciding to use the Mystic Marriott, which is already host to our November competitions. “People obviously love Mystic,” Kim said. “As soon as our initial numbers came in, we realized we were over our room block and called the hotel right away.” Much to our dismay, the Marriott was sold out for our comp weekend and was unable to increase our room block. “We were referred to a Hilton about four miles away,” said Kim, “but they only had about 15 rooms they could give us.” We quickly sold out those rooms as well and had to contract for five additional rooms at a third hotel!
But, despite this last minute juggling, the competition weekend went off as planned. A highlight of the weekend included a fantastic judging panel made up of Christine Harvey-Banks, Stanley and Jennifer McCalla, Dan Rutherford, Nicole Carroll and Anastasia Abrashin. “They were so interactive and animated,” said Kim. “The students loved that kind of attention and seeing the judges move around the floor to get a good look at all the couples.” Kim also reported that having Lyall Bradshaw as the invigilator always helps maintain a high level of integrity at competitions.
The region arranged for the Paul Mitchell School of Hair Design to send stylists at no charge to do competitors’ hair and makeup. The students appreciated this free service and the energy and excitement in the foyer was contagious as dramatic makeup was applied and intricate up-dos were created.
One of the biggest hits of the weekend was the new Midnight Buffet that was offered at the conclusion of the sessions on Thursday and Friday night. We found that so many competitors and instructors wouldn’t eat dinner before dancing the evening sessions or they had eaten and they were starving after dancing all night. And, most of the time, by the time we finish, room service and the restaurants are closed. So, we arranged for what they dubbed the “comfort food buffet” to be available with pizza, a baked potato bar, chicken fingers, soup, and cookies. The participants were deliriously happy about the buffet. They were so appreciative to have something to eat at that time and they loved the choices.
The record-breaking competition concluded on Saturday night with the Grand Ball and Banquet. “I think the hotel had about an hour and a half to prepare the ballroom for the banquet,” said Kim. When everyone returned dressed to the nines, the ballroom had been transformed and the competitors, instructors, and other guests enjoyed a wonderful evening of social dancing and the presentation of awards for Top Studio, Super School, School Spirit and the Top Instructors and Top Students. The climax of the ball was the professional show with honor dances by the professional division winners and a stunning performance by champions Victor Fung and Anna Mikhed. “We were so thrilled to bring such a world-caliber couple to our region to perform,” said Kim.
So, what’s in store for the New England Region at our upcoming November competition? Traditionally our largest, how are we preparing to top 6,000 entries?
We’ve increased our room block at the hotel so we hopefully won’t have any rooming issues but, the competition is blocked in on either side by large conventions at the hotel so starting earlier or going into Sunday is not possible. “We’ve adjusted our schedule and have had to eliminate and combine some things,” explained Kim. “You never know what challenges and issues will come up with events like these,” she continued. “We just take each competition as it comes and every obstacle becomes a challenge to make every event better than the last.” And, judging by how our competitions are growing, this philosophy is working.
One small region. Sixteen studios. Three sold out hotels. More than 200 competitors. Almost 6,000 entries. Sounds like a recipe for disaster. Instead it went off with hardly a hitch.
On August 6-9, the New England Region held its 43rd Colonial Classic at the Mystic Marriott Hotel and Spa in Groton, CT and, what is usually our smallest competition throughout the year, unexpectedly became our biggest ever. Up until this point, our “biggest ever” was November of 2007 with 5,300 entries. Many may remember the story of that competition – the hotel lost power for 3½ hours and organizers ran the competition from a generator they purchased at Home Depot!
“August is typically small for us with about 3,500 to 4,000 entries probably due to summer vacation schedules,” said Kim Haidinger, the New England Area Director. She also explained that our August comp didn’t really have a “home” until this summer. We had tried out various locations before deciding to use the Mystic Marriott, which is already host to our November competitions. “People obviously love Mystic,” Kim said. “As soon as our initial numbers came in, we realized we were over our room block and called the hotel right away.” Much to our dismay, the Marriott was sold out for our comp weekend and was unable to increase our room block. “We were referred to a Hilton about four miles away,” said Kim, “but they only had about 15 rooms they could give us.” We quickly sold out those rooms as well and had to contract for five additional rooms at a third hotel!
But, despite this last minute juggling, the competition weekend went off as planned. A highlight of the weekend included a fantastic judging panel made up of Christine Harvey-Banks, Stanley and Jennifer McCalla, Dan Rutherford, Nicole Carroll and Anastasia Abrashin. “They were so interactive and animated,” said Kim. “The students loved that kind of attention and seeing the judges move around the floor to get a good look at all the couples.” Kim also reported that having Lyall Bradshaw as the invigilator always helps maintain a high level of integrity at competitions.
The region arranged for the Paul Mitchell School of Hair Design to send stylists at no charge to do competitors’ hair and makeup. The students appreciated this free service and the energy and excitement in the foyer was contagious as dramatic makeup was applied and intricate up-dos were created.
One of the biggest hits of the weekend was the new Midnight Buffet that was offered at the conclusion of the sessions on Thursday and Friday night. We found that so many competitors and instructors wouldn’t eat dinner before dancing the evening sessions or they had eaten and they were starving after dancing all night. And, most of the time, by the time we finish, room service and the restaurants are closed. So, we arranged for what they dubbed the “comfort food buffet” to be available with pizza, a baked potato bar, chicken fingers, soup, and cookies. The participants were deliriously happy about the buffet. They were so appreciative to have something to eat at that time and they loved the choices.
The record-breaking competition concluded on Saturday night with the Grand Ball and Banquet. “I think the hotel had about an hour and a half to prepare the ballroom for the banquet,” said Kim. When everyone returned dressed to the nines, the ballroom had been transformed and the competitors, instructors, and other guests enjoyed a wonderful evening of social dancing and the presentation of awards for Top Studio, Super School, School Spirit and the Top Instructors and Top Students. The climax of the ball was the professional show with honor dances by the professional division winners and a stunning performance by champions Victor Fung and Anna Mikhed. “We were so thrilled to bring such a world-caliber couple to our region to perform,” said Kim.
So, what’s in store for the New England Region at our upcoming November competition? Traditionally our largest, how are we preparing to top 6,000 entries?
We’ve increased our room block at the hotel so we hopefully won’t have any rooming issues but, the competition is blocked in on either side by large conventions at the hotel so starting earlier or going into Sunday is not possible. “We’ve adjusted our schedule and have had to eliminate and combine some things,” explained Kim. “You never know what challenges and issues will come up with events like these,” she continued. “We just take each competition as it comes and every obstacle becomes a challenge to make every event better than the last.” And, judging by how our competitions are growing, this philosophy is working.
In the photo below, Robin Jedlicka (left), owner of the West Springfield, Massachusetts studio and Sergh Aliev, instructor at the Hamden, Connecticut studio and Elmar Schmidt from the Norwalk, Connecticut studio compete with their students:
1 comment:
Thanks for the informative blog!
BALLROOM DANCING
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