From newstimes.com:
Kids can Zumba, too
Brookfield (Wisconsin) dance studio offers class specifically designed for children
By Sandra Diamond Fox
"Come Mr. DJ song pon de replay
Come Mr. DJ, won't you turn the music up?
It goes 1 by 1, even 2 by 2.
Everybody in the floor let me show you how we do."
On a recent Friday afternoon at the Fred Astaire Dance Studio on Old State Road in Brookfield, about half a dozen boys and girls were moving their arms and legs to the beat of "Pon de Replay," the hit hip-hop song by artist Rihanna.
The students were taking ZumbAtomic, the new Zumba class for kids ages 7 and up.
ZumbAtomic has the same elements as adult Zumba, which combines Latin dance moves with aerobics, said Lynda Muir, 44, of Brookfield, a certified Zumba instructor and overseer of the studio's fitness classes. The only difference is that it has been specially designed with young people in mind.
Each song during the 45-minute class is limited to only three or four easy-to-follow dance moves. Prior to each new song, "we take a minute to go over the steps we'll be doing to make sure everyone understands them," said ZumbAtomic instructor Kiersten Lynch, 15, who is teaching the class.
Students learn steps from salsa, samba, cha cha, and swing dances. The class also incorporates tap dancing and drum moves, as well as moves from "The Hand Jive" and "The Shuffle"
"If you like to dance, this is a great class to take," said student Adriana Mercaldo, 9, of Brookfield, who also studies tap, lyrical and jazz dance.
Adriana said she finds the most challenging part of the class to be "learning the steps and trying to get them right."
"This class is a lot of fun. You can jump around and be with your friends," said 11-year-old Patrick Rynkiewicz of New Milford, who also takes karate and skiing. "Whenever my face turns red, I know I've worked up a sweat."
"A class like this provides kids with a great way to develop coordination. It keeps them healthy and teaches them responsibility, because they have to follow the teacher and be sure to arrive on time," said Patrick's father, Sal Rynkiewicz.
"One of the best benefits of the class is getting Patrick away from the computer," he added.
Aside from "Pon De Replay," other popular songs played in ZumbAtomic include "Say Hey" by Michael Franti, "Who let the dogs out" by Baha Men; "Cupid Shuffle" by Cupid; and "Candyman" by Christina Aguilera.
Zane Lynch, 12, said he likes ZumbAtomic because he is able to do the moves by himself.
"This is my third class, and I've already noticed I don't get tired as easily in my gym class at school. I can do sprints easier," he said. "This class really builds up my endurance. The more I do it, the easier it gets."
Unlike aerobics classes, which tend to be dominated by females,
"ZumbAtomic has attracted both boys and girls equally because of the hip-hop element to it. It provides a great cardiovascular workout, and the kids get so into it. I try to incorporate a new move with each class," said Kiersten, a Newtown resident.
Eventually, Kiersten said, she plans to "get the kids involved in doing some of the choreography for each song, so they'll feel like they're part of the routine."
The ZumbAtomic program was launched in September at the Zumba Convention 2009 in Orlando, Fla.
Kiersten said she knew the class would be a hit "after watching so many kids see their parents taking Zumba and hearing them say that it looks like fun."
"Just like the adults," Muir said, "the kids can shake it too."
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Friday, February 12, 2010
MN FADS Dancers Judged by DWTS Champion Kym Johnson!
Season 10 of Dancing With The Stars begins on March 22 but before the intense training required to prepare for the show began, Season 9 champion Kym Johnson (Donny Osmond’s partner) visited Minnesota and Fred Astaire Dance Studios were invited to perform at the show!
Have you ever watched Dancing With The Stars and wondered if you could do that? Local students and professional dancers Josiah Lanska, Dan Poitras, Sandy Haydon, Winston Fine, Chad Lessard, Joanna Lessard, Kristina Lee and Jessica Restivo from the Rochester and Inver Grove Heights studios in MN proved they could on January 30 at the Minneapolis Convention Center Women’s Expo. Students and teachers danced in front of a live audience and Kym evaluated each routine giving her comments just like the judges on the TV show. The eight performers ranged in experience from brand-new beginners to seasoned professionals. They were glad to find that she was gentler in her evaluations than DWTS judge Len Goodman!
Josiah Lanska and his instructor Jessica Restivo performed a Rumba. Kym was very impressed with their performance, especially given Josiah’s lack of dance experience. He just started dancing two months ago! Dan Poitras and his instructor Kristina Lee danced a Waltz which Kym said was very expressive of the elegant style of the dance. Sandy Haydon and her instructor Winston Fine performed a Rumba which they have danced several times in area shows and competitions. Kym was very impressed with their performance, commenting on how flexible Sandy was, especially for her age and lack of lifelong dance experience. Sandy is in her 50s and didn’t start dancing until a year and a half ago! The professional dancers performed a variety of routines including the Tango, the Viennese Waltz, the Rumba and the Salsa. Later in the day Kym taught a lesson on stage in two different dances, the Cha Cha and the Jive, and asked Kristina and Winston to perform the Cha Cha and Kristina and Chad to perform the Jive to demonstrate for her class. The event also featured an interview with Kym on Twin Cities Live.
http://twincitieslive.com/article/day/S20100201.shtml?cat=10699&v=192950
Have you ever watched Dancing With The Stars and wondered if you could do that? Local students and professional dancers Josiah Lanska, Dan Poitras, Sandy Haydon, Winston Fine, Chad Lessard, Joanna Lessard, Kristina Lee and Jessica Restivo from the Rochester and Inver Grove Heights studios in MN proved they could on January 30 at the Minneapolis Convention Center Women’s Expo. Students and teachers danced in front of a live audience and Kym evaluated each routine giving her comments just like the judges on the TV show. The eight performers ranged in experience from brand-new beginners to seasoned professionals. They were glad to find that she was gentler in her evaluations than DWTS judge Len Goodman!
Josiah Lanska and his instructor Jessica Restivo performed a Rumba. Kym was very impressed with their performance, especially given Josiah’s lack of dance experience. He just started dancing two months ago! Dan Poitras and his instructor Kristina Lee danced a Waltz which Kym said was very expressive of the elegant style of the dance. Sandy Haydon and her instructor Winston Fine performed a Rumba which they have danced several times in area shows and competitions. Kym was very impressed with their performance, commenting on how flexible Sandy was, especially for her age and lack of lifelong dance experience. Sandy is in her 50s and didn’t start dancing until a year and a half ago! The professional dancers performed a variety of routines including the Tango, the Viennese Waltz, the Rumba and the Salsa. Later in the day Kym taught a lesson on stage in two different dances, the Cha Cha and the Jive, and asked Kristina and Winston to perform the Cha Cha and Kristina and Chad to perform the Jive to demonstrate for her class. The event also featured an interview with Kym on Twin Cities Live.
http://twincitieslive.com/article/day/S20100201.shtml?cat=10699&v=192950
Thursday, February 11, 2010
The Benefits Of Dance
By Millie Dhirmalani, owner of the Fred Astaire Dance Studio in Princeton, NJ
Contact Information:
Phone: (201) 452-7227
Email: millie@fredastaireprinceton.com
On Friday January 22, 2010 at 7:00 p.m., professional ballroom dancer, Tony Dovolani, from the hit show Dancing with the Stars visited our studio to perform a special dance showcase with Snejana Petrova. This was a great opportunity to see those professionals perform live, along with participating in a group class taught Tony himself.
Sure, dancing is fun...
But do you know how much you can benefit from this activity?
Over the years, it has been proven that dance is more than an art but a leading sport. Now with Ballroom and Latin dancing being more popular than ever and with professionals in the constant spotlight, we find ourselves very fortunate to have the opportunity for these professionals to teach and coach in our area.
From the first time you walk onto the dance floor at the Fred Astaire Dance Studio in Princeton, you will feel a difference in your life. Many studies have proven how the art of dance can help improve your mind, body, and sense of well being. At this professional ballroom and Latin dance studio, students are raving about how dancing has helped change their life. Doug states, “I was a Navy Seal and thought I was in the best shape of my life, but since I started ballroom dancing, I have never felt better and been more toned.”
By dancing, your body endures a wide array of movements, involving an increase in range of motion, and the more you dance, the more your muscles will flex and extend. Most forms of dancing involve a series of bending and stretching resulting in an increase in general flexibility throughout your body. By increasing your flexibility, you are also conditioning your body to prevent future injuries.
As you progress through your ballroom and Latin dance experience, your body begins to respond to the changes you are asking of it, for example, increasing your stamina and making the best use of your muscles and joints. Soon, you will find yourself able to dance for longer periods of time without feeling exhausted.
Because dance uses a myriad of muscle groups, you can expect your body to get toned in ways that just might surprise you. Most people associate strength and toning with the gym, but many people forget that your own body can act as its own weight for your muscles. From dipping and turning to mastering the Latin figure eight, you utilize all major muscles group including legs, arms, back and core.
As a result, when your back, neck, and abdominal muscles strengthen, you can expect your posture to improve also. When you find yourself standing taller and sitting straighter you will realize how much dance has helped you improve your posture, balance and poise. All of these things, paired with stronger leg muscles, help to improve your overall balance. Remember, with a healthy new posture comes greater confidence and agility.
Lastly, dance has also become, essentially one of the magic remedies for redirecting one's focus. If you're concerned about work, your family or your massive to-do list, while you are dancing, your worries seem to disappear. The social benefits of dance have also had a hand in decreasing stress. As you build friendships and participate in the group activities, this promotes relaxation and confidence throughout your life.
Finally, dancing can bestow upon you an incredible sense of well being. Studies have shown that strong social ties and socializing with friends contribute to high self-esteem and a positive outlook on life. Susan, one of our first students to join our studio, states, “From the moment I walked in the door, I felt welcome at this studio, and the benefits I’ve experienced are countless. I have never felt better, emotionally, in my life than now!!!”
Contact Information:
Phone: (201) 452-7227
Email: millie@fredastaireprinceton.com
On Friday January 22, 2010 at 7:00 p.m., professional ballroom dancer, Tony Dovolani, from the hit show Dancing with the Stars visited our studio to perform a special dance showcase with Snejana Petrova. This was a great opportunity to see those professionals perform live, along with participating in a group class taught Tony himself.
Sure, dancing is fun...
But do you know how much you can benefit from this activity?
Over the years, it has been proven that dance is more than an art but a leading sport. Now with Ballroom and Latin dancing being more popular than ever and with professionals in the constant spotlight, we find ourselves very fortunate to have the opportunity for these professionals to teach and coach in our area.
From the first time you walk onto the dance floor at the Fred Astaire Dance Studio in Princeton, you will feel a difference in your life. Many studies have proven how the art of dance can help improve your mind, body, and sense of well being. At this professional ballroom and Latin dance studio, students are raving about how dancing has helped change their life. Doug states, “I was a Navy Seal and thought I was in the best shape of my life, but since I started ballroom dancing, I have never felt better and been more toned.”
By dancing, your body endures a wide array of movements, involving an increase in range of motion, and the more you dance, the more your muscles will flex and extend. Most forms of dancing involve a series of bending and stretching resulting in an increase in general flexibility throughout your body. By increasing your flexibility, you are also conditioning your body to prevent future injuries.
As you progress through your ballroom and Latin dance experience, your body begins to respond to the changes you are asking of it, for example, increasing your stamina and making the best use of your muscles and joints. Soon, you will find yourself able to dance for longer periods of time without feeling exhausted.
Because dance uses a myriad of muscle groups, you can expect your body to get toned in ways that just might surprise you. Most people associate strength and toning with the gym, but many people forget that your own body can act as its own weight for your muscles. From dipping and turning to mastering the Latin figure eight, you utilize all major muscles group including legs, arms, back and core.
As a result, when your back, neck, and abdominal muscles strengthen, you can expect your posture to improve also. When you find yourself standing taller and sitting straighter you will realize how much dance has helped you improve your posture, balance and poise. All of these things, paired with stronger leg muscles, help to improve your overall balance. Remember, with a healthy new posture comes greater confidence and agility.
Lastly, dance has also become, essentially one of the magic remedies for redirecting one's focus. If you're concerned about work, your family or your massive to-do list, while you are dancing, your worries seem to disappear. The social benefits of dance have also had a hand in decreasing stress. As you build friendships and participate in the group activities, this promotes relaxation and confidence throughout your life.
Finally, dancing can bestow upon you an incredible sense of well being. Studies have shown that strong social ties and socializing with friends contribute to high self-esteem and a positive outlook on life. Susan, one of our first students to join our studio, states, “From the moment I walked in the door, I felt welcome at this studio, and the benefits I’ve experienced are countless. I have never felt better, emotionally, in my life than now!!!”
Monday, February 08, 2010
Important News From Fred Astaire Dance Studios D.C.
Fred Astaire DC Announces The School will be closed Monday Feb. 8th, 2010
Unfortunately due to the inclement weather that the Washington D.C. area received this past weekend the studio will not be open until Tuesday Feb. 9th, 2010. Many neighborhoods are still not plowed along with many roads. We thank you for your understanding, and hope to see everyone on Tuesday. Be safe and stay warm.
Thank You,Fred Astaire Staff
Unfortunately due to the inclement weather that the Washington D.C. area received this past weekend the studio will not be open until Tuesday Feb. 9th, 2010. Many neighborhoods are still not plowed along with many roads. We thank you for your understanding, and hope to see everyone on Tuesday. Be safe and stay warm.
Thank You,Fred Astaire Staff
Dancing On Wheels & Brian Fortuna
From dailymail.co.uk:
Strictly come rolling... The secret passion of BRIAN FORTUNA
By Brian
Gliding around the dance floor to Sinatra's The Way You Look Tonight, the Olympic swimmer Mark Foster and his dance partner Diana Morgan-Hill wowed the judges with their graceful foxtrot.
While Mark, a close friend of mine since he performed in Strictly Come Dancing, looked elegant in tails, Diana, a 49-year-old magazine editor, was radiant in a peach silk.
But this was no ordinary foxtrot. Mark, 39, is one of Britain's most successful swimmers but Diana is now wheelchair-bound, having lost both her legs in a train accident 20 years ago.
Not only was she performing in a wheelchair for the first time but she had removed her prosthetic limbs in order to be able to spin faster in her chair.
'The lightness I feel without my legs is just incredible,' she said afterwards. 'It makes me feel how I used to when I was dancing before the accident. It takes me back to the joy of dance.'
Mark and Diana were taking part in the new BBC3 show Dancing On Wheels, in which six celebrities and their wheelchair-bound partners compete to take part in the Wheelchair Dance Sport European Championships in Tel Aviv later this year.
The series was a fantastic success. But that evening, in July last year, was particularly special for me because my mother Sandra, a choreographer and dance teacher, had flown over from the States.
It was she who taught me how to dance and sparked my interest in wheelchair ballroom dancing. She choreographed Mark and Diana's foxtrot.
As we emerged into the sunshine from the mirrored dance studio at Brunel University in West London, where we were rehearsing the show, she began to cry. 'That was amazing,' she said. It was then that I realised just how proud she was of me.
It was the culmination of a shared dream that began eight years ago when a man who had been badly injured in a motorcycle accident came into her New Jersey studio with a friend and said: 'Sandy, we would like to learn how to dance.'
My mother began to work with them and they created some dance routines and devised a syllabus, which I believe is the first in the world for wheelchair ballroom dancing. Since then, we have created a wheelchair formation team, taken one of the couples to demonstrate their moves on the Dancing With The Stars (America's version of Strictly Come Dancing) tour and created wheelchair ballroom dancing classes for wedding couples.
Wheelchair ballroom dancing has been the most challenging and rewarding project I have ever worked on and has touched the lives of everyone involved.
Singer Michelle Gayle is another contestant in Dancing On Wheels. Her partner Harry Maule, 24, has been in a wheelchair since he was 17 when surgeons managed to remove a cancerous tumour but his spinal cord was severed.
After one of Michelle and Harry's dances, Harry's mother said to me: 'I want you to know that you've changed my son's life. He is a different person now and I want to thank you for that.'
I now feel as if I have come full circle since I first learnt to dance aged five at my mother's studio, Fortuna's Universal Dance Centre.
My father Amadeo is a podiatrist who began competing in Latin dance championships in his 40s. He and my mother met at a club owned at the time by the Italian Mafia Gambino family.
After college, I landed a role in a Canadian reality television show called Live To Dance. At one of the rehearsals, I heard someone saying they were casting for the Martin Scorsese film Aviator. I jumped at the opportunity.
I was a dancer in the film's nightclub scene - they recreated Coconut Grove, the LA club popular in the Twenties and Thirties.
We were told not to bother the celebrities, but the first thing I did was go up to Leonardo DiCaprio and say: 'Hello, I'm Brian. Pleased to meet you. Everybody tells me that I look like you,' and he replied, 'Yes. We have the same eyebrows.'
Not long after that I was in my mother's studio and I saw Dancing With The Stars on television. My first feeling was one of great excitement. My second feeling was that I was upset that all my friends were taking part but I wasn't.
Then I went down to Florida with my father for the US ballroom dance championships. I met head judge Len Goodman and told him: 'I'm really interested in being part of the show. Can you put in a word for me?'
I called the Dancing With The Stars producers, went to New York for the audition and got a contract for the show. I was ecstatic. But then I discovered that the contract stipulated that they didn't have to use me, and another dancer got the part. I was really disappointed.
But I decided I wasn't going to give up. In 2006, a year after I auditioned, I heard they needed one more dancer for a new tour.
I grabbed the creator and said: 'You need to put me on this job. I want this. This is what I was made for.' The next morning I got the call asking if I was available.
The following March, I was cast in Series 4 of Dancing With The Stars, dancing with Shandi Finnessey, a former Miss USA. We didn't do particularly well but I did do another two tours and was asked to host the pre-show live tour for 13,000 people.
As we were finishing the third tour, I was on the back of the tour bus and I emailed the producers of Strictly Come Dancing in Britain. The auditions were four days later so I booked a plane ticket. I auditioned with Kristina Rihanoff, who had been dancing with me on the tour in the US. I had a good feeling about the way it had gone.
I thought the British public wouldn't take to me because I'm an American. In fact, they have been incredible and I'm having the time of my life.
During my first series I danced with Heather Small, the lead singer of M People, who is now appearing in Dancing On Wheels. And then this season I was paired with Ali Bastian, the former Hollyoaks and The Bill actress, and we are now dating.
I took Ali home to meet my family over Christmas. On Christmas Eve we had the traditional Italian Feast Of The Seven Fishes - baccala, fried smelts and salmon. We spent New Year in Grenada.
I came to England to do Strictly Come Dancing, met the girl of my dreams and choreographed a show about wheelchair ballroom dancing. How perfect is that?
Strictly come rolling... The secret passion of BRIAN FORTUNA
By Brian
Gliding around the dance floor to Sinatra's The Way You Look Tonight, the Olympic swimmer Mark Foster and his dance partner Diana Morgan-Hill wowed the judges with their graceful foxtrot.
While Mark, a close friend of mine since he performed in Strictly Come Dancing, looked elegant in tails, Diana, a 49-year-old magazine editor, was radiant in a peach silk.
But this was no ordinary foxtrot. Mark, 39, is one of Britain's most successful swimmers but Diana is now wheelchair-bound, having lost both her legs in a train accident 20 years ago.
Not only was she performing in a wheelchair for the first time but she had removed her prosthetic limbs in order to be able to spin faster in her chair.
'The lightness I feel without my legs is just incredible,' she said afterwards. 'It makes me feel how I used to when I was dancing before the accident. It takes me back to the joy of dance.'
Mark and Diana were taking part in the new BBC3 show Dancing On Wheels, in which six celebrities and their wheelchair-bound partners compete to take part in the Wheelchair Dance Sport European Championships in Tel Aviv later this year.
The series was a fantastic success. But that evening, in July last year, was particularly special for me because my mother Sandra, a choreographer and dance teacher, had flown over from the States.
It was she who taught me how to dance and sparked my interest in wheelchair ballroom dancing. She choreographed Mark and Diana's foxtrot.
As we emerged into the sunshine from the mirrored dance studio at Brunel University in West London, where we were rehearsing the show, she began to cry. 'That was amazing,' she said. It was then that I realised just how proud she was of me.
It was the culmination of a shared dream that began eight years ago when a man who had been badly injured in a motorcycle accident came into her New Jersey studio with a friend and said: 'Sandy, we would like to learn how to dance.'
My mother began to work with them and they created some dance routines and devised a syllabus, which I believe is the first in the world for wheelchair ballroom dancing. Since then, we have created a wheelchair formation team, taken one of the couples to demonstrate their moves on the Dancing With The Stars (America's version of Strictly Come Dancing) tour and created wheelchair ballroom dancing classes for wedding couples.
Wheelchair ballroom dancing has been the most challenging and rewarding project I have ever worked on and has touched the lives of everyone involved.
Singer Michelle Gayle is another contestant in Dancing On Wheels. Her partner Harry Maule, 24, has been in a wheelchair since he was 17 when surgeons managed to remove a cancerous tumour but his spinal cord was severed.
After one of Michelle and Harry's dances, Harry's mother said to me: 'I want you to know that you've changed my son's life. He is a different person now and I want to thank you for that.'
I now feel as if I have come full circle since I first learnt to dance aged five at my mother's studio, Fortuna's Universal Dance Centre.
My father Amadeo is a podiatrist who began competing in Latin dance championships in his 40s. He and my mother met at a club owned at the time by the Italian Mafia Gambino family.
After college, I landed a role in a Canadian reality television show called Live To Dance. At one of the rehearsals, I heard someone saying they were casting for the Martin Scorsese film Aviator. I jumped at the opportunity.
I was a dancer in the film's nightclub scene - they recreated Coconut Grove, the LA club popular in the Twenties and Thirties.
We were told not to bother the celebrities, but the first thing I did was go up to Leonardo DiCaprio and say: 'Hello, I'm Brian. Pleased to meet you. Everybody tells me that I look like you,' and he replied, 'Yes. We have the same eyebrows.'
Not long after that I was in my mother's studio and I saw Dancing With The Stars on television. My first feeling was one of great excitement. My second feeling was that I was upset that all my friends were taking part but I wasn't.
Then I went down to Florida with my father for the US ballroom dance championships. I met head judge Len Goodman and told him: 'I'm really interested in being part of the show. Can you put in a word for me?'
I called the Dancing With The Stars producers, went to New York for the audition and got a contract for the show. I was ecstatic. But then I discovered that the contract stipulated that they didn't have to use me, and another dancer got the part. I was really disappointed.
But I decided I wasn't going to give up. In 2006, a year after I auditioned, I heard they needed one more dancer for a new tour.
I grabbed the creator and said: 'You need to put me on this job. I want this. This is what I was made for.' The next morning I got the call asking if I was available.
The following March, I was cast in Series 4 of Dancing With The Stars, dancing with Shandi Finnessey, a former Miss USA. We didn't do particularly well but I did do another two tours and was asked to host the pre-show live tour for 13,000 people.
As we were finishing the third tour, I was on the back of the tour bus and I emailed the producers of Strictly Come Dancing in Britain. The auditions were four days later so I booked a plane ticket. I auditioned with Kristina Rihanoff, who had been dancing with me on the tour in the US. I had a good feeling about the way it had gone.
I thought the British public wouldn't take to me because I'm an American. In fact, they have been incredible and I'm having the time of my life.
During my first series I danced with Heather Small, the lead singer of M People, who is now appearing in Dancing On Wheels. And then this season I was paired with Ali Bastian, the former Hollyoaks and The Bill actress, and we are now dating.
I took Ali home to meet my family over Christmas. On Christmas Eve we had the traditional Italian Feast Of The Seven Fishes - baccala, fried smelts and salmon. We spent New Year in Grenada.
I came to England to do Strictly Come Dancing, met the girl of my dreams and choreographed a show about wheelchair ballroom dancing. How perfect is that?
Dance Blog
A woman from Charlotte, NC blogs about her return to dancing: http://welcometocharlotte-meg.blogspot.com/2010/02/shes-dancing-machine.html
College Students Step Up
From freep.com (Detroit, MI):
Ballroom dancing: College students step up, compete
Campus crowd turns out in droves for competition, camaraderie
BY KRISTA JAHNKEFREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
You don't have to be a B-list celebrity, own a sequined leotard or understand the difference between the rumba and the cha-cha. On college campuses, there are no such requirements when it comes to ballroom dancing.
Between texting and test-cramming, students are learning that they really can dance.
"People used to think ballroom dancing was your grandma's activity," says Angela Prince of USA Dance, the national governing body of DanceSport, the competitive version of ballroom dancing. "Not anymore."
Ballroom dance is booming on campuses across the country -- including at the University of Michigan and Michigan State University. Dance insiders credit great recruiting campaigns, strong coaching, a fun atmosphere and TV shows like "Dancing With the Stars" and "So You Think You Can Dance."
The shows "cultivate a seed of interest in people," says Alex Rowan, 23, of Lansing and the president of the Ballroom Dance Team at the University of Michigan. "They look at it with longing, like, 'I wish I could dance like that.' "
In the past two years, the number of competitors at the National Collegiate DanceSport Championship, the Ohio Star Ball, ballooned from 700 to 1,000, and the number of schools participating grew from 38 to 52.
"It's a natural fit for them," Prince says. "They're so social and can bring together large groups of people. ... They have the ability to cheerlead for each other."
The trend steps beyond colleges and into area dance studios as well.
"Have we seen growth? Absolutely," said Evan Mountain, co-owner of the Fred Astaire Dance Studio in Bloomfield Hills, who says his business grew 25% in 2009. "It's not just high school kids or college kids, but it's adults as well."
Beyond the connection to the popularity of shows like "Dancing With the Stars," Mountain attributes the newfound interest in all things dance to something else.
"Everybody's online and going to Facebook and they're texting people. There's all this nonphysical communication going on. But in ballroom dancing, you're touching, moving, holding each other. There's actual physical contact, and I think people are craving that."
Ballroom dance is especially popular at U-M, where the Wolverines have won five straight national titles in the collegiate open division at the Ohio Star Ball. The team, which started in 1997, had about 100 members by 2007; today it has 221.
The school will host the 10th annual Michigan Ballroom Dance Competition on Saturday at Saline Middle School. Rowan says they're expecting 20 college teams and more than 400 dancers.
One team that will be there is from MSU, where ballroom dancing has been a social club activity on campus for decades. But the Spartans didn't launch a competitive team until last year. At the Ohio Star Ball, with only 10 competitors, MSU placed in all six dance styles in the newcomer division and brought home 17 ribbons.
The MSU team now has more than 30 members who plan to compete. Most, like David Clatterbuck, a sophomore from Illinois who joined last year, have no formal dance training.
"Ballroom dancing is something you always see in movies, and it looks classy," says Clatterbuck, who is studying political science. "And a lot of the guys come in because there are a lot of girls there."
That's true in Ann Arbor, too. The guys come to meet girls, and they feel comfortable because the social stigma surrounding male dancing isn't as pronounced as it once was.
"I think a good amount (of nonacceptance of ballroom dance) has washed away since the 'Dancing With the Stars' craze," says Annette Kosin, 22, of Chesaning, a former team president and graduate student studying energy systems engineering.
"Now, it's acceptable -- because there are a lot of hot girls dancing."
At U-M, professional coaches Susan and Steve McFerran, who've competed internationally, host a free lesson the first week of each semester. Up to 300 people attend.
Kosin says about 100 return to the open dance lessons the team holds each Saturday in the Central Campus Recreational Building. And, typically, those folks get hooked.
"It makes it so people want to come back and continue learning. It's all rooted in enjoyment," Rowan says.
That's what drew in Rowan, who attended Lansing Everett High School, where he played hockey and baseball.
"I knew what ballroom dancing was," says Rowan, who graduated from U-M in April with degrees in psychology and Asian studies. "But I wasn't a dancer by any means. I didn't know what the waltz was. ... I didn't know what the three-count was. I was personally clueless. And I was pretty bad at first, like most people."
Rowan went to the open dance lesson and was recruited to join the team at its late-night practice. One practice did it for him.
"They showed me the cha-cha-cha. They mentored me for about two hours, and I walked out of the studio and I had completely learned the cha-cha-cha," he recalls.
"It was a ton of fun, I had danced with other people, and I had seen this camaraderie that existed. It was very clear that I was learning to dance and was having fun and becoming involved in a meaningful community that was very real."
After one year of dancing, he competed at the bronze and silver level. Two years later, he competed in the pre-championship level. And he's done well -- he and his partner Anastasia Alekseyeva, 22, of Troy won the standard pre-championship title at the Ohio Star Ball.
"We will teach you how to dance -- you can have two left feet," Rowan says. "We have showcases, and after one semester, or one year, people are amazed. They say, 'I can't do that in a year or a semester.' But they do."
Ballroom dancing: College students step up, compete
Campus crowd turns out in droves for competition, camaraderie
BY KRISTA JAHNKEFREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
You don't have to be a B-list celebrity, own a sequined leotard or understand the difference between the rumba and the cha-cha. On college campuses, there are no such requirements when it comes to ballroom dancing.
Between texting and test-cramming, students are learning that they really can dance.
"People used to think ballroom dancing was your grandma's activity," says Angela Prince of USA Dance, the national governing body of DanceSport, the competitive version of ballroom dancing. "Not anymore."
Ballroom dance is booming on campuses across the country -- including at the University of Michigan and Michigan State University. Dance insiders credit great recruiting campaigns, strong coaching, a fun atmosphere and TV shows like "Dancing With the Stars" and "So You Think You Can Dance."
The shows "cultivate a seed of interest in people," says Alex Rowan, 23, of Lansing and the president of the Ballroom Dance Team at the University of Michigan. "They look at it with longing, like, 'I wish I could dance like that.' "
In the past two years, the number of competitors at the National Collegiate DanceSport Championship, the Ohio Star Ball, ballooned from 700 to 1,000, and the number of schools participating grew from 38 to 52.
"It's a natural fit for them," Prince says. "They're so social and can bring together large groups of people. ... They have the ability to cheerlead for each other."
The trend steps beyond colleges and into area dance studios as well.
"Have we seen growth? Absolutely," said Evan Mountain, co-owner of the Fred Astaire Dance Studio in Bloomfield Hills, who says his business grew 25% in 2009. "It's not just high school kids or college kids, but it's adults as well."
Beyond the connection to the popularity of shows like "Dancing With the Stars," Mountain attributes the newfound interest in all things dance to something else.
"Everybody's online and going to Facebook and they're texting people. There's all this nonphysical communication going on. But in ballroom dancing, you're touching, moving, holding each other. There's actual physical contact, and I think people are craving that."
Ballroom dance is especially popular at U-M, where the Wolverines have won five straight national titles in the collegiate open division at the Ohio Star Ball. The team, which started in 1997, had about 100 members by 2007; today it has 221.
The school will host the 10th annual Michigan Ballroom Dance Competition on Saturday at Saline Middle School. Rowan says they're expecting 20 college teams and more than 400 dancers.
One team that will be there is from MSU, where ballroom dancing has been a social club activity on campus for decades. But the Spartans didn't launch a competitive team until last year. At the Ohio Star Ball, with only 10 competitors, MSU placed in all six dance styles in the newcomer division and brought home 17 ribbons.
The MSU team now has more than 30 members who plan to compete. Most, like David Clatterbuck, a sophomore from Illinois who joined last year, have no formal dance training.
"Ballroom dancing is something you always see in movies, and it looks classy," says Clatterbuck, who is studying political science. "And a lot of the guys come in because there are a lot of girls there."
That's true in Ann Arbor, too. The guys come to meet girls, and they feel comfortable because the social stigma surrounding male dancing isn't as pronounced as it once was.
"I think a good amount (of nonacceptance of ballroom dance) has washed away since the 'Dancing With the Stars' craze," says Annette Kosin, 22, of Chesaning, a former team president and graduate student studying energy systems engineering.
"Now, it's acceptable -- because there are a lot of hot girls dancing."
At U-M, professional coaches Susan and Steve McFerran, who've competed internationally, host a free lesson the first week of each semester. Up to 300 people attend.
Kosin says about 100 return to the open dance lessons the team holds each Saturday in the Central Campus Recreational Building. And, typically, those folks get hooked.
"It makes it so people want to come back and continue learning. It's all rooted in enjoyment," Rowan says.
That's what drew in Rowan, who attended Lansing Everett High School, where he played hockey and baseball.
"I knew what ballroom dancing was," says Rowan, who graduated from U-M in April with degrees in psychology and Asian studies. "But I wasn't a dancer by any means. I didn't know what the waltz was. ... I didn't know what the three-count was. I was personally clueless. And I was pretty bad at first, like most people."
Rowan went to the open dance lesson and was recruited to join the team at its late-night practice. One practice did it for him.
"They showed me the cha-cha-cha. They mentored me for about two hours, and I walked out of the studio and I had completely learned the cha-cha-cha," he recalls.
"It was a ton of fun, I had danced with other people, and I had seen this camaraderie that existed. It was very clear that I was learning to dance and was having fun and becoming involved in a meaningful community that was very real."
After one year of dancing, he competed at the bronze and silver level. Two years later, he competed in the pre-championship level. And he's done well -- he and his partner Anastasia Alekseyeva, 22, of Troy won the standard pre-championship title at the Ohio Star Ball.
"We will teach you how to dance -- you can have two left feet," Rowan says. "We have showcases, and after one semester, or one year, people are amazed. They say, 'I can't do that in a year or a semester.' But they do."
Friday, February 05, 2010
Ballroom Dancing - New P.E. Class In School?
From columbiamissourian.com:
Missouri lawmaker wants dancing option for P.E. requirement
By Trevor Eischen
JEFFERSON CITY — A lawmaker has waltzed into the House with new legislation giving students the option to get class credit for ballroom dancing.
Rep. Tim Flook, R-Liberty, has written a bill allowing students in public schools to take a ballroom dance class instead of a physical education or fine arts class.
"Maybe you're not good at volleyball, or running, or playing soccer, but you could take a ballroom dance course for P.E. class credit," Flook said.
Citing popular dance shows such as "So You Think You Can Dance," Flook said he believes if the option is given, schools would likely offer the class for student demand.
Flook said dancing is more than moving to rhythm or stepping with the right foot.
"This to me is a lot more than a gym activity," he said. "Some of us believe that it really is a good way to develop the culture of respect."
As a boy, Flook said he remembers learning traditional Mexican dances such as the cumbia, merengue and salsa. He said he also remembers the stress he had searching for a dance partner.
"Every event in my family involved live music and dancing," Flook said. "I had to learn how to pluck up the courage to learn a dance step and dance with a young lady."
Too many negative outlets exist to promote a "turmoil between the sexes," he said, adding that ballroom dancing will provide a positive and productive outlet for both sexes to interact.
While Flook attended school at William Jewell College, he met political science professor Will Adams, an avid ballroom dancer and instructor, and enrolled in his ballroom dance class. Adams has taught ballroom dance since 1974 and is the president of Culture Through Ballroom Dance, a nonprofit organization offering dance instruction to dancers of all ages.
Adams said he approached Flook after noticing ballroom dancing wasn't mentioned in talks about improving Missouri's childhood obesity rate. In 2006, Adams and his friend Paula Marie Daub started teaching dance classes during and after school in Kansas City area school districts. The program is a pilot project of what students could take if Flook's bill passes.
Adams said the emphasis on ballroom dance goes beyond physical health. The course teaches students cultural information about each dance. Adams said the most important lessons students learn is courtesy, self-esteem and how to work with the opposite gender.
"The least important thing we teach them is the dance," Adams said.
Flook said he got some of his ideas from Jeremiah J. Morgan, a stake president with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Missouri.
Morgan said the Mormon culture values the benefits dancing can bring to young men and women. He said the Mormon church regularly holds dances to help socialize students, which is especially important during the awkward teenage years.
"The young men and young women can learn to interact," Morgan said. "They get to spend time together and get used to each other."
Missouri lawmaker wants dancing option for P.E. requirement
By Trevor Eischen
JEFFERSON CITY — A lawmaker has waltzed into the House with new legislation giving students the option to get class credit for ballroom dancing.
Rep. Tim Flook, R-Liberty, has written a bill allowing students in public schools to take a ballroom dance class instead of a physical education or fine arts class.
"Maybe you're not good at volleyball, or running, or playing soccer, but you could take a ballroom dance course for P.E. class credit," Flook said.
Citing popular dance shows such as "So You Think You Can Dance," Flook said he believes if the option is given, schools would likely offer the class for student demand.
Flook said dancing is more than moving to rhythm or stepping with the right foot.
"This to me is a lot more than a gym activity," he said. "Some of us believe that it really is a good way to develop the culture of respect."
As a boy, Flook said he remembers learning traditional Mexican dances such as the cumbia, merengue and salsa. He said he also remembers the stress he had searching for a dance partner.
"Every event in my family involved live music and dancing," Flook said. "I had to learn how to pluck up the courage to learn a dance step and dance with a young lady."
Too many negative outlets exist to promote a "turmoil between the sexes," he said, adding that ballroom dancing will provide a positive and productive outlet for both sexes to interact.
While Flook attended school at William Jewell College, he met political science professor Will Adams, an avid ballroom dancer and instructor, and enrolled in his ballroom dance class. Adams has taught ballroom dance since 1974 and is the president of Culture Through Ballroom Dance, a nonprofit organization offering dance instruction to dancers of all ages.
Adams said he approached Flook after noticing ballroom dancing wasn't mentioned in talks about improving Missouri's childhood obesity rate. In 2006, Adams and his friend Paula Marie Daub started teaching dance classes during and after school in Kansas City area school districts. The program is a pilot project of what students could take if Flook's bill passes.
Adams said the emphasis on ballroom dance goes beyond physical health. The course teaches students cultural information about each dance. Adams said the most important lessons students learn is courtesy, self-esteem and how to work with the opposite gender.
"The least important thing we teach them is the dance," Adams said.
Flook said he got some of his ideas from Jeremiah J. Morgan, a stake president with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Missouri.
Morgan said the Mormon culture values the benefits dancing can bring to young men and women. He said the Mormon church regularly holds dances to help socialize students, which is especially important during the awkward teenage years.
"The young men and young women can learn to interact," Morgan said. "They get to spend time together and get used to each other."
Thursday, February 04, 2010
Profile On Derek Hough
From dance.com:
Derek Hough, Not Too Hot To Fox Trot
By Amanda Abrams
January 2010
Working on “Dancing with the Stars” isn’t for someone with a single-track mind. The professional dancers who guide their celebrity partners to show their stuff on the popular ABC show have to wear a number of hats: instructor, performer, choreographer, sometimes even costumer and babysitter.
Which is why the job has been such a great fit for Derek Hough. The show’s audience knows him as a professional dancer, but his real love is simply creating and performing, regardless of genre. The five seasons Hough has spent leading famous women across the floor on “Dancing with the Stars” have allowed him to expand his talents and show off his versatile creativity. So whether or not he and his partners win or lose a given competition, Hough says he’s gaining skills that will serve him in the next phase of his life—whatever that may be.
Dancing, acting, and making music onstage come naturally to Hough: he was born into a family of performers. “When I watch home videos, we’re all camera hogs, singing and dancing, jumping off couches,” says Hough, now 24. “My mom is incredibly creative, and my sisters too—they’re all natural performers.” His parents met while dancing at Brigham Young University in Utah, where Hough was born and spent his early childhood, and his sisters grew up taking dance lessons.
That’s where Hough got his start. He’d been accompanying his mother as she chauffeured one of his four older sisters to dance class in Salt Lake City, and she encouraged him to join the class, too. “It was a hip hop class with Rick Robinson, a really cool guy,” remembers Hough. “There were some girls in there and I thought, ‘This is kind of cool.’ That was my reason for going at first.”
But he wasn’t particularly enthusiastic about the classes until he started learning ballroom dance under Robinson. Eventually, Hough joined Robinson’s dance company, and by age 9 or 10 he and the group were traveling to ballroom dance competitions in New York, Los Angeles and Hawaii. “I thought, ‘This is awesome—I get to travel and be around fun people.’ My love kind of grew from that,” he says.
When he was 12, Hough’s parents got divorced. In order to spare him and his sister Julianne (who would later become a two-time “DWTS” champ) from the ensuing chaos, they sent the two to live with Corky and Shirley Ballas, world champion ballroom dancers who lived in London. The idea was that he and Julianne would stay for a few months until things quieted down back in the U.S., then return. Instead, it was 10 years before Hough returned to the States for good.
It may have shaken up his personal life, but the move was a huge step forward for his dance career. The Ballas’ had made their reputation in the Latin American style of ballroom dance, and Shirley Ballas was “the most sought after Latin American dance teacher in the world,” says Hough.
The family had a son, Mark, who was Hough’s age. Together, the two of them and Julianne began to seriously pursue performing arts careers. With a scholarship to London’s Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts, Hough joined the other two in formal courses in singing, dancing and acting. “We trained in all aspects of dance—ballet, jazz, tap, pretty much all you can think of,” recalls Hough. “To be honest, I was actually bad at school; I was always missing classes and never went to ballet.”
Nonetheless, it was rigorous training, and not just at school. “A typical week was going to school, Monday through Friday, practicing pretty much every night. On Saturdays, we’d have Latin American lessons all day. Then on Sundays we’d have competitions. It was non-stop; we were pretty much burning the candle at both ends,” explains Hough.
While he was taking lessons with outside teachers, the Ballas’ were still his primary instructors, particularly Shirley Ballas. According to Hough, she was—and still is—a phenomenal teacher. “Shirley Ballas is the kind of teacher who can do 14 lessons in a day, seven days a week, and in every single one of those she’ll give 110 percent for you. Her work ethic is so on point,” he says. “It’s hard to find coaches who work as hard as you, but you’ll take a lesson with her and she’ll be sweating as much as you.”
At that time, Hough, his sister, and Mark Ballas were already dancing competitively, traveling to Hong Kong, Japan, France and Italy to perform. Though his was not the typical carefree adolescence, Hough says he didn’t mind, explaining that he was an unusually motivated teenager. “I had a maturity about me when I was younger,” says Hough. “Even at a young age, I knew I wanted to improve and hone my skills. I felt ‘I can play later.’”
Sure, he says, “There’d be times in London when it was dark and rainy and depressing, and I thought, ‘Why am I not back in America with the sunshine?’” But in a way, London allowed him to concentrate without distractions. “I just put my head down and did it,” admits Hough. “It was a great place for me to focus.”
Eventually, he reached a point where he tired of competing. “I felt like I had more to offer than just Latin American dance,” he says. His next stop? The West End, London’s equivalent of Broadway. In 2006, Hough won the lead role in “Footloose,” the musical version of the 1984 American movie.
It was a challenge, Hough says, “The most incredible learning curve I’ve ever experienced. As the lead role, the show relies solely on you.” That included singing three solos, two duets, crying in the final scene, and dancing constantly. “Every show was a marathon,” says Hough, “and I had to do eight shows a week.”
He was 20 at the time, and stayed with the show for a year. “I’d trained for years in musical theater, but this was my first [real] thing,” he says. “It went really well, got rave reviews.”
And then it was on to something new. “That’s kind of how I am,” he says. “I say, ‘I’ve done that, and now I want to go onto the next thing.’”
The next thing arose in 2007, when the producers of “Dancing with the Stars” asked Hough, together with his best friend Mark Ballas, to join the show. A popular television series that recently completed its ninth season, the show pairs celebrities from a variety of media with professional ballroom dancers, then pits the couples against each other in a number of different dance styles.
Though tempted, Hough and Ballas both hesitated before agreeing to take the jobs. “We thought it might be cool, but I wasn’t sure I wanted America to see me as just a dancer,” says Hough. He viewed himself as far more than just a professional ballroom dancer; besides hoping to continue cultivating his acting chops, he and Ballas were in a band together, with Hough on guitar and vocals. But the two decided working on the show was too good of an opportunity to pass up.
How has it worked out? “It’s awesome,” says Hough. “The thing I love most about it is that you get to create, day in and day out.” While not every dancer employed by the show takes full creative liberty, Hough certainly does. “I’m very hands on in everything I do,” he says.
That means he’s choreographed every single dance he does onstage, taking his partners’ individual needs into account in each piece. “Each person is different, and you have to play to their strengths and hide their weaknesses,” he explains. He also designs his partners’ outfits for each performance. “It’s not that I’m into fashion,” he says, “but I know what works, what hides or amplifies certain movements and makes things look better.”
But the real efforts Hough is getting paid for aren’t necessarily creative. It’s grunt work, the ins and outs of teaching someone to dance for five or six hours a day, seven days a week, for 15 weeks without a break. “All of my dance partners have had zero background in dancing, so it’s definitely a struggle,” describes Hough. “We start at square one: they get in those heels and it’s like, ‘Let’s teach you how to walk today.’”
Figuring out how to explain dance to non-dancers is a skill in itself, he says. He’s learned over time to use examples that his partners can relate to, and to go slow in order to avoid blisters, burnout and injuries. The partnership is like a marriage—bickering and all. But the reward is worth it. “To really see the improvement from week one—it’s mind-blowing,” he says. “It just shows you that if you work five hours a day with a coach, you can become good pretty quickly.”
In the show’s seventh season, Hough won the contest dancing with Brooke Burke. He credits the win to her a natural capacity for dancing. “I knew the day I met her—I thought, ‘I think I’ve got a winner here,’” he recalls. He explains further: “She had amazing feet, amazing legs, and was very flexible. Other people can be good dancers, but you can teach them all you want and it’s still not going to look right.”
The show forces Hough to be totally at ease with all styles of ballroom dance. While there are a few he hasn’t been formally trained in, he says he can learn just about anything. But he refuses to give a favorite style. “Each dance has an element that I love, a different characteristic of my personality,” he describes. “Samba is sexy, like ‘let’s get down and dirty;’ Rumba is the sensitive, romantic side of me. Paso doble is about building tension, that masculine side. And of course jive is the goofy, energetic side.”
Not all dancers appreciate the skill involved in partner dancing, Hough points out. “It’s amazing how many jazz or ballet dancers try to do Latin or ballroom and they can’t,” he says. “It uses completely different skills and technique—small things and subtleties that take a long time to acquire.” The connection between two partners is particularly crucial and difficult to sustain. “You spend months, if not years, working on the perfect connection, and you really become in tune with each others’ bodies,” he says. “If I missed two days of rehearsal, it would mess me up completely. There’s so much involved.”
One of Hough’s favorite partners is his sister Julianne. A piece the two choreographed to the song “Great Balls of Fire” and performed on “DWTS” last year was nominated for an Emmy award. Despite the complicated lifts and throws, Hough says the two put the routine together in about 20 minutes the night before performing it. “When I dance with Julianne, we don’t even speak to each other—we don’t have to,” he explains. “We just know what we’re going to do. It’s really great.”
Experiences like that—being challenged to create interesting new dances and perform them on the fly—keep Hough engaged in his work on the show. Will he be back for the 10th season? “I’ll definitely be part of it one way or the other, no matter what,” he says. “I already have some cool ideas for next season, in terms of choreography.” But at this point, the future is uncertain: the show’s dancers have to wait to be asked back each season.
He’s not just twiddling his thumbs and waiting around; Hough already has some other plans under his belt. This fall, he flew to London to choreograph for Cheryl Cole, a popular British singer, and he’ll be heading that way again later this winter to create dances for her music video. The gig will allow him to take advantage of some of his under-used dance skills, and he plans to incorporate hip hop with Argentine tango and paso doble in the video. Meanwhile, he’ll continue playing music with Mark Ballas and keep his creative options open. “People ask me, ‘What’s your first passion?’ For me, there’s no order to what I love; it all falls under the same roof,” explains Hough. “I’m not just a dancer or singer or actor, so I tell them ‘performer.’ I just like to entertain people.”
Derek Hough, Not Too Hot To Fox Trot
By Amanda Abrams
January 2010
Working on “Dancing with the Stars” isn’t for someone with a single-track mind. The professional dancers who guide their celebrity partners to show their stuff on the popular ABC show have to wear a number of hats: instructor, performer, choreographer, sometimes even costumer and babysitter.
Which is why the job has been such a great fit for Derek Hough. The show’s audience knows him as a professional dancer, but his real love is simply creating and performing, regardless of genre. The five seasons Hough has spent leading famous women across the floor on “Dancing with the Stars” have allowed him to expand his talents and show off his versatile creativity. So whether or not he and his partners win or lose a given competition, Hough says he’s gaining skills that will serve him in the next phase of his life—whatever that may be.
Dancing, acting, and making music onstage come naturally to Hough: he was born into a family of performers. “When I watch home videos, we’re all camera hogs, singing and dancing, jumping off couches,” says Hough, now 24. “My mom is incredibly creative, and my sisters too—they’re all natural performers.” His parents met while dancing at Brigham Young University in Utah, where Hough was born and spent his early childhood, and his sisters grew up taking dance lessons.
That’s where Hough got his start. He’d been accompanying his mother as she chauffeured one of his four older sisters to dance class in Salt Lake City, and she encouraged him to join the class, too. “It was a hip hop class with Rick Robinson, a really cool guy,” remembers Hough. “There were some girls in there and I thought, ‘This is kind of cool.’ That was my reason for going at first.”
But he wasn’t particularly enthusiastic about the classes until he started learning ballroom dance under Robinson. Eventually, Hough joined Robinson’s dance company, and by age 9 or 10 he and the group were traveling to ballroom dance competitions in New York, Los Angeles and Hawaii. “I thought, ‘This is awesome—I get to travel and be around fun people.’ My love kind of grew from that,” he says.
When he was 12, Hough’s parents got divorced. In order to spare him and his sister Julianne (who would later become a two-time “DWTS” champ) from the ensuing chaos, they sent the two to live with Corky and Shirley Ballas, world champion ballroom dancers who lived in London. The idea was that he and Julianne would stay for a few months until things quieted down back in the U.S., then return. Instead, it was 10 years before Hough returned to the States for good.
It may have shaken up his personal life, but the move was a huge step forward for his dance career. The Ballas’ had made their reputation in the Latin American style of ballroom dance, and Shirley Ballas was “the most sought after Latin American dance teacher in the world,” says Hough.
The family had a son, Mark, who was Hough’s age. Together, the two of them and Julianne began to seriously pursue performing arts careers. With a scholarship to London’s Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts, Hough joined the other two in formal courses in singing, dancing and acting. “We trained in all aspects of dance—ballet, jazz, tap, pretty much all you can think of,” recalls Hough. “To be honest, I was actually bad at school; I was always missing classes and never went to ballet.”
Nonetheless, it was rigorous training, and not just at school. “A typical week was going to school, Monday through Friday, practicing pretty much every night. On Saturdays, we’d have Latin American lessons all day. Then on Sundays we’d have competitions. It was non-stop; we were pretty much burning the candle at both ends,” explains Hough.
While he was taking lessons with outside teachers, the Ballas’ were still his primary instructors, particularly Shirley Ballas. According to Hough, she was—and still is—a phenomenal teacher. “Shirley Ballas is the kind of teacher who can do 14 lessons in a day, seven days a week, and in every single one of those she’ll give 110 percent for you. Her work ethic is so on point,” he says. “It’s hard to find coaches who work as hard as you, but you’ll take a lesson with her and she’ll be sweating as much as you.”
At that time, Hough, his sister, and Mark Ballas were already dancing competitively, traveling to Hong Kong, Japan, France and Italy to perform. Though his was not the typical carefree adolescence, Hough says he didn’t mind, explaining that he was an unusually motivated teenager. “I had a maturity about me when I was younger,” says Hough. “Even at a young age, I knew I wanted to improve and hone my skills. I felt ‘I can play later.’”
Sure, he says, “There’d be times in London when it was dark and rainy and depressing, and I thought, ‘Why am I not back in America with the sunshine?’” But in a way, London allowed him to concentrate without distractions. “I just put my head down and did it,” admits Hough. “It was a great place for me to focus.”
Eventually, he reached a point where he tired of competing. “I felt like I had more to offer than just Latin American dance,” he says. His next stop? The West End, London’s equivalent of Broadway. In 2006, Hough won the lead role in “Footloose,” the musical version of the 1984 American movie.
It was a challenge, Hough says, “The most incredible learning curve I’ve ever experienced. As the lead role, the show relies solely on you.” That included singing three solos, two duets, crying in the final scene, and dancing constantly. “Every show was a marathon,” says Hough, “and I had to do eight shows a week.”
He was 20 at the time, and stayed with the show for a year. “I’d trained for years in musical theater, but this was my first [real] thing,” he says. “It went really well, got rave reviews.”
And then it was on to something new. “That’s kind of how I am,” he says. “I say, ‘I’ve done that, and now I want to go onto the next thing.’”
The next thing arose in 2007, when the producers of “Dancing with the Stars” asked Hough, together with his best friend Mark Ballas, to join the show. A popular television series that recently completed its ninth season, the show pairs celebrities from a variety of media with professional ballroom dancers, then pits the couples against each other in a number of different dance styles.
Though tempted, Hough and Ballas both hesitated before agreeing to take the jobs. “We thought it might be cool, but I wasn’t sure I wanted America to see me as just a dancer,” says Hough. He viewed himself as far more than just a professional ballroom dancer; besides hoping to continue cultivating his acting chops, he and Ballas were in a band together, with Hough on guitar and vocals. But the two decided working on the show was too good of an opportunity to pass up.
How has it worked out? “It’s awesome,” says Hough. “The thing I love most about it is that you get to create, day in and day out.” While not every dancer employed by the show takes full creative liberty, Hough certainly does. “I’m very hands on in everything I do,” he says.
That means he’s choreographed every single dance he does onstage, taking his partners’ individual needs into account in each piece. “Each person is different, and you have to play to their strengths and hide their weaknesses,” he explains. He also designs his partners’ outfits for each performance. “It’s not that I’m into fashion,” he says, “but I know what works, what hides or amplifies certain movements and makes things look better.”
But the real efforts Hough is getting paid for aren’t necessarily creative. It’s grunt work, the ins and outs of teaching someone to dance for five or six hours a day, seven days a week, for 15 weeks without a break. “All of my dance partners have had zero background in dancing, so it’s definitely a struggle,” describes Hough. “We start at square one: they get in those heels and it’s like, ‘Let’s teach you how to walk today.’”
Figuring out how to explain dance to non-dancers is a skill in itself, he says. He’s learned over time to use examples that his partners can relate to, and to go slow in order to avoid blisters, burnout and injuries. The partnership is like a marriage—bickering and all. But the reward is worth it. “To really see the improvement from week one—it’s mind-blowing,” he says. “It just shows you that if you work five hours a day with a coach, you can become good pretty quickly.”
In the show’s seventh season, Hough won the contest dancing with Brooke Burke. He credits the win to her a natural capacity for dancing. “I knew the day I met her—I thought, ‘I think I’ve got a winner here,’” he recalls. He explains further: “She had amazing feet, amazing legs, and was very flexible. Other people can be good dancers, but you can teach them all you want and it’s still not going to look right.”
The show forces Hough to be totally at ease with all styles of ballroom dance. While there are a few he hasn’t been formally trained in, he says he can learn just about anything. But he refuses to give a favorite style. “Each dance has an element that I love, a different characteristic of my personality,” he describes. “Samba is sexy, like ‘let’s get down and dirty;’ Rumba is the sensitive, romantic side of me. Paso doble is about building tension, that masculine side. And of course jive is the goofy, energetic side.”
Not all dancers appreciate the skill involved in partner dancing, Hough points out. “It’s amazing how many jazz or ballet dancers try to do Latin or ballroom and they can’t,” he says. “It uses completely different skills and technique—small things and subtleties that take a long time to acquire.” The connection between two partners is particularly crucial and difficult to sustain. “You spend months, if not years, working on the perfect connection, and you really become in tune with each others’ bodies,” he says. “If I missed two days of rehearsal, it would mess me up completely. There’s so much involved.”
One of Hough’s favorite partners is his sister Julianne. A piece the two choreographed to the song “Great Balls of Fire” and performed on “DWTS” last year was nominated for an Emmy award. Despite the complicated lifts and throws, Hough says the two put the routine together in about 20 minutes the night before performing it. “When I dance with Julianne, we don’t even speak to each other—we don’t have to,” he explains. “We just know what we’re going to do. It’s really great.”
Experiences like that—being challenged to create interesting new dances and perform them on the fly—keep Hough engaged in his work on the show. Will he be back for the 10th season? “I’ll definitely be part of it one way or the other, no matter what,” he says. “I already have some cool ideas for next season, in terms of choreography.” But at this point, the future is uncertain: the show’s dancers have to wait to be asked back each season.
He’s not just twiddling his thumbs and waiting around; Hough already has some other plans under his belt. This fall, he flew to London to choreograph for Cheryl Cole, a popular British singer, and he’ll be heading that way again later this winter to create dances for her music video. The gig will allow him to take advantage of some of his under-used dance skills, and he plans to incorporate hip hop with Argentine tango and paso doble in the video. Meanwhile, he’ll continue playing music with Mark Ballas and keep his creative options open. “People ask me, ‘What’s your first passion?’ For me, there’s no order to what I love; it all falls under the same roof,” explains Hough. “I’m not just a dancer or singer or actor, so I tell them ‘performer.’ I just like to entertain people.”
One Last Dance
From the news-herald.com (Northern Ohio):
By Jacob Lammers
Save the last dance for Marlene Waller.
The Immaculate Conception School teacher celebrated her upcoming retirement with a lively cha cha and the hustle Wednesday afternoon.
Waller, an amateur dance competitor, surprised her students with her dance routine during the ICS Talent Show.
"One of the teachers in charge of the Talent Show — she's been asking for a couple years (for Waller to dance). We just kept saying no, no," Waller said."
But now since it's the last year at Immaculate (Conception School), we thought why not, let's have fun with it."
Bishop Richard Lennon, of the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland, announced last year that Immaculate Conception School in Willoughby would merge with Our Lady of Mount Carmel School in Wickliffe. The new school, to be named Mater Dei Academy, which means Mother of God, will include both schools in Wickliffe.
Waller has been teaching for 30 years — 27 of those years were spent at Immaculate. She plans to retire at the end of this school year.
"I've had a long career. I've loved every moment of it," Waller said. "It's time to leave and go on to a new life."
Principal Kathy Hrutkay said Waller has been a good teacher and added that it's sad that many other staff members will have to say goodbye at the end of the school year."
I think all of us are going to miss this school. It's a family," Hrutkay said. "It's a good mixture. There's a good rapport between the school and parents. As a school, it's going to be missed."
During the Talent Show, Immaculate Conception students performed various dance routines, several sang their favorite songs and even one student told jokes.
When the time came for Waller to hit the dance floor with Carlos Sucharetza, her dance partner of four years, several students were taken aback.
Wearing a silver and black dress, Waller spun circles around her partner and ended the routine with a dip. Her grandchild Brooke Waller, who also is one of the elder Waller's students, was amazed by the routine.
"It was good," Brooke said.
Waller and Sucharetza started dancing four years ago at Fred Astaire Dance Studio in Willoughby. In 2009, the couple took home first place in a total of 34 dances at the Ohio Star Ball and the Cleveland Dance Sport Challenge — both are ballroom competitions.
The couple, who plan to wed in August, first met because of a desire to try dancing.
"We just enjoy it. We have a good time," Sucharetza said. "It's good exercise."
While Waller's teaching career will be drawing to a close, she plans to continue dancing.
By Jacob Lammers
Save the last dance for Marlene Waller.
The Immaculate Conception School teacher celebrated her upcoming retirement with a lively cha cha and the hustle Wednesday afternoon.
Waller, an amateur dance competitor, surprised her students with her dance routine during the ICS Talent Show.
"One of the teachers in charge of the Talent Show — she's been asking for a couple years (for Waller to dance). We just kept saying no, no," Waller said."
But now since it's the last year at Immaculate (Conception School), we thought why not, let's have fun with it."
Bishop Richard Lennon, of the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland, announced last year that Immaculate Conception School in Willoughby would merge with Our Lady of Mount Carmel School in Wickliffe. The new school, to be named Mater Dei Academy, which means Mother of God, will include both schools in Wickliffe.
Waller has been teaching for 30 years — 27 of those years were spent at Immaculate. She plans to retire at the end of this school year.
"I've had a long career. I've loved every moment of it," Waller said. "It's time to leave and go on to a new life."
Principal Kathy Hrutkay said Waller has been a good teacher and added that it's sad that many other staff members will have to say goodbye at the end of the school year."
I think all of us are going to miss this school. It's a family," Hrutkay said. "It's a good mixture. There's a good rapport between the school and parents. As a school, it's going to be missed."
During the Talent Show, Immaculate Conception students performed various dance routines, several sang their favorite songs and even one student told jokes.
When the time came for Waller to hit the dance floor with Carlos Sucharetza, her dance partner of four years, several students were taken aback.
Wearing a silver and black dress, Waller spun circles around her partner and ended the routine with a dip. Her grandchild Brooke Waller, who also is one of the elder Waller's students, was amazed by the routine.
"It was good," Brooke said.
Waller and Sucharetza started dancing four years ago at Fred Astaire Dance Studio in Willoughby. In 2009, the couple took home first place in a total of 34 dances at the Ohio Star Ball and the Cleveland Dance Sport Challenge — both are ballroom competitions.
The couple, who plan to wed in August, first met because of a desire to try dancing.
"We just enjoy it. We have a good time," Sucharetza said. "It's good exercise."
While Waller's teaching career will be drawing to a close, she plans to continue dancing.
Dancing With The Stars 2010 Lineup
From realitytv.about.com:
Dancing with the Stars 2010 Lineup Will Be Revealed on March 1
The Dancing with the Stars 2010 lineup will be revealed during the season finale of another hit ABC show. The new cast will be announced by Dancing with the Stars host Tom Bergeron throughout commercial breaks for the season finale of The Bachelor. The Bachelor season finale will air on Monday, March 1. Then it will be a three week wait until DWTS premieres with the new cast on Monday, March 22.
Dancing with the Stars 2010 Lineup Will Be Revealed on March 1
The Dancing with the Stars 2010 lineup will be revealed during the season finale of another hit ABC show. The new cast will be announced by Dancing with the Stars host Tom Bergeron throughout commercial breaks for the season finale of The Bachelor. The Bachelor season finale will air on Monday, March 1. Then it will be a three week wait until DWTS premieres with the new cast on Monday, March 22.
Tuesday, February 02, 2010
The Time That Fred Did The Yam!
From blogcritics.org:
'Can't Sing, Can't Act. Balding. Can Dance a Little.'
You might recognize that as the oft-quoted evaluation from an early talent scout, giving his opinion about the then-young performer Fred Astaire. The punch line, of course, is that he became one of the biggest stars of all time. And while his career was certainly anchored by his nonpareil dancing skill, he wasn't half-bad at the other stuff either.
As is often the case with legendary performers, Fred Astaire's story is a familiar one, but I thought I'd focus on one interlude in his long career and see what it can tell us about how things sometimes worked out in strange ways. It was the time that Fred did the Yam.
The Yam in question was not a vegetable, but a dance and a song, written by Irving Berlin. It was featured in Carefree, a 1938 film that actually ended up being better known for a couple of other things. First, Fred laid a huge kiss on Ginger Rogers; an unprecedented event that was supposedly meant to disprove the rumor that the two really didn't like each other. Secondly, the movie included a dance sequence using the song "I Used To Be Color Blind" that included revolutionary slow-motion techniques. The producers thought that number was so special that only budget restraints kept them from following their initial plan to film it in color.
As for the sweet potato ditty, Fred thought it was a silly song and wouldn't sing it for the movie. It ended up being a solo for Ginger, although the pair did dance after she sang, and Fred sort of did one line. But then things got a little strange. Publicity for the movie included a cover story in Life magazine, and it appeared to be all about a new dance sensation called — you guessed it — the Yam. The cover even featured a big picture of Fred and Ginger doing it. (The dance. What did you think I meant?)
Apparently Fred eventually decided to join the parade, because he later made a record of the song himself. His version of "The Yam" wound up becoming a part of his singing legacy. No word on whether he and Ginger ever did it again.
'Can't Sing, Can't Act. Balding. Can Dance a Little.'
You might recognize that as the oft-quoted evaluation from an early talent scout, giving his opinion about the then-young performer Fred Astaire. The punch line, of course, is that he became one of the biggest stars of all time. And while his career was certainly anchored by his nonpareil dancing skill, he wasn't half-bad at the other stuff either.
As is often the case with legendary performers, Fred Astaire's story is a familiar one, but I thought I'd focus on one interlude in his long career and see what it can tell us about how things sometimes worked out in strange ways. It was the time that Fred did the Yam.
The Yam in question was not a vegetable, but a dance and a song, written by Irving Berlin. It was featured in Carefree, a 1938 film that actually ended up being better known for a couple of other things. First, Fred laid a huge kiss on Ginger Rogers; an unprecedented event that was supposedly meant to disprove the rumor that the two really didn't like each other. Secondly, the movie included a dance sequence using the song "I Used To Be Color Blind" that included revolutionary slow-motion techniques. The producers thought that number was so special that only budget restraints kept them from following their initial plan to film it in color.
As for the sweet potato ditty, Fred thought it was a silly song and wouldn't sing it for the movie. It ended up being a solo for Ginger, although the pair did dance after she sang, and Fred sort of did one line. But then things got a little strange. Publicity for the movie included a cover story in Life magazine, and it appeared to be all about a new dance sensation called — you guessed it — the Yam. The cover even featured a big picture of Fred and Ginger doing it. (The dance. What did you think I meant?)
Apparently Fred eventually decided to join the parade, because he later made a record of the song himself. His version of "The Yam" wound up becoming a part of his singing legacy. No word on whether he and Ginger ever did it again.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Next Dancing With The Stars - Four Pros Will Be Cut
From examiner.com:
Although “Dancing With the Stars” doesn’t premiere until March 22nd, details are slowly beginning to leak out about season ten. Four professional dancers out of last’s season’s crew of 16 will be eliminated before the season even begins. Plus, the buzz continues to grow that Paula Abdul may be added as a fourth judge on the hugely popular reality competition series.
Many of the professional dancers don’t even know if they’ll be returning for season ten. That’s because the number of teams is being reduced by 25%. Last year, 16 stars began season nine. This season, only 12 stars will compete. That means 4 of the 16 dance professionals from last season will not return. The dancers don’t yet know who’s on the chopping block. Louis Van Amstel recently tweeted that the pros will learn their fates on February 8th. He said, “Only 20 more days before I find out about season 10 of DWTS. Hopefully I’ll be back.”
The following 16 professional dancers competed last season, but four will not return:
Alec Mazo
Dmitry Chaplin
Louis Van Amstel
Anna Trebunskaya
Edyta Sliwinska
Maksim Chmerkovskiy
Anna Demidova
Jonathan Roberts
Mark Ballas
Chelsie Hightower
Karina Smirnoff
Tony Dovdani
Cheryl Burke
Kym Johnson
Derek Hough
Lacey Schwimmer
The stars and their partners usually begin practicing several weeks before their first dance on “Dancing With the Stars.” That means rehearsals should begin in a month or so. As usual, the new slate of contestants will be announced live on “Good Morning America” during the week of March 1-5.
In more news, it’s been widely reported that ABC has offered Paula Abdul a $1 million development deal, if she agrees to appear on “Dancing With the Stars.” There is some speculation that Abdul has been asked to compete. However, if she accepts ABC’s offer, she will more likely become the fourth judge, joining Len Goodman, Bruno Tunioli and Carrie Ann Inaba.
With years of choreography and dance experience, Paula Abdul would certainly have the know-how to offer constructive criticism. On the other hand, if she competes, ABC will face backlash from fans that already complain about an unfair advantage due to previous dance experience. This happened to Mya, although Donny Osmond ultimately defeated the singer during last season’s finals.
Although “Dancing With the Stars” doesn’t premiere until March 22nd, details are slowly beginning to leak out about season ten. Four professional dancers out of last’s season’s crew of 16 will be eliminated before the season even begins. Plus, the buzz continues to grow that Paula Abdul may be added as a fourth judge on the hugely popular reality competition series.
Many of the professional dancers don’t even know if they’ll be returning for season ten. That’s because the number of teams is being reduced by 25%. Last year, 16 stars began season nine. This season, only 12 stars will compete. That means 4 of the 16 dance professionals from last season will not return. The dancers don’t yet know who’s on the chopping block. Louis Van Amstel recently tweeted that the pros will learn their fates on February 8th. He said, “Only 20 more days before I find out about season 10 of DWTS. Hopefully I’ll be back.”
The following 16 professional dancers competed last season, but four will not return:
Alec Mazo
Dmitry Chaplin
Louis Van Amstel
Anna Trebunskaya
Edyta Sliwinska
Maksim Chmerkovskiy
Anna Demidova
Jonathan Roberts
Mark Ballas
Chelsie Hightower
Karina Smirnoff
Tony Dovdani
Cheryl Burke
Kym Johnson
Derek Hough
Lacey Schwimmer
The stars and their partners usually begin practicing several weeks before their first dance on “Dancing With the Stars.” That means rehearsals should begin in a month or so. As usual, the new slate of contestants will be announced live on “Good Morning America” during the week of March 1-5.
In more news, it’s been widely reported that ABC has offered Paula Abdul a $1 million development deal, if she agrees to appear on “Dancing With the Stars.” There is some speculation that Abdul has been asked to compete. However, if she accepts ABC’s offer, she will more likely become the fourth judge, joining Len Goodman, Bruno Tunioli and Carrie Ann Inaba.
With years of choreography and dance experience, Paula Abdul would certainly have the know-how to offer constructive criticism. On the other hand, if she competes, ABC will face backlash from fans that already complain about an unfair advantage due to previous dance experience. This happened to Mya, although Donny Osmond ultimately defeated the singer during last season’s finals.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
AstaireCollection Shoes
Hear what they're saying about our new line of AstaireCollection shoes:
"I have been wearing the same dance shoe for more than 15 years so it was a little traumatic trying a new dance shoe, but I was pleasantly surprised with the quality, comfort and support of the Astaire Collection FA02222 model. This shoe is very dressy and lightweight with patent leather and a suede top with good cushioning and arch and extremely comfortable. I travel with these shoes now and wouldn’t be without them.
Wanting a second pair for my base studio in New York, I also tried the AstaireCollection FA57231 - a nice looking casual shoe in brown calfskin leather with stitching on top. I found these shoes also to be very comfortable and the quality of the shoe is outstanding. So now I have Happy Feet and my feet never felt better."
- Lyall Bradshaw, Fred Astaire Dance Studios Executive National Examiner
Visit the Dance Store on the Fred Astaire Dance Studios web site for ordering information.
"I have been wearing the same dance shoe for more than 15 years so it was a little traumatic trying a new dance shoe, but I was pleasantly surprised with the quality, comfort and support of the Astaire Collection FA02222 model. This shoe is very dressy and lightweight with patent leather and a suede top with good cushioning and arch and extremely comfortable. I travel with these shoes now and wouldn’t be without them.
Wanting a second pair for my base studio in New York, I also tried the AstaireCollection FA57231 - a nice looking casual shoe in brown calfskin leather with stitching on top. I found these shoes also to be very comfortable and the quality of the shoe is outstanding. So now I have Happy Feet and my feet never felt better."
- Lyall Bradshaw, Fred Astaire Dance Studios Executive National Examiner
Visit the Dance Store on the Fred Astaire Dance Studios web site for ordering information.
Ohio Star Ball 2009 Recap
By Armando Martin, Fred Astaire Dance Studios National Dance Director
The Ohio Star Ball took place on the third weekend in November, and, once again, record numbers of people and entries attended this very prestigious event. It was a very long week for those of us who judged the competition, but the culmination of the professional events was well worth the time invested.
The professional Latin Competition was not as exciting as it could have been due to the fact that the Latin World Championships was going on during the same weekend in Europe. Because of this, both the top two U.S. and Canadian couples were not in attendance in Ohio.
The one thing that was truly invigorating for me was the amount and the quality of Fred Astaire Dance Studio professionals in the field, and the fact that we had so many good placements. The semifinal of the World Smooth was full of our people, couples such as Greg and Gaby from New Jersey and Vladimir and Vera from Buffalo, New York. Making the final and dancing with great flair and class was Misha and Gal from the New York East Side studio.
In the Rhythm category, the same was true. Many of our couples graced the floor during the semifinal round, which, by the way, means that we will be seeing these couples in the finals in the years to come. Making the final of this World Rhythm event was Ricky and Albina from the Milwaukee Central Studio; they continued to impress the judges and dance great after their final placements at the USDC.
The Pro Rhythm Rising Star final was riddled with our FADS couples; four out of the six finalists were from our company.
The following is the list of all the Fred Astaire couples who made a real impact in the professional events. I’d like to send my congratulations to all of our couples and thank you all for making us all proud. Keep it up.
Jesse Benedetti & Kimalee Piedad, Ft. Walton Beach - 3rd in Professional Theatrical/Solo Exhibitions
Ricky Bentzen & Albina Habrle, Milwaukee Central - 5th in World American Rhythm & 6th in Rhythm Show Dance
Aaron DeSoto & Jaana Lillemagi, Chicago North - 1st in American Rhythm Rising Star
Ivan Dishliev & Marieta Nedyalkova, Phoenix - 3rd in American Rhythm Rising Star
Anatoli Gorolevici & Irina Gorolevici, Hanover - 6th in International Standard Rising Star
Nikolay Karchev & Robyn Zmudzinski, Milwaukee Central - 5th in American Rhythm Rising Star
Vicente Martinez & Megan Murphy, Chicago Downtown - 1st in Professional Theatrical/Solo Exhibitions
Aleks Nashev & Brittney Bartler, Chicago North - 2nd in American Rhythm Rising Star
Mikhail Zharinov & Galina Detkina, NY East - 4th in World American Smooth and 4th in Smooth Show Dance
The Ohio Star Ball took place on the third weekend in November, and, once again, record numbers of people and entries attended this very prestigious event. It was a very long week for those of us who judged the competition, but the culmination of the professional events was well worth the time invested.
The professional Latin Competition was not as exciting as it could have been due to the fact that the Latin World Championships was going on during the same weekend in Europe. Because of this, both the top two U.S. and Canadian couples were not in attendance in Ohio.
The one thing that was truly invigorating for me was the amount and the quality of Fred Astaire Dance Studio professionals in the field, and the fact that we had so many good placements. The semifinal of the World Smooth was full of our people, couples such as Greg and Gaby from New Jersey and Vladimir and Vera from Buffalo, New York. Making the final and dancing with great flair and class was Misha and Gal from the New York East Side studio.
In the Rhythm category, the same was true. Many of our couples graced the floor during the semifinal round, which, by the way, means that we will be seeing these couples in the finals in the years to come. Making the final of this World Rhythm event was Ricky and Albina from the Milwaukee Central Studio; they continued to impress the judges and dance great after their final placements at the USDC.
The Pro Rhythm Rising Star final was riddled with our FADS couples; four out of the six finalists were from our company.
The following is the list of all the Fred Astaire couples who made a real impact in the professional events. I’d like to send my congratulations to all of our couples and thank you all for making us all proud. Keep it up.
Jesse Benedetti & Kimalee Piedad, Ft. Walton Beach - 3rd in Professional Theatrical/Solo Exhibitions
Ricky Bentzen & Albina Habrle, Milwaukee Central - 5th in World American Rhythm & 6th in Rhythm Show Dance
Aaron DeSoto & Jaana Lillemagi, Chicago North - 1st in American Rhythm Rising Star
Ivan Dishliev & Marieta Nedyalkova, Phoenix - 3rd in American Rhythm Rising Star
Anatoli Gorolevici & Irina Gorolevici, Hanover - 6th in International Standard Rising Star
Nikolay Karchev & Robyn Zmudzinski, Milwaukee Central - 5th in American Rhythm Rising Star
Vicente Martinez & Megan Murphy, Chicago Downtown - 1st in Professional Theatrical/Solo Exhibitions
Aleks Nashev & Brittney Bartler, Chicago North - 2nd in American Rhythm Rising Star
Mikhail Zharinov & Galina Detkina, NY East - 4th in World American Smooth and 4th in Smooth Show Dance
Cheryl Burke Interview
From theday.com:Kristina Dorsey
In a month, Cheryl Burke should be back to doing what she does most famously: teaching celebs how to dance.
On "Dancing with the Stars," she has tranformed Emmitt Smith from a football player into a charismatic dancer. She helped little-known actor Gilles Marini become the smooth operator who ended up tangoing into second place.
And, OK, her stint trying to make over politico Tom DeLay into a dancing machine didn't quite work. Their run was cut short when he got stress fractures in both feet.
The next "Dancing with the Stars" season should be starting up at the end of February or the beginning of March, and Burke is still in the dark about the whole thing, including potential partners.
In the meantime, she's coming to Mohegan Sun on Thursday to debut a new series featuring reality TV stars. Called Reality Check, it's held at The Shops at Mohegan Sun. Burke will be dancing with fellow ballroom champ Genya Mazo and then autographing photos.Burke, 25, has won "Dancing with the Stars" twice, when her partners were Emmitt Smith and former 98 Degrees singer Drew Lachey.
One of her Burke's assets on the show is her ability to coach the stars well and to choreograph pieces that truly show them off to their best advantage.
She says that, with Lachey, he was a good performer coming in, and the technical part of dancing was the challenge. Smith's work ethic was tremendous, but he had never really danced before; he improved greatly over the course of the season and made the dances his own.She lucked out in those cases. The professional dancers have no say in who their partners are, Burke says. The producers do the matchmaking, and she thinks a lot of it has to do with personalities.
That's not the only thing out of the professional dancers' control. For the most part, they don't get to choose their songs; the producers do."
We can't plan ahead. So once we know we've gotten to stay another week, they give us a new dance and a new song," Burke says."It's hard because we have to choreograph that same night and come in (to rehearse it) the next day.
"If that sounds like a punishing schedule, well, it is."We don't really get any days off. It's seven days a week, and it's every day, every night working through your new dance, your routine," she says.
As for those two "Dancing with the Stars" mirror-ball trophies that she won, Burke says they've improved the construction as the seasons have gone on. Hers, though, are from early on, and she says there were times when letters ended up dangling to the side and "you start seeing the mirrors fall off the mirror ball." (They've since been fixed.)
While Burke gained favorable notoreity for winning "Dancing with the Stars," she experienced the inevitable downside of fame, too. She made tabloid headlines in 2008 for putting on a few pounds, enduring criticism even from a couple of her male colleagues. She said back then that she had just taken time for the first time in years and wasn't dancing seven hours a day.
Burke has since slimmed down again but says, "I think that whole situation has been more of an inspirational story. A lot of the people that come up say, 'That's such crap that happened to you.' It sent the wrong message out. I believe with a women's body, you don't need to be anorexic to be beautiful. ... I was never that skinny, skinny girl. I'm an athlete."
An athlete, yes, and a choreographer, too. Asked whether she might want to choreograph on, say, the Fox show "So You Think You Can Dance," Burke dodges the question for the most part, saying that "Dancing with the Stars" has been very good to her and that her loyalty lies there. She is contractually still tied to "Dancing with the Stars" as well. Eventually, though, she does hope to create her own show.
And she'll continue dancing."The way I express my feelings and myself is through dance," she says. With dance, too, you can always push farther. She says, "You're never done. You're never perfect."
So You Think You Can Dance NY Auditions
From nydailynews.com:
Hundreds of "So You Think You Can Dance" hopefuls poured into Manhattan's Hammerstein Ballroom on Monday, hoping to shake, spin and glide their way onto TV.
They may not be able to moonwalk like Michael Jackson or hip shimmy like Beyonce, but they all had superstar aspirations.
"This is my dream! All my family and friends have been calling, saying 'I can feel it, you're gonna do well," and tears just come to my eyes," said Jason Taylor, 21, who was born and raised in the Bronx, but now lives in New Britain, Conn.
Taylor got in line for the auditions at 6 a.m. wearing a black Yankees cap pulled on sideways over his braids and high hopes of earning a "golden ticket" from producers that means moving on to audition again in front of judges Tuesday or Wednesday.
Some contestants have made appearances on the show before, like Jamie Greco, 30, a horror movie writer and director who lives in the Bronx. His all-out "gender chameleon" dance audition was aired during Season 2.
This time around, he came armed with a towering fruit hat, a pink fringe skirt and a bag of vegetables to use as props.
"I looove dancing," he gushed. "I'm a little bit intimidated being around all these people with professional training, but I know the real me will shine through."
A powerful personality is key, agreed the show's hostess, Cat Deeley.
"Personality always wins through at the end of the day," she said. "It's the back stories. It's the sense of humor. It's the fun. All those kind of things that make someone have charisma, make people identify with them, make people get off the sofa and actually pick up the phone and vote. And that's not an easy thing to do."
The show will audition wanna-be stars between the ages of 18 to 30 in six cities this season, including Chicago, Nashville, Dallas, Los Angeles and Miami.
"Dancing is a huge part of my life and I've watched this show since Season 1," said Amanda Feliciano, 19, of Plainfield, N.J. "I've stretched and practiced. Now it's my turn."
Hundreds of "So You Think You Can Dance" hopefuls poured into Manhattan's Hammerstein Ballroom on Monday, hoping to shake, spin and glide their way onto TV.
They may not be able to moonwalk like Michael Jackson or hip shimmy like Beyonce, but they all had superstar aspirations.
"This is my dream! All my family and friends have been calling, saying 'I can feel it, you're gonna do well," and tears just come to my eyes," said Jason Taylor, 21, who was born and raised in the Bronx, but now lives in New Britain, Conn.
Taylor got in line for the auditions at 6 a.m. wearing a black Yankees cap pulled on sideways over his braids and high hopes of earning a "golden ticket" from producers that means moving on to audition again in front of judges Tuesday or Wednesday.
Some contestants have made appearances on the show before, like Jamie Greco, 30, a horror movie writer and director who lives in the Bronx. His all-out "gender chameleon" dance audition was aired during Season 2.
This time around, he came armed with a towering fruit hat, a pink fringe skirt and a bag of vegetables to use as props.
"I looove dancing," he gushed. "I'm a little bit intimidated being around all these people with professional training, but I know the real me will shine through."
A powerful personality is key, agreed the show's hostess, Cat Deeley.
"Personality always wins through at the end of the day," she said. "It's the back stories. It's the sense of humor. It's the fun. All those kind of things that make someone have charisma, make people identify with them, make people get off the sofa and actually pick up the phone and vote. And that's not an easy thing to do."
The show will audition wanna-be stars between the ages of 18 to 30 in six cities this season, including Chicago, Nashville, Dallas, Los Angeles and Miami.
"Dancing is a huge part of my life and I've watched this show since Season 1," said Amanda Feliciano, 19, of Plainfield, N.J. "I've stretched and practiced. Now it's my turn."
Monday, January 25, 2010
Be Part Of The Action!
Cross Country Dance Championships
April 14-18, 2010
Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas, NV
One of the best events of the year is coming up soon! At CCDC, you will dance - both competitively and socially - as never before.
Challenge and reward yourself at this glamorous competition, which includes dazzling professional shows, gala dinners, fun parties, social dancing interludes, top competitive heats, and a world-class judging panel. Make your plans to attend this great event today! http://www.fredastairedancestudiocompetitions.com/
April 14-18, 2010
Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas, NV
One of the best events of the year is coming up soon! At CCDC, you will dance - both competitively and socially - as never before.
Challenge and reward yourself at this glamorous competition, which includes dazzling professional shows, gala dinners, fun parties, social dancing interludes, top competitive heats, and a world-class judging panel. Make your plans to attend this great event today! http://www.fredastairedancestudiocompetitions.com/
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Fred Astaire Dance Studio in Princeton, NJ Offers Full Instruction in Ballroom Dance
From towntopics.com:
Perhaps a recurrent New Year’s resolution is to lose a few pounds, tone up a bit, and generally just get more exercise — the problem is you don’t care for the gym. The good news is there’s an alternative, and it’s fun!
Come trip the light fantastic at the Fred Astaire Dance Studio of Princeton at the Princeton Shopping Center. Opened in October, it has become a popular spot not only to learn a variety of ballroom dances, but to meet new friends, and enjoy a social and welcoming atmosphere — all while you exercise.
“Dancing is not just entertainment, it is a benefit for the body,” points out Millie Dhirmalani, owner, with Nadia Goulina and Ilya Ifraimov, of the studio. “While dancing, your body goes through a wide array of movements, involving an increase of motion, and the more you dance, the more your muscles will flex and extend. Most forms of dancing involve a series of bending and stretching, resulting in an increase of general flexibility throughout your body. By increasing your flexibility, you are also conditioning your body to prevent possible injuries.
“Because dance uses a myriad of muscle groups, you can expect your body to get toned in ways that might surprise you,” continues Ms. Dhirmalani. “Most people associate strength and toning with the gym, but many people forget that your own body can act as its own weight for your muscles. From dipping and turning to mastering the Latin figure eight, you utilize all major muscle groups, including legs, arms, back, and core.”
Magic Remedy
In addition, says Ms. Dhirmalani, because dancing is so much fun, it is also a great stress-reliever. “Many studies have shown how the art of dance can help improve your mind, body, and sense of well-being. It is a magic remedy for redirecting one’s focus. If you are concerned about work, your family, or your massive To Do List, for a short time, while you are dancing, your worries seem to disappear. When you come to dance, you leave your worries at home. Your personal time is just for you.
“The social benefits of dance also have a hand in decreasing stress. As you build friendships and participate in the group activities, this promotes relaxation and confidence and a sense of well-being.”
And it doesn’t matter if you are brand new to the dance floor or know the steps to all the dances. Beginners to advanced dancers are all welcome. Students are all ages — from teens and young adults on up to an 85-year-old lady — and all backgrounds. University professors, a former Navy Seal. a former boxer, housewives, and doctors and lawyers all enjoy dancing at the studio.
Some people come as couples, but the majority — and this includes guys — come alone, notes manager TJ Matthews. Sometimes, a visit to the dance floor can be a surprise, he adds. “One man came in with his wife, and it was a big surprise for her. They came in and took a class, and have continued to dance.”
Regular Student
Princeton resident Ledlie Borgerhoff has become a regular student and is devoted to ballroom dance. “I started coming just after the studio opened. I’ve always wanted to learn ballroom dancing. I had formerly studied modern dance and been active in the theater. Now, I’m passionate about ballroom dancing and come every day.”
“She has been working very hard, and now she will compete in an upcoming competition,” adds Ms. Dhirmalani.
Lessons, both group and private, are 45 minutes, and categories include smooth (waltz, foxtrot, tango, and Viennese waltz), and Latin or Rhythm (samba, rhumba, mambo, cha cha, and swing).
“First, we offer an introduction to all the dances, and teach the basic steps. Then we’ll develop a program around the student’s goals and ability. We customize the package for each student,” explains Ms. Dhirmalani. “Taking both private and group lessons is ideal. You learn the basic steps with the instructors, and then practice and work with other people in the group. We also have the Fred Astaire Trophy system, which includes different requirements students must meet in order to graduate to the next level.”
In addition, the students have opportunities to enter Fred Astaire competitions. Four students participated last weekend, and not only that, says Ms. Dhirmalani, “Other students from our studio went up to support them. There is great camaraderie here.”
That results in part from the welcoming atmosphere and personal attention given to each student. The attractive studio, one of 130 Fred Astaire Dance Studio franchises nationwide, features a full-sized ballroom, with a specially designed raised floor to alleviate stress on knees. Bistro chairs and tables are available for dancers and spectators, and complimentary refreshments are offered.
Special Dances
Ms. Dhirmalani, a former Radio City Rockette, is a national Fred Astaire champion, having entered regional and national Fred Astaire dance competitions, prior to opening the Princeton Studio. She not only loves ballroom dance, but is dedicated to sharing it with others. “I have always been passionate about dance, and now, we want people to know we are here to educate them in dance in a welcoming atmosphere.
“Also, we will choreograph special wedding dances for a couple about to be married, so that their first dance as a married couple can be special. Our instructors have also danced at events for the Princeton Chamber of Commerce and Princeton and Montgomery High Schools.”
She adds that in February, the studio will be host to the Princeton Adult School’s cardio-dance classes.
On Friday, January 22, it will also hold a special “Dancing With The Stars” performance, featuring professional ballroom dancers Tony Devoloni and Snejana Petrova. Dinner, cocktails, and dancing will be included. Tickets are $60.
Ms. Dhirmalani is delighted with the Princeton Shopping Center location and with the response both from dance students and the neighboring businesses. “The warmth and acceptance of being welcomed as a new person in the community has been wonderful.”
“We hope to partner with a restaurant and offer people a dinner and dance date night,” adds Mr. Matthews. “Bring back romance. Try dancing!”
Hours are Monday through Friday 1:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Weekends by appointment. (609) 921-8881.
Perhaps a recurrent New Year’s resolution is to lose a few pounds, tone up a bit, and generally just get more exercise — the problem is you don’t care for the gym. The good news is there’s an alternative, and it’s fun!
Come trip the light fantastic at the Fred Astaire Dance Studio of Princeton at the Princeton Shopping Center. Opened in October, it has become a popular spot not only to learn a variety of ballroom dances, but to meet new friends, and enjoy a social and welcoming atmosphere — all while you exercise.
“Dancing is not just entertainment, it is a benefit for the body,” points out Millie Dhirmalani, owner, with Nadia Goulina and Ilya Ifraimov, of the studio. “While dancing, your body goes through a wide array of movements, involving an increase of motion, and the more you dance, the more your muscles will flex and extend. Most forms of dancing involve a series of bending and stretching, resulting in an increase of general flexibility throughout your body. By increasing your flexibility, you are also conditioning your body to prevent possible injuries.
“Because dance uses a myriad of muscle groups, you can expect your body to get toned in ways that might surprise you,” continues Ms. Dhirmalani. “Most people associate strength and toning with the gym, but many people forget that your own body can act as its own weight for your muscles. From dipping and turning to mastering the Latin figure eight, you utilize all major muscle groups, including legs, arms, back, and core.”
Magic Remedy
In addition, says Ms. Dhirmalani, because dancing is so much fun, it is also a great stress-reliever. “Many studies have shown how the art of dance can help improve your mind, body, and sense of well-being. It is a magic remedy for redirecting one’s focus. If you are concerned about work, your family, or your massive To Do List, for a short time, while you are dancing, your worries seem to disappear. When you come to dance, you leave your worries at home. Your personal time is just for you.
“The social benefits of dance also have a hand in decreasing stress. As you build friendships and participate in the group activities, this promotes relaxation and confidence and a sense of well-being.”
And it doesn’t matter if you are brand new to the dance floor or know the steps to all the dances. Beginners to advanced dancers are all welcome. Students are all ages — from teens and young adults on up to an 85-year-old lady — and all backgrounds. University professors, a former Navy Seal. a former boxer, housewives, and doctors and lawyers all enjoy dancing at the studio.
Some people come as couples, but the majority — and this includes guys — come alone, notes manager TJ Matthews. Sometimes, a visit to the dance floor can be a surprise, he adds. “One man came in with his wife, and it was a big surprise for her. They came in and took a class, and have continued to dance.”
Regular Student
Princeton resident Ledlie Borgerhoff has become a regular student and is devoted to ballroom dance. “I started coming just after the studio opened. I’ve always wanted to learn ballroom dancing. I had formerly studied modern dance and been active in the theater. Now, I’m passionate about ballroom dancing and come every day.”
“She has been working very hard, and now she will compete in an upcoming competition,” adds Ms. Dhirmalani.
Lessons, both group and private, are 45 minutes, and categories include smooth (waltz, foxtrot, tango, and Viennese waltz), and Latin or Rhythm (samba, rhumba, mambo, cha cha, and swing).
“First, we offer an introduction to all the dances, and teach the basic steps. Then we’ll develop a program around the student’s goals and ability. We customize the package for each student,” explains Ms. Dhirmalani. “Taking both private and group lessons is ideal. You learn the basic steps with the instructors, and then practice and work with other people in the group. We also have the Fred Astaire Trophy system, which includes different requirements students must meet in order to graduate to the next level.”
In addition, the students have opportunities to enter Fred Astaire competitions. Four students participated last weekend, and not only that, says Ms. Dhirmalani, “Other students from our studio went up to support them. There is great camaraderie here.”
That results in part from the welcoming atmosphere and personal attention given to each student. The attractive studio, one of 130 Fred Astaire Dance Studio franchises nationwide, features a full-sized ballroom, with a specially designed raised floor to alleviate stress on knees. Bistro chairs and tables are available for dancers and spectators, and complimentary refreshments are offered.
Special Dances
Ms. Dhirmalani, a former Radio City Rockette, is a national Fred Astaire champion, having entered regional and national Fred Astaire dance competitions, prior to opening the Princeton Studio. She not only loves ballroom dance, but is dedicated to sharing it with others. “I have always been passionate about dance, and now, we want people to know we are here to educate them in dance in a welcoming atmosphere.
“Also, we will choreograph special wedding dances for a couple about to be married, so that their first dance as a married couple can be special. Our instructors have also danced at events for the Princeton Chamber of Commerce and Princeton and Montgomery High Schools.”
She adds that in February, the studio will be host to the Princeton Adult School’s cardio-dance classes.
On Friday, January 22, it will also hold a special “Dancing With The Stars” performance, featuring professional ballroom dancers Tony Devoloni and Snejana Petrova. Dinner, cocktails, and dancing will be included. Tickets are $60.
Ms. Dhirmalani is delighted with the Princeton Shopping Center location and with the response both from dance students and the neighboring businesses. “The warmth and acceptance of being welcomed as a new person in the community has been wonderful.”
“We hope to partner with a restaurant and offer people a dinner and dance date night,” adds Mr. Matthews. “Bring back romance. Try dancing!”
Hours are Monday through Friday 1:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Weekends by appointment. (609) 921-8881.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Dance Lessons - Part Of Woman's Makeover
From todaystj4.com (Milwaukee, WI):
"Milwaukee Makeover"
By Courtny Gerrish
Imagine getting a chance to transform yourself... from the inside out.
One lucky woman won a complete makeover. We first met her the day she learned she'd won the makeover. Michelle Weber, who is from Waukesha, had already begun changing herself. She recently lost more than 100 pounds.
She wasn't even sure she wanted to try for the makeover, she said. "It was hard, I contemplated, do I really want to put myself out there, do I really want to show people, hey, I weighed over 200 pounds before," she told us.
But she jumped right in and started the grueling regimen. Her package included a membership to the Wisconsin Athletic Club, complete with a personal trainer. Her sessions were every day, and she'd often start working out at 4:30 in the morning.
From there, Michelle went to work. But she also had to fit in skin sessions with Enhancing Light Laser Cosmetics, dental treatments with Modern Touch Dental, a new hairdo, and dance lessons at Fred Astaire.
The makeover is the brainchild of Kelly Becker, a local businesswoman who was herself the recipient of a total makeover on Fox's "The Swan" reality show a few years ago. She told us it changed her life.
"Just to make myself feel happy inside, to have a new outlook on life, it really helped me overall," she said frankly. The makeover helped Kelly so much, she wanted to offer the same experience to a local woman. So she started recruiting local businesses who all contributed to Michelle's new look.
Four months after Michelle began her makeover process, she got to "come out" in style at a gala event at Kenosha's Strawberry Creek, a golf and social club.
A crowd of family and friends gathered to see her big reveal.
Kelly announced Michelle's name, and she came through the doorways looking like a new person. The workouts trimmed anther 18 inches from her already slimmed body, she had a beautiful new smile, new hair, and new clothes.
"She's gorgeous," her husband said.
Michelle herself said she feels like a totally new person, more confident and happy. "Every minute was worth it in the end."
And to finish her big night, the once-shy young woman performed an East Coast Swing dance for the crowd.
"Milwaukee Makeover"
By Courtny Gerrish
Imagine getting a chance to transform yourself... from the inside out.
One lucky woman won a complete makeover. We first met her the day she learned she'd won the makeover. Michelle Weber, who is from Waukesha, had already begun changing herself. She recently lost more than 100 pounds.
She wasn't even sure she wanted to try for the makeover, she said. "It was hard, I contemplated, do I really want to put myself out there, do I really want to show people, hey, I weighed over 200 pounds before," she told us.
But she jumped right in and started the grueling regimen. Her package included a membership to the Wisconsin Athletic Club, complete with a personal trainer. Her sessions were every day, and she'd often start working out at 4:30 in the morning.
From there, Michelle went to work. But she also had to fit in skin sessions with Enhancing Light Laser Cosmetics, dental treatments with Modern Touch Dental, a new hairdo, and dance lessons at Fred Astaire.
The makeover is the brainchild of Kelly Becker, a local businesswoman who was herself the recipient of a total makeover on Fox's "The Swan" reality show a few years ago. She told us it changed her life.
"Just to make myself feel happy inside, to have a new outlook on life, it really helped me overall," she said frankly. The makeover helped Kelly so much, she wanted to offer the same experience to a local woman. So she started recruiting local businesses who all contributed to Michelle's new look.
Four months after Michelle began her makeover process, she got to "come out" in style at a gala event at Kenosha's Strawberry Creek, a golf and social club.
A crowd of family and friends gathered to see her big reveal.
Kelly announced Michelle's name, and she came through the doorways looking like a new person. The workouts trimmed anther 18 inches from her already slimmed body, she had a beautiful new smile, new hair, and new clothes.
"She's gorgeous," her husband said.
Michelle herself said she feels like a totally new person, more confident and happy. "Every minute was worth it in the end."
And to finish her big night, the once-shy young woman performed an East Coast Swing dance for the crowd.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Dancing With The Stars - News About Next Season
Dancing with the Stars season 10 will thus kick off with a two-hour performance show on March 22, then another two-hour performance show the following week on March 29. During both times, viewers will be able to vote per episode. The first elimination night will take place after the second two-hour performance show.
The Dress Makes The Dance!
From latimes.com:
Looks count on TV dance shows
By Vincent Boucher
January 17, 2010
Right about now, in January, as the holiday glow fades and winter boredom sets in, die-hard fans of ballroom, hip-hop, tango and salsa may have a dawning realization: "So You Think You Can Dance" had its season finale the week before Christmas.
And "Dancing With the Stars" won't be back till March.
We'll miss the shows too -- as much for the highly inventive, undeniably glamorous costumes as for the riveting quick steps and rumbas.
The January lull gives us time to ponder and appreciate the work of designers who build the "looks" for both shows from the ground up, in the scant few days between one week's result show and the next week's competition -- with little to go on but a piece of music, a hunch and a ton of Swarovski crystals.
Costume designer Soyon An won an Emmy in 2009 for "So You Think" for doing something that had never occurred to her as a student of fashion design at the Otis College of Art and Design and the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising. "I thought I was just going to work in a cubicle somewhere," she said.
But the South Korean native, whose family moved to Los Angeles when she was 3, found a different path when she started doing background extra work and "got to see what costume designers were doing backstage." Then a stint assisting celebrity stylist Jessica Paster with her red-carpet clients gave her an extra push.An, a veteran at 19 Entertainment (the production company behind "So You Think" and "American Idol"), took the lead design job at the show during last summer's Season 5, finished fall's Season 6 in December and will be back for Season 7 once a start date is set. In the meantime, she will be the women's costumer for "American Idol" for the season that began Tuesday.
When "So You Think" is in production, she starts her almost never-ending work week by hearing the music for each routine in meetings with the choreographers and picking a color scheme for each performing couple or group number."
Colors just pop into my head while I'm listening to the song," she said, adding that because the choreography is still in the works, she never gets to see it until after she has finished her designs -- and then only once at the dress rehearsal a day before the show. "I don't think fashion trends really influence my work; my thing is called deconstruction. I like to believe I know what's going on, but I also believe I'm a trendsetter," she said, citing influences as varied as cholo street style, Japanese cute, lots and lots of magazines, the Discovery Channel and her own travels. As the dances encompass hip-hop, ballroom and just about everything in between, any show can find her creating a colorful "little cupcake" mini, a slinky ombré disco dress and camo-print beaded fatigues. For the judges, "character" is the holy grail of the show, as the professional dancers try to disappear into the roles demanded by the set. Costumes can help make or break a routine as viewed from the proscenium stage.
"The costumes affect the way America sees the performance," said one of the show's judges, producer/director Adam Shankman. He cited contestant Karen Hauer's hip-hop turn wearing a bold yellow mechanic's uniform that obliterated her image as a ballroom dancer as well as modern dancer Noelle Marsh's gowned transformation for a fox trot.
Meanwhile, "Dancing With the Stars" -- which returns to the schedule in the spring -- is a celebrity-driven spectacle of barely there bodices flaunting spray-tanned cleavage, floaty fabric panels that dip and swirl along with the dancer's moves and campy touches such as plopping a Day-Glo green wig on contestant Kelly Osbourne to finish off a '60s look. Women aren't the only ones who put on a show: The professional partners and in-shape male stars bare arms and more in sheer beaded shirts, and they often sport biceps-friendly stand-alone vests. In one notable instance last season, dancer Derek Hough discarded his shirt altogether for just a wide sash in a steamy salsa number.
It's all entertainment, said costume designer Randall Christensen, also an Emmy winner and a former dancer. "I'm lucky to have an Edyta Sliwinska, who can wear a quarter-yard of fabric and get away with it." As each season progresses, he added, the celeb women ask for briefer and briefer costumes as they get in fighting shape. "We like to push it, and they're proud of their bodies," he said, "so why not show it?"
Christensen knows from his own experience the importance of costumes to a dancer: "I learned years ago that when you take the dance floor, they start judging you that minute, and the costumes are a huge part of that." Ideas come from favorite designers such as Gaultier and Cavalli but also from "the classics," such as Ralph Lauren and Chanel. But because he grew up watching the "Sonny and Cher" and "Carol Burnett" TV shows, his biggest inspiration is Bob Mackie, because, he said, it was such "huge fun" to see what the designer would come up with every week. "
For the '70s, he was really pushing the limits," Christensen added, mentioning outfits worn by Cher and Mitzi Gaynor. Sometimes network censors cut to a face shot when a Mackie costume was too revealing.
Christensen believes the influence of his show has women of all ages "asking for a little bling, asking to be sexy" when they go shopping. Once, looking at the beaded bras on display at Victoria's Secret, he thought, "Did we do that first or did they?" Beyond television, dance-influenced fashion has captured the imagination of mainstream designers such as the always-opinionated "Project Runway" alum -- and onetime break dancer -- Jeffrey Sebelia. As the new designer for the L.A.-based casual-wear line Fluxus, his dance-driven spring collection was full of body-conscious ruching and tulle-like sheer modal knit. "It's hard to pinpoint why," Sebelia mused. "When I started looking into fabrics and doing research, it just seemed to be a good time to be doing this."
Characteristically, his inspiration was a little darker. "In this so-called recession," he said, with "this sense of poverty, I was also thinking of one of my favorite movies, 'They Shoot Horses, Don't They?' "Sebelia unwittingly hit the nail on the head with his mention of "Horses," Sydney Pollack's's 1969 saga of Depression-era dance marathons in which couples competed for money by dancing until they literally dropped from exhaustion. Maybe the TV dance revival is the reality-show version of a dance marathon, where everyone sits at home voting on which dancers will ultimately get the big prize.
But at least today's contestants are dressed a whole lot better.
Looks count on TV dance shows
By Vincent Boucher
January 17, 2010
Right about now, in January, as the holiday glow fades and winter boredom sets in, die-hard fans of ballroom, hip-hop, tango and salsa may have a dawning realization: "So You Think You Can Dance" had its season finale the week before Christmas.
And "Dancing With the Stars" won't be back till March.
We'll miss the shows too -- as much for the highly inventive, undeniably glamorous costumes as for the riveting quick steps and rumbas.
The January lull gives us time to ponder and appreciate the work of designers who build the "looks" for both shows from the ground up, in the scant few days between one week's result show and the next week's competition -- with little to go on but a piece of music, a hunch and a ton of Swarovski crystals.
Costume designer Soyon An won an Emmy in 2009 for "So You Think" for doing something that had never occurred to her as a student of fashion design at the Otis College of Art and Design and the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising. "I thought I was just going to work in a cubicle somewhere," she said.
But the South Korean native, whose family moved to Los Angeles when she was 3, found a different path when she started doing background extra work and "got to see what costume designers were doing backstage." Then a stint assisting celebrity stylist Jessica Paster with her red-carpet clients gave her an extra push.An, a veteran at 19 Entertainment (the production company behind "So You Think" and "American Idol"), took the lead design job at the show during last summer's Season 5, finished fall's Season 6 in December and will be back for Season 7 once a start date is set. In the meantime, she will be the women's costumer for "American Idol" for the season that began Tuesday.
When "So You Think" is in production, she starts her almost never-ending work week by hearing the music for each routine in meetings with the choreographers and picking a color scheme for each performing couple or group number."
Colors just pop into my head while I'm listening to the song," she said, adding that because the choreography is still in the works, she never gets to see it until after she has finished her designs -- and then only once at the dress rehearsal a day before the show. "I don't think fashion trends really influence my work; my thing is called deconstruction. I like to believe I know what's going on, but I also believe I'm a trendsetter," she said, citing influences as varied as cholo street style, Japanese cute, lots and lots of magazines, the Discovery Channel and her own travels. As the dances encompass hip-hop, ballroom and just about everything in between, any show can find her creating a colorful "little cupcake" mini, a slinky ombré disco dress and camo-print beaded fatigues. For the judges, "character" is the holy grail of the show, as the professional dancers try to disappear into the roles demanded by the set. Costumes can help make or break a routine as viewed from the proscenium stage.
"The costumes affect the way America sees the performance," said one of the show's judges, producer/director Adam Shankman. He cited contestant Karen Hauer's hip-hop turn wearing a bold yellow mechanic's uniform that obliterated her image as a ballroom dancer as well as modern dancer Noelle Marsh's gowned transformation for a fox trot.
Meanwhile, "Dancing With the Stars" -- which returns to the schedule in the spring -- is a celebrity-driven spectacle of barely there bodices flaunting spray-tanned cleavage, floaty fabric panels that dip and swirl along with the dancer's moves and campy touches such as plopping a Day-Glo green wig on contestant Kelly Osbourne to finish off a '60s look. Women aren't the only ones who put on a show: The professional partners and in-shape male stars bare arms and more in sheer beaded shirts, and they often sport biceps-friendly stand-alone vests. In one notable instance last season, dancer Derek Hough discarded his shirt altogether for just a wide sash in a steamy salsa number.
It's all entertainment, said costume designer Randall Christensen, also an Emmy winner and a former dancer. "I'm lucky to have an Edyta Sliwinska, who can wear a quarter-yard of fabric and get away with it." As each season progresses, he added, the celeb women ask for briefer and briefer costumes as they get in fighting shape. "We like to push it, and they're proud of their bodies," he said, "so why not show it?"
Christensen knows from his own experience the importance of costumes to a dancer: "I learned years ago that when you take the dance floor, they start judging you that minute, and the costumes are a huge part of that." Ideas come from favorite designers such as Gaultier and Cavalli but also from "the classics," such as Ralph Lauren and Chanel. But because he grew up watching the "Sonny and Cher" and "Carol Burnett" TV shows, his biggest inspiration is Bob Mackie, because, he said, it was such "huge fun" to see what the designer would come up with every week. "
For the '70s, he was really pushing the limits," Christensen added, mentioning outfits worn by Cher and Mitzi Gaynor. Sometimes network censors cut to a face shot when a Mackie costume was too revealing.
Christensen believes the influence of his show has women of all ages "asking for a little bling, asking to be sexy" when they go shopping. Once, looking at the beaded bras on display at Victoria's Secret, he thought, "Did we do that first or did they?" Beyond television, dance-influenced fashion has captured the imagination of mainstream designers such as the always-opinionated "Project Runway" alum -- and onetime break dancer -- Jeffrey Sebelia. As the new designer for the L.A.-based casual-wear line Fluxus, his dance-driven spring collection was full of body-conscious ruching and tulle-like sheer modal knit. "It's hard to pinpoint why," Sebelia mused. "When I started looking into fabrics and doing research, it just seemed to be a good time to be doing this."
Characteristically, his inspiration was a little darker. "In this so-called recession," he said, with "this sense of poverty, I was also thinking of one of my favorite movies, 'They Shoot Horses, Don't They?' "Sebelia unwittingly hit the nail on the head with his mention of "Horses," Sydney Pollack's's 1969 saga of Depression-era dance marathons in which couples competed for money by dancing until they literally dropped from exhaustion. Maybe the TV dance revival is the reality-show version of a dance marathon, where everyone sits at home voting on which dancers will ultimately get the big prize.
But at least today's contestants are dressed a whole lot better.
Students Put Their Best Feet Forward
From buffalonews.com (Buffalo, NY):
By Mark Sommer
Dancing star and instructor Anna Trebunskaya took Buffalo by storm Saturday, turning the parquet floor of the Adam's Mark Hotel ballroom into a clinic for ballroom dancing.
Trebunskaya, from TV's "Dancing with the Stars," was participating in "Dancing for a Dream," a fundraiser of the Variety Club, which has a long history of supporting Women & Children's Hospital. The nine-hour event was sponsored by STORM, a nonprofit organization that raises funds through dance events.
Trebunskaya's 45-minute classes in cha-cha and rhumba were among 12 classes — from salsa and hip-hop to foxtrot and ballet — that continued throughout the day before the performance-packed evening.
"Ballroom dancing used to be older people's leisure activity, but I think "Dancing with the Stars' shows it really, truly is a sport — you have to be really athletic," the Russian-born Trebunskaya said shortly before leading the class. "It's not as simple as it looks."
She spends three months a year working for the show, on which she has been a fixture for four seasons. She said the show's popularity has made it easier for people to understand how she makes a living.
"Before — when you'd chat with people and they'd say, "What do you do?' and you'd say, "I'm a ballroom dancer; I'm a teacher as well.'
"They'd say, "Really, you can make money doing this?' Now I think everybody goes, "Oh yes, just like that program.' "
Trebunskaya admitted not having heard of stars she has been paired with, such as NFL football great Jerry Rice, because she is so immersed in the dance world. She said because of her busy dance schedule, she doesn't own a TV.
Grethe Vruarin, a University at Buffalo graduate student, was one of about 200 people in attendance by early afternoon. She was excited to dance to Trebunskaya's instruction.
"Not only is it a TV show that everyone watches — it's Buffalo, and we don't really expect it. It's cool," Vruarin said.
Trebunskaya, of course, wasn't the only instructor for the nine-hour marathon. Among them was local choreographer and STORM founder Tommy Radon, whose dancing credentials include earning "top NY instructor" from Fred Astaire Dance Studio. Radon taught one class and choreographed three others.
The variety of dance classes offered throughout the day was quickly apparent when the opening ballet class was immediately followed by hip-hop.
Keith Williams, who danced in both, said the ballet class was an eye-opening experience.
"Ballet was something I had never really done before, and growing up, I never was so fond of it. I've got a whole different perspective on it now," Williams said.
Williams performed a cartwheel and front flip near the conclusion of the hip-hop class, as dancers lined the outside of the dance floor. Fellow dancer Zeke Cicus, who weighs 285 pounds, concluded his series of moves with an unexpected split.
"This is very good for Buffalo," said Cicus, who like Williams is a member of the Eccentric Flow dance troupe at UB. "A lot of the kids were having a good time just coming to a place on the weekend and dancing. They're loving it."
Instructor Maria Ruffato led the dancers in constant sharp, then soft, gestures, with "popping," "locking," "sliding" and robotic movements.
Charmese O'Callaghan, a Niagara Falls dance instructor who teaches hip-hop, praised Ruffato's instruction and said she was having a great time.
So was Karon Cannon of Buffalo and a senior at St. Joseph's Collegiate Institute, who said he was pretty much a beginner — although his solo suggested a streak of modesty.
"It's a great experience. I haven't had any training, but I always wanted to learn. I'm really picking up new things," Cannon said.
Mary West of Grand Island, watching her 9-year-old daughter Teresa, liked what she saw.
"This is just completely awesome," she said. "It's an opportunity for her to learn so much. Not only does it help a great cause, but they're learning from such talented people who are in the business."
By Mark Sommer
Dancing star and instructor Anna Trebunskaya took Buffalo by storm Saturday, turning the parquet floor of the Adam's Mark Hotel ballroom into a clinic for ballroom dancing.
Trebunskaya, from TV's "Dancing with the Stars," was participating in "Dancing for a Dream," a fundraiser of the Variety Club, which has a long history of supporting Women & Children's Hospital. The nine-hour event was sponsored by STORM, a nonprofit organization that raises funds through dance events.
Trebunskaya's 45-minute classes in cha-cha and rhumba were among 12 classes — from salsa and hip-hop to foxtrot and ballet — that continued throughout the day before the performance-packed evening.
"Ballroom dancing used to be older people's leisure activity, but I think "Dancing with the Stars' shows it really, truly is a sport — you have to be really athletic," the Russian-born Trebunskaya said shortly before leading the class. "It's not as simple as it looks."
She spends three months a year working for the show, on which she has been a fixture for four seasons. She said the show's popularity has made it easier for people to understand how she makes a living.
"Before — when you'd chat with people and they'd say, "What do you do?' and you'd say, "I'm a ballroom dancer; I'm a teacher as well.'
"They'd say, "Really, you can make money doing this?' Now I think everybody goes, "Oh yes, just like that program.' "
Trebunskaya admitted not having heard of stars she has been paired with, such as NFL football great Jerry Rice, because she is so immersed in the dance world. She said because of her busy dance schedule, she doesn't own a TV.
Grethe Vruarin, a University at Buffalo graduate student, was one of about 200 people in attendance by early afternoon. She was excited to dance to Trebunskaya's instruction.
"Not only is it a TV show that everyone watches — it's Buffalo, and we don't really expect it. It's cool," Vruarin said.
Trebunskaya, of course, wasn't the only instructor for the nine-hour marathon. Among them was local choreographer and STORM founder Tommy Radon, whose dancing credentials include earning "top NY instructor" from Fred Astaire Dance Studio. Radon taught one class and choreographed three others.
The variety of dance classes offered throughout the day was quickly apparent when the opening ballet class was immediately followed by hip-hop.
Keith Williams, who danced in both, said the ballet class was an eye-opening experience.
"Ballet was something I had never really done before, and growing up, I never was so fond of it. I've got a whole different perspective on it now," Williams said.
Williams performed a cartwheel and front flip near the conclusion of the hip-hop class, as dancers lined the outside of the dance floor. Fellow dancer Zeke Cicus, who weighs 285 pounds, concluded his series of moves with an unexpected split.
"This is very good for Buffalo," said Cicus, who like Williams is a member of the Eccentric Flow dance troupe at UB. "A lot of the kids were having a good time just coming to a place on the weekend and dancing. They're loving it."
Instructor Maria Ruffato led the dancers in constant sharp, then soft, gestures, with "popping," "locking," "sliding" and robotic movements.
Charmese O'Callaghan, a Niagara Falls dance instructor who teaches hip-hop, praised Ruffato's instruction and said she was having a great time.
So was Karon Cannon of Buffalo and a senior at St. Joseph's Collegiate Institute, who said he was pretty much a beginner — although his solo suggested a streak of modesty.
"It's a great experience. I haven't had any training, but I always wanted to learn. I'm really picking up new things," Cannon said.
Mary West of Grand Island, watching her 9-year-old daughter Teresa, liked what she saw.
"This is just completely awesome," she said. "It's an opportunity for her to learn so much. Not only does it help a great cause, but they're learning from such talented people who are in the business."
Get Hot, Hot, Hot at the Ridgefield Playhouse
From newstimes.com (Ridgefield, CT):
"Not everyone has to dance like the people they see on TV," says Christoph Lawatsch, manager of the Fred Astaire Dance Studio in Ridgefield. "Everyone can dance, you just have to start with the basics."
The perfect opportunity to try out Latin dancing is at the "Dancing with the Stars -- Sizzling Salsa" event at the Ridgefield Playhouse Thursday.
Professionals from the Fred Astaire Studio will be teaching participants the basics of the salsa, tango and meringue.
For dancers who want a chance to show off their moves, a competition will be held after the lessons. Audience members will vote for the couple they think had the best dance, and the winner will receive tickets to a show.
Allison Stockel, executive director of the Ridgefield Playhouse, organized the evening, which includes a margarita tasting and salsa party in the lobby before the dancing begins. There will also be an after-party where everyone can cool down with music and food courtesy of Southwest Cafe of Ridgefield. Employees from Adam Broderick Salon and Spa will be at the event too, providing make-up tips and applications so participants can get the perfect look for when they go out dancing.
"It's a cheap way to have some fun," Stockel said.
The event is being hosted by the Danbury Hospital Spirit of Women program. Spirit of Women is a national program aimed at helping women become more engaged in health and wellness. According to Andrea Rynn, director of community, public, and government relations at Danbury Hospital, the program helps empower women to take better care of themselves through eating right, exercising, and taking time to focus on their own personal needs. Rynn says Latin dance is a great, fun way for women to get up and move.
"Latin dance steps are easy to learn," Rynn added. "And you don't have to be an expert to have fun with it."
Members of the Spirit of Women program will be on hand to answer health questions and talk about how to join their program. Their goal is to show how exercise can be enjoyable, and that dancing is a great way to get the heart pumping.
"The event will show you the power of dance," Stockel said.
"Dancing with the Stars -- Sizzling Salsa" is set for THursday at 7:30 p.m. Tickets for the event are $5 and can be purchased on the Ridgefield Playhouse Web site, or by calling their box office at 203-438-5795.
"Not everyone has to dance like the people they see on TV," says Christoph Lawatsch, manager of the Fred Astaire Dance Studio in Ridgefield. "Everyone can dance, you just have to start with the basics."
The perfect opportunity to try out Latin dancing is at the "Dancing with the Stars -- Sizzling Salsa" event at the Ridgefield Playhouse Thursday.
Professionals from the Fred Astaire Studio will be teaching participants the basics of the salsa, tango and meringue.
For dancers who want a chance to show off their moves, a competition will be held after the lessons. Audience members will vote for the couple they think had the best dance, and the winner will receive tickets to a show.
Allison Stockel, executive director of the Ridgefield Playhouse, organized the evening, which includes a margarita tasting and salsa party in the lobby before the dancing begins. There will also be an after-party where everyone can cool down with music and food courtesy of Southwest Cafe of Ridgefield. Employees from Adam Broderick Salon and Spa will be at the event too, providing make-up tips and applications so participants can get the perfect look for when they go out dancing.
"It's a cheap way to have some fun," Stockel said.
The event is being hosted by the Danbury Hospital Spirit of Women program. Spirit of Women is a national program aimed at helping women become more engaged in health and wellness. According to Andrea Rynn, director of community, public, and government relations at Danbury Hospital, the program helps empower women to take better care of themselves through eating right, exercising, and taking time to focus on their own personal needs. Rynn says Latin dance is a great, fun way for women to get up and move.
"Latin dance steps are easy to learn," Rynn added. "And you don't have to be an expert to have fun with it."
Members of the Spirit of Women program will be on hand to answer health questions and talk about how to join their program. Their goal is to show how exercise can be enjoyable, and that dancing is a great way to get the heart pumping.
"The event will show you the power of dance," Stockel said.
"Dancing with the Stars -- Sizzling Salsa" is set for THursday at 7:30 p.m. Tickets for the event are $5 and can be purchased on the Ridgefield Playhouse Web site, or by calling their box office at 203-438-5795.
Friday, January 15, 2010
News About Dancing With The Stars, Season 10
From seattlepi.com:
When Dancing with the Stars' 10th season returns on March 22, there'll be fewer couples on the dance floor.
ABC entertainment president Steve McPherson said Tuesday that he likes airing two cycles of the show each year, but thought last season featured too many couples. He said Season 10 will be limited to 11 or 12 at the most.
This time around, the first elimination will take place after the second episode, and will be based on the judges' scores and votes from the public for the first two episodes.
The Season 10 cast has yet to be announced.
When Dancing with the Stars' 10th season returns on March 22, there'll be fewer couples on the dance floor.
ABC entertainment president Steve McPherson said Tuesday that he likes airing two cycles of the show each year, but thought last season featured too many couples. He said Season 10 will be limited to 11 or 12 at the most.
This time around, the first elimination will take place after the second episode, and will be based on the judges' scores and votes from the public for the first two episodes.
The Season 10 cast has yet to be announced.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
My Golden Dancers
Dancing is Like a Box of Chocolates
By Elita Sohmer Clayman
Some months, it is hard to find an interesting topic to write about. Even though it is January, February is the month of love, Valentine’s Day. The first Valentine’s Day that I was going with my husband occurred only four months after we had met. I did not expect much and I did not get much. He gave me a five pound box of chocolates and I was so thrilled that I did not open it up for two months. I let it sit on my bureau dresser and kept looking at it all the time.
I loved the heart shaped red box with the bow on it and the smell of the delicious chocolates. The box could have been empty and I would have still loved it for the thought and all the things I hoped would come true from this first offering. The things did come through and we married two years later.
Many dancers feel great anticipation after starting on their first lesson. We started on November 2, 1977 and after we went down in the elevator of the dance studio, I had this premonition that tonight was the beginning of a new plateau in our lives. So it was and it evolved into weekly dance lessons, competitions for me and Saturday night social dances at the studio where we took these lessons. The next day after the first lesson, we rode down to a music store in a small mall and bought six dance records.
We would go down to our family room in the basement and roll up the rug and try to remember what we had learned the previous night. We wanted to become good dancers and we knew that practice surely made us closer to perfect. We took notes as the teacher gave us instructions and tried to decipher what he had said the previous evening. I even bought a small tape recorder and began to tape in audio mode the whole lesson to help us remember his teachings.
Those were exciting moments in my life, the beginning of a dream that I always wanted to be a ballroom dancer. Now I see advertisements on the television that hurray ballroom dancing is back. Back from where I say? It never left, we knew it never disappeared; we knew it was alive and well.
Many email me that ballroom dancing has influenced their life to the point that it is a necessary need they have to do it, spend money on it and enjoy it. Even some dancers who now are unable to go out and dance due to some physical ailments or problems with their shoulders or knees still go to dances and sit around talking to other dancers and use it as a social tool even though they cannot really dance a lot there that day or evening. They feel that just being there in the dance environment is cause enough to dress up, pay and if they can only dance one or two dances, they have accomplished and continue on their dream. They may not be able to cha-cha the way they used to years ago, but they can still enjoy the music and the beat and listening to the music is also therapy to their hearts and ears.
The Valentine heart box of candy when opened consisted of about twenty different kinds of shades of chocolate. So is the box called dancing when opened. There are many varieties of dancing and like the chocolate may appeal to one person and not the other person. The interesting thing is like the box of chocolates, dancing is sweet and delicious and we do not know what to expect when we bite into a piece that looks a bit like something we have not discovered before this moment. We can try it and if we do not enjoy it, we put it aside or in the case of candy, we throw it away. We cannot destroy something in dancing by tossing it aside, but we can save it for later or for never or for when we are more ready to ‘taste’ it and savor it.
Many readers write about their first experience taking that initial lesson. They have fear, they have anticipation of something great, they have feelings intensified by the unknown and lastly they have hope. Hope that they will excel in this at some point and that they will eventually view it as a hobby of delight and an hour of fun and knowledge. That is exactly what I imagined after the first lesson with our coach, a young man about twenty years or so in age from us. That did not matter. He had the tools we wanted and he gave us the love of dancing that we still adhere to. He encouraged us and complimented us and gave us the hope that we could become great.
I have always been grateful to him because he helped a couple in their 40s to feel that 40 was young to begin to learn to dance. The learning is easy; it is the continuing on and reaching for the stars. Like my Valentine box of candy way back in 1958 given by a young man to the young lady he was starting to court as they called it then, our assorted dancing box was full of enticing tastes of dancing. I am glad that I opened it up and did not let it sit there. That is my dancing and not my candy.
When we bought our first little doggie, we named her Candy because she was white and fluffy like a cotton candy on a stick you get at a carnival. Our second doggie many years later was named Rhumba and I need not explain why other than to say she moved her hips like she was doing that dance.
So go and open up that Valentine box of imaginary candy and think of it as a container of ballroom dancing opportunities. Sweet, delicious, delightful and enticing. The most important part is that it is better than the candy because it will not stick to your hips, it will make your hips move and heart feel happy. Go rhumba or cha-cha or waltz. Whatever you accomplish for those four minutes will make your life sweeter and - best of all - no calories used up. In fact, calories will disappear as you dance your way to a sweeter life.
Keep On Dancing.
Elita Sohmer Clayman
Baltimore, Maryland
January 2010
By Elita Sohmer Clayman
Some months, it is hard to find an interesting topic to write about. Even though it is January, February is the month of love, Valentine’s Day. The first Valentine’s Day that I was going with my husband occurred only four months after we had met. I did not expect much and I did not get much. He gave me a five pound box of chocolates and I was so thrilled that I did not open it up for two months. I let it sit on my bureau dresser and kept looking at it all the time.
I loved the heart shaped red box with the bow on it and the smell of the delicious chocolates. The box could have been empty and I would have still loved it for the thought and all the things I hoped would come true from this first offering. The things did come through and we married two years later.
Many dancers feel great anticipation after starting on their first lesson. We started on November 2, 1977 and after we went down in the elevator of the dance studio, I had this premonition that tonight was the beginning of a new plateau in our lives. So it was and it evolved into weekly dance lessons, competitions for me and Saturday night social dances at the studio where we took these lessons. The next day after the first lesson, we rode down to a music store in a small mall and bought six dance records.
We would go down to our family room in the basement and roll up the rug and try to remember what we had learned the previous night. We wanted to become good dancers and we knew that practice surely made us closer to perfect. We took notes as the teacher gave us instructions and tried to decipher what he had said the previous evening. I even bought a small tape recorder and began to tape in audio mode the whole lesson to help us remember his teachings.
Those were exciting moments in my life, the beginning of a dream that I always wanted to be a ballroom dancer. Now I see advertisements on the television that hurray ballroom dancing is back. Back from where I say? It never left, we knew it never disappeared; we knew it was alive and well.
Many email me that ballroom dancing has influenced their life to the point that it is a necessary need they have to do it, spend money on it and enjoy it. Even some dancers who now are unable to go out and dance due to some physical ailments or problems with their shoulders or knees still go to dances and sit around talking to other dancers and use it as a social tool even though they cannot really dance a lot there that day or evening. They feel that just being there in the dance environment is cause enough to dress up, pay and if they can only dance one or two dances, they have accomplished and continue on their dream. They may not be able to cha-cha the way they used to years ago, but they can still enjoy the music and the beat and listening to the music is also therapy to their hearts and ears.
The Valentine heart box of candy when opened consisted of about twenty different kinds of shades of chocolate. So is the box called dancing when opened. There are many varieties of dancing and like the chocolate may appeal to one person and not the other person. The interesting thing is like the box of chocolates, dancing is sweet and delicious and we do not know what to expect when we bite into a piece that looks a bit like something we have not discovered before this moment. We can try it and if we do not enjoy it, we put it aside or in the case of candy, we throw it away. We cannot destroy something in dancing by tossing it aside, but we can save it for later or for never or for when we are more ready to ‘taste’ it and savor it.
Many readers write about their first experience taking that initial lesson. They have fear, they have anticipation of something great, they have feelings intensified by the unknown and lastly they have hope. Hope that they will excel in this at some point and that they will eventually view it as a hobby of delight and an hour of fun and knowledge. That is exactly what I imagined after the first lesson with our coach, a young man about twenty years or so in age from us. That did not matter. He had the tools we wanted and he gave us the love of dancing that we still adhere to. He encouraged us and complimented us and gave us the hope that we could become great.
I have always been grateful to him because he helped a couple in their 40s to feel that 40 was young to begin to learn to dance. The learning is easy; it is the continuing on and reaching for the stars. Like my Valentine box of candy way back in 1958 given by a young man to the young lady he was starting to court as they called it then, our assorted dancing box was full of enticing tastes of dancing. I am glad that I opened it up and did not let it sit there. That is my dancing and not my candy.
When we bought our first little doggie, we named her Candy because she was white and fluffy like a cotton candy on a stick you get at a carnival. Our second doggie many years later was named Rhumba and I need not explain why other than to say she moved her hips like she was doing that dance.
So go and open up that Valentine box of imaginary candy and think of it as a container of ballroom dancing opportunities. Sweet, delicious, delightful and enticing. The most important part is that it is better than the candy because it will not stick to your hips, it will make your hips move and heart feel happy. Go rhumba or cha-cha or waltz. Whatever you accomplish for those four minutes will make your life sweeter and - best of all - no calories used up. In fact, calories will disappear as you dance your way to a sweeter life.
Keep On Dancing.
Elita Sohmer Clayman
Baltimore, Maryland
January 2010
Vito Aiming For Big Dance
From stltoday.com:
Vito aiming for big dance
BY VAHE GREGORIAN
OF THE POST-DISPATCH
Sunday, Jan. 10 2010
Perpetually rumpled and shaggy, relatively anonymous and absolutely committed to non-conformity, 5-foot-5 and a blank slate when it came to dancing, snowboarder Louie Vito was both an improbable invitee and participant for "Dancing With The Stars."
"Who would have thought they'd want somebody from snowboarding?" he said at the U.S. Olympic Media Summit last fall in Chicago.
But he considered the offer to take part in a show seen by an estimated 22 million people a week a once in a lifetime opportunity, certainly for himself but also for his sport.
"I think it's about to hit the mainstream hard," Vito said.Reflecting the conflict between the sports' aspirations to grow and gain further recognition while staying true to its Gen X roots, Vito said he had to contend with "haters" who accused him of selling out by taking part. Fellow snowboarder Steve Fisher, though, wasn't among them."I'm proud of the little guy," he said.
Vito, a prime contender for the U.S. team to be determined later this month for the upcoming Vancouver Olympics, scoffed at the naysayers, saying he wasn't going to suddenly try to be "Mr. Cool" instead of a snowboarder.
"That's who I am," he said, "and that's who I'm going to portray on the show."
Considering how cleaned-up Vito looked during his partnership with dancer Chelsie Hightower, that might be a matter for debate. And as someone who got into his sport largely because "no one could say you have to do it their way," he found it a challenge to have to do disciplined steps.
But there's little doubt that his appearances reaped publicity for U.S. Snowboarding, even if he was eliminated in Week Six with judges cracking wise about Vito saying "he got all wacko" on one dance and looking "slightly dazed and confused" on another.
Those labels, of course, have been thrust on Vito and his brethren almost since they began their uneasy alliance with the Olympic movement in 1998. Snowboarders have claimed 14 medals since, including seven in the 2006 Turin Games. But they also have had trouble superimposing their free-spirited culture over the stodgier Olympics, resulting in controversies such as several failed drug tests and the Lindsey Jacobellis incident in Italy.
Jacobellis finished with a silver medal in snowboard-cross after crashing while hot-dogging with the gold medal within her grasp. Her act was completely consistent with the slacker ways of snowboarding and utterly contrary to the Olympic ethos.
During a teleconference afterwards, Jacobellis treated it rather casually, saying, "It's just a race, and anything can happen." That stoked a veteran Olympic reporter, who responded, "Just a race?! Not an Olympic gold?!"
Jacobellis responded that she had just won the first silver ever in the event, "So you have to give me something." But the call ended abruptly with her in tears.
Vito began training for the reality show in mid-August and immersed himself in the competition, an event he expects to help him in more ways than one. Beyond the exposure, Vito reckoned that training in dance for four to six hours a day helped his conditioning and flexibility.
"My (hunched) snowboard posture doesn't really work for the ballroom," he said.
When it was over, Vito said he had no idea he would be so "bummed" not to win.
But he also said that competing in Vancouver on the Olympic stage would be "a breeze" after being under such high-profile pressure — against the grain as it might have been.
Vito aiming for big dance
BY VAHE GREGORIAN
OF THE POST-DISPATCH
Sunday, Jan. 10 2010
Perpetually rumpled and shaggy, relatively anonymous and absolutely committed to non-conformity, 5-foot-5 and a blank slate when it came to dancing, snowboarder Louie Vito was both an improbable invitee and participant for "Dancing With The Stars."
"Who would have thought they'd want somebody from snowboarding?" he said at the U.S. Olympic Media Summit last fall in Chicago.
But he considered the offer to take part in a show seen by an estimated 22 million people a week a once in a lifetime opportunity, certainly for himself but also for his sport.
"I think it's about to hit the mainstream hard," Vito said.Reflecting the conflict between the sports' aspirations to grow and gain further recognition while staying true to its Gen X roots, Vito said he had to contend with "haters" who accused him of selling out by taking part. Fellow snowboarder Steve Fisher, though, wasn't among them."I'm proud of the little guy," he said.
Vito, a prime contender for the U.S. team to be determined later this month for the upcoming Vancouver Olympics, scoffed at the naysayers, saying he wasn't going to suddenly try to be "Mr. Cool" instead of a snowboarder.
"That's who I am," he said, "and that's who I'm going to portray on the show."
Considering how cleaned-up Vito looked during his partnership with dancer Chelsie Hightower, that might be a matter for debate. And as someone who got into his sport largely because "no one could say you have to do it their way," he found it a challenge to have to do disciplined steps.
But there's little doubt that his appearances reaped publicity for U.S. Snowboarding, even if he was eliminated in Week Six with judges cracking wise about Vito saying "he got all wacko" on one dance and looking "slightly dazed and confused" on another.
Those labels, of course, have been thrust on Vito and his brethren almost since they began their uneasy alliance with the Olympic movement in 1998. Snowboarders have claimed 14 medals since, including seven in the 2006 Turin Games. But they also have had trouble superimposing their free-spirited culture over the stodgier Olympics, resulting in controversies such as several failed drug tests and the Lindsey Jacobellis incident in Italy.
Jacobellis finished with a silver medal in snowboard-cross after crashing while hot-dogging with the gold medal within her grasp. Her act was completely consistent with the slacker ways of snowboarding and utterly contrary to the Olympic ethos.
During a teleconference afterwards, Jacobellis treated it rather casually, saying, "It's just a race, and anything can happen." That stoked a veteran Olympic reporter, who responded, "Just a race?! Not an Olympic gold?!"
Jacobellis responded that she had just won the first silver ever in the event, "So you have to give me something." But the call ended abruptly with her in tears.
Vito began training for the reality show in mid-August and immersed himself in the competition, an event he expects to help him in more ways than one. Beyond the exposure, Vito reckoned that training in dance for four to six hours a day helped his conditioning and flexibility.
"My (hunched) snowboard posture doesn't really work for the ballroom," he said.
When it was over, Vito said he had no idea he would be so "bummed" not to win.
But he also said that competing in Vancouver on the Olympic stage would be "a breeze" after being under such high-profile pressure — against the grain as it might have been.
Monday, January 11, 2010
New Host For Dance Your A$@ Off!
From independent.co.uk:
Former Scary Spice Mel B has signed up to host the second season of "Dance Your A$* Off," a reality-TV weight loss show in which contestants battle to shed the pounds on the dance floor. Each week, the competitors are scored according to their weekly weight loss and their elaborate dance routines.
Mel B, a former contestant on Dancing with the Stars, said: "After the birth of my second daughter, I wanted to find a fun and effective way to drop the pounds and get back in shape.
"I realised I didn't have to look far to find the answer. Whether I was dancing around the house with headphones on or on stage with the Spice Girls ... I learned firsthand that dancing was the key to shedding off the pounds and keeping them off."
Former Scary Spice Mel B has signed up to host the second season of "Dance Your A$* Off," a reality-TV weight loss show in which contestants battle to shed the pounds on the dance floor. Each week, the competitors are scored according to their weekly weight loss and their elaborate dance routines.
Mel B, a former contestant on Dancing with the Stars, said: "After the birth of my second daughter, I wanted to find a fun and effective way to drop the pounds and get back in shape.
"I realised I didn't have to look far to find the answer. Whether I was dancing around the house with headphones on or on stage with the Spice Girls ... I learned firsthand that dancing was the key to shedding off the pounds and keeping them off."
Thursday, January 07, 2010
Fred Astaire Dance Studios Set To Open In Freehold, New Jersey
From freehold.injersey.com:
The rumors (and window signs) are true: the Fred Astaire Dance Studio is coming to Main Street. Owner Amanda Tilghman took some time to fill us in on when the studio will open and what it will have to offer Freehold-area twinkle toes.
"We're looking to open in the next two weeks, hopefully," she said. "We just have to get the maple floors down and finish the decor. It's really a great space."
When they open, a range of dance classes including salsa, waltz, tango, cha-cha, and mambo will be offered. Individual classes will run from $25, with class packages starting at $275. The studio will also host private parties on Friday evenings.
Tilghman, who also owns a children's dance studio in Jackson, decided to open an adult studio in Freehold out of fondness for the area.
"I've always liked Freehold, always ended up here no matter where I was living," Tilghman said.
Classes will be taught by Tilghman, who studied ballet in Europe and danced with the National Opera of Ukraine, and a male dance instructor who studied and danced throughout Russia.
The rumors (and window signs) are true: the Fred Astaire Dance Studio is coming to Main Street. Owner Amanda Tilghman took some time to fill us in on when the studio will open and what it will have to offer Freehold-area twinkle toes.
"We're looking to open in the next two weeks, hopefully," she said. "We just have to get the maple floors down and finish the decor. It's really a great space."
When they open, a range of dance classes including salsa, waltz, tango, cha-cha, and mambo will be offered. Individual classes will run from $25, with class packages starting at $275. The studio will also host private parties on Friday evenings.
Tilghman, who also owns a children's dance studio in Jackson, decided to open an adult studio in Freehold out of fondness for the area.
"I've always liked Freehold, always ended up here no matter where I was living," Tilghman said.
Classes will be taught by Tilghman, who studied ballet in Europe and danced with the National Opera of Ukraine, and a male dance instructor who studied and danced throughout Russia.
Spotlight On Life Gala In Wisconsin
From gamesteamwi.blogspot.com:
You are invited as the National Kidney Foundation of Wisconsin (NKFW) hosts a sneak preview of the newest sport at the 2010 NKF U.S. Transplant Games -ballroom dancing!
The "Spotlight on Life" Gala will be held Saturday, January 30 at the MequonCountry Club. This black-tie optional event will be a celebration of the"second chance at life" given through organ donation and the science oftransplantation.
The spotlight will shine brightly on Wisconsin's "Medical Stars." You will delight in watching professional and amateur dancers from Fred Astaire Dance Studios perform on behalf of each of Wisconsin's transplant centers: Froedtert & Medical College of Wisconsin, Aurora St. Luke's Medical Center,Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, and University of Wisconsin - Madison!
Each couple will showcase a style of ballroom dance from the Night Club,Latin, and Smooth dance divisions, which will be featured at the 2010 NKFTransplant Games. The fate of the dancers will be in the hands of the audience as votes are cast for their favorite performance.
In addition to the ballroom dance exhibition, guests will enjoy a delicious dinner and cash bar along with the musical talents of the Jeannine RiversGroup.
Ticket prices range from $40/ticket to $80/ticket. Proceeds will support transplant recipients, living donors, and donor family members who will beattending the 2010 NKF U.S. Transplant Games as part of Team Wisconsin.
Please visit www.spotlightonlife.org to purchase your tickets!
Accommodations
Guests attending Spotlight on Life will receive special rates at our hosthotel, Best Western Quiet House and Suites in Mequon. The special one-night rate of $65 (SAVINGS of up to $135!!) includes complimentary shuttle service between the hotel and Mequon Country Club along with complimentarycontinental breakfast on Sunday Morning! Make sure to mention "Spotlight onLife" when making your reservation (262-241-3677).
You are invited as the National Kidney Foundation of Wisconsin (NKFW) hosts a sneak preview of the newest sport at the 2010 NKF U.S. Transplant Games -ballroom dancing!
The "Spotlight on Life" Gala will be held Saturday, January 30 at the MequonCountry Club. This black-tie optional event will be a celebration of the"second chance at life" given through organ donation and the science oftransplantation.
The spotlight will shine brightly on Wisconsin's "Medical Stars." You will delight in watching professional and amateur dancers from Fred Astaire Dance Studios perform on behalf of each of Wisconsin's transplant centers: Froedtert & Medical College of Wisconsin, Aurora St. Luke's Medical Center,Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, and University of Wisconsin - Madison!
Each couple will showcase a style of ballroom dance from the Night Club,Latin, and Smooth dance divisions, which will be featured at the 2010 NKFTransplant Games. The fate of the dancers will be in the hands of the audience as votes are cast for their favorite performance.
In addition to the ballroom dance exhibition, guests will enjoy a delicious dinner and cash bar along with the musical talents of the Jeannine RiversGroup.
Ticket prices range from $40/ticket to $80/ticket. Proceeds will support transplant recipients, living donors, and donor family members who will beattending the 2010 NKF U.S. Transplant Games as part of Team Wisconsin.
Please visit www.spotlightonlife.org to purchase your tickets!
Accommodations
Guests attending Spotlight on Life will receive special rates at our hosthotel, Best Western Quiet House and Suites in Mequon. The special one-night rate of $65 (SAVINGS of up to $135!!) includes complimentary shuttle service between the hotel and Mequon Country Club along with complimentarycontinental breakfast on Sunday Morning! Make sure to mention "Spotlight onLife" when making your reservation (262-241-3677).
Tuesday, January 05, 2010
Schools That Rock!
From naplesnews.com (Naples, FL):
Kickin’ it old school: Immokalee Middle School students get a lesson in ballroom dancing
By KATHERINE ALBERS
Friday, January 1, 2010
COLLIER COUNTY — Immokalee Middle School students didn’t just run into holiday break.
They salsaed, waltzed and cha-chaed into it.
“It’s a whole lot of fun,” eighth-grader Jevon Alberique said of dancing. “At first I didn’t want to do it, but it has been one of the best things we have done.”
The Immokalee Middle School students performed as part of the Schools That Rock program, which returned to the school for its third year.
Schools That Rock teaches the students how to swing, salsa, merengue, waltz and cha-cha within a two-week span.
The program was created and sponsored by Bradenton-based World Dance Arts Foundation. It was brought to Immokalee Middle School by a donation from Eva Sugden Gomez, a Naples woman from a philanthropic family.
“I am a ballroom dancer. That is my hobby. When I heard about the World Dance Arts Foundation’s program, I knew I wanted to contribute to it,” she said. “Dancing is social. It teaches you about setting goals. And it is participating in something that is fun.”
The curriculum needs a sponsor because the Collier County School District doesn’t have the $3,000 per school to spare to bring it to local middle schools.
“We are very fortunate to have this partnership so that students have this experience,” Immokalee Middle School Principal Abel Jaimes said. “This is an opportunity to celebrate the hard work our students have put in.”
Immokalee Middle School students taking physical education participated in the program under the guidance of professional dance instructor Molly Cook, of Naples.
“I love them,” Cook said of her students. “I hope this gives them a sense of accomplishment, a sense of dignity and hopefully a knowledge of ballroom dancing.”
On the day of their performance, the students’ teachers, peers and parents came to the cafeteria to watch the fruits of their labor. The students entered in pairs of two, dressed like they were headed to a school dance.
As the first group of students walked onto the floor, their faces looked nervous. But once “Jingle Bell Rock” began playing through the speakers, their nervous faces broke into smiles, even if they occasionally stepped on their partner’s foot.
Some even counted as Cook, with her Santa hat on her head, reminded them to keep their heads up.
“It’s pretty fun. It’s been interesting,” said John Gonzalez, a 13-year-old seventh-grader. “I like the cha-cha. It’s fun and it’s the one I know.”
The program first came to Collier County a few years ago, when Community School of Naples parent Debra Stevens got the first Schools That Rock going at Community School.
“The goal is to get all of the middle schools handled,” she said. “It teaches them an art form that encourages respect. It is creative and multicultural and stretches their knowledge of music.”
Stevens admits the students are reluctant at first, but said by the end of the class, they are looking forward to it.
Hilda Lozano certainly thinks that’s true. She and her husband, Artemio, came to see their daughter, Loura, dance. Loura chose her father as her dance partner for the open dance competition at the end of the performance.
“She was excited. She’s been showing her dad at home,” Lozano said as she watched Loura merengue with her father. “It’s good. They need to learn something different.”
Aisa Gonzalez, a migrant resource teacher at the school, was asked to dance by eighth-grader Dave Rouzard. The two won the open dance competition.
“I love doing this and he can dance so well,” she said. “It’s wonderful and the kids love (Cook).”
The feeling is obviously mutual as Cook hugs her students at the end of the performance.
“They all touch me ... When they get out there, I get goose bumps,” she said. “They blow my mind every time.”
Immokalee Middle School, which was the first school Cook taught the program at, also has a special place in her heart.
“These kids are so appreciative,” she said. “(They) made my Christmas.”
Kickin’ it old school: Immokalee Middle School students get a lesson in ballroom dancing
By KATHERINE ALBERS
Friday, January 1, 2010
COLLIER COUNTY — Immokalee Middle School students didn’t just run into holiday break.
They salsaed, waltzed and cha-chaed into it.
“It’s a whole lot of fun,” eighth-grader Jevon Alberique said of dancing. “At first I didn’t want to do it, but it has been one of the best things we have done.”
The Immokalee Middle School students performed as part of the Schools That Rock program, which returned to the school for its third year.
Schools That Rock teaches the students how to swing, salsa, merengue, waltz and cha-cha within a two-week span.
The program was created and sponsored by Bradenton-based World Dance Arts Foundation. It was brought to Immokalee Middle School by a donation from Eva Sugden Gomez, a Naples woman from a philanthropic family.
“I am a ballroom dancer. That is my hobby. When I heard about the World Dance Arts Foundation’s program, I knew I wanted to contribute to it,” she said. “Dancing is social. It teaches you about setting goals. And it is participating in something that is fun.”
The curriculum needs a sponsor because the Collier County School District doesn’t have the $3,000 per school to spare to bring it to local middle schools.
“We are very fortunate to have this partnership so that students have this experience,” Immokalee Middle School Principal Abel Jaimes said. “This is an opportunity to celebrate the hard work our students have put in.”
Immokalee Middle School students taking physical education participated in the program under the guidance of professional dance instructor Molly Cook, of Naples.
“I love them,” Cook said of her students. “I hope this gives them a sense of accomplishment, a sense of dignity and hopefully a knowledge of ballroom dancing.”
On the day of their performance, the students’ teachers, peers and parents came to the cafeteria to watch the fruits of their labor. The students entered in pairs of two, dressed like they were headed to a school dance.
As the first group of students walked onto the floor, their faces looked nervous. But once “Jingle Bell Rock” began playing through the speakers, their nervous faces broke into smiles, even if they occasionally stepped on their partner’s foot.
Some even counted as Cook, with her Santa hat on her head, reminded them to keep their heads up.
“It’s pretty fun. It’s been interesting,” said John Gonzalez, a 13-year-old seventh-grader. “I like the cha-cha. It’s fun and it’s the one I know.”
The program first came to Collier County a few years ago, when Community School of Naples parent Debra Stevens got the first Schools That Rock going at Community School.
“The goal is to get all of the middle schools handled,” she said. “It teaches them an art form that encourages respect. It is creative and multicultural and stretches their knowledge of music.”
Stevens admits the students are reluctant at first, but said by the end of the class, they are looking forward to it.
Hilda Lozano certainly thinks that’s true. She and her husband, Artemio, came to see their daughter, Loura, dance. Loura chose her father as her dance partner for the open dance competition at the end of the performance.
“She was excited. She’s been showing her dad at home,” Lozano said as she watched Loura merengue with her father. “It’s good. They need to learn something different.”
Aisa Gonzalez, a migrant resource teacher at the school, was asked to dance by eighth-grader Dave Rouzard. The two won the open dance competition.
“I love doing this and he can dance so well,” she said. “It’s wonderful and the kids love (Cook).”
The feeling is obviously mutual as Cook hugs her students at the end of the performance.
“They all touch me ... When they get out there, I get goose bumps,” she said. “They blow my mind every time.”
Immokalee Middle School, which was the first school Cook taught the program at, also has a special place in her heart.
“These kids are so appreciative,” she said. “(They) made my Christmas.”
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