FLORIDA MASTERS 2008
FROM: JOHN KORMAN page-me@comcast.net
Last weekend I attended FL Masters for the second year in a row. Unable to attend JG2, this event draws the dances that premiered there so I felt like I did not miss anything. There were 3 dance floors, one of which was the Grand Ballroom. With a smaller grand ballroom floor than other events I attend, it was not overcrowding. Moreover, the floors were great for dancing. Wildman Louie played all the top dances with some of the best mix of music all three days, including all-request Sunday! The Saturday night show was small, but comical as Craig Bennett was captured by 3 pirates and Ms. Tom Clemons and “Fatima” Mundy were sent to his rescue. What was slightly more comical was Fatima demoing Guyton’s dance GET YOUR DRINK ON during Saturday night reviews.
Dance workshops I attended:
A THOUSAND KISSES (mcadam): fun, upbeat, 1-wall dance to a classic Luther Vandross songNever Too Much. Played consistently throughout the weekend and everyone had it down by Sunday afternoon (except me who kept forgetting the tags). Great dance to a wonderful song. Put this on your list to learn, just for the music.
THROW IT ON ME (mundy): good review since I have taken this class several times previously. Very quick dance to a hip-hop song that is only 2 minutes & 8 seconds. As Guyton says, do not dance this back-to-back or you may have a heart attack. Some hand movements with no tags or restarts (I don’t think there is enough time).
BOO-TAAAY (spencer) – learned this locally, but wanted to experience a teach by Amy Spencer and pick up some tips. I liked how she explained hip-hop terms when teaching a combination of steps. Played consistently all weekend. Highly recommend to teach.
TOO DEEP (blevins) – learned locally and not fond of it. After taking Scott’s class, I enjoyed it and dancing it throughout the weekend, the dance has grown on me, especially the song. I agree with previous reviews, this is not a challenging dance, no tags or restarts, but has familiar sequence of steps from other dances by Scott Blevins. Recommended dance to learn.
GIRL! (bennett) – low-intermediate dance to an upbeat song by Tao Cruz. No tags or restarts with definite “wiggle room” for dancers to add their own style. Played consistently all weekend. Definite recommend to learn.
ETERNALLY YOURS (robinson/hunyadi) – choreographed one week prior in Colorado, this is a great dance to a wonderful song by R&B/Gospel group Eternal (I think they are Australian). Although this is an A+B dance, don’t let that sway you (B is an easy 16 counts). The dance feels good and flows with the music well. Highly recommend learn.
BRUCIE (blevins): this is my 2.5 teachfirst at Eastern’s (exposure), reviewed locally before FL Masters, and now at FL Masters. This is a 96-count advanced dance, where the last 32-counts repeat the last ¾ of the song. Definitely needing a third teach, but very fun. Get your protractors ready as the dance is very much on the angles. Out of all of Scott’s dances this weekend, the song for this dance is my favorite. Highly recommend dance to learn just for the challenge.
INTO YOU (clemons) – fun NC2 to a great song by Tamia. There are several turns that made me lose track of the walls, but some can be altered for non-spinners. Good teach to a solid intermediate NC2 dance.
MYSTERY CHA (mcadam) – learned this locally, but needed to solve the stepsheet mystery by taking this dance from Paul. Pure fun dance to a great song. Did not dance the Lemonice version of the song all weekend, so the original has grown on me. Now instead of CRAZY FOOT MAMBO’ing, it’s time to Cha Cha’ing.
AM I (larsen) – learned one week ago in my local class, I just had to take it again because Marilyn McNeal was teaching. She did a great job walking everyone through this dance to lovely piece of music.
CHA CHA WITH ME (poulsen) – another Marilyn McNeal teach that was outstanding. The music by Michael Bolton has grown on me and this is an easy cha-cha for anyone to do. No tags or restarts – good for everyone to learn, especially beginners who want a challenge toward intermediate level.
HERE WE GO! (mundy) – one of my “must takes” for the weekend. With a hat in tow, I was on the side of the room that actually got down on the floor. The online video looks harder than it was – with Guyton breaking down the steps, I got the answers to “how do you do that?” It’s just putting the steps all together that makes the dance look so cool. Although my left hip is sore now at home, this is great dance with modifications for those who want to remain on their 2 feet. So here we go, go learn it!
KEEP IT REAL (blevins) – this is my second teach that I still did not master because I kept confusing steps from Part B in Part A even with definite distinctions in the music between Parts A & B. I am confident with a third teach I’ll be able to keep it real with everyone else on the dancefloor; this weekend, I kept it tragic. Great song, great challenging A-B dance.
WAITING (mundy) – first learned in May but lost pretty much lost it so this was a great review. With 72-counts of waltz timing to learn, everyone on the floor stuck with it and danced well. The song is of Christian-Rock genre and has certainly grown on me. Listening to the song repeatedly, the dance steps match the lyrics with almost every verse and each time the chorus hits; amazing choreography. A challenging dance that is not hard; the restarts and tags (except one) are pronounced in the music. Also liked how the standard “damn twinkles” are saved for last.
TAKE A BOW (poulsen) – my favorite dance of the weekend, taught by none other than Marilyn McNeal. A challenging NC2 dance with two restarts that flows great to the music by Rihanna. If you don’t get it the first time, just take bow, and come back to it later as the dance is worth learning. The ending is cool so that after making ½ turn to 12-o’clock wall, you can actually take a bow! Highly recommended dance to learn.
FL Masters had a wide variety of dances to choose from – all music genres, different styles of dance, and all levels. Another great year. Looking forward to our next event: VA Line Dance Festival!
FROM: BILL MCGEE
Well it's been almost a week gone since the Fla. Masters in Orlando. A Big Thank You to Jen & Jasen again this year for making me a part of this fun event. Thursday started off with Open dancing and some demos of Friday's dances. Thursday night was free and there was a super crowd attending, lots of locals. Friday AM started the workshops. My teach for Friday was Maggie Gallagher's Stronger. Music by Sanna Nielsen. Nice song and dance if ya can get the first 8 counts or so.
I didn't stick around much this weekend, talk about weather. I was under the weather all weekend but managed to struggle through. Finally feeling a bit better now.
My Saturday teach was Until You. Slow song by Shane Ward called Until You and oh what a lovely dance and such a great match to the song. Give it a go if ya can.
I did get a chance to attend a few other teaches and everyone was on top of their game and the dancers seemed to be having a ball.
One thing I did notice was a lack of local dancers for the workshops and such.. They were there Thursday but were absent the rest of the weekend. This isn't an event just for the people who teach! All you local line dance instructors, bring your classes and expand their horizons.
Again a big thanks to Jen & Jason for putting on a great weekend. Also a big thanks to all in attendance for without you'll this kind of stuff wouldn't happen.
Hope we can do it again next year.
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DO IT ON THE DANCE FLOOR
with BILL MCGEE
Orlando, Florida
Fun Capital Of The World
407 422-7248
Please use my new email address below.
bill_mcgee1@bellsouth.net
Click below for the web site.
http://pages.prodigy.net/bill_mcgee/index.html
FROM: nkeefover@bellsouth.net
I am late in writing to say how much I enjoyed my first time at the Florida Masters. But better late than never. What a great weekend. I enjoyed everything about it, and hope to make it a yearly must on my Line Dance workshop list. Awesome Instructors, fun workshops, great dances taught.
It was very tough deciding which workshops to attend because after watching the instructor review them I wanted to do them all.
After reading the Event report I noticed that "Until You", taught by Bill Mcgee was not mentioned. I know it was just an oversight. I think it is a nice dance and nice music, and would hate to see it overlooked by an instructor who might want to teach it to their class. Hopefully I didn't just miss reading it in the report.
After attending this weekend I am even more excited about going to the Tampa Bay Classic. nkeefover
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