Hum, reasons not to drink.

When booze is on board, your body, besides having to deal with the surplus of calories, prioritizes metabolizing the alcohol over burning fat and carbs. Alcohol also breaks down amino acids and stores them as fat. "For some reason this process is most pronounced in the thighs and glutes," says Piattoly. "Excessive alcohol consumption really chews up muscle in those areas." It also increases levels of cortisol (a stress hormone), which further encourages fat storage, particularly in your midsection.

Read more at Women's Health: http://www.womenshealthmag.com/health/drinking-and-exercise#ixzz1pwRcTPO1

other stuff

Besides dancing, I have a quilt half made, a garden to plant, math tutoring starting for MCAS, dance videos to go through and put on DVD, Family videos ditto, the wash, and a book to read.
I wanted to go to Spamalot in New Bedford, but my friend talked me into "Separation", the sad Iranian movie. I can see why my sister-in-law from Iran married my brother. Those men are very difficult.

DWTS 14.2

2 weeks of performances, now we find differences, maybe
Better: ROSHON was able to control his hip-hop tendencies. His fans, young teens, probably had to see him in character the first week at least or they would have been disappointed.
MARIA of the weird laugh had the best dress for the Bonnie & Clyde Quickstep with Derek. I couldn't believe they kept their masks on the whole time.
KATHERINE the opera star from the British Isles is still as sweet as sugar. Mark has his English accent back for her, and knew how to pull out the sexy moves - called them Welsh. Beautiful, talented, hard-working, really takes instruction well.
Worse: MELISSA Gilbert still looked uncomfortable, even mostly in dance hold. You'd think she could have relaxed and let Maks handle it.
MARTINA just didn't seem to get the Jive, a hard dance that I would not have assigned this early in the competition. Now she's gone. Oh well.
Tony seems to get voted off early, so I'd have given Tony a partner who would be sure to last longer, Gladys. His only almost winner was Stacy Keebler, now George Clooney's girlfriend.
JALEEL was not as sparkling. Last week was magic for him. This week, that Jive turned out to be full of damn flicks and kicks.
WILLIAM LEVY had to stand up perfectly straight for quickstep, another dance too hard for this early in the competition. I thought he would have used his actor's background to just look snooty.
Same: SHERRI forgot or was reluctant to do a step - the throw through the legs that she really didn't need, so she just stood up and kept her motor running and it worked.
JACK Wagner, Anna's partner, the soap star, looks good for an older man, and is really trying, which is good considering he had to do Jive. The judges said he tried too hard.
DONALD Driver doesn't interest me at all, not does his partner in the sequined bikini, but the judges liked him.
GAVIN the musician seems to be hiding under his hat, but I thought he did a nice job as Marlon Brando in a Wild One Jive. He was in the bottom two, but will return.
GLADYS KNIGHT got a super slow Quickstep, Foxtrot speed, even though Sir Duke is usually pretty snappy. Producers were worried about injury for a superstar older lady? We love Tristin.

Dancing toddler from Denmark

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wt824D1Bqg&feature=share

Celebrations

Well, just because I think a dance is the best way to celebrate ANYTHING doesn't mean the world agrees. St. Patrick's Day, for instance, is a time for drinking and eating enough to be able to keep drinking - nothing fancy - potatoes will do.
Hopefully May 5 has a known quantity of dancing. The drinking part is still problematic.

Talent and hard work

My Wednesday Intermediates are a good little group working through the Waltz - a pleasure to see them stay with the beat and master Twinkles in just two lessons.
Someday: Spin Turn, a step in Waltz that I call Pivot Plus, an exercise in floating the Waltz.

DWTS season with 12 good dancers

I wonder which producer was in charge of scouting talent because he/she picked people who could move, no doddering Buzz Aldrin or impossible comedians.
The stars say they got called, though you could think Jennifer Gray told her agent to get her called.
I wonder who is in charge of the partnering. Melissa Gilbert said she had been hoping for Maks. I expect Jennifer Gray insisted on Derek. Cheryl got a prize again with that tall Cubano Mexican soap opera star William Levy. Karina's partner seems to be in love with the whole thing, which helps - remember Rob Kardashian. Gladys Knight looked lost a couple of times, but she will last until she finds her way.
Donald Driver has lovely slim legs, like a girl's. Jaleel needs a career boost, and this could be it. The Welsh singer with Mark looked really nervous. We hope she will bring out a better side of Mark Ballas.
Sherri has a ton of character, so she's fun. The Hip Hop dancing kid is cute, and might last, if he can gain some control of his twitching. Derek's partner was forgettable, though he seemed to handle her well, putting her into pose after pose. I saw one Cha-cha-cha in the whole routine. She's from outside Boston. Martina has class. Jack Wagner, a minor soap star.

St Patrick's Day Dance

For years, I've wanted to hold a dance on St Patrick's Day. Maybe because of the green satin dress I bought at Banana Republic - how long have they been gone from the Mashpee Commons? There was competition of the more traditional sort - drinking and singing Irish songs made for a line outside Liam Maguire's Pub. The Portuguese Americans ran a dance as well - though that floor is pitiful, the bar is nice as are the people who run it.
I figured out what the St Barnabas Hall needs - a chandelier like they have at the Cardinal Cushing Hall. Boy, would that sell the brides on the space! I enjoy our quiet atmosphere set up with floor lamps, but that would really look nice.

DanceSport in Falmouth details

2 ballrooms - 10AM -3PM Saturday and Sunday
Teachers
Anne Marie Paul 2 workshops
John Paul 2 workshops
Anne Marie and John Paul 2 workshops (1 advanced)
Inez Sahlin 10 workshops, (8 advanced)
John Peters 1 workshop
Paul Russell 3 workshops (2 advanced)
Dressy Dinner and dance Saturday night
DJ
Glenn Marshall
And for the general public, interested but not enough to pay around $200 for a package or $70 for the dressy dinner/dance, a $15 Friday evening casual icebreaker dance.
dancesportboston@dancesportboston.com

Wearing of the green

Money, that is. I have found the cutest little pattern to fold dollar bills into leprechaun shoes, no less. If I attach it to a pin somehow, I can give out prizes.
The only problem is to decide who gets the prize. Competition is not my thing...

Photo project

I've been asked for a photo of me swing dancing. I have very few photos of me dancing. The frozen action is hard to get. Also, maybe when if I got one, I was not satisfied and did not keep it. That could easily happen.

DanceSport at the Seacrest

The newly renovated hotel on the best beach in Falmouth will be the site for a Spring Fever Dance Camp run by Anne Marie and John Paul, professional couple in Boston with Cape ties.
They are finalizing details and the date is set for April 14 & 15. All day workshops followed by dances at night are intense. At the very least, a Friday night dance, open to the public should be local representation.
Great to have the venue back!

Winter projects

1)Another quilt called 600 pyramids, all different cloth triangles.
2)Dance notes from notebooks to notecards.
3)Finally getting all the copies of old shows in one place, dumping VHS, going for DVD, searching for last year's show along with other lost video.
The show again tonight 10:30 FCTV. No word from Sandwich. Can't find Mashpee. Yarmouth says they'll start showing it in April.
Sent Jan a copy since it opens with Sue Crotti's speech at Willie's memorial. Also the kids and the MIT people.

St Patrick's Day

Many years now I have thought St Patrick's Day would be a nice celebration dance day, but this will be my first. Time to pull out the green tablecloths!
I almost had the date sewn up on Cape, but Debbie is providing a Betsy's dance after all. Lucky for those who think "Falmouth is too far!"
No Irish Step, unless somebody decides to jump up with their music on an iPod.
The whole alcohol thing is a puzzle. You should tell me.

a powerful psychological pattern: the habit loop

I heard this guy on Fresh Air.
I am happy to harness it to help my behavior. How much we can get others to use it begins to border on manipulation so it had better be in a good cause.
The habit loop is a three-part process. First, "there's a cue, which is kind of a trigger for an automatic behavior to start unfolding," said author Duhigg. "There's a routine, which is the behavior itself ... and then there's a reward, which tells our brain whether we should store this habit for future use or not."
Brushing your teeth turns out to be a good cause.

Party Mix

At Arthur Murray, students have to share studio space in private lessons, so the music can't take over the whole room. And in group lessons, they keep the emphasis on the dance, letting the music be secondary. In times past, no lyrics at all were allowed.

Then, they had a special Party Mix of tunes, the ones that were more exciting. I do love the strong music for parties to let students forget themselves as the evening goes along.

I have another goal for my "Party" genre. I'll mix it up with music that is more difficult - slightly too fast or slow for the style otherwise indicated by lyrics, melody, or choice of instruments. Sometimes the musicians alter the beat slightly, sliding notes along. This is for later in the evening.
Great luck last night with my party mix: by 9:30 everyone there was warmed up and ready to play with the music themselves.

Posture, posture, posture

My student is only 4 years older than me, and she is getting the "dowager's hump". What to do to get the ladies to take care of their backs? Everyone in the class gets the sales talk on shoulders down and engaged into the back, heads up as an extension of the spine, but some need to actually work on it beyond the hour of ballroom dance.
How can I lure them into a fitness routine?