Every other year

The plan has evolved to hold the Mary French Memorial Dance every other year.
I was a helper before, but now need to gear myself up in order to make it happen.
First, do I want Trilogy? They will have just played for CCBD three weeks before. Danny Banks is an upcoming young man with links to the ballroom world.
Second, do I want Friday? Sunday of Columbus Day Weekend would also be the cheaper rate than Saturday.
Third, I don't want Betsy's Ballroom, but I might be stuck with it.
And above all, I need helpers = a committee.
If only I actually had youth, I could involve those families, though October is not optimal for people stuck in the school year. If we had a summer program, they would be ready to perform...
That's my real problem with the Mary French Memorial Scholarship - so far we managed to give it to only local youth, Chris Carvounis, who is at college now naturally.

Finals SYTYCD

I love the excellent dancing on TV, even if most people don't seem to know it's there.
For the men, we are down to "Dub-step" Cyrus, the self-trained young man from nowhere versus Chehon, born in Chicago and adopted by some odd Germans, now part of a London ballet company.
The women are: Tiffany, age 19, tiny, cheerful and tearful, hardworking and probably a favorite of the young girls who watch the show and can identify with her versus Eliana, trained by Joffrey ballet in NYC.
The ballet pair got to do the pas de deux from the Nutcracker - should impress the girls who all do Nutcracker every year. I liked all the pageantry for 3 minutes. I can't take long stretches of ballet.
Overall, a great show, lots of good choreography, fantastic lifts, extension, control - made me sit up straighter in my chair.
Next week, they crown 2 dancers, a guy and a gal, rather than just one winner. Let's see if I can remember Tuesday instead of Wednesday, luckily for me, my DVR remembered - smart TV.

Hubbub of summer

I'm all for free spirited choices, but now I'm ready for scheduled activity.
Taking on two afternoon Dance & Stretch classes, two nights at Cape Cod Dance Center, and two nights with Falmouth Night School, Fridays in Providence with the grandchildren, and Sundays with Ron Gursky. Even Saturdays will have a regular weekly private lesson. That will be a lot to cancel if my mother needs me, but things seem to have flattened out at a lower plateau for my father.
Now for the question of the Mary French Memorial Dance. Hum.

DWTS Fall 2012

Dancing With the Stars has announced the fall season All-Star Cast, the "best" from past seasons: former contestants Pamela Anderson (with Tristan MacManus), Emmitt Smith (with Cheryl Burke), Melissa Rycroft (with Tony Dovolani), Joey Fatone (with Kym Johnson), Helio Castroneves (with Chelsie Hightower), Drew Lachey (with Anna Trebunskaya), Bristol Palin (with Mark Ballas), Kirstie Alley (with Max Chmerkovskiy), Apolo Anton Ohno (with Karina Smirnof), Gilles Marini (with Peta Murgatroyd), Shawn Johnson (with Derek Hough), Kelly Monaco (with Val Chmerkovskiy) and Sabrina Bryan (with Louis Van Amstel).

Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?

A pretty version done in the bachata style will fit in nicely to my New Music playlist, a good place to find the songs I want to have at a party. You can see Leslie Grace on Youtube - the music video includes some very nice dancing, cut with of course young people gazing into each other's eyes.
 Good party last night, old friends and new - Marius brought Rosita, the Miami Cuban, while George and Sue Kelly had a great time seeing what could be done with dance.

Cha cha action

My last week's favorite dancer on this summer's SYTYCD disappointed last night. Chehon is beautiful and a great dancer, but his understanding of the cha cha was unbelievably absent. Maybe once or twice, we could see a bit of foot/knee/hip/ribcage action. And it seemed like the choreography didn't allow us to see it on gorgeous Witney, the ballroom dancer. I wasn't there to see why Jean-Marc Genereaux couldn't get a cha cha performance out of those two, but there we are. Will Cyrus win it all? He will enjoy every minute if he does. Or maybe Eliana, having done the work already, will be the chosen one. I didn't get to see every minute of the show since I am at my mother's house for the week. Off to the hospital to visit my Dad who had a stroke.

September is here - time for new beginnings - the Jews have New Year at the right time. So far in September, I've done some music, singing with my father in the rehab facility after his stroke. Here at my mother's house, I went through the old records to try to track down an old favorite, "L'Histoire du Soldat" by Stravinsky with a tango/waltz/ragtime. My sister and I dance to the Soldier's March in video from 1953.
 I found "Surrealistic Pillow", a set of Bill Cosby albums, and piles of Bach, Beethoven, Telemann, and Mahler, Duke Ellington, scratched Satchmo, etc. My brother must have it.