Do Re Mi

We got to the smooth spacious dance floor above the bingo hall in Montreal. Also above a dance studio where they seem to specialize in the Waltz. The Waltz dancers were most beautiful.
The line dances were fun. All new to me, of course. I never studied line dances.
A live Latin band was good, but the dancers were not as comfortable with anything but the Cha cha and the Rumba. The Salsa, Mambo, Bachata and Merengue numbers had a fairly empty floor.
Naturally, the non-Latin numbers were during the band's break.
The food was pretty bad, but we'd been well fed at the Cluny Art Bar where we had tapas for hours with our family and our son's Montreal friends and new family.
Lots of Latinos in Montreal. The French speaking part of Canada has a different immigration policy than the rest of Canada. Asians are given preference throughout English speaking Canada, but Quebec decided the Spanish speakers would assimilate better.

Montreal weekend

Our first cold weather trip to Canada will be a great occasion, the marriage of our middle son, David, to his sweet, lively, beautiful Marie-eve.
I'm printing up the stats on the ballroom club Do Re Mi, "glitzy if not very ritzy", but I doubt we'll get there this time.
We're bringing them a system that will play the iPod, so I can provide dance music if asked. It's all very casual and last minute, the way we put things together when I was young.
You'll know when I get back because I'll post again.

DWTS

Now that all the competitors look so good, I am content to watch how the show goes and admire them. Now I'm thinking of how much I could improve with daily private lessons for a couple of months. Plus they get paid. I heard $100,000 plus $10,000 for every week they stay. But the stage fright would be awful.
I don't have to bother thinking about voting since my favorite is gone. They pretend like we should be motivated by the elimination.

Johnny Hoy & the Bluefish

Before my power went out, I was going to write up Friday night at Grumpy's because this time Johnny Hoy and the Bluefish were not mobbed. There was room to dance to this great band. I forgot my earplugs, so we didn't stay for the whole show. It was just as well. I needed my sleep that night to prepare for the storm.
So it just goes to show you, you never know what the crowd is going to be.
December 21 they're back at Grumpy's, if you're ready for a break from Xmas prep.

STORM

I wished I were at the dance Saturday. The roads were unsafe, so I tried to call whoever I could remember, though I was in a tizzy. The smelly, leaky noisy generator gave me a headache. No possibility of emailing. That generator does power in surges which would probably have ruined the computer.
It reminded me of Hurricane Bob when I had 3 small boys and that generator for a week.
Electricity is our most valued servant.
We're getting a better generator.
And the first Saturday in December, the first day of December, will be here in a few weeks.
This weekend Swingin' New England is at the Seacrest with a gorgeous show Saturday night of free form West Coast Swing dancers, and a great shoe shop in the lobby. We'll be in Canada for the wedding of our second son.

Another place to see dance video

Youtube. That site has the dances from my favorite show, much easier to see than on abc.com which stretched the video sideways and has the rest of the show when all some of us care about is the one and a half minute performance. Maybe a bit of Shirley Ballas at the training spot.
And for a conspiracy theory, how about this one? Cheetah Girls are aimed at girls aged 6 to 10, and Disney and ABC are one company, so they may have decided that their Cheetah Girl brand was not getting the publicity they wanted, especially with Tom Bergeron's remark, "Get a room!"

Dance Seasons

For dancing, we are in the middle of the fall season that rolls nicely into the holiday parties. My November dance is this Saturday, and next weekend is Swingin' New England at the Seacrest in North Falmouth. Cape Cod has settled into regular lessons, and the CCBD Holiday Dance is going to sell out again.
If you have any time to spare, think about fitting in some kind of body conditioning. I love Laura Faria's class at Turning Pointe Studio. Yoga classes are readily available, Pilates as well. An injury can really set you back, and this type of awareness is the best prevention.