After getting a cheese steak at the food court, I decided to head back to the room and unwind. (Still catching up on sleep from the previous weekend of dancing.)
Before heading out for a walk on the strip, I went down to find CJ, the videographer for the weekends events. I did a quick videotape of the dances that I am teaching this weekend, which will be played throughout the hotel on the hotels information channel. What a cool idea. With over 600 dancers meeting in Vegas for the event, it will give them a chance to see a preview of all the dances being taught.
The sun went down and at around 6:22 pm, the city lights lit up the skyline. As I walked up and down the strip......everything was lit up. My wife would love this city.....it sparkles, day and night. I will be posting pictures from the weekend on my website so if you would like a quick peek (click here).
Vegas Dance Explosion - November 17 - 22, 2009
A Dancer's Journal
After answering e-mails and updating website, I decided to head down to the Casino and see what is going on for the dance weekend that will be starting within the next couple of hours. Talk to you soon.....
The dance floors are just waiting for the dancers to arrive and put them to work
Headed down to the food court for some breakfast and had a three egg omelet. I didn't have a class to teach until 5:30 pm, so I pretty much was able to take a few classes and just enjoy the weekend. I try to take at least one class from each instructor present and started my day taking a class with Vivienne Scott at 10:00 am. Then I was off to the next class with Peter Metelnick, followed by a beginner's class with Bev Carpenter. The next thing you know...it was lunch time. Since I had a pretty large breakfast, I wasn't really hungry so I headed over to the food court to see if there was something light to eat. As I entered the food court, a group of ladies came up and introduced themselves. They were the group of ladies from California who had e-mailed me about coming out to Vegas for the dance weekend. I had the opportunity to sit and have lunch with them before heading back to some more dance classes.
One of the instructors hadn't arrived yet, and she was scheduled to teach after lunch. If she wasn't going to be here for her class, I was going to fill in for her and teach the dance that she was scheduled to teach. As I was heading back to where the dancing was taking place, I was told that she had arrived. I decided to help Ellen Kiernan teach her class and then headed over for a class with Jo & John Kinser. Since it was obvious that I wasn't going to make every class, I even popped in on Mark Cosenza's class and learned the dances that he was teaching. At 4:30, I was scheduled to DJ for the dancers until my class started at 5:30 pm.
Today I was teaching "Yours" and "Cowboy Casanova". Since I was new to the Vegas Dance Explosion, I wasn't sure how many students I would have in my class. Well, there were around 75-100 folks ready to learn the two dances I was going to teach.....they liked the dances and were ready for the other classes I was going to teach that weekend. I didn't have to work tonight (being a DJ) so I could just head down and enjoy the night of dancing....So got to run. Catch you on the dance floor!
Since I didn't have to work as a DJ tonight, I had the opportunity to talk to fellow dancers from all over the world and see dances that I have never heard of before. There are a lot of really great dances that are being done on the West Coast.....I tried to pick up as many as I could, but because I was also one of the DJ's for the weekend.....I will be able to bring those dances back home to the East coast.
Having a lot of fun with everyone here! I have had the fortune of meeting some of the nicest people here and hope to continue the friendship in the future. There were, I believe, people from at least 48 different states and 13 countries all here in Las Vegas for the Vegas Dance Explosion. Each one with a different background, skill levels and personalities, all joined together out on one dance floor. It so great to see 600 strangers get together for the pure fun of it all.
I decided to turn in a little early tonight so I headed up to my room at around 1:30 am. I guess that doesn't sound early, but if you look at it as Eastern Standard Time, it's later than you think......LOL! Talk to you all again soon.
I am sharing a room with Niels Poulsen from Denmark and he was up early this morning to take a helicopter ride over the Grand Canyon. His phone rang at about 5:55 am and they wanted to know if he was able to get there within a couple of minutes....of course the answer was no. So he got up and got ready and was out the door in about 15-20 minutes.
Since I was up....I thought I might as well go downstairs and find a cup of coffee.......no Starbucks in the hotel, but they had a coffee stand called "Jitters" (my new best friend). I walked back to where the event was taking place and talked to Jackie Miranda about the registration, which will be at 12:30 pm today, with the first class at 2:00 pm.
I decided to relax, answer e-mails and update my website while waiting for the registration to open. I am planning on being at the registration table to welcome and greet all the dancers attending this event. I will check back in with you later and keep you posted. Until later, have a great day and check back soon.
Well, my flight for Las Vegas started out at the Harrisburg International Airport at 7:00 am. So far the flight has been smooth and without any incidents. The pilot was pretty cool and introduced our flight attendants as "Cupcake" and "Sweet Pea". At 10:15 am, I am sitting in the airport in Charlotte, NC waiting to board my next flight to Las Vegas.....
The weather is nice and sunny in Charlotte and after having a hot breakfast, checking e-mails, sending texts to my wife and charging my ipod, I have decided that a Starbucks coffee was necessary for the 4 1/2 hour flight to Vegas....White Chocolate Mocha....here I come! I was hoping to fly into Vegas at night to see it all lit up, however, both flights, to and from are during the day. So, this is as close to the night flight in as I will get on this trip.
I will let you know more......once I arrive at the hotel. Talk to you all soon......
Meeting some ladies from the West Coast early for breakfast and a little chatting session. This is the best part of this job. Making new friends and having the time to spend with them and getting to know them a little bit better. Well, let me just say this. This group is very cool! They are just like by friends back home. I don't think that there was a minute that we didn't share a laugh about something.
Got to meet two super nice ladies, Cathy & Valerie from Canada. They had danced a really cool dance in the choreography competition that I was on the judges panel for and it won first place in Division One. Congrats girls!!! Anyway we had a chance to sit and talk about music and choreography and swap stories.
Before going to bed, I set my alarm for a wake up at around 7:45 am, due to the fact that the shuttle bus to the airport was picking me up at 8:55 am to take me to the airport. I didn't get a lot of sleep (about 2 hours) my legs were aching and trying to recuperate from all the dancing I've done over the past two weeks. Well, when I woke up and looked out the window, the sun was already shining and I looked at my watch and it was 8:05 am. So, due to exhaustion, I never heard my alarm and now had 50 minutes to shower, get dressed, pack and be downstairs and checked out and ready for pick up. I know what you are thinking.....why didn't you pack last night? Well, if you've been to an event like this, you spend that last night dancing just one more dance and saying your goodbye's to all the friends you've met during this dance weekend. So, yes I could've packed last night, but I couldn't find the strength. I just figured that it would be easier to do after a good nights sleep.
I made it.....but without my cup of coffee. Made it to the airport and, you guessed it, stood in line. I am usually pretty patient, but I found out that when I am tired, I am not as patient as I usually was. But I waited my turn and checked my bag and headed to the gate where I would board my flight and start my journey home. I usually get to where my gate is, to make sure I know where I am going, then look for some type of nourishment. Well, God must have been looking out for me. Right next door to where I would board my flight was a Starbucks....got my coffee and had a seat and waited to board my flight. I didn't have to wait long and boarded my flight for the Phoenix Airport.
Monday, November 23 - 12:35 pm (Phoenix Time)
Once arriving in Phoenix I had some time to kill....so I thought and found a Burger King and decided to have some lunch. I would not be leaving here until after 6 pm. So I thought. I sat down and ate my meal and the gate I was leaving out of was next door so I found a seat and started re-communicating with the world by checking e-mails, texting and updating my website. My original print out that I had for my round trip flight had me leaving Phoenix after 6 pm, well we boarded the plane at 2:30 pm. Because of the time changes, the trip out to Vegas was "Vegas Time" but the trip home was actually "Harrisburg Time". So I boarded my flight and am heading to the Philadelphia Airport to wait for my next flight that will finally get me back home to Harrisburg, PA.
Well, we are heading to the end of the Vegas Dance Explosion and everyone is showing some wear and tear. After 5 days of dance lessons, open dancing, practices and more open dancing in the evenings, the weekend is taking it's toll. What a great event! If you haven't had the chance to come out for the Dance Explosion, plan to next year. Make it a week long trip. Get here early to walk the strip and take in a show or two.
I am always sad to see any event end. We have so much fun. Making new friends, getting re-acquainted and just catching up seems to become so final on the last day. The group of gals that I ate breakfast with a couple of times (pictured here with me on Pajama Night) were having cake in their room for one of their friends. So we all celebrated her birthday, ate some cake and laughed for about an hour before several of us headed back downstairs for "just ONE more dance". I couldn't believe we were still up for dancing, but by this time (12:58 am), we were running on pure adrenaline. Some of the gals had run out of steam and decided that they were going to bed. So I said my goodbyes to them and headed back downstairs with the remaining few to dance "ONE MORE DANCE"! By the time we got downstairs, a lot of the folks have already called it a night......so we stood around and talked to other dancers as they walked past us, sharing one last laugh and hug before saying "See you next year.....if not sooner!"
Folks that I had met over the course of the weekend stopped by to say goodbye and wished everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving! Cathy and Valerie came through and we got to talking about their dance that won the choreography competition and I found out a simple fact about Vegas that I did not know.....you're gonna love this. If you are sitting at any of the slot machines, tables or whatever and are gambling.....wait for it......you get your drinks for FREE!!! Sure, I find out about this on the last night. So I decided to hit the slots with them and continue our conversation. We found a group of penny slots......that's right, penny slots and proceeded to gamble. After losing my two dollars, enough was enough. I am no good at gambling. We sat and talked as the waitress brought our drinks. I drank my drink and decided it was time to call it a night. So we said our goodbyes and I headed up to my room to turn in.
