Showcase Material

The curtain opens,
You are the spotlight,
Passion is in motion,
the Dancer is you.

A Showcase is an event or occasion for dance students to display their abilities and talents. It is a chance to perform and be in the spotlight. Some performers are younger and just beginning their dance career; others are older and never had the chance to dance in their younger years. But when the Showcase begins everyone is equal - everyone is a performer. Out there on the dance floor, with your passion and love of dance driving you to perform and be in the spotlight for just a couple minutes, you are the entertainer.

Although some of these dance students have had lessons and danced for years, it is not necessary to have danced very long in order to do a showcase, just a willingness to learn and work hard. Some students like to compete, but others prefer to showcase what they have accomplished. Students will take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months, taking lessons and practicing, to get their dance routines ready. Preparing for a Showcase gives the student a goal and when the show is over there is a great feeling of accomplishment.

The instructors work very hard too, spending extra hours preparing music, choreographing and teaching to make their students look their very best. Some students will do just one dance, others will want to dance several times. Costumes and make-up are part of the fun involved. Picking a theme or particular idea to build the dance around helps to make the performance creative and entertaining. Some of the dance numbers are more of the serious nature - very beautiful, very technical, and classical. Others are more lighthearted and fun, even comical. Either way the routines are very enjoyable to watch and the audience always has a good time.

The Showcase usually consists of 25-30 numbers and is divided into two acts. It runs smoothly from routine to routine and there is a 15-minute intermission between the acts. There is always good food, snacks and drinks. The staff spends several weeks organizing and preparing the Showcase in order for it to be a beautiful, well organized, memorable event and the admission is very reasonable for an evening of entertainment, dinner and dancing.

Hope to see you at the next Showcase.

Sincerely,
Veronica Wagner

How About Those Lakers?

Being a big Lakers fan, this week’s blog is dedicated to LA’s fallen heroes. Despite all those sports analysts and news announcers favoring the Lakers, they did not win the NBA Championship. We all thought this was going to be their year.

The year started out slow for the Lakers, with Kobe asking to be traded to another team. As the season developed, the players seemed to gel with each other and trades for new teammates were paying off. With the acquisition of Pau Gasol, the team seemed to flourish. It was all coming together and the Lakers were on a roll.

The Lakers ended up finishing first in the Western Conference and had home court advantage. In the playoffs, they breezed by Denver (4-0), worked up a little sweat against Utah (4-2), and handily beat last year’s champs the San Antonio Spurs (4-1). But the Boston Celtics were a different nut to crack. Despite the Celtics struggling with Atlanta and Cleveland (both 7-game series), they beat Detroit in 6 games and won the right to play the Lakers for the championship.

I thought the officiating in game 2 was ridiculous and in game 4 we saw an amazing comeback by Boston. Both games should have had a different outcome. The Lakers seemed a little tired by the time the Finals came around and Boston just seemed to blow right by them on many plays.

Although I obviously wanted the Lakers to win, I must say I was happy for Kevin Garnett finally getting a chance to win the “big dance” and Paul Pierce who has been a Celtic for his career thus far. Hats off to them, they played a great series and deserved to win.

Boo Hoo - Just wait until next year in the Finals!

Lakers fan,
Mark Mendez

Best Places in Europe

We just returned from our trip to Europe - Wow! We had such a great time, this was an amazing trip overall. This past week we visited Vienna and Rome.

Vienna, Austria is an amazing city. Great musicians like Mozart, Strauss, Beethoven, and others developed their musical talents in this country and its obvious why Vienna is often referred to as the “home of music”.

Vienna has the 3rd highest standard of living among the European Union nations and is culturally rich in art, history and music. I was pleasantly surprised to learn how many people in Vienna spoke English and how well they spoke it. Everyone was very friendly and helpful.

During our visit we saw the Kunsthistorisches Museum (Museum of Art History), the Burg Theatre, Stephansdom (St. Stephan’s Cathedral), the Clock Museum, Spanish Riding School, Danube River and Tower, the Imperial Palace and more.

Rome, Italy was very charming and romantic. This is one of the oldest cities in Europe. When I first arrived, I thought to myself some of these buildings look like they may crumble any moment. Well, after seeing the Pantheon and the Colosseum still standing 2000 years later it was clear that it would take a devastating earthquake to bring down this city. The Trevi Fountain was romantic and the Spanish Steps was an engaging meeting place. Rome was a city to remember forever.

We visited the Vatican Museum, St. Peter’s Basilica, the Sistine Chapel (with Michelangelo’s paintings), ancient Rome and the Colosseum, the Trevi Fountain, Piazza Navona, the Spanish Steps and more.

Our group had the most amazing time in Europe. If you’ve been to Europe, let us know about your favorite city to visit. What’s the most memorable site you’ve seen?

To see the online photo slide show, click the link below
(OR copy/paste into your browser, with NO SPACES): http://www.flickr.com/photos/dancer_avenue/sets/
72157605690949697/show/

Sincerely,
Mark & Veronica

Go Americans

This week at the Blackpool Dance Festival was fabulous. We saw the U.S.A. team win the team match for the first time in history and Americans place in the finals of the 2008 British Open in the Professional Latin and Professional Ballroom.

In a team match, usually four teams are invited to participate and each team selects two Professional Latin couples and two Professional Ballroom (Standard) couples to dance. The Latin and Ballroom couples dance in a “round robin” sort of format until all ten International dances have been performed. After totaling the scores for all dances, the U.S.A. team emerged victorious! Yeah, U.S.A!

In the Professional Latin division, Michael Malitowski and Joanna Leunis from Poland won this event. The good news for Americans is we had three couples reach the finals. Riccardo Cocchi and Yulia Zagoruychenko placed 2nd overall and both Andrei Gavriline & Elena Kryuchkova and Eugene Katsevman & Maria Manusova made the finals in one dance. Congrats to the American Couples! (See overall placement below)

Professional Latin – Overall placement
1. Michael Malitowski & Joanna Leunis, Poland
2. Riccardo Cocchi & Yulia Zagoruychenko, USA
3. Peter Stokkebroe & Kristina Stokkebroe,Denmark
4. Sergey Sourkov & Agnieszka Melnicka, Poland
5. Franco Formica & Oksana Lebedewa, Germany
6. Maurizio Vescovo & Melinda TöRöKgyöRgy, Hungary
7. Andrei Gavriline & Elena Kryuchkova, USA
8. Eugene Katsevman & Maria Manusova, USA

In the Professional Ballroom division, Mirko Gozzoli and Alessia Betti from Italy won this event. And again, the good news for Americans is that we had two couples in the finals. Arunas Bizokas and Katusha Demidova placed 2nd overall and Victor Fung and Anna Mikhed placed 4th overall. Congrats to these couples too! (See overall placement below)

Professional Ballroom – Overall placement
1. Mirko Gozzoli & Alessia Betti, Italy
2. Arunas Bizokas & Katusha Demidova, USA
3. Jonathan Wilkins & Hazel Newbury, England
4. Victor Fung & Anna Mikhed, USA
5. Domenico Soale & Gioia Cerasoli, Italy
6. Jonathan Crossley & Lyn Marriner, England
7. Roberto Villa & Morena Colagreco, Italy

Good luck to all couples in the future and we look forward to seeing them on the dance floor.

Regards,
Mark Mendez