Convention & WCS Event Reviews
Reno Dance Sensation
Congratulations to the Reno Dance Sensation for their first event. It was a unique, exciting addition to our dancing calendar. This event not only catered to West Coast swing dancers but also brought together a crowd of Lindy and Salsa dancers making a wonderfully diverse blend of music, talent and fun.
The busy registration staff deserves applause. It is a great wonder they had the time to breathe. Being open practically 24 hours a day, they were there helping us to get wrist banded and signed up for everything from contests to show tickets. A large event schedule also provided invaluable information of all happenings for all to view making easier to find the wide variety of workshops and contests that were available. The overwhelming itinerary unfortunately left little time rest, eat or sleep for most of the dancers.
A nice change in fund raising brought us strikes and gutter balls helping to make a great contribution while bowling for juvenile diabetes
A beautiful ballroom held the contests running throughout the day and almost too late into the night accommodating a huge number of competitors. It made for wonderful competitions but a very long day for many. Back to back, workshops and contests left the audience somewhat sparse. Because scheduling running quite a bit behind, it limited the amount of social dancing in an attempt to fit everything else in.
Reno Dance Sensation having its billing in lights throughout the hotel, brought us a Vegas style performance that made the Reno news. We were rocked by cloggers on airplanes, swooned by the mighty vocals of Barbara Morrison, and dancing in our seats to west coast, Chris Da Funk, hip hop, lindy, salsa, and even belly dancing routines making for one unforgettable evening.
Unlike what we are used to at most events, the M.C.ing left much to be desired for both ballroom and show presentations.
Overall, for a first time event, it was run well. Now that Reno Dance Sensation has gotten its feet wet, I am sure that with a little fine-tuning it will become a event worth going to for everyone. See you there next year.
Seattle Easter Swing
The attendance was about 500 or so people. The weather was gorgeous. Not a drop of rain. The competitions were varied for non-professionals, but the Professional J&J and Invitational was like watching the same competition two days in a row. The Pro J&J and Invitational had no judges. The competitors judged themselves. I can see them doing this for one of the competitions but not BOTH. They should have had an "All Star" Division and an Invitational; my personal opinion. Also, they need to establish a Newcomer Division in addition to the Novice. There were 60 Novice couples and about 15 - 20 of them had never competed. The competitions didn't run on time which is usual. On a positive note, the Invitational competitors had a choice of contemporary, jazz and blues. The crowd started yelling out what type of music they wanted to competitors to dance to which made very fun for the competitors as well as the crowd. The couples usually went with the audience's choice. I'd like to see this at more events to draw the audience into the fun. Beth Bellamy played wonderful music as usual, but Terry West played some "interesting" songs that were not the best selection of blues to dance to.
They took away the Saturday night dinner and added two late night buffets which were $13. I thought this was a little spendy for eggs. I went to the Hospitality Suite at about 10:30 Saturday morning and there were literally scraps of food left, not the nice spread from the prior years.
Grace didn't MC until Saturday night because she was committed to going to a
ball game to see the Toronto Blue Jays. Robert Cordoba and Buddy Schwimmer traded
off MCing Friday night. I thought that this wasn't the best Easter Swing event
I've attended, but everyone seemed to have a good time and so did I. I plan
to be there next year.
Pg.# 7a