Union City, CA - The Golden Gate Classic Line Dance & Choreography Competition - Charlotte Skeeters, Event Director

The Golden Gate Classic new choreography results:

1. What's Your Name - Michael Barr
2. Latin Lover - Noel Castle
3. Michele Burton - Let's Do Snacks
4. God Bless The Child - Simon Ward
5. C'est La Vie - Carmel Hutchinson

Pismo Western Days ended with Mambo #5 ...but this dance dominated the Everytime Lou Bega said ...Ladies and Gentleman this is Mambo #5!!! the Bay Area Country Attitude, the OCDC Dancers, and Kort & the Klones sprang to the dance floor to do Pedro Machado and Anthony Lee's new hit dance with Evelyn & Bruce and Simon, Rob I, Chris K, John Robinson and all the kids from OZ! Visit Pedro's Home Page to print his dance. (You can listen to the music to practice the dance on my Dance Practice Page.)

Evelyn Khinoo taught Mambo #5 in workshop to 180+ dancers on Saturday afternoon ...Chris and John played it many times for us!!! ...and I know most of the steps & some of the lyrics already and I know when Y begins because I am VERY lucky to have E & B for my cuttin' edge, dancin' teachers!!!

Friday Evening Dance with DJ's John Burton and Chris Kumre:

Mr. Terry Hogan all the way from Brisbane, Australia opened the Golden Gate Classic Friday night by teaching us his Wrapped Up ... a 2 wall, 32 count beginner/intermediate dance. Mr. John Robinson all the way from Kentucy taught us his new beginner, easy intermediate 4 wall, 32 count dance ...Canned Heat. (For those of us ladies and gentlemen there on the dance floor decked out in our fancy long sleeved western garb ...we were literally Wrapped Up in Canned Heat! ...(I did manage to tell Mr. Air Conditioner Fix-it Man as he traveled from one thermostat to another in the ball room ...that we were saying Hail Marys for him ...but I decided to just go to my room and change into short overalls ...and then I danced on)

And the first dance ...John announced Sunset Stampede (Ian StLeon) ...and Chris was in my front dancin' this high energy advanced dance written by an Aussie ...and Ms. Spicy Roxanne Smith and the other kids from Oz were down the back TURBO shaking all their body parts and pretend Stampede ridin' into the Sunset while singing along with Barry Upton & Wild At Heart. The first dance tends to set the tone of the evening/event for me ...I knew I was in for a great roller coastin' ride of a weekend ....

They, the following Choreographers, were here dancin' with us at the Classic cause they wanted to and because most of them live here (or are now adopted here) in LineDanceHeaven, CA ...And their request list dances that filled the weekend floor were as follows: ...

Mr. Cajun Girls and Gumbo (Mike Sliter), Mr. Titanic (Simon Ward), Ms. Silk and Satin & That's My Hat (Evelyn Khinoo), Ms. Sometime When (Jackie Snyder), Mr. & Mrs. Husbands and Wives (Carmel and Ernie Hutchinson), Mr. Cuban Heels and Alright Already (Terry Hogan), Ms. I See It Now (Michele Burton), Ms. Madly Off In All Directions (Michele Perron), Mr. Whole Lotta Peppas & Gimme Back My Bullets (Neil Hale), Mr. Hey Bruce & What's Your Name (Michael Barr), Ms. Havana (Donna Wasnick), Mr. Perhaps (Chris Kumre), and from Lucky Kentucky ....Mr. 747 Chicago Shuffle (John Robinson). AND also here dancin' with us--

Ms. Charlotte Skeeters! She HAD to be here cause she was The E.D. (event director) ...and she HAD time to dance with us also ...cause she is Ms. Mama's Lil' Baby and Ms. Voilà ...and she HAD time to take at least one workshop with us cause I was in there in front of her for Blue Hawaii (Michelle Van Beekom).

First thing Saturday Morning ...all 15 entries of the new line dance choreography competition and the 45 or so workshop dances were showcased ...2 walls of the dance were demo'd so the dancers could note which dances they were interested in learning. THEN the competitons began ...the Event was thrilled to have SOOO many dancers who wanted to compete in line dance ...beginning, intermediate, advanced, senior AND DUO divisions that the ballroom schedule for workshops was blown out of the water!

I watched the Senior Division ...Lorraine Kurtela won the overall. I stayed to watch the Advanced Division ...Michele Burton only danced Sweet Temptation (Terry Hogan) and she won first place for that dance ...but overall went to Justine ...the lady with graceful moves and the gracious smile. Her dancin' teacher is Terry Hogan! Michael Barr only danced Sweet Temptation (Terry Hogan) and he won first place for that dance ...but overall went to Brad ...another kid from Oz ...Brad Pitt might have the famous name ...but Dude you can DANCE.

Sal Gonzalez couldn't come to dance with us ...so ballroom workshops were re-scheduled into Sal's time slots ...we missed Dancin' With You ...Dude!

...also, Michael Barr and Michele Burton had this really cool Jack & Jill contest and demo planned for us on Saturday evening ...but they made & announced the decision to cancel as soon as they saw there would be a time crunch on the evening line dance fun ...and when they made this early announcement ...I thought I might have seen a tiny pout on Neil's face ...gee Neil, you already won the Jack and Jill last YEAR Dude!

We dancers are really particular about havin' our seat and our "stuff" just situated when we come to an event ...so we whined when Charlotte told us that the ballroom would not remain 'open' as she had planned for us over the dinner break ...since the artist needed to do a sound check. We invited the townies to our room to stretch out and to catch up on girl talk ...others headed for the pool (met intermediate Die Hards and fellow MOL's F & J there from Canada) to soak their feets ...still others for the bar to soak their throats ...no worries! This change in plans had a great deal to do with why you saw me still wearing my daytime outfit Saturday Nite ...no time to fluff and puff when you start talkin' & soakin' ...and stuff.

Everyone was in their seat at 8 pm for the Interpretative Competition ...this Competition was created by Charlotte and is the favorite part of the entire event for me ..."your choice of any kind of music, no restrictions ...you will be judged on how you integrate the lyrics of your music selections/s into your routine and your creativity." Leonie Smallwood placed first in the Interpretative Competition with her brillant performance in mixing dance with mime. All the performances left the audiance in awe ...and the Sagebrush Dancers seated next to me ...some here for the first time ..."this was entertainment enough to pay for the entire admit price to the event". The judges ...had a hard job to select the best from the VERY best!

(to those of you who wondered ...Graham Smith has the Interpretative and all the Duo competitions on video ...but OZ equipment is not compatible with our VCR system and Mr. Phil Bates who offered to show us the duo video he filmed ... we also were unable to view do to non-compatible equipment)

There was an on going, drop in, birthday celebration goin' on in the bar Saturday Nite also ...MB was born 49 years ago, October 11! Happy Birthday Dude ....may you always continue to Boogie Til The Cows Come Home ...or 3 o'clock in the morning, which ever comes first!

Scooter Lee sang to us while we danced Louisiana Hot Sauce, Ribbon of Highway and Dizzy. (I happened to be heading back from eating some birthday cake and saw the line of dancers waiting for Scooter to autograph their CD's ... now I know how she happens to know "line dance information" for the opinion columns she writes ...she was asking questions & listening to dancers while she was signing her name.)

John and Chris played the request list music til Midnight ...usually we dance the dances that we all learned in the afternoon workshops ...but I was happy to dance nearly the same as the night before ...or so it seemed to me ..cause I was never sittin' down and never was bored a second. I did get a chance to learn, re-learn & be exposed to some of the 44+ new dances presented at this event ...Blue Hawaii (Michelle Van Beekom), Rydell Shuffle (Knox Rhine), Heartbreak Radio (Mike Sliter), Listen (Michael Barr), Jive Walkin' (John Robinson), Perhaps (Chris Kumre), In The Army (Cindy Truelove), Be My Guest (Jill Thompson & Charlotte Skeeters), God Bless The Child (Simon Ward), Saturday Matinee (Evelyn Khinoo), Completely (Terry Hogan) ...it will take me a lonnnng time to Completely get this one ...grins), D.N.T.O (Michele Perron), and

John Robinson taught us an advanced dance during the last workshop slot on Sunday afternoon on the small, but smoooth wooden Alvarado dance floor (also known as the Knox Rhine Memorial Die Hard Dance Floor) ...the last dance was Power Surge (Stephen Sunter) and the dance floor was packed!

After spending all Day being the MC ...and knowing full well he had to be bright-eyed and full of energy come tomorrow morning ...Mr. Knox Rhine let us stay up and dance with him until 3 am....I am takin' this on his word ...seein' as how I limped back to my room and checked the clock ....11 minutes past 2 am. Oh my God they did every hard dance I ever knew about ...Kort and the Klones were there (of course!) and then Bette, and even Charlotte ...popped in to check on us before they headed off to bed.

Knox put on the Music from Grease ...you know when John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John are singing together ..."You're The One That I Want" ...and he started dancin' his new Rydell Shuffle ...it was nearly 2 am and we were all out there baby duckin' a NEW DANCE. Knox is an International Treasure ...he is a dancer ...our line dancin' hero.

The Sunday crowd was a lot smaller ...only the absolute Die Hards are up at 9 am to watch the competitions and this year we had 7 DUO teams to entertain us. Justine Shuttleworth and Terry Hogan exquisitely performed dance together and those around me had tears and goose flesh at their elegant conclusion ...and they placed first in the competition.

Simon Ward and Rob Ingentron performed fast dance steps, and then preformed faster, and then, even turbo faster steps for us ...and they received a thunderous, screaming, standing ovation ...they placed second in this DUO competition.

Charlotte has said ...next year Interpretative Competition will expand to include the DUO's!!!

Every event is different because of the temperature of the environment, the mix of the dancers, the dance floor and the available FOOD & drink. Mr. Terry Hogan (and I) eat peanut butter and chocolate ...we savor these two ingredients together! I mentioned to Terry that Bonnie and her hubby John make REAL peanut butter fudge. Terry just celebrated his birthday October 3 ...and in his honor ...Bonnie and John stayed up all hours of the night makin' peanut butter fudge for our Saturday enjoyment. It was fabulous! Suzi B is also a dancer, and candy maker. She has been makin' REAL homemade Peanut Butter Cups for Terry's Golden Gate Classic birthday visit for years now. On Sunday, we indulged!

the bottom line

Any Event Director can hire instructors ...a great Event Director not only knows the great instructors/dancers/competitors of the World ...but she can INVITE them to come and dance with us even if there is no room on the workshop schedule for them to teach! In other words ...no teach a workshop ...no get paid money ...Them's The Rules!

To ALL of Charlotte's famous dancin friends from the countries around the World ...your scores are just a point a part on the scale ...but havin' you dance with us added up to 100% pure enjoyment!

God gets a 10 for the entire weekend!! and you Mr. Air Condition Fix-it Man ...you get a 2.5 for dance floor temperatures!

Ms. E. D. you get a 98.6, that's a perfect score for a modern woman human!! Everyone had Too Much Fun at your event!

The perfect wooden ballroom dance floor was being dismantled at least a half hour after the official close of the event ...and even so ...the Die Hard Dancers & DJ's decided that the next last dance would be to Wabash Cannonball ... so the real last dance at the end the 99 Golden Gate Classic ...was a patch of floor full of us turbo dancin' with Ms. Charlotte doin' her next big Bay Area hit ....Fill My Life.

Redwood City, CA

Evelyn Khinoo and Bruce Bowman's Thursday evening class turned into the pre - event happening ...real line dancers never take an evening off ...they de plane and drive to a dance hall, Them's The Rules. Most of the beginner class here tonight had no idea that dancers from 4 countries were in their classroom sharing in the fun.

The intermediate class was well informed and turned out in good number to dance with the many experienced dancer/instructor visitors to the class...this evenings guest instructor, Canadian Michele Perron (Ms Smokey Places) was Madly Off In All Directions pickin' on all her famous friends. She taught a 4 wall, 48 count "swing" line dance done to swing music (popular in the 40's & 50's she says) by artists known as Rockin' Louie & Mama Jammers or Lavay Smith and Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers! The "kids from Oz" down the back row really got into the rhythm of the deep knee lunges, arm movements, and the flick kicks ...a pleasure to watch!

Michele also taught D.N.T.O. which will be taught in workshop Saturday at the Golden Gate Classic. this 2 wall, 32 count (Definitely Not The Opera) night club two step feel dance is done to Reggae music ..."Some Broken Hearts" Bellamy Brothers preferred. I really appreciated that Brian stood next to us so that we got a chance to follow his instructor boots for the triple turn rock backs ...seein' as how it was a challenge to even see Michele through the crowd of dancers!

The second guest instructor ..Ms Queensland, Australia Ambassador year 2K, Roxanne Smith taught her Kiss'N'Tell. This 4 wall, 32 dance is done to "Never Been Kissed" by Sherrie Austin. This is her first "beginner" dance and although it only has 2 re-starts ...it is easy to "pose" and then count to 4 and then count to 6. Roxanne's "intermediate" choreography does well in OZ ...she takes lessons in Terry's famous intermediate Monday night class ...and she will be competing here at the GGC . She is an absolute pleasure to watch on the competition dance floor and now I know it is also a pleasure to take her workshops ...she handles all the "naughty" distractions with humor and verbal 'get you backs!'

Open dancin' between workshops ...was Too Much Fun! We were starting to dance Cuban Heels with Terry ...but Evelyn ordered Justine and Roxanne to dance the front and center to show off their OZ ending to Terry's now classic dance.

And just when I thought it was safe to leave the dance floor for a moment and was havin' some "catch up" conversation with Ms Funky Farmer ...I heard the Alright Already music playing ...I nearly lost my balance slidin' back on the floor between Evelyn and Michael to do my favorite dance.

The last dance of the evening ...and Evelyn made sure to announce that she will be teaching this one in workshop at the GGC ...Mambo #5 by Pedro Machado and Anthony Lee. This was a new one to all the famous visitors ...'cept one. Simy learned it in Pismo with us and it was a pleasure to dance in back of him tonight. His hip bumps are pretty distracting ...his stylin' is delightful!

We get to dance with all of them tonight ...

This past week I was exposed to some great choreography ...Mr. Terry Hogan (he will be teaching workshops at the Golden Gate Classic October 8-10) was in the Bay Area to teach us some of his relatively easy little dances ... grins! Terry teaches in Brisbane, Australia. I have visited his intermediate Monday night class ...students pick up dances very quickly, are technically advanced and Terry tells us ...they get bored with dances fairly quickly.

Here in the Bay Area ...we do have experienced, intermediate dancers who enjoy the mental stimulation of learning 2 or 3 new Terry dances in 90 minutes, but we mostly have dancers who enjoy dancin' for excercise and fun. It took some of us many, many practice hours to be able to do his Along For the Ride and Cuban Heels. Too Much Fun, Straighten Up and Fly Right and my current Terry favorite ...Alright Already came easier for us and we were able to dance these with him this week. A few of us still know his Sweet Temptation ...(the hardest dance on Earth for me!) and one of the dances chosen for advanced competition at this year's Golden Gate Classic.