Orange County
Dancin' Country - How Does It
Start....again?? Workshop held January 16, 1999.
Claudette is a dancer...just like me! I was lucky
enough to be driven to "her" fabulous
wooden dance floor at the Monrovia Community
Center on Friday night. Her instructor, Gene
Morrill, also happened to be the DJ tonight.
Midway through the evening (after digesting a
huge helping of food from the potluck
table)...Claudette wanted to know if I knew this
dance and told me that she fell in love with the
music "Red Hot Salsa" (Dave Sheriff)
and had ordered the CD from the UK. The CD
finally arrived in her mail and she had it with
her. She wanted to go over the dance with me and
see if she "had it" before she asked
Gene to play the music. Instructors Evelyn Khinoo
& Bruce Bowman were here also tonight...and
when Red Hot Salsa (Christina Browne) was
announced...they were in the front row so all the
dancers who wanted to pick this easy dance up off
the floor could watch their boots!
Gene also
introduced and asked Evelyn to dance in the front
row when her classic, Silk and Satin and her
That's My Hat were called from the request list.
(Mike Sliter made his hat twirlin' debut here
tonight...while he danced That's My Hat next to
Evelyn. Way Too Cool, Dude!)
Gene introduced
Mike Sliter to the dancers and then proceeded to
play "I'll Be Your San Antone Rose" by
Emmylou Harris...while we did one of my favorite
Mike Sliter dances....San Antone Rose. We also
got to do his Roll of the Dice with him...twice!
Once to the "real" music then again to
a turbo bluesy piece of music that the dancers
here really like. Thank goodness Beth Sliter was
dancin' behind me...I could hardly think fast
enough to remember the steps!
It got to be
nearly 10:30 pm...and Gene finally announced...we
can't wait any longer for him! We then got to do
Michael Barr dances: Out Of The Blue,
All-Right-A, Hey Bruce and Give It Up. (Southwest
was not on time tonight and MB missed a really
great dancin' and eatin' evening!)
It was
interesting for me to see that not only did the
Southland dancers request the popular dances by
our local Bay Area choreographers, but also the
dances that have been showing up all last year on
the top ten dance charts from the UK. (Linedancer
Magazine)
Since splitting
the dance floor was not their practice....I got a
chance to see the following dances on the UK
charts:
Let'er Rip,
Scotia Samba, Walkin' The Line, Kung Fu Fighting,
Mucara Walk, Alane, Coastin', Black Coffee and of
course.... Red Hot Salsa.
The OCDC dance
mobile piloted by Sandy, navigated by Lou Ann and
backseat driven by Marion zoomed
along too many different freeways for us to
count...and returned us back to our hotel...just
in time to rest our boots for the Saturday all
day line dance workshop.
"How Does
It Start" workshop at Cal State Fullerton -
sponsored by Orange County Dancin' Country.
The workshop
started at 9 am with Mike Sliter premiering his
newest dance Cajun
Girls & Gumbo, an easy intermediate
dance done to "Linda Lou" by The
Tractors.
The following
instructors taught:
Scott Blair - Walkin' On Me (Scott Blevins)
Gene Morrill - Right On The Money (Gene Morrill)
Evelyn Khinoo - Switchblade USA (John H.
Robinson)
Cari Cushman - Latin Groove (Scott Blevins)
Michele Burton - I See It Now (Michele Burton)
Lou Ann Schemmel - Titanic (Simon Ward)
The workshop
ended at 5:15 pm with Michael Barr presenting his
newest choreography - Give
It Up.
Doug Miranda
(Event Director for Bonanza Bash) was the DJ for
this event...on "duty" from 9 til early
evening...then he was rushed to LAX to catch the
plane to OZ for his next gig!
Many
instructor/choreographers were here for this
event. We got to do these dances with:
Michael Barr (Hey Bruce, All-Right-A and Give It
Up)
Noel Castle (Back Seat Boogie)
Carmel and Ernie Hutchinson (Pony Shuffle,
Hesitation Waltz and Every Step I Take)
Evelyn Khinoo (Silk and Satin, how sweet it is,
Picture Perfect, and That's My Hat)
Gene Morrill (Right On The Money)
Mike Sliter (Roll Of The Dice, San Antone Rose,
Shouldn't Be Doin' This, and Cajun Girls &
Gumbo)
Jackie Snyder (There's your Trouble)
Lou Ann Schemmel
and Mike Sliter took over as DJ's when Doug
left...and they re-introduced each workshop
instructor to us ...each instructor then walked
us through their teach before the
"real" music was played this
evening...this was a good thing!
Michael Barr and
Michele Burton entertained us with their duo
performance...much to the delight of MB's fan
club ladies! Grace, style, and a touch of
comedy...a perfect routine!
It takes a lot
of volunteers and a talent for organization to
please 200+ line dancers...Lou Ann Schemmel and
her OCDC dancers provided us with a charismatic
DJ, talented instructors, a huge 3,500 wooden
dance floor, food and decorated tables on site,
and even shopping! Line Dance Heaven for me!
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