Nathalie Gomes has just announced that Mickey Fortanasce will be teaching Balboa at Dance Renaissance! Locals who have danced with Mickey or seen him dance are swooning! He and his partner Kelly Arsenault won the International Balboa Championship at Balboa Rendezvous in 2006 and 2007 as well as the American Classic Balboa Championship at the 2008 All Balboa weekend. Sadly, Kelly won't be able to join him for Dance Renaissance, but that shouldn't stop follows from signing up!

My birthday falls on Thanksgiving this year, so I'm celebrating it this Friday (Nov. 21) instead, by coming to Nathalie and Chance's Jazz Culture & Dance Gathering, and staying for dancing til my knees crack. If I or anyone has any steam after that, then maybe some Frenchmen Street. Or a post dance cocktail at Bridge Lounge. :)

Now hopefully this year I won't get sick and miss my own party!

-Ellen

I want to thank everyone who came to the shag workshop on Sunday. I really enjoyed the class, and I hope everyone walked away feeling like they learned something. When I see you out, be prepared for me to ask you for a shag, or, come ask me! The best way to remember it is to do it.

Thanks also to Nathalie for hosting me and Robert!

Hope to see y'all out shagging.

Congratulations to Nathalie Gomes for winning the Champions division of the Jack n' Jill competition this past weekend at the American Lindy Hop Championships in Stamford, CT. The lucky guy she danced with was Max Pitruzzella (from France and now living in Montreal).

Due to a potential Security Threat (Basically - we try to prevent the spambots from automatically inserting comments!), we had to make some updates to the site. As a result of this upgrade, the existing Calendar events were lost. If you had a previously created event, you may need to recreate the topic again. Sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused!

Collegiate Shag Workshop

With Robert Claypool and Ellen Boyer
Sunday, November 2, 2008 1-4pm

No partner needed.
Prerequisite: You are an intermediate dancer in any particular partner dance.

What is Collegiate Shag?

Thought some of you might enjoy a fun, if blatantly pro-Obama play on a popular swing tune:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJW67YfLWgs

From Nathalie Gomes:

Join us in New Orleans for our New Year's dance and music festival, you and your friends will enjoy an action-packed weekend of FOUR NIGHTS OF DANCING featuring local live music and professional performances. In addition, on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, you will be able to attend optional WORKSHOPS taught by world-class teachers.

From Amy Johnson:

Dear Friends of Showdown -

After 7 inspiring years in the Twin Cities, The Ultimate Lindy Hop Showdown is moving to the city of New Orleans in 2009.

There are a few reasons for the move -
1) I will have more resources and more local support from business and music/art organizations supporting events like this.
2) I live there making it 100 times easier for me to plan and create my ideal event.
3) JAZZ MUSIC & DANCE CULTURE are EVERYDAY parts of life there.

Dance Quarter LLC has announced their Fall schedule of classes.
There is something for everyone. Classes start this week and next and fill quickly! For the complete details, visit:

http://www.dancequarter.com/schedule.html

Ernst Cafe Monday Night Balboa students won't want to miss Nathalie and Jayna's Balboa class!