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Terryl Makes Finals at Pacific Dancesport Championships!
After 8 years off the ballroom floor, Let's Dance's own Terryl Jones dancing with former British Junior Champion Nigel Clarke of
Santa Barbara surprised spectators and judges alike by making the final 6 at the recent Pacific Dancesport Championships in Universal
City. With Terryl's incredible back lines and Nigel's fantastic British training you could see the judges' gazes following them
around the floor. With several judges placing them as high as 2nd behind British Rising Star Champions Igor & Irina Suvorov,
they ended up in 4th place after only 4 weeks of training. Next they head off to the annually televised Ohio Star Ball November 16th,
and the California Star Ball on Thanksgiving weekend. Congratulations Nigel & Terryl! To see a Quicktime video clip of their dancing click here
Terryl & Nigel's Debut!
LDLA Dancers Star at Pacific Dancesport Championships
Many Let's Dance students were on hand to watch the event held Halloween weekend at the Universal City Hilton. With many of them cheering
wildly for Terryl and Nigel, they certainly were having fun. Just prior to the big show of the night they all moved to the other side
of the room to jockey for a good view of Let's Dance pros Enio, Terryl, Brigitte, Natalie, and many other top pros who were performing
a tribute to deceased American Champions who had influenced the world dance scene. Among the several numbers performed was a beautiful
lift routine by Natalie Mavor and partner Curtis Collins in his first performance since knee surgery. The closing number was a restaging
of Enio's big Salsa number which included Casino Rueda, Palladium style Mambo and some really hot Salsa. Brigitte Ryerson was a last
minute replacement for another professional dancer and really did a commendable job staying with some elite level pros.
US Open Swing Championships To Begin a New Era
The only event that brings together all the various forms of Swing in the US has been under fire in recent years for it's mismanagement.
Earlier this year it was announced that the event was sold to new owners. Despite its troubles, the Open is still a three day long festival
with nary Waltz or Cha Cha to be heard during its 3 day run. The Open has been the site of a lot of triumphs for Let's Dance pros and students.
This year Robert Cordoba and Deborah Szekely will be competing for their 2nd straight win in the Showcase Division and Robert's 5th title overall.
In addition Beata Howe and Mark (the Marine), and Cheryl Sevold will be competing in various divisions. Our own World Boogie Woogie Lindy Champions
Marcus Koch & Barbl Kaufer will not be there though as they prepare for the World Championships in Munich, West Germany.
The Open features competitions for young kids thru seniors, Jack & Jills, Shag, Lindy, West Coast Swing and even anything goes Cabaret Division.
The event will be held at the Century Plaza Hotel Thanksgiving weekend and is usually a sellout.
Wednesday Jazz Class Growing
After 10 years of partner dance classes, this year we expanded to offer jazz classes with Deborah Szekely.
This class started in October and has grown steadily since to become one of the most popular classes. Covering everything from lyrical jazz to contemporary
hip hop, the classes is designed to teach beginners the fundamentals from stretching to spins and turns. As the class is ongoing, interested students may
jump in at any point. Since floor work is used during the warmup, comfortable shoes such as jazz tennies or jazz shoes are recommended and
remember to bring a small towel.
Salsa Dance Dates Announced
With so many events filling the Salsa dancer's calendar these days, it's a rare weekend that you don't have
2 or 3 parties on the same weekend. In order to help everyone plan their party schedule, we have announced
the schedule for the balance of 2000. Although most of them will be on the first week of every month there
will be times that we will schedule it on a different weekend. Future dances will also have different themes
and occasional bands or performances. The dates for the monthly dance will be November 4th, and
December 2nd. This monthly dance allows us to celebrate all the birthdays
for that month rather than having nightly interruptions of classes in order to recognize everyone's birthday.
We would like to resume having either a professional show or a live band for these parties. If you have a
preference as to your favorite bands, let us know.
Alfonso Felix has done a wonderful job of making the studio look really great with the wonderful balloon
decorations. Thanks to everyone who has brought goodies to share to the parties. In fact we have had enough
to provide the hungry staff members "care packages" to take home.
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California Star Ball Thanksgiving Weekend
The 40th Anniversary of the California Star Ball will be moving to the Hilton Hotel in Costa Mesa
after nearly two decades at the LAX Hyatt. The event will feature Junior, Youth, Amateur, Professional, and Pro-Am events in addition to a
nightly show by top professionals. With many of the Let's Dance team members performing this would be a great opportunity to see a ballroom
competition if you have never seen one. Let's Dance will be prerordering seats for the event. Tickets are available for one night or all three.
The organizer John Morton has agreed to have a Salsa contest if there are six couples willing to compete so hurry up and sign up!
ProAm Competition Scheduled for Sunday Nov 5th
After a long break for the summer and a rescheduling due to a couple of knee surgeries,
the big day is finally here. Here's a chance to see what your fellow students can do with a few private lessons. In this event you will see
students dancing with their teachers doing Samba, Cha Cha Cha, Rumba and Salsa. The juniors have been paired up and will be competing against
each other in an Amateur Amateur division. Also Natalie's under 12 kids will do a little routine they have been working on. Admission for
adults will be $10, $5 for teens and under 12 free. Tell your friends and bring along some kids who might never have been exposed to this type
of competetive dancing.
To see a video clip of the January ProAm Dance Competition, click here.
Jr. Pro Am Samba
Robert & Deborah Favorites For NASDE Title.
Another month another set of wins for Robert & Deborah in October. Robert & Deborah took all 1st places in Showcase at Boogie By The Bay.
Deborah also won the Invitational Jack & Jill, and the Strictly Swing divisions. Just a few weeks later Robert took 3rd place in the
Jack & Jill at Swing Thing in Thousand Oaks. Robert and Deborah are now both so far out in front of the rest of
the Swing competitors in the N.A.S.D.E. race for $2500 as the top dancers in the U.S, that they would have to place lower than 14th to get knocked out of first
place. At this moment there are only 12 couples enterd in their division. With a win they would be the first and only couple to win N.A.S.D.E. in all
three categories- Showcase, Classic and Strictly Swing.
Troy & Natalia 4th in Pre Championship Latin
With the B.Y.U. team in town to perform at the Pacific Dancesport Championships, you could be sure that all the events would be filled with BYU students. In only a few months Natalia Galindo
with partner Troy has begun to move up the amateur latin ranks. Natalia is also an accomplished water polo player at Temple City High.
Calle Ocho Cruise Deadline Nearing!
Cruise Update...Our code name for the world's alltime Salsa party and cruise is just 3 months off,
cabins are quickly booking up. L.A.'s #1 promoter Albert Torres has joined us as the newest co promoter and you can be sure
the numbers will go up very quickly. There are several people in need of roomates so if you've been
looking for somebody to share, don't put it off- call Rita Anderson at 800-503-9600 today!
Annetje & Marlon from Holland will be promoting the cruise in northern Europe while top
instructors Homero and Ramiro of London will promote the cruise throughout the UK. Star
Rueda instructor Carlos Tellez from Salsa Lovers in Miami will bring a group from that
area while Ron & Karla Montez will be bringing a group from San Diego. We have also added
co-promoters from Italy- Barbara Sirio, Toronto- Sherry Gay, New York-Angel & Addie Rodriguez
and Salsaweb's Edie Lewis. We originally booked 300 cabins for next year on the new ship the
Norwegian Sky. We have arranged a layaway program for those on a budget, The Cruise can cost as little as
$798 for the one week cruise. Just like the Swinging at Sea cruise, there will
be daily workshops in Salsa, Rueda and Latin. But more importantly we will be dancing non stop
Salsa as we go from Miami (the current capital of Cuba) to the other capital of Salsa- Puerto
Rico! After stops in the Bahamas, Virgin Islands and Great Stirrup Cay, we will return to Miami
for the WorldÐs biggest Salsa festival, the one day Calle Ocho party in Miami where over 1 million
Cubans and Latins fill Little Habana and dance all day long in the street.
News of Students
Let's Dance is a family owned and operated studio. We like to know who's doing what and pass along information that will surely be of
interest to your fellow students. So if you get a promotion, go on a trip to an exotic location, or have just been away for a while,
drop us a note and we will post it here. Also even though we celebrate the birthdays at our monthly party, we still want to acknowlege
your special day. Also if you have added or changed e-mail or postal addresses, drop us an e-mail or a card.
Benefit for Richard Overwhelming Success!
As we said above Let's Dance is like a big family. When someone has a catastrophic loss or misfortune, it's wonderful to see everyone pull together to help out.
When Richard Orozco lost everything in his apartment fire, it was wonderful to see everyone pull together and support his benefit dance. The dance netted over
$1,200 dollars which went 100% to Richard. Richard has asked us to pass along his heartfelt thanks to everyone.
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