Blog
Swingin New England 2012 - Review and Placements
Swingin New England is one of the classic, great West Coast Swing events in the Northeast region. It has been around for 15 years and continues to be a warm, welcoming event for newcomers and professionals alike. Because it is so friendly, it was a great place for almost 30 dancers of our West Coast Swing community to attend together. Our fun times included many finalists and placements in the Strictly Swings, Jack & Jills and crazy Bookends divisions; an awesome group dinner and lots of late-night social dancing.
West Coast Swing to Gangnam Style
This month, Anna and I wanted to choreograph our West Coast Swing advanced dance class in Norwalk to a really fun piece. There are times when we want to choreograph to Blues or R&B to bring out the essence of Swing, but this month we wanted to be more carefree.
Swing Niagara 2012 - Review and Placements
Swing Niagara was a great event. There were people from Canada (Toronto and Montreal), Massachusetts, Ohio, Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh) and, of course, upstate New York. It covered a base for many people who love to dance but generally have to travel to the Boston, Chicago or New York City area to attend a good-sized event.
Showcase 2012 Reviews
From the Examiner.com:
The most endearing award goes to Novoa’s “West Coast Swing & Hustle Showcase” which spun off the comedy and undeniable popularity of the song “Call Me Maybe.”
From Kat Wildish (the Producer):
I trust and believe in you and what you do!!!
Thank you for stealing the show with that special sarcasm & attention to detail that touches everyone in that dance place...
The Last Show
The final performance is where you see the final result of all the hard work. At this point, the cast did not have to worry about rehearsals, they knew the dimensions of the real stage, they had felt the energy of different audiences. Now, it would be about hitting it out of the park.
The Matinee
Many of our dancers stayed in New York City at after their premier performance and cast party on Saturday night. Some stayed in midtown hotels, as we did, others stayed with friends or family. Fortunately, our call on Sunday wasn't until 2pm so there wouldn't be a rush in the morning to get to the theater for our matinee performance.
Opening Night Cast Party
After our first amazing performance. I barely had time to celebrate with the cast back stage. I changed back into civilian clothes and ran to set up the final aspects for our opening night cast-party, not just for our group but for the entire company.
The First Performance
This was our first time participating in all three performances at the Ailey Citigroup Theater for Kat Wildish's Performing in New York Showcase. Last year, the weekend of the show was canceled because of hurricane Irene. We only were able to perform for one of the rescheduled performances. This year, we made it through all three performances in great style.
Final Rehearsals for Showcase 2012
Our final rehearsals were a lot of work. Time was up! We were no longer focused on actual choreography as much as we were focused on running the piece ad nauseum so that all blocking issues could be smoothed out.
Coming Together at the Gates of Hell Week
Choreography
The Showcase choreography is finally coming together!! Our Tuesday Hustle rehearsal cleared up many questions about the core movement and the additional Hustle Waltz section. The Thursday West Coast Swing rehearsal gave the dancers a chance to stitch together all the parts, including the finale.
