Happy Halloween
Happy birthday wishes to DJ Mark, Paul Pellicoro, Brian Gallagher, Ken Roesel, Diana De Rosa, Melba Moore, Rosetta Varuola, Donna Yacenda, Moshe Abelson,
Loren Gardner, Kathy Johanessen, Scott Leonard and Lenny Feldman
New Jersey’s own Brian Fortuna continues to shine on ‘Strictly Come Dancing’, the British version of ‘Dancing With The Stars’. This season Brian is partnering with the beautiful actress Ali Bastian.
It’s finally here, the Philadelphia Salsafest. It takes place October 30 – Nov 1 at the Ramada Airport hotel in Philadelphia. Join Sonya Elmore and La Luna for the premier of this three day Salsa Congress. If you want to dance and be treated to great workshops and spooktacular dancing over Halloween then make this your stop. http://www.philadelphiasalsafest.com
Mark James and Karen Lupo hosted an amateur preliminary dance contest where the winners now move on to the finals at Mickey B.’s “Saturday Night Disco Fever” concert and contest. Congratulation to Maureen Borzell & Mike Ochani and Christine Banih & Rich Weinstein.
Three time Latin champion Corky Ballas choreographed a cheesy disco/hustle routine for the cast of ‘Dancing With the Stars’. I guess we have come to expect this. A real mockery and poor representation of the hustle. See the letters below.
If your not getting DanceTalk every week, go to http://www.mjames.org/blog/ The compete edition is posted along with other great dance news. Check it out.
The Mid Atlantic Dance Championships, Mad Jam, returns. The hotel sells out fast so don’t be left out. This is a major event where West Coast Swing meets Hustle. You can expect to see some of the best Hand dancers as well. March 4 – 7th, 2010 at the Sheraton Premiere -Tyson’s Corner, VA. http://www.atlanticdancejam.com/
It will be a haunted night out at Michael’s Cafe, this Wednesday night as Wingo Hom teaches a free hustle lesson at 8:30PM, then dance to the hot sounds of DJ Mark till 12:45AM. We will be celebrating Brian Gallagher’s birthday. Come out for the birthday cake and fun. Street Road in Bensalem Pa.
The Robert Royston production, “LOVE N’ DANCING” is now available in stores and on the website. Check it out at Walmart, FYE, Blockbuster, Barnes & Noble and more. Also check out the “LOVE N’ DANCING SWEEPSTAKES” and win an autographed guitar by Taylor Swift or win 2 Tickets to the Academy of Country Music Awards show in Vegas, as well as many other prizes. WWW.LOVENDANCING.COM
Next week kicks off the annual “Readers Choice Awards” where you get to pick your favorites. The polls open next week so be sure to send in your ballots.
This weeks edition of DanceTalk is sponsored by the Philadelphia SalsaFest, taking place this weekend,
http://www.philadelphiasalsafest.com
Make it a great week,
Ron
“Growth Of the Hustle” Forum Wrap Up
We had an invigorating discussion on the current state of the hustle at this years ‘World Hustle Dance Championships’. The interaction was great and well received by amateurs, professionals, teachers, DJs etc… that contributed their ideas and suggestions on the future of the hustle. We have compiled the minutes from those two meetings and have categorized them into two groups.
The Short term and the Long term goals.
This week, we are posting the short term bullet points. We welcome your feedback. These are ideas that can be implemented in a short period of time to help achieve measurable results.
Everyone has to help make a difference.
* Dance With a new dancers or beginners every time you go out, for at least 15 minutes
* Dancers are inspired by the music. DJ’s should utilize a mixture of dance songs including contemporary along with the classics.
* Create meet up groups that travel to different socials, clubs etc… to demonstrate the hustle
* Gain information from successful teachers that instruct at schools, colleges and universities. Share the process of getting involved and how to network on a school campus.
* Train the teachers how to teach the hustle
* Provide student discounts and programs for kids to learn the hustle
* Free admissions for students (anyone under 21) to introduce them to the hustle
* Implement free hustle lessons at socials, night clubs, YMCA, Gyms, Church groups etc….
We will be posting the long term ideas in the next couple of weeks.
Stay tuned.
Letters to the Editor
(our goal is to post readers letters twice a month, unfortunately due to space limitations we can not publish them all)
hank you, thank you, thank you. Once again another Birthday at Michael’s. I’d like to thank again all who participated and wished me Happy Birthday. It was the best time. It could not get any better. I’d like to single out a few individuals: Natalie best cake ever, my wife Carole for just putting up with me all these years and the Phillies for WINNING the NL Championship. IT DOES NOT GET ANY BETTER.
André
Hi Ron,
I would like to share what a beautiful day it was in Riverside Park yesterday for the Alzheimer’s NY Memory Walk 2009. I joined Team Eisai with Susan Lazar and Chris Bates and the 168 team members almost reached our Team Goal of $40,000 goal with by raising $38,862 towards research and support for prevention, treatment and an eventual cure of this terrible disease. I would like to thank those who sponsored me and helped me to reach my personal goal. The site is still available at http://mw2009nyc.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=302442&supid=274446942
Thank you,
Lori Brizzi
Millennium Hustle Parties/New York Hustle Congress.
Ron,
By now you have probably seen DWTS’s APPALLING Hustle demonstration. It is absolutely outrageous!! It sets any progress made promoting Hustle
to the public back 100 years!! What mockery!!! And why is it that Hustle seems to be the *only* dance on that show that is ever lampooned?
All the other dances get serious treatment. Write ABC folks!
“Illinois” Paul Jones
Hi Ron,Once again T.V. shows a cheesy form of hustle. I did not expect much from a show that is based on ballroom dancing.They do not understand the music or the dance. I heard them refer to hustle as disco.They can’t tell the difference from the dance to the era.Another wasted chance to show the country what a great dance it is.
Bob Frione
Ron,
I watched Dancing with the Stars last night. They had a “hustle” segment. I wish someone would contact them. This is not hustle. It might be “disco” from the late 1970’s. The judges are such “purists” when it comes to ballroom and yet “hacks” when it comes to hustle. No wonder the community doesn’t expand. This is the stereo type we are left with. Perhaps they should have a hustle competition and feature some real dancers.
Kathi
Hey Ron, Dancing With the stars is a farcical. I mean a total joke. The hustle is displayed as a fools dance. It doesn’t even look like the hustle. They imitate all the commercial steps in Saturday night fever and act silly with crazy wigs, and goofy clothing. That is what they call a hustle. A real Joke.
Jim McGraph
Current Standings for the top Swing Dancers
NASDE “Classic, Showcase & Strictly Swing Standings as of:
MALE competitors FEMALE competitors
JORDAN FRISBEE 70 TATIANA MOLLMANN 70
ARJAY CENTENO 65 JESSICA COX 66.5
PARKER DEARBORN 65 MELISSA RUTZ 65
KYLE REDD 54 SARAH VANN DRAKE 54
BEN MORRIS 52 MELINA RAMIREZ 52
CHRISTOPHER HUSSEY 48 KATRINA BRANSON 48
JASON BARNES 46 ERICA BERG 46
MYLES MUNROE 39 TESSA CUNNINGHAM 39
MICHAEL KIELBASA 36.5 KELLESE KEY 37
GREGORY SCOTT 35 JENNIFER DELUCA 36.5
JAKE HANING 32 TALETHA JOUZDANI 32
JASON MIKLIC 31 DEBORAH SZEKELY 31.5
JASON MARKER 29 ANNMARIE MARKER 30.5
JIM MINTY 25 KATIE MCCASLIN 25
