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Thursday, December 30, 2004

Dancing in the Desert

DD, AD, Jk and I had the Free breakfast at the hotel. It was one of the best continental breakfasts I have had since the hotel I stayed at in Washington. It had pancakes, French toast, muffins, cereal and yogurt. A nice spread. Then we went to pick up Mom back at Barbara and Dave's and started our way back to the LA area. They dropped me off in Palm Springs (I just like the way that sounds, they dropped me off. It is a 6 hour drive and they just dropped me off. Ya I know but is just sound funny) at the Doral Palm Springs Resort for the
Swing'n New Year's Dance Camp and Salsa Extravaganza. I met up with my friend Kimberly who will be my ride back to the LA area when the camp ends. We went to eat at Sizzler and got back in time to see the Jill and Jack West Coast Swing Competition.

Let me give you some background. During the camp, there are dance competitions in various dances which were West Coast Swing, Salsa, Hustle and Night Club and at various levels which were novice, intermediate, advanced and professional (many were dance teachers in this category). There were competitions like Strictly Swing in which the partners had practiced and danced with each other before. With the Jack and Jill, it is different. It starts with the leaders being called up and standing in a line. Then the followers are called up and each stand in front of a leader. A playing card is picked from an audience member and the followers move to the right the number of leaders as the number shown on the card. The dancers now dance with someone they have not danced with before. The Jack and Jill competition shows how well you can lead or follow.

This evening it was a Jill and Jack which the girls lead and the guys followed. They also took it further than that. The guys wore dresses and girls clothes and the girls wore guys clothes. It was so funny and they were all good dancers as well. Then there was open dancing in the Swing and Salsa Ballrooms. I danced with a lot of really cute girls and danced until 2a.

Posted by Eric at December 30, 2004 11:42 PM