DWTS Season 10 Finale at ACME
May 22, 2010 ed.
Greetings from the Greater NY Chapter of USA Dance!
May 22, 2010 ed.
Greetings from the Greater NY Chapter of USA Dance!
I am composing this edition of the newsletter in Knoxville, Tennessee, where I have the privilege to be the MC at the Smoky Mountain DanceSport Championships. I have to thank the President of the Greater Knoxville Chapter, Barbara Condon, for making this newsletter possible, because without her charger for the Macbook, my laptop would not have had the necessary juice to allow me to compose this newsletter. I usually forget at least one item when I pack for my trips, and this time the necessary item left behind back in New York was my Macbook charger. But the adage, "If you don't ask, you don't get" rang true for me today. From the podium I requested assistance from the audience to borrow a charger for my Macbook and in minutes, Barbara came up with her charger which allowed me to recharge my Macbook battery. Thanks, Barbara!
![[img:DPLogo]](../images/news/DP09logo1.jpg)
By now, you must have figured out that I will not be at Dance Parade today with the rest of the NY USA Dance crew. I am sorry to be missing our chapter's participation in the fourth annual Dance Parade, but thanks to Naomi Geller and Jen McGrath, who coordinated our participation in Dance Parade this year, our chapter is able to maintain its unbroken tradition of dancing in the parade from its inception in 2007. Board Member Amanda Ashcraft will also be present, along with a good-sized group drawn from our membership and the ballroom teams from NYU and Rutgers. Thanks to you all for helping NY USA Dance represent ballroom at the Dance Parade. It should be a wonderful day to dance down Broadway. If you won't be dancing with us, please cheer us on from the sidelines on the parade route. Go, NY USA Dance!
![[img:dwts10chadcheryl]](../images/news/dwts10chadcheryl1.jpg)
This week on DWTS: I have never quite been able to figure out how four couples remaining out of eleven constitute a semi-final, but in DWTS parlance, four couples a semi-final does make, and Monday night's competition show had Chad Ochocinco vying with Erin Andrews, Evan Lysacek and Nicole Scherzinger to capture a berth in the finals . . . but to no avail. Going in, no one expected Chad to make it into the finals, and the results show on Tuesday merely fulfilled the general expectation that this week would prove to be Chad's last week on the show. Given his rough start this season, it is certainly a testament to Chad's popularity that he has gotten this far. With Chad's elimination, that leaves Erin, Evan and Nicole to challenge each other for the Ghastly Mirrorball Trophy. Erin remains the most overrated dancer this season. None of our DWTS@ACME crew can understand the judges' affection and high regard for her rather unremarkable terpsichorean displays these last few weeks. If she earns higher than a third place finish this season, something is majorly wrong with both the scoring and the voting on this show.
Congratulations to the Rutgers Ballroom Team, the Scarlet Knights, for their national tv debut on the Tuesday night results show in the college formation team match. Great job, you guys! Way to represent the Northeast!
We plan to be at ACME for both the Monday night competition show and the Tuesday night results show, where the season 10 champion will be revealed. We hope you can join us there for one or both nights. I am going to predict that Nicole Scherzinger will win. We'll find out soon enough; hope you can come out to find out with the DWTS@ACME crew who the champion will be.
Thanks to everyone who attended our pre-Dance Parade social last Saturday at Basic Ballroom. We were hoping for more of a turnout but perhaps with all the graduation activities, people had other places to be that night. We did get a lot of responses to our website survey at the door, so thanks to everyone who filled out the survey to help us figure out what we need to change to make our website more useful to you.
We held a raffle, and congratulations to Debbie Russell, Sean Holohan and Brynn Neal for winning the raffle prizes, which included tickets to MAC 2011. In particular, Brynn will get to catch the championship sessions from both the Reserved and VIP seats.
The party (unexpectedly) morphed into a salsa social around 10:30 pm as another group took over the space. The studio quickly filled up with salsa dancers, and some of them took some of our ballroom dancers for a spin, and it presented an interesting opportunity for our people to experience another side of the New York partner dancing scene. I even tried to learn how to dance salsa "on 2." It took a bit of adjusting and I can't say I quite got the hang of it. Good thing they showed up, though, because they filled up Basic Ballroom.
We plan to hold our next social in June; stay tuned for those details.
Reminders:
Looking to social dance? Here are some suggestions:
Partner seekers: We have an intermediate level follower looking for "someone who is serious about dancing and is able to commit to it." Check out the Partner Search page to see her posting or post your own ad if the fancy strikes you. It's free, easy and quick. Do it today!
That does it for this week. Hope to see you at ACME on Monday and Tuesday for the DWTS10 season finale!
Yang Chen
President
Greater NY
USA Dance
(NY USA Dance)
www.nyusadance.org
yang.chen@nyusadance.org
By now, you must have figured out that I will not be at Dance Parade today with the rest of the NY USA Dance crew. I am sorry to be missing our chapter's participation in the fourth annual Dance Parade, but thanks to Naomi Geller and Jen McGrath, who coordinated our participation in Dance Parade this year, our chapter is able to maintain its unbroken tradition of dancing in the parade from its inception in 2007. Board Member Amanda Ashcraft will also be present, along with a good-sized group drawn from our membership and the ballroom teams from NYU and Rutgers. Thanks to you all for helping NY USA Dance represent ballroom at the Dance Parade. It should be a wonderful day to dance down Broadway. If you won't be dancing with us, please cheer us on from the sidelines on the parade route. Go, NY USA Dance!
This week on DWTS: I have never quite been able to figure out how four couples remaining out of eleven constitute a semi-final, but in DWTS parlance, four couples a semi-final does make, and Monday night's competition show had Chad Ochocinco vying with Erin Andrews, Evan Lysacek and Nicole Scherzinger to capture a berth in the finals . . . but to no avail. Going in, no one expected Chad to make it into the finals, and the results show on Tuesday merely fulfilled the general expectation that this week would prove to be Chad's last week on the show. Given his rough start this season, it is certainly a testament to Chad's popularity that he has gotten this far. With Chad's elimination, that leaves Erin, Evan and Nicole to challenge each other for the Ghastly Mirrorball Trophy. Erin remains the most overrated dancer this season. None of our DWTS@ACME crew can understand the judges' affection and high regard for her rather unremarkable terpsichorean displays these last few weeks. If she earns higher than a third place finish this season, something is majorly wrong with both the scoring and the voting on this show.
Congratulations to the Rutgers Ballroom Team, the Scarlet Knights, for their national tv debut on the Tuesday night results show in the college formation team match. Great job, you guys! Way to represent the Northeast!
We plan to be at ACME for both the Monday night competition show and the Tuesday night results show, where the season 10 champion will be revealed. We hope you can join us there for one or both nights. I am going to predict that Nicole Scherzinger will win. We'll find out soon enough; hope you can come out to find out with the DWTS@ACME crew who the champion will be.
Thanks to everyone who attended our pre-Dance Parade social last Saturday at Basic Ballroom. We were hoping for more of a turnout but perhaps with all the graduation activities, people had other places to be that night. We did get a lot of responses to our website survey at the door, so thanks to everyone who filled out the survey to help us figure out what we need to change to make our website more useful to you.
We held a raffle, and congratulations to Debbie Russell, Sean Holohan and Brynn Neal for winning the raffle prizes, which included tickets to MAC 2011. In particular, Brynn will get to catch the championship sessions from both the Reserved and VIP seats.
The party (unexpectedly) morphed into a salsa social around 10:30 pm as another group took over the space. The studio quickly filled up with salsa dancers, and some of them took some of our ballroom dancers for a spin, and it presented an interesting opportunity for our people to experience another side of the New York partner dancing scene. I even tried to learn how to dance salsa "on 2." It took a bit of adjusting and I can't say I quite got the hang of it. Good thing they showed up, though, because they filled up Basic Ballroom.
We plan to hold our next social in June; stay tuned for those details.
Reminders:
- Louis del Prete will be presenting a Special Event on Saturday, May 29, at the Suburban Temple in Wantagh, out on Long Island. There will be a dance with a special performance by Karina Smirnoff and Dmitry Chaplin from Dancing with the Stars. In addition to the show, you get a dance lesson at 8:30 pm and open dancing from 9 pm to 12:30 am. For more details, click here. This event is popular and has sold out in the past so if you are interested in seeing Karina and Dmitry performing live, make your reservations today.
- USA Dance is hosting its first cruise taking place aboard the luxurious Italian Cruise Line Costa's "Atlantica" from November 28 through December 5, departing from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and hitting the following ports-of-call: Key West, Florida; Ocho Rios, Jamaica; Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands; and Cozumel, Mexico. For more details, click here: www.dancecruiseusadance.org. The instructors will be Dan and Silke Calloway and Wayne and Marie Crowder. Sounds like a great cruise, tailored for ballroom dancers of all levels, so sign up TODAY!
- Become the best ballroom dancer you can be for your partner by working on yourself first. ISTD Fellow Michael Choi shows you how with his Ballroom Barre, at Chelsea Studios, every Wednesday, starting at 8:30 pm. Just $25 per person for USA Dance members. For the latin dancers, Michael offers the Latin Barre, at Basic Ballroom, every Thursday, starting at 9:30 pm. Also just $25 per person for USA Dance members. The classes are non-sequential so drop in any time; no partner required, all levels welcome. For more information, contact Michael at michael@dancemchoi.com.
- Manhattan Ballroom Dance studio has Standard rounds on Thursdays, from 9:30 to 10:30 pm. The floor is huge, with plenty of space to swing out, so if you're looking for a good place to run your standard routines, visit Manhattan Ballroom Dance studio on Thursday nights.
- Dance Chelsea is offering a special promotion of an $85 unlimited practice card. For more details about this great deal, contact the studio or log on to their Facebook page.
- Check out the special rates for USA Dance members at Basic Ballroom: just $79 for a 10 session card and $90 for their unlimited monthly card.
- Dance with Me Soho will be hosting Practice Sessions, and they are offering both an unlimited option and a 10 practice session card. For the unlimited option, the cost is $100 per person, with a 15% discount to USA Dance members, so our members can get unlimited practice time at Dance with Me Soho for just $85 per person per month. If you would prefer to go for the 10 practice session card, the cost for that will be $100 per couple, with a 25% discount for USA Dance members, or $75 per couple. Questions? Please call the studio at (212) 840-Dance (3262).
![[img:usadancecruise]](../images/news/usadancecruise.jpg)
Looking to social dance? Here are some suggestions:
- Tonight: Milonga Elegante at Dance with Me Soho, an evening of Argentine Tango with workshops, performance and dancing until 2 am. Doors open at 8:30 pm. For more information, call the studio at (212) 840-Dance (3262).
- Tonight: mixed ballroom dancing at Manhattan Ballroom Dance studio, starting at 7:30 pm with a free lesson. NOTE: The $10 discount for USA Dance members is no longer in effect; admission for all is now $15 per person.
- Sunday, May 23, Sunday Tea Party at Manhattan Ballroom Dance, mixed ballroom dancing starting at 3 pm.
- Monday, May 24, Salsa at Taj, with live band and special performances. Arrive before 7 pm and get in for $6 (admission price doubles after 7 pm).
- Thursday, May 27, Thursday Night Dance Club at Mirelle's, in Westbury, featuring Latin, Hustle and West Coast Swing. Lesson at 7:30 pm, dancing starts at 8:15 pm. Admission just $10 per person for USA Dance members (present your card at the entrance to get the discount).
Partner seekers: We have an intermediate level follower looking for "someone who is serious about dancing and is able to commit to it." Check out the Partner Search page to see her posting or post your own ad if the fancy strikes you. It's free, easy and quick. Do it today!
That does it for this week. Hope to see you at ACME on Monday and Tuesday for the DWTS10 season finale!
Yang Chen
President
Greater NY
USA Dance
(NY USA Dance)
www.nyusadance.org
yang.chen@nyusadance.org