Enter The Blues: January 25th-27th 2008 - Atlanta, GA

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gamble
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Enter The Blues: January 25th-27th 2008 - Atlanta, GA

#1 Post by gamble » Tue Aug 28, 2007 1:53 pm

Blues music has always been at home in the South, so last year we decided it was time to make Atlanta a new home for Blues Dance. Our first year was a homecoming, a celebration of a feeling, a landmark.

Now let the sound of the Blues call you back to the heart of the South...

We are pleased to announce that Atlanta will re-Enter the Blues, January 25-27th, 2008. We will have instructors and dj's from all across the country -- from California to Texas to New York -- to educate and inspire you to dance to the music which is so integral to culture and tradition in this area.

Details and website coming soon...

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gamble
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#2 Post by gamble » Thu Oct 04, 2007 12:26 pm

Teacher Lineup Verified!

We are very excited to welcome Dave Madison, Haley Smith, Mike Legett, Josh Boroff, Devona Cartier, Don West, and Tina Davis! Learn more about these fabulous people below.

Also, Early-Bird Registration will open October 18th - just a few weeks away!

Teacher Bios:

David Madison and Haley Smith
David and Haley have been teaching Blues in the Bay Area since the beginning of the Bay Area Blues scene. They were also honored to teach a blues class at the infamous Herräng Dance Camp. They've consistently placed highly at Blues contests across the country. Their love of teaching comes from transferring the fundamental essence of Blues to their students. Their classes are high energy and have a playfulness and interactive nature that is infectious. Explaining and demonstrating are not enough, Dave and Haley have the lofty goal of wanting every student to walk out of the class with a mastery of the material.

Mike Legett
Mike the Girl is known for both her love of connection and for her strange name. Her dancing was born and raised in Knoxville, but in 2006 she moved to Atlanta to pursue a dual career as mad scientist and dance junkie; she delights in exploring Lindy, Charleston, Bal, Blues, Molecular Bio, and Tango. She has performed Charleston and Blues from one coast to the other, and she enjoys Jack-and-Jill comps as an excuse to social dance when everyone else decides to sit down. For Mike, perhaps the only thing more rewarding than dancing is teaching; she combines an intuitive understanding of connection with an analytical speaking style to give her students technique, but also strives to challenge and inspire her students to push themselves further into the music.

Joshua Boroff and Devona Cartier
Devona first began swing dancing, at the age of eight, as a Carolina Shagger taught by her dad in his North Myrtle Beach kitchen. While in college, pursuing a dance degree, she took her first Lindy Hop class in 1998, and her first Blues class in 2000, both in North Carolina. She moved to NYC in 2001 and resides in Brooklyn. In her daily life she is a well respected Pilates teacher. Recently she has taken top prize in Jack and Jill Competitions at Down Home Blues(SF,6/06) and Jammin' the Blues(DC,8/06). Joshua grew up loving music and moving to it. He took his desire for movement and put it into fencing, which he competed in and taught for ten years. He learned Lindy Hop in '98 at Beantown and started his infatuation for Blues dancing in early '03. Wanting to know more, he began following in order to learn how to blues dance. Eventually he got into micro-blues and developed a style for which he was known. Now his tastes have grown into more vintage style movements, driven by a hard backbone of Delta blues. Joshua and Devona began dancing together in 2003. They have a unique style of dancing to blues music that incorporates vintage blues dances with their own personal style. When they dance, they want to express the rhythms, styles, feels, and tones of the music, varying their style as the music changes. They teach not because they can or because they are good dancers, but because they feel they can offer something unique; they want to share what they love about blues music and dancing. In their classes they place high importance on getting the message across clearly to the people at hand, adapting as needed. Their classes include demonstration, feedback, lots of music, and most importantly, practice (see it, do it, do it again, try this, do it, do it, do it). They have taught most recently at the MezzJelly weekend in Raleigh NC and placed in the Blues Division finals at Rhythmic Arts Festival.

Don West
Don West has been dancing since 1997 and teaching since 2000 in Dallas. He's been in a number of dance troupes including Smiley's Lindy Hoppers, Uptown Swing and began his own troupe called the Madcap Maniacs and is now the creative director for the ACME Swing Co. He was also the 2000 American Lindy Hop Jack and Jill Champion in Connecticut as well as first place winner in several local competitions in Austin and Houston. Don's teaching style focuses on technique and communication in social dancing, and wants nothing more than to share his love of the dance with you and for you to enjoy yourself on the dance floor.

Tina Davis
After years of dancing, DJing and organizing in the Lindy Hop and Blues scenes in Florida and Texas, Tina is dipping her toe into the teaching world to spread her love of dancing to the Blues. She is currently teaching with Keith Shapiro for the Austin Swing Syndicate, taught at Austin Blues Party with Don West, and recently spread her love for Blues at Blues Boot Camp. Tina likes to emphasize to students sound fundamentals, the basics of rhythm, and love of the music. But most of all, dancing has just got to be fun.

Visit us at http://www.entertheblues.com

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gamble
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#3 Post by gamble » Thu Oct 18, 2007 12:33 pm

Early Bird Registration is OPEN! Sign up now and get a full weekend of classes, great music, and tons of social dancing for just $65!

Sign up now at http://www.entertheblues.com

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#4 Post by gamble » Mon Nov 05, 2007 10:14 pm

Greetings, dancers!

Early bird registration is rapidly drawing to a close! Wednesday, November 7th is the last day to register for Early Bird prices - that's just TWO MORE DAYS! We've already had people sign up from California to Virginia and Florida to Canada; this will be an even that you just don't want to miss. Last year, the full package sold out, and we expect the same this year! Remember that a full package includes 8 workshop classes, 3 taster classes, plus main and late dances on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Early Bird Price for full weekend $65
Pre Registration for the entire weekend after November 7th $80
On November 7th you can also sign up for day passes for $45
Dance Only Passes $35

Sign up now at http://www.entertheblues.com

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gamble
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#5 Post by gamble » Thu Dec 06, 2007 7:46 pm

DJ UPDATE!
As if Tina, Heather, Dan, Jeff, and Devona weren't enough, we
now bring you the final DJ lineup! Joining the sound crew for your
listening and dancing pleasure will be: Mike Marcotte, Allen Kerr,
Michael Gamble, and Patrick Warren. For bios, mugshots, and song
samples, visit our music page at www.entertheblues.com/music.php.

BLUES LUNCH
Lunch information is now up! Once again, we bring you the
convenience of in-house lunch, for only $4.

CLASS DESCRIPTIONS
After many sleepless nights and bloody brawls,
under the whips and chains of our ruthless teacher coordinator, our
teachers have finally agreed on the ultimate curriculum - one that
will be enlightening, challenging, and most of all, fun. Class
titles, instructors, and even descriptions are now up on the classes
page.

Visit us and learn more at http://www.entertheblues.com

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gamble
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#6 Post by gamble » Thu Jan 10, 2008 8:18 pm

REGISTRATION FULL FOR FOLLOWS (still room for leads!)
Thank you so much for your support! The response to this event has been truly awesome. Followers still hoping to attend have a few options: (1) You can still get a dances-only pass and/or attend taster classes. (2) Email us using the website to get on the waiting list. We *are* searching for larger venues which may allow us to take a few more ladies.

ENTER THE BLUES GARMENTS
...Speak for themselves! We've got several different looks, check out a sample:

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Scroll through all 10 styles here: http://www.entertheblues.com/artwork.php

USEFUL WEB UPDATES
For those of you anxious to make your travel plans, our map and directions page is complete. (note that it is still possible for the main class venue to change to allow for more registrants!) Also, competition info is up! We've got a Jack & Jill as well as a Solo Blues comp this year to keep things interesting...

It's getting close, folks!

Visit us and learn more at http://www.entertheblues.com

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#7 Post by gamble » Sat Mar 08, 2008 8:54 pm

From Mike: (slightly late)

Having just about recovered, I think it's high time I properly thanked everyone for EtB this year.

To my fellow organizers: this year was seamless. We avoided needing to avoid disasters, which is unheard of! You guys took this event and ran it, and did a phenomenal job. Many, many thanks to Meghan, Jaya, and Michael, and our under-thanked and over-worked venue madame, Aimee Holcombe. : )

To the instructors: You had big shoes to fill after last year's classes, and you stretched them out even more for the poor souls who have to fill them next year (even in socks-only, you leave big shoes to fill). You were dedicated in classes and available at the dances, and made the event even more fun. So Megan, Stryder, Clint, Lena, Josh, Devona, Tina, Don, Haley, and Dave- hopefully you're recovered, and have celebrated your awesomeness. I did!

To the volunteers: All my raving in the first paragraph couldn't have happened without you guys. We rely on good, solid help, and the southeast has some really wonderful people to help make these events go so smoothly. I heart you all, even if I don't have your names in front of me. : )

To the DJ's: You rocked me and rolled me, gave me the blues, then took them away. You kept me moving despite my tired body, and reminded me why we do this dance- for the music. So Jim, Jeff, Heather, Devona, Patrick, Tina, Michael, Mike, Allen... keep that music coming- it's the best.

To the rest of you: I can classify you casually because no matter how hard I try, I can't possibly overstate your importance. For all the work that goes into these events, for all the sleepless nights and high tensions in the days preceding the events... you make it more than worthwhile. I can't count the number of times that I stopped what I was doing and looked out across the dance floor, and got goosebumps. "Look at that. Look at _this_. Look." You guys brought the music alive. You took the academic ideas of the classroom, and gave them sweat and life. You took the risks to compete, you dared to ask strangers to dance, you dared feeling foolish in class... and you were successful in all of these attempts. So forgive me if I'm a little melodramatic, but you're the reason we do this, and the reward was huge.

My many thanks and much love,
-Mike

From me:

Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/chungaw/ETB2008

and http://picasaweb.google.com/Alan.Annice ... 9fx7xIQd6c

Vid: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_q ... arch_type=

CONTEST WINNERS:

Solo Blues

1. Megan Adair
2. Dexter Santos
3. Lindsay Longstreth

Jack & Jill

1. Dexter Santos & Lindsay Longstreth
2. Alan Chung & Rachel Stirling
3. Megan Adair & Patrick Manigault

Thanks everyone, that rocked!

~Michael G

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