Broadway on Ice, Featuring Meryl Davis and Charlie White December 22-23 three shows

This is another persons recap of the Dance Camp that Tango was at I believe.....

 Dancer anon’s DWM Dance Camp Recap
[EMILY’S NOTE: You must read this. It is equal parts insightful, adorable, and hilarious. Thanks again, dancer anon, for sharing so much with us this week!!]

Okay you’re going to need a readmore for this but here it goes, the tale of dance camp and how I embarrassed myself into oblivion and can never meet Maks ever again-

So first of all the hotel was really confusing to get into but SUUUPER nice. I felt really underdressed until I actually made it to the ballroom. There were about 60 people there, and there was a split floor with dividers for when they had two lessons running at once.

First session was taught by Tony, I barely remember it now other than it started with foxtrot and I am awful at foxtrot. I think it was just the basics of moving your weight pretty much. Nothing super new to me, but the kind of basic stuff that is always nice to go over because every teacher has a different way of explaining it and different insights into stuff. That’s essentially how most of the lessons went actually. Just basic steps but with really good insights on each individual teacher’s thoughts on them.

Next I ended up in Henry’s section. It was called “Understanding Your Body”, but he basically just used it as an excuse to teach us the Apache number. There’s actually a lot of samba in his half, I never really noticed until he started teaching it! There’s a short video of that on instagram. I’m hidden way in the back thank goodness.

After that I took Salsa with Tiago and Teresa. Teresa seems so sweet!!! She’s a great teacher and was really patient with everyone. Also watching her dance salsa up close like seriously amazing. Tiago taught part of the salsa in Maks’s section (I’m pretty sure that’s the section anyway, it’s been a long day), he was also really cool and a good teacher. I decided to grab him after and asked about some choreography stuff. Of course the Bar Rumba was pretty much the only dance in the Latin section he didn’t work on, so no answer there.

Maks’s “The Big Picture” was like 60% a Maks speech, starting with him apologizing for not being prepared or something because Peta had her alarm set for 6:30 and he couldn’t get it turned off? It was cute, I kind of got the feeling he just wanted an excuse to tell that story/talk about her but I mean I don’t think anyone minded. And yes, he talked about Meryl and her role in the show and his exact words were “She has this glowing orb around her when she dances”. It wasn’t specifically “when she dances in Tony’s section”, or I didn’t get that impression at least. He was just generally appreciating her stage presence. Then there was some dancing at the end, but for the life of me I can’t remember the style it was. I just know there were “booty rolls” and “getting down and dirty” which I didn’t even want to attempt, but oh well.

After that was supposed to be “Presence on the Dance Floor”, but it ended up being a Q&A with everyone. They asked that it be kept dance related, so no more Chmergs cuteness unfortunately. They mostly talked in that one about their dance backgrounds and some other general dance stuff.

So then lunch. Most people stayed for the whole day, some did leave but then about the same amount joined too.

There was a bit of a schedule change, so Tony ended up teaching basics of cha cha in the hour after lunch. I personally really like him as a teacher, he’s very easy to follow and highlights the parts that he knows will give people trouble when he’s explaining steps. I was finally starting to feel a little more comfortable after this section because I had been a little nervous all morning, but I think returning to something familiar made it easier to just chill and get with it.

Next was Serge’s “Balance and Control”. I had really wanted to do “The Art of Spinning” with Henry, but it was so crowded that I really didn’t think it would be worth it. I am SO glad I decided to do Balance and Control, because Serge was amazing to work with. He has this calming energy that can make anyone feel at ease. The session used mostly cha cha to demonstrate how we create balance and control in our bodies as dancers, and worked on moving weight but also incorporating arms. I am horrible at arm movements when I dance so for me this session was definitely the most helpful. Towards the beginning I was still kind of on edge because Maks was just hanging out in the doorway watching us (the same thing happened with Tony’s section actually. I was doing a turn step and suddenly Maks was just there standing like 20 feet away hanging out and how do you not get intimidated by that???) but then when he left I let myself get more into it and it was such a great session, probably my favorite of the day.

My second favorite came after, “Principals of the Cha-Cha-Cha” with Ilya. This one was less focused on technique because he taught us the guys part from the “Sway” number at the end of the show! It was so amazing to learn that, and I hope I don’t forget it because it’s like having a little piece of the show to keep now that it’s over.

Then Maks was I guess supposed to teach “The Art of Partnership”, but taught Samba basics instead for whatever reason. But I think more of his point was to get across his teaching style, of trying to learn by taking pieces at a time and putting them together until it builds into the whole thing. And instead of focusing on the small details, looking at the big picture and I guess trying to replicate it. I’m not as eloquent with words as he is, but I appreciate his approach, I think it makes a lot of sense.

After that they did another Q&A, this time with more specific dance questions. Like people asked questions about how to work on connecting with your partner and stuff like that. Afterwards they all gave their “mission statement” about their philosophy of dance. I think I saw a woman filming that section, so maybe the video will crop up online because I definitely don’t remember all of that.

And then came the meet and greet. Also known as me embarrassing myself to infinity and ensuring that I can never meet Maks again.

So I go and grab my phone. I have my Peta phone case on it but I can’t be bothered to take it off and I figure I’ll just get selfies with them. So I get a selfie with Henry no problem, he never sees the case.

But I really really wanted a dance pose picture with Tony. Like I know it’s silly but I just wanted one to show my dance instructor to bug him with because I missed three classes to go on this trip. And Tony was so nice when I started to talk to him! I was wearing a Patriot’s shirt so we talked about football for a moment and how much they sucked yesterday. So I guess I was less nervous then and decided to just bite the bullet.

As I handed my phone to another girl to take the picture for us, I warned Tony that my phone case was a little odd. He was like “I’m sure it’s-”, looked up, saw it, and cracked up laughing and was just like “oh”. And I don’t remember if I even said anything, but we took the picture, and then he took my phone from the girl before I could and asked if Maks had seen it.

So I was like “Uh, no, I don’t know if I want him-”

But nope, too late. Maks was in the middle of taking a picture with someone and Tony said nothing, just held my phone up where he could see it. I was literally hiding my face in my hands at that point, some of the other women were giggling, and Maks finally looked up and saw it. I think he laughed? I was too busy dying at that point. I just remember he looked at me as Tony was handing me my phone back and said “It’s okay, I like her too”.

I debated getting a picture with him at that point, but I figured I had pretty much hit the point of no return with embarrassing myself and I wanted that damn picture. So I waited my turn, then handed him my phone for a selfie, but he got distracted reading a tattoo I have on my shoulder.

Then I managed to embarrass myself even further than I ever thought possible. I read him the tattoo and then said “But this is my favorite tattoo” and showed him the Valentin bowtie I have on my wrist. I don’t really know how to describe his response. Like it seemed to make him happy I guess? Maybe “touched” but I can’t remember what he said about it, just that he asked if Val had seen it and I made the mistake of telling the truth and saying no.

So then Maks grabbed me by the wrist and brought me over to Serge. Keep in mind he’s still holding my phone at this point. Apparently his phone died, but he was determined to get a picture of my tattoo, so he had Serge take a picture of him and my tattoo and because I’m in way too deep at this point and there’s literally no recovering, I tell the story of how I got the tattoo after I ran away from home to see Sway 2 (it was not as bad as it sounds but I wasn’t sure how else to phrase it and the whole thing just happened so fast) because I wanted to see Peta dance. This reminded him that he was holding my phone (He also told me not to run away again, which is now irrelevant because I live alone, but I just said it was fine and not a big deal anymore), and he then had Serge take a picture of him, my phone, and my tattoo. Someone (I’m not sure who, my soul had transcended my earthly body again at this point) was like “Aww, family picture!”

Finally Maks brought me back to where everyone was waiting to take pictures with him and I mumbled something about having no chill left whatsoever, which I think I heard him chuckle at because it was too true to deny at that point, and we got our picture. As I walked away I heard him say “it’s a little creepy”, which I think is completely fair and also an understatement.

So yeah. Off the top of my head that’s my dance camp recap. If anyone has questions feel free to send them and I’ll respond while I contemplate the choices I made tonight. And I’ll send the picture on my phone case in a separate submission because this won’t let me add a picture to a text post.

Not dance related but worth watching....


This is so neat! We’re going to have a local Santa this year who signs (which is a very big deal for this pretty secluded area where I live) and the kids (and adults!) I know who sign are sooooo excited!


 http://mic.com/articles/129869/this-christmas-video-of-a-little-girl-asking-santa-for-presents-is-going-viral?utm_source=policymicTBLR&utm_medium=main&utm_campaign=social#.EM19x0JWE

Tango, thanks for your recap. What an adventure!

This is a cute interview with The Pink Snob. Lindsay Arnold chats with them about Alek Skarlatos, if her goals were met on Dancing With The Stars Season 21 and more. I have so much respect for this girl. So many of you have remarked in comments that she’s one of the best teachers and choreographers on this show and I couldn’t agree more.


http://www.thepinksnob.com/dwts-pro-lindsay-arnold-interview/