Congratulations to our fabulous dancers for a GREAT performance at the Reston Holiday Parade!
Congratulations on 2 great performances to the Line Dance 4 You dance team who performed Saturday, 10/1 at the Joe Gibbs’ Youth for Tomorrow Country Fair & Auctions!
From top left to bottom right: Susan Fines, Kim Chandler, Diane Pickens, Fred Crowson, Jim Guiffre (team videographer), Tracey Wood, Chrystn DeFinis, Rebecca Stodgill, Tab McNabb, Kelly Gaskins, Carolyn Maleknasri, me (Danielle), Lauren Patrizi, and Krysta Spille.
This dawned on me last night….. When I’m about to let everyone do the dance without me calling the steps, I’ll say you can do it “on your own”.
However, the beauty of line dancing is that you’re NEVER actually “on your own”. You’re always on the dance floor with a big group of people that can quickly become friends. Everyone helps each other out and leans on each other when we forget a step or get turned the wrong direction. It’s a really supportive and fun environment, so even though I say it, you’re never actually “on your own”!
I know we all have a great time at dance and Jill and I are so thankful to you all for coming out every week, but we have a problem… despite our number of attendees, Fast Eddie’s isn’t making money on us. This happens a lot with dancers because we need to hydrate (water) and typically don’t want to hinder our dancing by drinking too much. However, Fast Eddie’s provides country night free of charge in the hopes that we’ll buy some beers and some food and make it profitable for them. After all, they ARE a business.
I know a lot of you do buy drinks and food when you come out and we thank you for that! However, if you’re not a drinker, bring a friend who is (you can be their DD!). Fast Eddie’s has GREAT happy hour specials until 9:00 (most places cut off at 7! Neds did!). If you don’t drink, try having dinner there or get a late night snack. Basically, we need to show Fast Eddie’s that we’re worth offering free country night to!
Think of all we’ve got (and all they’ve provided) when you come out next:
I know the economy is rough on everyone right now, but when you think next about where you’re going to spend a few bucks for a night out, please keep this in mind. We love having you all and hope you’ll continue to support what you love!
So, for anyone that has done the Barn Dance anywhere else in the world, you’ll notice something odd when you come into our venue…. we do it in reverse! Yes, we ARE aware of that. 🙂
Why do we do that? Well, it’s simple… when it was first taught/done with this group (Note: this predates me), no one knew which way to go, so people just instinctively went to their right. After a while, this just stuck with the group and, even after many of us noticed the error, it was too late to stop it. So, we continue to do it backward at our venue and enjoy being a little “different”!
Typically I don’t teach this dance because it does create some confusion, but when I do, I try to point out that we do it wrong, so if you go anywhere else, you should expect to move to the left. When I do teach this dance though, I continue to teach it “backwards” but add that little disclosure.
Either way, just like with any dance, you should always dance in accordance with the venue you’re at, not with the one you’re used to because they’re all a little bit different and as for us… I think we can agree that the LD4Y crowd is, and LIKES, being a little different!
Ok, it’s official…. our new home is (drum roll please…) FAST EDDIE’S CENTREVILLE! Starting 12/21/11, we will be permanently moved to Fast Eddie’s!
Here’s what you can expect from our new location:
Fast Eddie’s is very eager to have us and to accomodate us. Thank you to everyone who made their voices heard through our survey and emails! We hope you’ll be pleased with the new venue!
There will be no more moves going forward! This will be our home, sweet home!
So as most of you know now, Neds closed up their Centreville location on 12/13 with no prior notice. Luckily, because our dancers have made such good friends with the employees there, we found out about this closing on the 13th (rather than the 14th when we’d all have shown up and gotten a very unwelcome surprise). Anyhow, here’s the gist of the story and answers to many questions I’ve been getting:
Why did it close?
Apparently the lease for the C’ville location was up on the 13th. The owner, Graham, decided that the location as a whole just wasn’t profitable in this economic climate to continue, so he opted not to renew the lease. Unfortunately, that meant turning in the keys right then essentially. No one was notified of the closing (not me or Jill, not the bartenders or waitstaff, etc).
What will be there now?
Despite some confusion about this, nobody bought out Neds. They just didn’t renew the lease, so no other bar will be taking it’s place that I’m aware of. As of now, it is a vacant building.
Thank you to everyone that has been so supportive and helpful in this process. This took us all by surprise, but we’ve rallied together and will find a new home for our country night! The one thing we’ve learned in this is that it’s not the bar that makes country night so awesome… it’s all of you!
Why would someone choose to participate in line dancing over other forms of dance? There are several reasons why it is an appealing choice:
Initial Author: Lorie Witkop
Dancers of all levels should remember that although there is typically a common way to perform each dance, there is always room for interpretation and local flair. Don’t be surprised if you enter a new dance venue and find everyone inserting an extra hand clap or making quarter turns instead of half turns. Just go with the flow and enjoy.
Initial Author: Lorie Witkop
Thank you and Congratulations to the wonderful dancers who performed at the Joe Gibb’s Youth For Tomorrow Country Fair & Auction on 10/2/10!
Top row from left: Kim, Krysta, Vanessa, Jeff, Danielle, Andrew, Colleen, Raymond, Jim (team videographer) Bottom row from left: Dan, Fred, Melissa, Kristine, Rebecca
LineDance4You