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See what you can Get Out of J(ack) L(im) Free by browsing around RECENT UPDATES Nov 13, 2006 Emerald City Blues Festival Tuesday Nov 07, 2006 Marcus and Claire Wedding Sunday Nov 05, 2006 Lulu's Wedding Sunday Oct 29, 2006 Rocky Horror Picture Show Wednesday Jul 26, 2006 Niagara Falls Wednesday Jul 26, 2006 Waterloo Blues Dancing Exchange Monday Jun 26, 2006 Updated dance page Sunday Jun 15, 2006 Fox Dance Show Tuesday May 9, 2006 Switched over to IX Web Hosting Thursday Sep 8, 2005 Molalla Flowers Friday Jul 8, 2005 NYC Pictures Monday May 23, 2005 Breadcrumbs to aide navigation Saturday May 21, 2005 Added comics and column for Recent Updates Tuesday May 17, 2005 Put some pictures on Family nav item Sunday May 15, 2005 Navigation bar implemented initial content upload Saturday May 14, 2005 Began working on page graphics Thursday May 12, 2005 site announced on xanga blog Wednesday May 11, 2005 Site activated and included web tools package explored Tuesday May 10, 2005 Domain registered and web host services requested from infinology corporation |
Background When I first headed off to college in 1998, my brother, who's one year ahead of me academically, told me to take ballroom dancing. "But Dave..." I started to question, but his quick response was firmly, "Just do it." We went to different colleges so there no guarantee that I would experience or enjoy dancing the same way he did. Regardless, I went. I tried. I loved it. Lo and behold, he was right. How dare he be. Not only did I love it, but I became the president of the club the following year, an event coordinator the year after that, and have steadily been involved in some shape or form every year from that point on. Between my junior and senior year, I took some time off from college and spent it in my home town of Portland, Oregon. During that time, I picked up some salsa and west coast swing. Those dances were much more socialable and I started shifting to being more of a social dancer rather than a technical one. Three weeks after graduating from my university in 2003, I just happened to find a job there. With no sense to stop doing such a fun thing, my involvement with the ballroom dance club continued. To add a different flavor to the dance classes provided, I offered to be a volunteer salsa instructor that summer and have been volunteering every semester since. The club appointed me as the social dancing instructor and to promote the type of social dancing truer to my heart, some basic swing classes were added into the mix. Although I'm still an advocate for partner dancing in general, there's little denying that my favorite type of dancing is West Coast Swing. I'm happy of its increased popularity due to the Fox TV Show So You Think You Can Dance by contestants Benji Schwimmer and Heidi Groskreutz. During their audition process, they were able to demonstrate the routine that made them US Open Swing Champions in 2005 for the Showcase category. People have been uploading West Coast Swing videos onto YouTube lately and I'm happy to be inspired by even random dancers. Another fun couple to watch would be Jordan Frisbee and Tatiana Mollmann. They are the current Classic champions for US Open Swing 2005: In hopes of encouraging the fan base of this style of dance, enjoy the wonderful demonstration offered by professionals Jordan Frisbee, Tatiana Mollmann, Parker Dearborn and Jessica Cox. |
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