Friday, July 22, 2005

URDC Report #4

Did we guess that "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" would be in the Top 15? If not, then Al and I really have egg on our faces. The #1 dance was "And I Love You So," which surprised no one.

Today I met Anita Froehlich, who posts occasionally to the list. She saw my emails and sent me a personal message to look for her. We didn't talk a lot, but she doesn't appear so shy in person as she does on the list. I also met a lurker by the name of Erwin (sorry, it's late and I can't remember your last name) who offered to help me with Mac problems. Erwin, speak up! Also, I neglected to mention previously that I talked several times with Vanessa Otto, a dancer from southern California who I see frequently at dances all over California.

I counted 6 couples here from the San Jose, California area and 4 couples from Sacramento, but the Sac-ites corrected me and said there are 7 couples from their area. With 26 northern Californians here and untold others from southern California, we were disappointed that Kay didn't include us when he recounted the attendance from states and countries who sent the most attendees.

Kay has his hands full with other things right now, as Joy fell during this evening's dance and apparently injured her (other) wrist. Joy, you are in our prayers tonight!

Several teachers who met Daisuke Doi this week were surprised to find that he has been attending URDC conventions annually since 1998. But they didn't really know who he was until this year. Both CRDA and NCRDTA have selected his dances as ROMs recently. Maybe we'll see one of those dances in the Top 15 someday?

Today we learned a difficult West Coast Swing, "Draggin' The Line" by Randy and Marie Preskitt, with music by the same name from Tommy James and the Shondells, vintage 1972 or so. The dance is only a Phase V but was confusing for those of us not yet experts at WCS. The dance is ultimately rewarding because the choreography fits the music so well.

We happened to line up right next to Bill and Olga Cibula to dance their "Hey Mambo," a dance we unfortunately do not know. At least we had someone knowledgeable to watch when we got lost!

Mary's back problems eased up considerably today after icing last night. We were able to dance anything we wanted to tonight and with reasonable form and flexibility. We were even able to dance Bill Goss's waltz. It was during the workshop of this waltz that Mary's back went wonky. No refection on the dance ... Mary's back doesn't like the "standing around" and "looking circles" that happen during a dance teach.

A friend of mine who grew up in San Antonio but now lives in our area suggested that we eat at a certain Mexican restaurant here. But she said to call first and make sure it's still there because the last time she ate there was 12 years ago! Well, Karam's Mexican dining room is still here and going strong after 58 years! The food, service and ambiance were wonderful. They gave us all the information we needed to order around our food allergies. They had a wonderful guitar band who played the whole time we were there. They played "La Paloma," "Cuando Calienta El Sol," and other favorites. Most had a rumba rhythm and I tried to get Mary to dance with no success. Karam's is at the corner of Commerce and Zarzamora in San Antonio, and we highly recommend it.

I just discovered something funny. My Mac screen is updating while I write this email. So I checked and our hotel room at the Alamo Travelodge has wireless internet. All week I've been dragging the computer down to the Menger Hotel to use their wireless access, and it was totally unnecessary. This week has been a comedy of errors in many ways.

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