The Onion Skin News: Cowtown Friday

It wasn't too late a night on Thursday, so I was up at a reasonable hour Friday morning, no wait that wasn't why, it is because I had to work the front desk on first thing on Friday morning. I got up, cruised down to the 'free continental breakfast' and was as always disappointed, you'd think I'd learn by now that they are worth every penny they are advertised to be worth, I grabbed a donut, got ready, and went down to set up the desk.

My shift was supposed to be 0900-1000, but I was there early... people were waiting! I checked in a few, bought a t-shirt myself, and tried to get everything organized for the weekend. Lindsay came in and to relieve me a right around 0945, and I was off to my first class: Styling with Christy.

Who could possibly know more about styling?

At the 2005 Cowtown, I was still looking at picking up new moves, but something that Peter Strom said stuck in my brain about dancing not being just moves. It made sense at the time, but it didn't really sink in for another six months or so. This year, instead of looking at the moves, I was more interested in 'styling', how to make the dance look or feel interesting. Unfortunately, when it comes to dance, I am a notoriously slow learner. That being said, I took two other classes during the day, both with Kim & David: Lindy Technique & Shapes, Lines, and Levels. I really love the way Kim & David teach, they are organized, in agreement, and GO, they seem to get through more material (successfully) than any other workshop instructors I've experienced. The Shapes, Lines, and Levels class was very eye opening in how to position yourself to look like a much hotter dancer than you really are.

After the class, I cleaned up, got into my car and went home to pick up Cherokee and take him up to Barb's. It was rush, rush, rush, I wanted to get up to the Eagles Lodge by 7:00pm because I was still technically the set up guy for the month of August... I was late. No worries though, there were plenty of helpers there to get things set up. Chris & Corinn taught the beginning lesson and we were off.

Renae nears the end of her time in Omaha, BYE!

um... you caption this one yourself.

Dancing mayhem!

At 9:30 it was time for the preliminaries for the open Jack & Jill. I like the competitions because I think it makes you focus on dancing well. I didn't really think that I would be even in the finals, because lets face it, there were only five going to finals, and it is questionable if I was one of the five best leads from Omaha in the comptetition. They did a medium, a fast, and a you're kidding song for the Jack & Jill.

ladies and gentlemen

First up for me, Lori from Minneapolis, black top & blonde hair in the above picture. Second I got Jessica from Denver, she is the 2nd tall girl in the red top. Third was Tessa / Tae-Tae from Chicago, she is the last one in the line in the green pants.

Help! There is a 20 on my butt!

I don't know exactly what we were doing here, but it wasn't The Bump.

Always look before you swing out your follow.

I ended up being VERY happy with the way I danced, and although I did not advance to the finals, both Jessica & Tessa did, so I must have done something right. What I didn't do right: pace myself. I was really spent after the third dance, and I didn't like feeling that way at all. There was a second heat, and many of the leads danced again, I don't think I could have done it, and thanks Troy, for leaving this old man out. Suggestion for next year: over 40 division.

Eventually I recovered my wind, and it was back to dancing for the rest of the night. At midnight we packed up some stuff and headed back to the hotel for, you guessed it, more dancing!