Dance Videos - New Year's Ball 2017

Dancing videos from last Friday night's 2017 New Year's Ball!
Enjoy.

Dance Videos - Nov 11

Below you'll find the dance videos from last Friday night's dance in Belleville. Enjoy!

Dancing at the Casa Loma

August 19, 2016- It's been 6 months, but we're back for another fun evening of dancing at the Casa Lama Ballroom!

The fun starts with some instruction by our dance instructor.

Tonight we worked on the steps for the Foxtrot.

 - Foxtrot filmed in the 1920s -

Josiah dancing with our instructor 

We primarily danced West Coast Swing during the evening.

Live big band performance by the Ambassadors of Swing 

And that's why I'm nicknamed "Bernardo." 

Making the case for a more Asian (and friendlier?) version at the ballroom.

#fareastmeetswestside 

#nomambo #nojets 🔪 #nomaria

Notice how the ladies are positioned on the man's right side - this allows the man to walk forward (below) in the foxtrot without (with some practice) stepping on the lady's toes! 

 Contra dance position 

We wrapped up the evening by attempting a dance that I'd barely remembered: the Shim-Sham.

We'll need to brush up on this dance since we the "glory days" when we practiced it more ;)
(From last August:)

Dance Videos - Oct 14

Videos from last Friday's dance practice in Belleville, IL.
Enjoy!




1. The Scottish Polka
2. Irish Washer Woman
3. Juice of Barley
4. The Duke of Kent's Waltz
5. Gotham Jubilee


Dances called by Jeremy Suermann
Filmed by Andrew Wong

Dance Videos: Officer's Ball

August 12, 2016 - Salem, IL - The Howards family hosted another ball this summer to honor the lives of our active servicemen and veterans.  

Honoring and praying for those in the service

Thanks (again) to the filming work of Rachelle Howard, I hope you enjoy the 15 (15!) videos I've posted from the ball below:

1. Laura's Waltz
2. Key to the Cellar
3. Yellow Stockings
4. The Scottish Polka
5. Lovely Nancy
6. Comical Fellow
7. The Ragg
8. Bare Necessities   
9. Pirate's Waltz
10. Red House
11. Duke of Kent's Waltz
12. Hole in the Wall
13. Barbarini's Tambourine
14. Spanish Circle
15. Juice of Barley

Dance Videos - May 17

May 17, 2016 - Thanks to the filming efforts of Rachelle Howard, I have these new (old) dancing videos from a dance in May hosted by Katie & Caleb Santarelli.

Enjoy!

 
1. Red House
2. Postie's Jig 2/2
3. The Scottish Polka
4. The Last Dance 2/2
5. Postie's Jig 1/2
6. Gypsy Girl's Headscarf
7. Upon a Summer's Day
8. Greater by MercyMe
9. The Last Dance 1/2
10. Laura's Waltz
11. Comical Fellow (set to "Like a Match" by TobyMac)
12. Liliburleo

It's safe to say that none of us were prepared for this music when we were getting ready to dance Bare Necessities.  Yet, we all adjusted and the countless little improvisations are fun to watch:

Dance Videos - Sep 10

September 10, 2016 -  The dancing videos from last Friday night's dance practice will be posted here!
The videos are even more roughly edited than usual, because I'm posting from my Chromebook, but I hope you enjoy them nevertheless.



1. Laura's Waltz
2. The Duke of Kent's Waltz
3. The Scottish Polka
4. Juice of Barley
5. The Mulberry Garden - (Thanks for the help!)
6. Virginia Reel

Blog Update

My Scandinavian friends (if I had any) would call this a smorgasbord of a post.  It's comprised of updates from April through May with a healthy sprinkling of selfies for that slightly egotistical aftertaste.

Enjoy!

April 8, 2016

Spent the evening dancing and waltzing (clip below) with friends.  

Whew...glad to say that my waltzing has improved in the last month.

Credit: Larissa B.

April 9, 2016

Out on the town with the family for my birthday and dinner at Maggiano's Little Italy.

April 18, 2016

For my birthday, Kate got us seats to the first Cards vs Cubs game of the season. We ended up being shutout and beaten by our northern rivals, but we still managed some smiles for the photo.

April 22, 2016

 It's rare for a film trailer to create any expectation within me for a movie's release, but I have to admit that I was really curious to watch the new Jungle Book.
The visual design - and particularly the animation of the animals - were great to see in theatre.  To its credit Jungle Book profited from the updated portrayal of the characters from the earlier Disney version (which was a childhood favorite.)

Sidenote: Loved the continual depiction of Mowgli, the "man cub" as being so separate and somehow superior to the rest of the animals in the jungle hierarchy.   The "king of the swingers" and the elephants were both reverenced because of their size, but the respect paid to Mowgli at the end of the film didn't originate from his own power.  #imagodei
That was a very welcome departure from the '67 version that featured an orangutan being referred to as "cousin."

How about that - you got a free mini-film worldview critique thrown in with a selfie (right.)

Except...where was the girl?  You know, the one getting her water from the river while singing "My Own Home?"
In her place were these mice at the end of the movie.

April 23, 2016

Pics while we were doing some yardwork.

The ashen remains of our burn pile.

April 30 - May 1, 2016

All tucked in and ready for bed.

I sent proof that Lydia was well taken care of while Kate was out of town.

We got the opportunity to promote our instructor's (Diana Roberts) ballroom dancing lessons by doing a demonstration.  I'm not sure if we were showcasing the need for lessons or what we'd learned.

May 6, 2016

Benjamin and Noah working into the night under the wheel well of Benjamin's truck.

Noah testing the temperature on that glowing red-hot piece he was working on.

May 17, 2016

Had a great evening dancing with friends and helping to celebrate some birthdays.

I was going to caption this photo with 

"ENTPs can do everything - levitation included."

But, I had an "aha moment" and this nugget of wisdom that I'll end this post with:

While they can do anything, 

ENTPs have to learn they can't do everything.