Friday August 4th, 2017
Hello to our Dance Family!
Welcome to Phil Adams & Mindia Robin's Newsletter: "As the Dancer Turns..."
Time to take another spin with this uplifting issue.
Soap Opera Snippets
A day in the life of...
Photo Credit: Doug Silton
NEW STUFF!
RECORD HIGH... 220 PEEPS for PHIL's BDAY PARTY LAST MONTH!
Thank you to so many people who made our monthly event on July 1st so amazing. Thanks to Helen Tocco for guest DJing late night! Many people help with: set up & breakdown, serving cake, bringing the cakes, covering door shift sign-in, donating snacks, promoting, etc. Even Carlito put away a few chairs Lol! He is unstoppable. And to all the people who came to celebrate & support us. Phil has been bragging of course, that his bday was the best party. That just means that we need to beat that at my upcoming bday party on the 2nd Sat., September 9th ha! See more info below.
MOVING IS A MOVING EXPERIENCE!
We found a really great house with a garden in Lakewood... still crazy with lots to do, but very grateful we found a nice place to live. Definitely a very complicated & stressful move, but I think that orange cat chose the right family. Jasper is mostly transitioning well, & enjoying his new digs. He's probably doing a lot better than we are lately Lol!
PRIORITIES: TO EACH HIS OWN
The last Friday of July was our final day to be moved out of our old house. There was so much to do still, especially since I was quite behind with my packing. Phil told me that he had scheduled a podiatrist appointment for that day (to check on his sore feet from 38 years of dancing). He also had scheduled a hair appointment as well. I asked Phil to reschedule both, thinking it was unrealistic with our to do list for that stressful day. He didn't want to, so we made a compromise. I said to cancel at least one of the two, & to reschedule the hair appointment. Duh! But no. Phil said, "Ok. I'll cancel the doctor appointment. My feet have been hurting for 3 months; I can handle another two weeks. But I can't live with this gray hair another day. (See "CALL YOU OUT" below for more to the story.)
TOMORROW! 1st SATURDAY WORKSHOP & DANCE, AUGUST 5th: CELEBRATING OUR 6 YEAR ANNIVERSARY! COME GET MORE CAKE.
Last year I started a ritual of getting "His & Hers" cakes, to avoid a fight. So there will be two cake options; I usually go with a chocolate theme, & Phil does not.
WE WILL PLAY THE 2017 FLASHMOB SONG DURING THE SOCIAL DANCE FOR PEOPLE TO PRACTICE.
Join us for our fun, monthly event. Usually 150 to 220ish (Lol!) dancers come out to share their passion. COUNTRY 2-STEP, NIGHTCLUB 2-STEP, & WEST COAST SWING WORKSHOPS, followed by SOCIAL DANCING! Privates lessons may be available See link above (1st Saturday Monthly Event) for details. Ages 18 & up.
VENUE LOCATION:
SOUTH BAY DANCE CENTER
SAVERS PLAZA, behind O'Reilly Auto Parts
24817 S. Western Ave., (cross street is Lomita Blvd.)
Lomita, CA 90717
FREE PARKING!
2017 INTERNATIONAL WEST COAST SWING FLASHMOB ROUTINE
SAVE THE DATE: SEPTEMBER 9th: REAL PERFORMANCE (2nd Saturday monthly event) & MY BIRTHDAY PARTY.... with MORE CAKE!
We are very proud of our hard working students in Playa Del Rey & Whittier doing Flashmob practice! Steve Stingley will be videotaping a few upcoming practices for us. Private lessons are available for those wanting extra polishing (hint hint.) Steve will also be videotaping on the upcoming performance dates below. He has done great work for us in the past!
PERFORMANCE DATES
Saturday, September 2nd the Flashmob will be performed around the world. Los Angeles venue TBA. Suggestions welcomed.
2nd Saturday, September 9th: VENUE: South Bay Dance Center in Lomita! We will also be celebrating my Birthday that night YAY! (Occasionally we move our 1st Sat. event to 2nd Sat.)
Thursday, September ???: We are adding a date TBA at our Westchester Elks venue in Playa Del Rey.
*****WE DO HAVE A SPECTATOR OR NON-DANCER $5 FEE*****
If you have friends or family who want to come see the performances, or to check things out at our dances. And 1st timers always FREE at Westchester Elks venue. Ages 21 & up. Ages 18 & up at South Bay Dance Center.
THE "I GOT ISSUES" TABLE
Often dancers get injured, or have a health issue & cannot dance for a period of time. I have had a hip/back issue, & have limited my dancing (at times fully other than teaching)... so I understand the frustration of not being able to dance. I thought it would be great to invite dancers who can't dance to come to our events for free, while they are healing. (As long as they are not contagious ha!) So that they can just hang out, & be social. Our dance family is so supportive & uplifting; which can help with depression & other challenges that may come with difficult life circumstances and/or not getting the health benefit from the exercise of dance. I mentioned the idea to David Amborn; he suggested having a table & calling it the "I Got Issues" Table. There's that alley-oop I was talking about.
***WE ALSO PLAY THE FLASHMOB SONG EVERY THURSDAY AT OUR WEEKLY DANCE (WESTCHESTER ELKS), FOR PEOPLE TO PRACTICE.
CALL YOU OUT!
Here is where we get to pick on our readers, instead of each other! Phil is calling out Frank. Last Thursday during our Intermediate WCS class at WC Elks, I noticed that Phil had put his self-created Bitmoji character on his cell phone wallpaper. So I held up the image to show our class & asked, "Does this look like anybody you know?" Frank said that it kinda looked like Phil, but Phil had much grayer hair. I said that it was my fault, since I kept asking him to wait on his hair appointment. But Phil got his way on that final moving day. And we did get wrap up in time.
TUNE-UP YOUR PLAYLIST!
We want to share with you our favorite songs of the week!
Mindia's Pick: "Our Love" by Natalie Cole (Nightclub 2-step)
Phil's Pick: "Our City" (Acoustic) by TRXD
Phil & Mindia's joint pick! "Love Forever" by David & Brittany Farkas.
ONGOING STUFF!
"LOVE FOREVER" MUSIC VIDEO RELEASED!
A while back, a sweet couple (former students), David & Brittany Farkas, came to our Thursday venue at Westchester Elks (Playa Del Rey) to film a music video for a song from their new album! We were so thrilled to be a part of this music video project with our dance family! David & Brittany are a lovely couple; they are talented musicians as well. Thank you so much for this opportunity. Please enjoy the music video... fun-loving with a surprise is at the very end! It was a treat to get to dance to their beautiful song "Love Forever,", & share all the joy with everyone. Go to our FB wall (mine or Phil's), or view the video on You tube.
2014 DANCE DOWN MEMORY LANE!
Somebody re-posted a video on FB from Phil & I dancing a West Coast Swing exhibition at the Hacienda in 2014 ha! Check us out. Many of you will recognize the song; I get credit for picking it Lol! Improvised dancing, as usual. Also on You tube ( search "Phil and Mindia"). Thanks to Terry Cricksman for taking the video & for posting on YouTube!
LOOKING FOR FOLLOWERS TO SPLIT PRIVATE LESSONS!
I still have a few leaders looking to share private dance lessons. Followers please let me know if interested. You will have fun, & learn stuff too! Mondays, Thursdays, or some Saturdays.
JOIN US EVERY THURSDAY
At WESTCHESTER ELKS LODGE in Playa Del Rey for WEST COAST SWING CLASSES & DANCING! (No outside beverages please.) Ages 21 & up.
GREAT: Classes, dancing, music, big hardwood floor, & of course people! Also has AC & free parking! Ages 21 & up. See Thursday Classes Elks link above for info. PHIL & I WILL TEACH INTERMEDIATE & INTERMED./ADV. WCS CLASSES TOGETHER, & DJ EVERY WEEK! FUN BEGINNER SERIES w/ LARRY WINTER. (Click on link above for details.) We usually get between 70 & 90 people every Thursday... It has been a fun night every week.
LOCATION:
Westchester Elks Lodge
8025 West Manchester Avenue
Playa Del Rey, 90293
PARKING: FREE lot behind the lodge; enter the building through the door w/ "Elks" sign; enter from the parking lot.
CLASSES EVERY TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY w/ PHIL at MEMORIES in WHITTIER! Spread the word! (See Class Schedule link above for details.)
DANCE TEAM!
We are still looking for a few more team people; let us know if interested. Team practice starts up again in September!
DANCE DVDs!
We have two DVDs available, Beginner & Intermediate WCS. You can purchase them with a credit card in person (cash or check is fine also), or through our web store! More info about payment & options under Highlights.
PUNCH CARDS
We have punch cards available for purchase: ten classes for $100 w/ the eleventh class FREE! Punch cards do not expire. We do take credit cards in person or through our web-store.
SHAMELESS PLUG
* We are available for PRIVATE LESSONS throughout the week; contact us to schedule. You get a $5 discount per DVD when you do a private.
Highlights... Takin' Care of Business
*DANCE DVD'S!
Payment & Options: Dance DVSs are $35 each (plus tax if credit card payment). Credit card payments are available in person, (or cash or check in person is fine also), or through our web store. If order your DVDs through our website, you have the option to click the "pick up at class" option (to avoid shipping charges), or you can have them shipped.
* Please add our joint business e-mail to your contact/address book, to avoid Spam difficulties: info@PhilAndMindiaDance.com Please use this contact for any future communications.
* All of our classes are drop-in (some do run in a series). No partner needed for any of our classes. No prior dance experience needed for Beginner classes. Two left feet are welcomed; we will introduce you to your right foot! (Phil wanted credit for that last comment.)
* Once you have moved up from our Beginner level classes to Intermediate and then later Advanced, you are welcome to continue taking our Beginner classes for FREE! We want to encourage you to continue working on your basics; that is most important to develop a strong foundation. The best dancers usually are the ones who have worked on their basics for years. When you keep taking Beginner classes, you are also helping the new students to progress faster, since they get to rotate & dance with more experienced dancers.
We hope that you have enjoyed this episode of "As the Dancer Turns..." I know that we have! Stay tuned for more entertaining issues.
Please explore our website for more info. We are also available for private dance lessons. Send us Facebook friend requests if you want to be informed/updated by our Newsfeed and Wall Posts.
Hope to see you dancing soon,
Mindia... & Phil ;-)