Here I am, more exhausted than Ive ever been after any Showdown in the history of Showdowns, and I am the happiest girl on the planet right now. We always have good music, but this year was by far the highest caliber of musicianship ever. All of our BEST local dance bands plus Jonathan Stout and his crew made it pretty much the best weekend of music Ive ever heard at a dance event. But I am, of course, a little biased. Thank you to everyone who came to the event, especially those who keep coming back to us year after year. It means a lot that you stick by us as we try new things, sometimes failing, other times succeeding. This year was definitely a HUGE success and the contests were the best weve had in years. Yall.....it is REALLY HARD to come up with new contest formats that push the dancers, dont make a joke out of the dance, and create a great show for the audience. The joke this year has been all about asking ourselves how long will it be until Showdowns new contest formats are bitten and become the norm, and thus, making them no longer interesting or special. :) I just saw some flyer that had BATTLE in the title....... I want to thank my team who worked so unbelievably hard this weekend; Lori DeLeon, Jil Lienne, Jon Broder, Marla Dixon, Ben Polcer, Michael Faltesek for executing all the most important parts of the production, to my film crew led by the super pro and super cool Michelle Nicolette Kowalski, with Jeremy Blum, & Laura Manning, all of the musicians who played this weekend especially those who put in over time learning new songs for dance performances, all the teachers, judges and DJs, and of course every volunteer who gave rides to staff to and from venues or the airport, organized housing, laid down dance floor, ran errands for me, or just helped the out of town folks feel welcome and comfy. You are the most important part of the operation! And lastly I want to thank our sponsors and contributors. If they didnt help us we would have an impossible time making the event as special as it is. Amy Kirk and Smith Jeremy and The French Market (New Orleans) for the constant support every year. The event would not be the same without those daytime events held outside in the French Market District, Douglas Emmer & Spotted Cat Music Club for being welcoming to all the swing dancers in town and letting them dance their brains out in your club, Matt Hampsey & Bruce Sunpie Barnes at The New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park for letting us showcase jazz dancing in all its various forms and for staying open on a day they would normally be closed just so we can have more dance classes this year, WWOZ 90.7 FM New Orleans ,the BEST radio station in the world for donating those awesome cookbooks for our contest winners, Crescent Crown distributing for donating beers to keep the musicians hydrated, and lastly Miss Sophie Lee Lowry and the crew at Three Muses for serving food longer than normal so us dancers could refuel for after hours, and for being just the greatest folks in the city. Three Muses is not only one of my favorite restaurants in town, but it is one of the most supportive business on Frenchmen to jazz musicians and dancers. And Sophie was one of the vocalists in the Friday night band. I love our multi-talented Frenchmen St family! Believe it or not, early bird tickets will be up before the end of this week. Be on the lookout. There is no reason to be spending loads of money on a ticket to The New Orleans Swing Dance Festival & The Ultimate Lindy Hop Showdown. You just have to buy your ticket a year in advance! With that all being said, I am going back to sleep. xoxoxo
Posted on: Mon, 06 Oct 2014 23:47:02 +0000
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