The Last Regal Dinner Dance

Tonight marked a sad milestone. We went to the very last dinner dance with the Regal Dinner and Dance Club at the Country Club of Fairfax. The Regal has held dances since 1998. Usually 7 dances a year. It's been a great place to show off our steps and meet with friends. The club fell victim of a new pricing structure at the Country Club and membership attrition.

We've always had fun at these events and we're sorry to see them go.

Busy Weekend

We are having a busy dance weekend. Friday we celebrated the Lunar New Year at the Friday Nighter's Dance Club. As usual, the Family Band played for us. We also had a Shag lesson provided by the Northern Virginia Shag Club. Shag is a lot like West Coast Swing that is danced to "Bluesy" music with a slow tempo. It's so much like West Coast, which we know, that we'd probably have a hard time picking it up. If we tried to learn Shag, it would likely mess up what we know in West Coast.

Last night, we celebrated Valentine's Day dancing to Helmut Licht's trio at the Elk's Lodge. This was a dinner dance. There was a good crowd in spite of the inclement weather. We sat with Marilyn and Dick, and Marion and Kwok. The Elk's Lodge has a large dance floor even with seating for 100 or more people.The dance was cut short about a half hour because concerns about the weather. There had been rain and snow showers during the evening and the temperature was dropping fast. It's always better to be safe even if it cuts into the dancing.

Capital Cotillion Dance at ANCC

Last night we enjoyed a dance at the Army-Navy Country Club in Arlington. The dance was put on by the Capital Cotillion Club, which is one of the ballroom dance club we belong to. The ANCC is a great dance venue with a very large dance floor with plenty of space to move around in. The band was the Helmut Licht Orchestra. Helmut plays at several of our other venues, but usually as a trio or quartet. With all the space at ANCC he can bring in more players which adds a lot to the ambiance of the evening.

Our dinner dances are usually cocktails and dinner followed by 3 hours of dancing. We get plenty of exercise to work off the calories. The band usually take two breaks during the evening. During the first break last night we had a Quickstep showcase by Susan Cox and her partner. Susan is a local dance instructor and put on a really nice show last night.

Doris and I had a surprise last night. One of the guest last night was our Argentine Tango instructors from years ago. Her name is Anya and she was part of the Tango Duo. We took Argentine Tango lessons from the Tango Duo for a while before our first trip to Argentina. We had seen her one other time last year when she was a ballroom dancer at the Little Theater of Alexandria production.

Andy Poxon Band

Last night we danced at the Stacy C. Sherwood Center where GottaSwing had the Andy Poxon Band.  Between a couple of sick dogs and the holidays we haven't been able to go dancing as much as we do normally. It was a four piece band with a guitar, a bass, a drummer, and a saxophone player. One thing we really liked about them was the beat was familiar and easy to dance to, but all the songs were original to the band. They did a great job. We had fun and got to get some exercise.

Goodbye 2014

Doris and I rang in the New Year with our friends Kathy and Randy. Their community has a club house with a pretty good dance floor. We had a great dinner and a DJ playing a good variety of tunes to dance to. We've known Kathy and Randy for several years now. We met them in our first dance class. They are better dancer than we are and never miss an opportunity to get out on the floor.

We hope that everyone has a great New Year.

Dirty Dancing 2013

We made the drive down to Mountain Lake Resort on Thursday for another Dirty Dancing Weekend. It's a little late in the year for us but I was taking a class over the summer so we missed the other Dirty Dancing weekends. This makes the 7th year in a row we have come here.

The hotel has done some major renovations over this last year. There have been some alterations such as the library and the bar have switched places. There is also new carpeting and upholstery. The renovations haven't taken from the hotel's rustic charm.

One thing they are trying to change is the way the lake drains. Apparently, they are plugging the holes in the hope the lake will fill up again. We've never seen it full except in the movie. I would like to see it with water in it some year.

One thing that has really changed for the better this year is the new chef, Michael Rork. He's a recent import from the Maryland shore and his menu includes some our favorite dishes, including shrimp and grits, and fried green tomatoes.

Since we'd come up a day early this year we had some unstructured time during the day on Friday. In the morning we walked around the grounds a little then decided to see what Pembroke looked like. We drove down the mountain and proceeded to Pembroke. It didn't take long to drive through the town so we also drove through Blacksburg and Christiansburg. We managed to make it back up the mountain in time for lunch.

After a relaxing afternoon we had dinner. Then, we went down to the Ballroom where they had set up to view the movie "Dirty Dancing". It's interesting to watch a movie with a group of fans who, like us, know every scene and every line of dialog. Some of the favorite scenes were like listening to the lines delivery by a chorus.

As the credits started to roll, we headed to the Activities Barn for the dancing. Not much has changed there. They still have a really good dance floor. There was a nice, cheery fire going in the stone fireplace. The entertainment line-up was a little different this year. There was a live band instead of a DJ and karaoke. The band, named Ratatouille, had 7 pieces and played mainly jazz. We listened and danced until the end, then walked back to the lodge for some sleep.

Tomorrow I'll add some pictures and describe the main event dance on Saturday night.

Tango Shoes

I can think of no better way to remember our stay in Argentina than buying tango shoes. Every time we go to a milonga and dance the tango we will have a remembrance. We stuck to our budget this year pretty well. I got 3 pair and Doris got 3 pair. We went to a shop that takes your measurements and custom makes the shoes. It's a lot of fun looking through the pictures of shoe styles and samples of leather. I like being able to get a pair of shoes unlike anything we can get back home.

Buenos Aires Street Art

We did a lot of walking around Buenos Aires during our stay. Along with the wonderful architecture there is a lot of street art. I'm not sure if it is sanctioned graffiti or shop keepers going in for some wild decorations. Here are samples taken during some of our walks.