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.