Before the lights came up, we were ready under our umbrellas.
In the routine
Hearing the judges comments.
The final lineup.
The best video we have so far, but stay tuned for a clip from the professional video when I get a copy.
Showing posts with label dancing with the brunswick stars. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dancing with the brunswick stars. Show all posts
Sunday, August 8, 2010
My Adventure with Dancing with the Brunswick Stars - Journal Entry 20 - The Big Night
The big night, finally, after months of practice, Kim and I were ready for Dancing With the Brunswick Stars.
Before the lights came up, we were ready under our umbrellas.
In the routine
Hearing the judges comments.
The final lineup.
The best video we have so far, but stay tuned for a clip from the professional video when I get a copy.
Before the lights came up, we were ready under our umbrellas.
In the routine
Hearing the judges comments.
The final lineup.
The best video we have so far, but stay tuned for a clip from the professional video when I get a copy.
My Adventure with Dancing with the Brunswick Stars - Journal Entry 19 - Dress Rehearsal
On the morning of August 5th Kimberly and I practiced (out of costume) for the first time on the actual stage that was constructed at the Dinah E. Gore Aquatic and Fitness Center on the campus of Brunswick Community College. We were concerned about the floor size and surface due to our combination of tap dancing (slipping) and tumbling (room available so I wouldn't throw her off stage when she did the walkover in our routine).
Here's the stage we saw. Clearly they were going to great lengths to make the place look elegant and in keeping with the Hollywood theme.
This video, made the morning of the dress rehearsal, has almost our final choreography. It turned out that during the actual dress rehearsal that evening one of the tumbling moves just wasn't working right and there was too high a possibility of a fall, so we took it out the next day (Kim did). However, in this video you see what we originally intended (the first tumbling move is the one later removed).
Below Kimberly is seated during the dress rehearsal Thursday evening. This is, indeed, the costume she wore during the competition.
Here's the stage we saw. Clearly they were going to great lengths to make the place look elegant and in keeping with the Hollywood theme.
This video, made the morning of the dress rehearsal, has almost our final choreography. It turned out that during the actual dress rehearsal that evening one of the tumbling moves just wasn't working right and there was too high a possibility of a fall, so we took it out the next day (Kim did). However, in this video you see what we originally intended (the first tumbling move is the one later removed).
Below Kimberly is seated during the dress rehearsal Thursday evening. This is, indeed, the costume she wore during the competition.
My Adventure with Dancing with the Brunswick Stars - Journal Entry 17 - Our Fourteenth Practice
On July 23rd we practiced for the last time at Brunswick School of Dance.
We tried out what were intended to be our 'game day' costumes.
Below is the costume Kimberly ordered constructed for Dancing with the Brunswick Stars, though at a later date she changed her mind about it.
This video shows the near final choreography. Part of it is unfortunately off-camera, but most of what's here was in our final dance.
We tried out what were intended to be our 'game day' costumes.
Below is the costume Kimberly ordered constructed for Dancing with the Brunswick Stars, though at a later date she changed her mind about it.
This video shows the near final choreography. Part of it is unfortunately off-camera, but most of what's here was in our final dance.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
My Adventure with Dancing with the Brunswick Stars - Journal Entry 18 - A Tale of Four Costumes
With a nod to Mel Brooks, "A funny thing happened on the way to the competition."
My wonderful pro partner for Dancing With the Brunswick Stars, did, in the end, wear just one costume during our dance routine.
There were some questions and choices along the way.
Before I post the videos of the dress rehearsal and final competition, see if you can figure out which was the actual costume she wore.
I'm not going to ask which you like best, because they're all nice, but the variety is interesting.
Oh, and I'm only showing myself in one costume, which is indeed what I wore.
My wonderful pro partner for Dancing With the Brunswick Stars, did, in the end, wear just one costume during our dance routine.
There were some questions and choices along the way.
Before I post the videos of the dress rehearsal and final competition, see if you can figure out which was the actual costume she wore.
I'm not going to ask which you like best, because they're all nice, but the variety is interesting.
Oh, and I'm only showing myself in one costume, which is indeed what I wore.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
My Adventure with Dancing with the Brunswick Stars - Journal Entry 16 - Our Thirteenth Practice
It's two weeks till the competition on August 6th. The excitement and tension around having a great time and putting on a super performance are growing as we practice our routine.
Here's Kim before we started practice:
And, as you can see in the short video after practice, we both worked hard:
I had a few things to say as well:
And here's our weekly Not-What-We're-Really-Dancing video:
And in case you haven't heard about it before, Dancing with the Brunswick Stars is a serious, big deal fund raiser for Brunswick Community College. This year will be the third and final year of this event. Last year they raised more than $330,000 in scholarship money for students at BCC, so you can see this is a pretty big event. The actual event will be held August 6th, but you can go to the website today to vote, buy tickets, or even become a sponsor for the event.
Check out this website with photos of Stars and Pros for Dancing with the Brunswick Stars.
Brown - out!
Here's Kim before we started practice:
And, as you can see in the short video after practice, we both worked hard:
I had a few things to say as well:
And here's our weekly Not-What-We're-Really-Dancing video:
And in case you haven't heard about it before, Dancing with the Brunswick Stars is a serious, big deal fund raiser for Brunswick Community College. This year will be the third and final year of this event. Last year they raised more than $330,000 in scholarship money for students at BCC, so you can see this is a pretty big event. The actual event will be held August 6th, but you can go to the website today to vote, buy tickets, or even become a sponsor for the event.
Check out this website with photos of Stars and Pros for Dancing with the Brunswick Stars.
Brown - out!
Saturday, July 17, 2010
My Adventure with Dancing with the Brunswick Stars - Journal Entry 15 - Our Twelfth Practice
Another week another fun practice. We're getting down to the wire, just three weeks left till August 6th!
Kim had a great surprise for me today - some new steps! I was delighted because they replaced some of the steps I'd already mastered, so this way the entire routine will be fresh. Actually, her new steps are really cool and I'm excited to see how they look once we really get them.
Of course, we're still not unveiling the actual routine we're going to be doing during the competition, but at this practice we did practice some cheering.
And Kim and I also had a few things to say about each other:
And in case you haven't heard about it before, Dancing with the Brunswick Stars is a serious, big deal fund raiser for Brunswick Community College. This year will be the third and final year of this event. Last year they raised more than $330,000 in scholarship money for students at BCC, so you can see this is a pretty big event. The actual event will be held August 6th, but you can go to the website today to vote, buy tickets, or even become a sponsor for the event.
Check out this website with photos of Stars and Pros for Dancing with the Brunswick Stars.
Brown - out!
Kim had a great surprise for me today - some new steps! I was delighted because they replaced some of the steps I'd already mastered, so this way the entire routine will be fresh. Actually, her new steps are really cool and I'm excited to see how they look once we really get them.
Of course, we're still not unveiling the actual routine we're going to be doing during the competition, but at this practice we did practice some cheering.
And Kim and I also had a few things to say about each other:
And in case you haven't heard about it before, Dancing with the Brunswick Stars is a serious, big deal fund raiser for Brunswick Community College. This year will be the third and final year of this event. Last year they raised more than $330,000 in scholarship money for students at BCC, so you can see this is a pretty big event. The actual event will be held August 6th, but you can go to the website today to vote, buy tickets, or even become a sponsor for the event.
Check out this website with photos of Stars and Pros for Dancing with the Brunswick Stars.
Brown - out!
Saturday, July 10, 2010
My Adventure with Dancing with the Brunswick Stars - Journal Entry 14 - Our Eleventh Practice
New location, same dancers, and a new 'not-what-we're-really-doing-in-the-competition' video.
Dance pro instructor Kimberly Boggs and I are a team for Dancing With the Brunswick Stars. This week we moved our practice site from Brunswick Community College to an off-site location so we can go full out during the final month of rehearsal and preparation.
Here's Kim:
Last week we did the hula, this we we decided we needed to get tougher.
Kim explaining what we were just doing.
My just catching my breath.
So we had another good workout and are getting closer to the big date (August 6th). Today we also talked about costume and other preparations.
And in case you haven't heard about it before, Dancing with the Brunswick Stars is a serious, big deal fund raiser for Brunswick Community College. This year will be the third and final year of this event. Last year they raised more than $330,000 in scholarship money for students at BCC, so you can see this is a pretty big event. The actual event will be held August 6th, but you can go to the website today to vote, buy tickets, or even become a sponsor for the event.
Check out this website with photos of Stars and Pros for Dancing with the Brunswick Stars.
Brown - out!
Dance pro instructor Kimberly Boggs and I are a team for Dancing With the Brunswick Stars. This week we moved our practice site from Brunswick Community College to an off-site location so we can go full out during the final month of rehearsal and preparation.
Here's Kim:
Last week we did the hula, this we we decided we needed to get tougher.
Kim explaining what we were just doing.
My just catching my breath.
So we had another good workout and are getting closer to the big date (August 6th). Today we also talked about costume and other preparations.
And in case you haven't heard about it before, Dancing with the Brunswick Stars is a serious, big deal fund raiser for Brunswick Community College. This year will be the third and final year of this event. Last year they raised more than $330,000 in scholarship money for students at BCC, so you can see this is a pretty big event. The actual event will be held August 6th, but you can go to the website today to vote, buy tickets, or even become a sponsor for the event.
Check out this website with photos of Stars and Pros for Dancing with the Brunswick Stars.
Brown - out!
Saturday, July 3, 2010
My Adventure with Dancing with the Brunswick Stars - Journal Entry 13 - Our Tenth Practice
Our practices continue as Kimberly Boggs and I get ready for the Dancing with the Brunswick Stars fundraising competition for Brunswick Community College on August 6th.
This shot was taken by Melissa Everitt, from the BCC Foundation office, who came to shoot a promo video for the college.
At yesterday's practice we captured this quick video at the end of our 'real' practice. It should be apparent to anyone who's following this series on my blog that the videos we put up are NOT what we're actually doing in competition. So rest assured I won't be shaking it in a hula in August. We do have fun with these quick videos, however.
We had another video shot on Friday when Melissa Everitt of the Brunswick Community College Foundation came to our practice to capture some footage of us welcoming people to the competition (it will be shown that night). Melissa also got about 15 seconds of us practicing our 'real' routine. (At least that's what we told her.) In the photo below are Melissa Everitt with Kim Boggs.
In this short take video I comment on our workouts and practice and on Kim's moving parts during the hula.(Don't worry, it's safe for work.)
After Melissa shot the promo video I got to pose with her as well.
Kim invites all of you to Hawaii!
Next week we'll start practicing at a new location. So far we've had all our practices in one of the exercise studio rooms at the Dinah E. Gore Aquatics and Fitness Center on the campus of Brunswick Community College. Starting next week, however, we're taking it to a 'secret' location off campus so we can start to practice full-out. Even though I've never shown any of our steps or parts of our routine in these blog posts, we have finalized our choreography and are now ready to go full-tilt (I think we'll even start to wear our 'costumes' in a week or two).
Of course I'll take still shots and capture videos at each practice session for this blog, but Kim (who is clearly in charge, right Kim?)insists that no footage of our real routine goes out, so we'll have to come up with other dances to capture. Any suggestions would be appreciated. (I was thinking one of those 1930s style synchronized swimming routines would be fun but Kim told me our new 'secret' practice studio doesn't have a pool).
And in case you haven't heard about it before, Dancing with the Brunswick Stars is a serious, big deal fund raiser for Brunswick Community College. This year will be the third and final year of this event. Last year they raised more than $330,000 in scholarship money for students at BCC, so you can see this is a pretty big event. The actual event will be held August 6th, but you can go to the website today to vote, buy tickets, or even become a sponsor for the event.
Check out this website with photos of Stars and Pros for Dancing with the Brunswick Stars.
Brown - out!
This shot was taken by Melissa Everitt, from the BCC Foundation office, who came to shoot a promo video for the college.
At yesterday's practice we captured this quick video at the end of our 'real' practice. It should be apparent to anyone who's following this series on my blog that the videos we put up are NOT what we're actually doing in competition. So rest assured I won't be shaking it in a hula in August. We do have fun with these quick videos, however.
We had another video shot on Friday when Melissa Everitt of the Brunswick Community College Foundation came to our practice to capture some footage of us welcoming people to the competition (it will be shown that night). Melissa also got about 15 seconds of us practicing our 'real' routine. (At least that's what we told her.) In the photo below are Melissa Everitt with Kim Boggs.
In this short take video I comment on our workouts and practice and on Kim's moving parts during the hula.(Don't worry, it's safe for work.)
After Melissa shot the promo video I got to pose with her as well.
Kim invites all of you to Hawaii!
Next week we'll start practicing at a new location. So far we've had all our practices in one of the exercise studio rooms at the Dinah E. Gore Aquatics and Fitness Center on the campus of Brunswick Community College. Starting next week, however, we're taking it to a 'secret' location off campus so we can start to practice full-out. Even though I've never shown any of our steps or parts of our routine in these blog posts, we have finalized our choreography and are now ready to go full-tilt (I think we'll even start to wear our 'costumes' in a week or two).
Of course I'll take still shots and capture videos at each practice session for this blog, but Kim (who is clearly in charge, right Kim?)insists that no footage of our real routine goes out, so we'll have to come up with other dances to capture. Any suggestions would be appreciated. (I was thinking one of those 1930s style synchronized swimming routines would be fun but Kim told me our new 'secret' practice studio doesn't have a pool).
And in case you haven't heard about it before, Dancing with the Brunswick Stars is a serious, big deal fund raiser for Brunswick Community College. This year will be the third and final year of this event. Last year they raised more than $330,000 in scholarship money for students at BCC, so you can see this is a pretty big event. The actual event will be held August 6th, but you can go to the website today to vote, buy tickets, or even become a sponsor for the event.
Check out this website with photos of Stars and Pros for Dancing with the Brunswick Stars.
Brown - out!
Saturday, June 26, 2010
My Adventure with Dancing with the Brunswick Stars - Journal Entry 12 - Our Ninth Practice
Welcome back, Kim! Kimberly Boggs was on vacation for a couple of weeks so I held off on blog posting about my preparation for the August 6th Dancing with the Brunswick Stars. (Trust me on this, you don't want to watch videos of me doing our routine alone. I'm counting on all eyes being on Kim when we compete in August before judges and a thousand or so people.)
And here's Kim from Friday, as you can see she's ready to dance - she's even wearing the t-shirt!
So yesterday we practiced. And it was good. I can tell you flat out straight right now that the videos we've been putting up on this blog aren't quite what we're really working on.
But here's something we tried:
And then here are our usual quick commentaries. I'll go first (I've learned it's wise to let Kim have the last word):
And here's Kim:
And in case you haven't heard about it before, Dancing with the Brunswick Stars is a serious, big deal fund raiser for Brunswick Community College. This year will be the third and final year of this event. Last year they raised more than $330,000 in scholarship money for students at BCC, so you can see this is a pretty big event. The actual event will be held August 6th, but you can go to the website today to vote, buy tickets, or even become a sponsor for the event.
Check out this website with photos of Stars and Pros for Dancing with the Brunswick Stars.
Brown - out!
And here's Kim from Friday, as you can see she's ready to dance - she's even wearing the t-shirt!
So yesterday we practiced. And it was good. I can tell you flat out straight right now that the videos we've been putting up on this blog aren't quite what we're really working on.
But here's something we tried:
And then here are our usual quick commentaries. I'll go first (I've learned it's wise to let Kim have the last word):
And here's Kim:
And in case you haven't heard about it before, Dancing with the Brunswick Stars is a serious, big deal fund raiser for Brunswick Community College. This year will be the third and final year of this event. Last year they raised more than $330,000 in scholarship money for students at BCC, so you can see this is a pretty big event. The actual event will be held August 6th, but you can go to the website today to vote, buy tickets, or even become a sponsor for the event.
Check out this website with photos of Stars and Pros for Dancing with the Brunswick Stars.
Brown - out!
Friday, June 4, 2010
My Adventure with Dancing with the Brunswick Stars - Journal Entry 11 - Our Seventh Practice
So we practiced twice this week. Here's Kim!
We are still working hard at getting in shape and on our moves. Sashaying and pivot turning in the practice room.
So now here's Kim making stuff up about Bruce.
And Bruce telling the truth about Kim.
And in case you haven't heard about it before, Dancing with the Brunswick Stars is a serious, big deal fund raiser for Brunswick Community College. This year will be the third and final year of this event. Last year they raised more than $330,000 in scholarship money for students at BCC, so you can see this is a pretty big event. The actual event will be held August 6th, but you can go to the website today to vote, buy tickets, or even become a sponsor for the event.
Check out this website with photos of Stars and Pros for Dancing with the Brunswick Stars.
Brown - out!
We are still working hard at getting in shape and on our moves. Sashaying and pivot turning in the practice room.
So now here's Kim making stuff up about Bruce.
And Bruce telling the truth about Kim.
And in case you haven't heard about it before, Dancing with the Brunswick Stars is a serious, big deal fund raiser for Brunswick Community College. This year will be the third and final year of this event. Last year they raised more than $330,000 in scholarship money for students at BCC, so you can see this is a pretty big event. The actual event will be held August 6th, but you can go to the website today to vote, buy tickets, or even become a sponsor for the event.
Check out this website with photos of Stars and Pros for Dancing with the Brunswick Stars.
Brown - out!
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
My Adventure with Dancing with the Brunswick Stars - Journal Entry 10 - Our Sixth Practice
Kim and I had to skip practice last week (life happened to both of us) so we really needed to get prepared for this week.
Here was one thing we did.
And here's how we warmed up
And then Kim got a great idea and, gotta love it, she started right off selling it. I'm a big fan of people who are avid promoters and marketers, so I give her props for that part.
And then Kim got a great idea and, gotta love it, she started right off selling it. I'm a big fan of people who are avid promoters and marketers, so I give her props for that part.
However, I have a slightly different take on her suggestion.
And in case you haven't heard about it before, Dancing with the Brunswick Stars is a serious, big deal fund raiser for Brunswick Community College. This year will be the third and final year of this event. Last year they raised more than $330,000 in scholarship money for students at BCC, so you can see this is a pretty big event. The actual event will be held August 6th, but you can go to the website today to vote, buy tickets, or even become a sponsor for the event.
Check out this website with photos of Stars and Pros for Dancing with the Brunswick Stars.
Brown - out!
Check out this website with photos of Stars and Pros for Dancing with the Brunswick Stars.
Brown - out!
Thursday, May 20, 2010
My Adventure with Dancing with the Brunswick Stars - Journal Entry 9 - Our Fifth Practice
If you've been following this blog/journal about preparations for Dancing with the Brunswick Stars, you might already guess what Dancing Pro Kimberly Boggs was saying when I took the photo below:
"Come ON, Bruce, you've got to work with me here!", says Kim (quite often).Check us out as we work hard at practice this week:
And of course, we just might change direction from "Dancing with Swords." Here are our current thoughts on the matter:
Mine first (only because Kim insists):
And Kim's:
I guess the jury (really meaning Kim, because she's in charge) is still out on The Minuet.
And in case you haven't heard about it before, Dancing with the Brunswick Stars is a serious, big deal fund raiser for Brunswick Community College. This year will be the third and final year of this event. Last year they raised more than $330,000 in scholarship money for students at BCC, so you can see this is a pretty big event. The actual event will be held August 6th, but you can go to the website today to vote, buy tickets, or even become a sponsor for the event.
Check out this website with photos of Stars and Pros for Dancing with the Brunswick Stars.
And here's a ballot for voting for Star/Pro combinations. Feel free to print it and vote (hint).
Brown - out!
Friday, May 14, 2010
My Adventure with Dancing with the Brunswick Stars - Journal Entry 8 - Our Fourth Practice
Today was our 4th practice for Dancing with the Brunswick Stars. The real dancer, Kimberly Boggs, who's generously donating her time every week teaching me how to move around the dance floor, is doing an awesome job of keeping me motivating and teaching me steps. It's certainly good exercise and I know I'm having fun.
Here's a clip from today of us practicing. You can certainly see we have energy.
And also, in the spirit of the expose' video clips on lots of reality shows, here are some short clips. Mine is full of lies and exaggeration. Kim's is the truth, cuz Kim doesn't lie!
And in case you haven't heard about it before, Dancing with the Brunswick Stars is a serious, big deal fund raiser for Brunswick Community College. This year will be the third and final year of this event. Last year they raised more than $330,000 in scholarship money for students at BCC, so you can see this is a pretty big event. The actual event will be held August 6th, but you can go to the website today to vote, buy tickets, or even become a sponsor for the event.
Check out this website with photos of Stars and Pros for Dancing with the Brunswick Stars.
And here's a ballot for voting for Star/Pro combinations. Ffel free to print it and vote (hint).
Here's a clip from today of us practicing. You can certainly see we have energy.
And also, in the spirit of the expose' video clips on lots of reality shows, here are some short clips. Mine is full of lies and exaggeration. Kim's is the truth, cuz Kim doesn't lie!
And in case you haven't heard about it before, Dancing with the Brunswick Stars is a serious, big deal fund raiser for Brunswick Community College. This year will be the third and final year of this event. Last year they raised more than $330,000 in scholarship money for students at BCC, so you can see this is a pretty big event. The actual event will be held August 6th, but you can go to the website today to vote, buy tickets, or even become a sponsor for the event.
Check out this website with photos of Stars and Pros for Dancing with the Brunswick Stars.
And here's a ballot for voting for Star/Pro combinations. Ffel free to print it and vote (hint).
Friday, May 7, 2010
My Adventure with Dancing with the Brunswick Stars - Journal Entry 7 - Our Third Practice
Yesterday was our third practice for Dancing with the Brunswick Stars - the actual event is August 6th at the Dinah Gore Aquatics and Fitness Center on the campus of Brunswick Community College in Supply, NC.
My professional partner is Kimberly Boggs, pictured below in pink and blue. I'm the guy further below in black and blue (in more ways than one). Kimberly coaches the College's dance team and has been a teaching dance professional in southeastern North Carolina for two centuries (well, at least for part of two centuries).
We took the two photos below at the end of our practice yesterday. We needed three people to help get my leg up like that. For Kimberly it was easy.
Now what you can't tell from these photos is that after Kimberly stretched a bit more she left me with my leg up on the Step risers and took off. Fortunately one of the Aquatics center trainers walked by the studio and helped me down. Notice Kimberly's evil grin - you know she was planning the whole thing!
So here we are practicing our routine. You may notice that I talk a lot and try to be funny. That's my way of attempting to distract Kimberly from noticing that I'm not doing the steps correctly. It didn't work. I suspect that Kimberly's leaving me with my right leg stuck on the risers was her subtle way of letting me know that indeed she did notice I wasn't doing the steps correctly AND that she wasn't distracted for a moment by my mindless chatter.
Be sure to follow my weekly Adventures with Dancing with the Brunswick Stars. It's for a good cause (raising scholarship money for students at BCC) and a lot of fun (for me anyway - well, except the being stranded in the studio with my leg in the air part).
Check out our 31 Days Mastery Books on Amazon.com
My professional partner is Kimberly Boggs, pictured below in pink and blue. I'm the guy further below in black and blue (in more ways than one). Kimberly coaches the College's dance team and has been a teaching dance professional in southeastern North Carolina for two centuries (well, at least for part of two centuries).
We took the two photos below at the end of our practice yesterday. We needed three people to help get my leg up like that. For Kimberly it was easy.
Now what you can't tell from these photos is that after Kimberly stretched a bit more she left me with my leg up on the Step risers and took off. Fortunately one of the Aquatics center trainers walked by the studio and helped me down. Notice Kimberly's evil grin - you know she was planning the whole thing!
So here we are practicing our routine. You may notice that I talk a lot and try to be funny. That's my way of attempting to distract Kimberly from noticing that I'm not doing the steps correctly. It didn't work. I suspect that Kimberly's leaving me with my right leg stuck on the risers was her subtle way of letting me know that indeed she did notice I wasn't doing the steps correctly AND that she wasn't distracted for a moment by my mindless chatter.Be sure to follow my weekly Adventures with Dancing with the Brunswick Stars. It's for a good cause (raising scholarship money for students at BCC) and a lot of fun (for me anyway - well, except the being stranded in the studio with my leg in the air part).
Check out our 31 Days Mastery Books on Amazon.com
Thursday, May 6, 2010
My Adventure with Dancing with the Brunswick Stars - Journal Entry 6 - Before our 3rd Practice
I'm thinking at today's practice we can maybe watch videos. (I'm also pretty sure Kimberly won't think it's a great idea.) I tried to find a YouTube clip of just Evan Lycasek and Cheryl Burke dancing the Argentine Tango on the "real" Dancing with the Stars this week, but no luck.
I did, however, find this pretty cool video of Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise dancing.
Kimberly and I are NOT dancing the Argentine Tango, and we're not dancing whatever that was that Katie and Tom did.
I worked out kinda hard this week and after being up for two hours I can finally just move my shoulders (a bit) from yesterday's weight workout. So I'm really hoping maybe today's practice can be about the "zen" of dancing.
Check out our 31 Days Mastery Books on Amazon.com
I did, however, find this pretty cool video of Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise dancing.
Kimberly and I are NOT dancing the Argentine Tango, and we're not dancing whatever that was that Katie and Tom did.
I worked out kinda hard this week and after being up for two hours I can finally just move my shoulders (a bit) from yesterday's weight workout. So I'm really hoping maybe today's practice can be about the "zen" of dancing.
Check out our 31 Days Mastery Books on Amazon.com
Sunday, May 2, 2010
My Adventure with Dancing with the Brunswick Stars - Journal Entry 5 - Second Practice
Friday morning Kimberly Boggs and I had our second practice. I had a great time and even though I didn't have all the steps down from the first practice, Kimberly was gentle with me, and patient. And she showed me again how to do the basic steps. I have a distinct feeling that if I don't improve quickly, though, the obvious steel that is Kimberly Boggs will figuratively sit me down and we'll have a talk. So I don't want to experience that.
Here's a confession. I'm actually taking great advantage of this whole Dancing with the Brunswick Stars thing. I'm using it to get in shape! Ya see, in the past three years, since April 2007, I packed on about 45 pounds! Youch! I'd actually gotten to my ideal weight for my 5'9" height, which is 143 pounds, on April 20th, 2007 after working at it for a good while. Unfortunately, in my zeal to make that weight, I injured myself by overdoing one exercise.
It's no secret that when I like something I REALLY like it and if I enjoy something I want to supersize. Well when I was on my previous getting in shape/losing weight regimen back in early 2007 one of the exercises I enjoyed was pushups. I mean, who doesn't like cut triceps, right? You can have a sloppy belly and a sagging butt and people may not (and hopefully won't) see them. But if you have cut triceps you can find lots of opportunities for people to notice, including yourself. And I don't mean by wearing a muscle shirt, but just ordinary golf shirts and such.
So I was rockin' along doing well with pushups, and doing them right, not ripping them off as fast as possible, but taking them nice and slow (try that sometime, the slower you go the more work it is and the more benefit you get). Anyway, I gradually worked my way up to 50 pushups. I thought that was way cool.
So two days later I did 100.
It hurt a LOT the next day but then everything seemed to be okay - although I for sure didn't do any more pushups because they still really hurt. And then about a month later I rolled over in bed one night and something that attaches one of my right tricep muscles to the bone let go with an audible pop. The next noticeable noise was me screaming. You've heard the expresson, "Ridden hard, put away wet.", right? Well apparently what's unhealthy for horses wasn't too healthy for me either, and I'm still recovering.
Been to a selection of helpful folks, notably Dr. Matt Bradshaw at Leland Health Center who finally got me some relief through a combination of cold laser treatments and Active Relief Therapy. Anyway, to keep this short (HA!), I can cope now and seldom have pain in that arm but have been very very gradually starting to build strength again (which you can imagine has dwindled significantly in four years).
So right around that same time in 2007 I decided it would be okay for me to eat a little more freely than in the past because I'd just proved to myself I could get down to my ideal weight. Uh-huh! Within a year I was in the mid to high 180s. Last year when I went for my annual physical my physician, the ever jolly Dr. Matt Williams of Wilmington Health Center, said, "Next year I'd like to see a lot less of you." That hurt, but he was right - my reading that day was 186 (and I wish it were IQ but it was pounds). Since 161 pounds is my official "you weigh too much" level, another 25 put me in a not so happy place health wise.
My high weight, BTW, since I'm getting into all this, was 193.5 pounds in November 2009. I managed mostly to keep it under 190, with a couple meager efforts to control my weight and diet getting me down to the mid 180s, but then I went back up again. So finally, this March, I decided I was done being such a dork about this whole thing. I speak in public a lot and was already developing a consistent physical self-image I didn't like. I tell ya one thing, I sure wore sport jackets a lot and usually wore black shirts as well - I saw a few photos others took of me when I was speaking wearing a white dress shirt with no jacket and resolved not to let that happen again (I didn't lose weight, I just stopped wearing white shirts unless I had on a jacket).
So yeah, now I'm working out daily, eating correctly (for me), and getting stronger AND losing weight. The last two days my weight was 168.5 pounds. That's a bit extreme I know for two months, but I also know those were the easy pounds to lose - the next 25 will be much tougher as I work my way back down to 143.
But check it out. I've got a great incentive. A whole buncha folks are gonna be watching Dancing With the Brunswick Stars in early August. I want to do my best for the event, I want to be a good partner for Kimberly Boggs since she's so generously donating her teaching time, and for sure I want to look my best.
It would be marvelous for me to think I'm doing this just for my health. Hey, I know it's more healthy to be at (or even a bit below) your ideal weight, and I know I feel better when I'm in shape and stronger. But I also know I'm motivated by how I look. Call it vanity (because that's what it is), but it's still a motivator. And when I get where I want to be (again), this time I hope I find ways to continue to motivate to stay there - and not rip any more muscles off bones.
So I'm eating smarter, working out more (and being gradual in my increases in duration and intensity), and using an accountability partner in the process by sending daily practice reports to Kimberly (I just started doing it yesterday and I told her she could ignore them, but it will help me stay on track if I write when I practice). And yeah, by outting myself about this whole weight thing here I'll also be putting another check on my eating.
And now, back to the real subject of this journal, DWTBS. I can reveal the type of dance Kimberly and I will be doing.
But I think I won't. I'll just let this photo be a clue.
- Brown, Out
Here's a confession. I'm actually taking great advantage of this whole Dancing with the Brunswick Stars thing. I'm using it to get in shape! Ya see, in the past three years, since April 2007, I packed on about 45 pounds! Youch! I'd actually gotten to my ideal weight for my 5'9" height, which is 143 pounds, on April 20th, 2007 after working at it for a good while. Unfortunately, in my zeal to make that weight, I injured myself by overdoing one exercise.
It's no secret that when I like something I REALLY like it and if I enjoy something I want to supersize. Well when I was on my previous getting in shape/losing weight regimen back in early 2007 one of the exercises I enjoyed was pushups. I mean, who doesn't like cut triceps, right? You can have a sloppy belly and a sagging butt and people may not (and hopefully won't) see them. But if you have cut triceps you can find lots of opportunities for people to notice, including yourself. And I don't mean by wearing a muscle shirt, but just ordinary golf shirts and such.
So I was rockin' along doing well with pushups, and doing them right, not ripping them off as fast as possible, but taking them nice and slow (try that sometime, the slower you go the more work it is and the more benefit you get). Anyway, I gradually worked my way up to 50 pushups. I thought that was way cool.
So two days later I did 100.
It hurt a LOT the next day but then everything seemed to be okay - although I for sure didn't do any more pushups because they still really hurt. And then about a month later I rolled over in bed one night and something that attaches one of my right tricep muscles to the bone let go with an audible pop. The next noticeable noise was me screaming. You've heard the expresson, "Ridden hard, put away wet.", right? Well apparently what's unhealthy for horses wasn't too healthy for me either, and I'm still recovering.
Been to a selection of helpful folks, notably Dr. Matt Bradshaw at Leland Health Center who finally got me some relief through a combination of cold laser treatments and Active Relief Therapy. Anyway, to keep this short (HA!), I can cope now and seldom have pain in that arm but have been very very gradually starting to build strength again (which you can imagine has dwindled significantly in four years).
So right around that same time in 2007 I decided it would be okay for me to eat a little more freely than in the past because I'd just proved to myself I could get down to my ideal weight. Uh-huh! Within a year I was in the mid to high 180s. Last year when I went for my annual physical my physician, the ever jolly Dr. Matt Williams of Wilmington Health Center, said, "Next year I'd like to see a lot less of you." That hurt, but he was right - my reading that day was 186 (and I wish it were IQ but it was pounds). Since 161 pounds is my official "you weigh too much" level, another 25 put me in a not so happy place health wise.
My high weight, BTW, since I'm getting into all this, was 193.5 pounds in November 2009. I managed mostly to keep it under 190, with a couple meager efforts to control my weight and diet getting me down to the mid 180s, but then I went back up again. So finally, this March, I decided I was done being such a dork about this whole thing. I speak in public a lot and was already developing a consistent physical self-image I didn't like. I tell ya one thing, I sure wore sport jackets a lot and usually wore black shirts as well - I saw a few photos others took of me when I was speaking wearing a white dress shirt with no jacket and resolved not to let that happen again (I didn't lose weight, I just stopped wearing white shirts unless I had on a jacket).
So yeah, now I'm working out daily, eating correctly (for me), and getting stronger AND losing weight. The last two days my weight was 168.5 pounds. That's a bit extreme I know for two months, but I also know those were the easy pounds to lose - the next 25 will be much tougher as I work my way back down to 143.
But check it out. I've got a great incentive. A whole buncha folks are gonna be watching Dancing With the Brunswick Stars in early August. I want to do my best for the event, I want to be a good partner for Kimberly Boggs since she's so generously donating her teaching time, and for sure I want to look my best.
It would be marvelous for me to think I'm doing this just for my health. Hey, I know it's more healthy to be at (or even a bit below) your ideal weight, and I know I feel better when I'm in shape and stronger. But I also know I'm motivated by how I look. Call it vanity (because that's what it is), but it's still a motivator. And when I get where I want to be (again), this time I hope I find ways to continue to motivate to stay there - and not rip any more muscles off bones.
So I'm eating smarter, working out more (and being gradual in my increases in duration and intensity), and using an accountability partner in the process by sending daily practice reports to Kimberly (I just started doing it yesterday and I told her she could ignore them, but it will help me stay on track if I write when I practice). And yeah, by outting myself about this whole weight thing here I'll also be putting another check on my eating.
And now, back to the real subject of this journal, DWTBS. I can reveal the type of dance Kimberly and I will be doing.
But I think I won't. I'll just let this photo be a clue.
- Brown, Out
Friday, April 23, 2010
My Adventure with Dancing with the Brunswick Stars - Journal Entry 4 - First Practice
Kimberly and I had our first practice today for Dancing with the Brunswick Stars. The term "practice" may be sort of a loose usage since we spent the time with Kimberly teaching me some very basic steps.
Here's a short video of just me in the practice room before Kimberly got there
And here are Kimberly and I after the practice.
As you can see we were both still standing and both still smiling. (A friend told me that even if I don't get the steps, just keep on smiling, so I will.) Actually, I had a great time and look forward to the next session, and in the meantime will do what I can to practice on my own. (I think a lot of that should mean getting to the gym and getting stronger.)
Here's a short video of just me in the practice room before Kimberly got there
And here are Kimberly and I after the practice.
As you can see we were both still standing and both still smiling. (A friend told me that even if I don't get the steps, just keep on smiling, so I will.) Actually, I had a great time and look forward to the next session, and in the meantime will do what I can to practice on my own. (I think a lot of that should mean getting to the gym and getting stronger.)
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
My Adventure with Dancing with the Brunswick Stars - Journal Entry 3
(Photo Credit Ron Holden)OK, so yesterday's Kickoff Event for Dancing with the Brunswick Stars happened. It was a big success. I got to meet my dancing partner, professional dance instructor Kimberly Boggs along with many of the other "Stars" and their "Pros". The actual competition and fundraising event will be on August 6th at the Dinah Gore Aquatics and Fitness Center at Brunswick Community College.
Yesterday's kickoff was at Odell Williamson Auditorium on the BCC campus. There were plenty of photographers and even a television station in attendance.
It was fun to meet the other dancers and get a feel for what this whole event will be like, but the most important was I finally got to learn the identity and meet my professional partner. I'd had a hint that Kimberly would be my partner, but it hadn't been confirmed. Kimberly is a longtime area resident who owned a dance studio in Southport for seven years. Kim is now in charge of the BCC dance team and also teaches at a local private dance studio.
It turns out we might have a bit in common. Linda Boretti, who's pretty much in charge of the dancer/partner arrangements, told Kim that I'd be a good match because I'd told Linda I like fast music and have lots of energy. So far it seems Linda made a good choice in putting us together. Kim has some great ideas. She's also at ease in being in control of our dance partnership and clearly in charge - and that's a good thing since I can be a pain to manage, mostly because I can't sit still. So I'm looking forward to this process - Kim even suggested we make some videos during our rehearsals like they do on the TV show this competition is (sorta) modeled after, so that works for me!
Below is a shot of some of the other dancers (a mix of Stars and Pros) arriving at Odell Williamson.
.
Here's a shot of Kimberly with BCC President Dr. Stephen Greiner. Kim had just asked if it was okay for us to use one of the dance rooms at the fitness/aquatic center to practice and he said that's fine. That's convenient for both of us.
Prior to the announcement of the dancing partners (each duo came down some winding steps - I have no photos of that because I was on the steps), a small combo entertained.
Here's another shot of Kimberly and me in front of a Hollywood Stars backdrop. The theme of this year's event is Hollywood.
Photographer Ron Holden taking a shot of some of the many BCC staff and DWTBS organizers.
Below are dance instructor Paul McTaggert and his partner Dinah Gore. This couple won the competition for the past two years and are back. Both are very nice people, it's going to be a pleasure working with them, even though I won't actually see them much before the actual competition.
Here's a short video clip of Kimberly Boggs introducing herself and talking about the competition (oops, I mean the fundraiser).
And here's a slightly longer clip of me talking about the same thing, with one difference (you have to watch and listen to find out what it is).
This event and practicing for it and meeting and getting to know the people involved is going to be a blast. I'm looking forward to it and glad we finally got underway. I don't think we start rehearsing for a few weeks but I'll keep up these posts when we do.
Don't forget, August 6th. It's a great fundraiser for a super cause, raising scholarship money for Brunswick Community College. Last year's event raised more than $300,000! Let's top that this year.
- Brown Out
Sunday, April 11, 2010
My Adventure with Dancing with the Brunswick Stars - Journal Entry 2
So tomorrow is the big day. Well, actually it's the first big day. Tomorrow I go to Brunswick Community College to meet with the other "Stars" of Dancing with the Brunswick Stars (may I shorthand it as DTWBS?) and also to meet my professional partner. They're having a luncheon and a photo op and I guess some TV and press coverage. Woohoo!
I'm pretty pumped about this competition/fund raiser. This will be the third and last year the college has a DWTBS fundraiser. Apparently so many other schools and places are using this format it's getting hard to get professionals to commit the time and energy required (they volunteer, you know). That seems too bad because last year DWTBS raised more than $336,720 which provided 200+ scholarships! Why mess with something that's working so well?
Anyway, it's not my concern. My concern is doing a good job in this competition, which means both doing my best on the dance floor the night of the competition (August 6th, btw) AND helping to raise scholarship money in the form of ticket sales and I imagine other means as well.
The past two years Dinah Gore has won the competition and I understand she's a fabulous dancer and also a great fundraiser. I guess there were rumors or maybe an earlier decision that she wasn't going to compete this year, but the latest word is that she's in! That's very cool. I'm looking forward to meeting her.
I'm not supposed to know who my professional partner is till tomorrow, but someone gave me a hint. I won't mention her name (just in case there are changes or I'd embarrass someone), but will be sure to report on it after I really meet her. I'll try to get some photos, too, of the luncheon tomorrow and the various goings on. Maybe I can get a short video or two, but I'm not getting my hopes up.
One thing I've heard about the competition is that this year there's a Hollywood theme. I also heard, sort of off hand and maybe it was a test, that my pro is considering doing a Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers number. Hmmm, I'm not sure I can do elegant. I do own a tux and will likely be able to fit in it by contest time (for sure not right now), but I'm kinda hoping we do something like "Footloose" or "Dirty Dancing." If my pro happens to read this ahead of time, I'm much more a hard rock kinda guy. I won't say I detest slow music, because I'm sure I don't have to, but my idea of an ideal song is something by a band with three guitars and a drummer who takes charge. Maybe I should burn a copy of my "Bruce's Car Cuts" mix to give my pro an ideal of the kind of music I like. Let's put it this way, my car radio was (literally) engineered to be heard at 155MPH with the top down and I like to play it with the top up! Back in the day when I was going to 7-9 aerobics classes a week I was always in the front row and always the one hollering "Turn it UP!!" And I now have the tinnitis to prove it, but nothing else has changed about my taste in music. So, what do you think? Have I made my point here?
I'd be very happy to hear what YOU think I should ask for as a song to dance to. Please comment on this blog and I'll pass it on to my pro, whoever she turns out to be.
BTW, there are going to be three winners this year. The Categories are: Best Choreography, Most Entertaining and Best Fundraiser.
- Brown Out
I'm pretty pumped about this competition/fund raiser. This will be the third and last year the college has a DWTBS fundraiser. Apparently so many other schools and places are using this format it's getting hard to get professionals to commit the time and energy required (they volunteer, you know). That seems too bad because last year DWTBS raised more than $336,720 which provided 200+ scholarships! Why mess with something that's working so well?
Anyway, it's not my concern. My concern is doing a good job in this competition, which means both doing my best on the dance floor the night of the competition (August 6th, btw) AND helping to raise scholarship money in the form of ticket sales and I imagine other means as well.
The past two years Dinah Gore has won the competition and I understand she's a fabulous dancer and also a great fundraiser. I guess there were rumors or maybe an earlier decision that she wasn't going to compete this year, but the latest word is that she's in! That's very cool. I'm looking forward to meeting her.
I'm not supposed to know who my professional partner is till tomorrow, but someone gave me a hint. I won't mention her name (just in case there are changes or I'd embarrass someone), but will be sure to report on it after I really meet her. I'll try to get some photos, too, of the luncheon tomorrow and the various goings on. Maybe I can get a short video or two, but I'm not getting my hopes up.
One thing I've heard about the competition is that this year there's a Hollywood theme. I also heard, sort of off hand and maybe it was a test, that my pro is considering doing a Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers number. Hmmm, I'm not sure I can do elegant. I do own a tux and will likely be able to fit in it by contest time (for sure not right now), but I'm kinda hoping we do something like "Footloose" or "Dirty Dancing." If my pro happens to read this ahead of time, I'm much more a hard rock kinda guy. I won't say I detest slow music, because I'm sure I don't have to, but my idea of an ideal song is something by a band with three guitars and a drummer who takes charge. Maybe I should burn a copy of my "Bruce's Car Cuts" mix to give my pro an ideal of the kind of music I like. Let's put it this way, my car radio was (literally) engineered to be heard at 155MPH with the top down and I like to play it with the top up! Back in the day when I was going to 7-9 aerobics classes a week I was always in the front row and always the one hollering "Turn it UP!!" And I now have the tinnitis to prove it, but nothing else has changed about my taste in music. So, what do you think? Have I made my point here?
I'd be very happy to hear what YOU think I should ask for as a song to dance to. Please comment on this blog and I'll pass it on to my pro, whoever she turns out to be.
BTW, there are going to be three winners this year. The Categories are: Best Choreography, Most Entertaining and Best Fundraiser.
- Brown Out
Friday, March 26, 2010
My Adventure with Dancing with the Brunswick Stars - Journal Entry 1
Well, folks. I'm on another adventure. I'm not climbing mountains or jumping out of planes or doing the Cannonball Run (do they still do that?), but I'm taking on a challenge for a good cause.
This past week I was invited to participate in the 3rd Annual Dancing with the Brunswick Stars!
(Below is a shot of me dancing with my favorite partner in the NBCC offices at a ribbon cutting recently.)
Here's the deal. Brunswick Community College is a fast-growing institution smack in the middle of Brunswick County with satellite campuses in Southport, Leland, and Calabash. They are pairing up a bunch (I don't know how many, probably around 20?) people who live and work and are known in the county for whatever reasons (I'm assuming good ones?) with professional dance instructors to compete in early August.
Why is BCC holding the event? Well, to raise scholarship money. "Oh," you say, "another fund-raiser." And the answer is, "Well, yeah, and last year they raised more than $330,000 and provided more than 200 scholarships!"
Wow! That's called making a difference. So I'm pumped and proud to be asked. The money is raised, by the way, by contributions in support of the dancers and in ticket sales to the event. Lots of promotion from WECT TV and Brunswick County press, too.
I got a call from Susan Lawing of the BCC Development office on Thursday asking if I'd be willing to participate. I was frankly concerned about the time commitment involved, but reassured that it wouldn't be too bad. This event isn't like the TV show where participants essentially suspend everything else in their lives to practice every day for weeks and learn new dances every week. There's only one 90 second dance and we get three months to learn it. The expectation is one practice session a week during May and June, twice a week in July and then the actual event is August 6th. So that's not too bad. I checked with Marge and we agreed it would be fun and a good thing to do for the community.
Plus, I really love to dance. I'm not talented and I've had only a couple of lessons in my whole life, but in high school and college I was a dancing fool. The difference between now and then is now I don't dance so often. So I may not be very good, but I'm certainly enthusiastic.
So I also decided it might be fun to keep a journal of this experience, from start to finish - which I'm already visualizing my instructor partner and I, whoever she is, winning easily!! (There are some categories of awards for the actual dancing, but the biggest win is to the instructor-amateur team that garners the most financial support - as in, who raises the most money!). I'll take some photos and maybe some videos, too, to post in this blog/journal.
I wondered how Susan Lawing got my name but had a suspicion because (recently) former NBCC Executive Director Terry Grillo made a comment at a Business After Hours a month or so that I'd be a good candidate for Dancing with the Brunswick Stars and I just laughed it off. So I asked Susan and she said indeed it was Terry and a couple of other people. I called Terry at the chamber and asked Terri Andress, who answered the phone to tell Terry I wanted to talk to "Grillo, now!" And then when she answered we laughed about it.
Turns out my nomination isn't all that big a deal since they called from BCC needing a male and wanting some representation from the northern part of the county, so I've got to not get too swelled up about being asked - I fit the demographic, that's all. But I do like to dance.
The next day I got a call from Linda Boretti who's coordinating the event. Linda told me we're having a kick-off luncheon on April 12th to introduce the "Stars" and their instructors, who will meet for the first time. The instructors are key to this whole thing of course, and they generously donate their time and effort for those three months in support of this fund raiser.
So I don't know who my instructor is, other than she'll be from around the Leland/Wilmington area so travel time to practice shouldn't be an issue. Whoever you are, thanks in advance for what you're doing for the the students in Brunswick County and the community. I promise I'll work hard and be positive. (And, oh yeah, BTW, did you read I intend for us to win?)
Here's a shot from last year's competition when they awarded a $330,000+ check to BCC President Dr. Steven Greiner.
And here's a link to an article in the South Brunswick Magazine about last year's Dancing with the Brunswick Stars.
So I'll keep you posted on this. Look for more journal entries. Probably the next one will be after the April 12th luncheon.
- Brown out.
This past week I was invited to participate in the 3rd Annual Dancing with the Brunswick Stars!
(Below is a shot of me dancing with my favorite partner in the NBCC offices at a ribbon cutting recently.)
Here's the deal. Brunswick Community College is a fast-growing institution smack in the middle of Brunswick County with satellite campuses in Southport, Leland, and Calabash. They are pairing up a bunch (I don't know how many, probably around 20?) people who live and work and are known in the county for whatever reasons (I'm assuming good ones?) with professional dance instructors to compete in early August.
Why is BCC holding the event? Well, to raise scholarship money. "Oh," you say, "another fund-raiser." And the answer is, "Well, yeah, and last year they raised more than $330,000 and provided more than 200 scholarships!"
Wow! That's called making a difference. So I'm pumped and proud to be asked. The money is raised, by the way, by contributions in support of the dancers and in ticket sales to the event. Lots of promotion from WECT TV and Brunswick County press, too.
I got a call from Susan Lawing of the BCC Development office on Thursday asking if I'd be willing to participate. I was frankly concerned about the time commitment involved, but reassured that it wouldn't be too bad. This event isn't like the TV show where participants essentially suspend everything else in their lives to practice every day for weeks and learn new dances every week. There's only one 90 second dance and we get three months to learn it. The expectation is one practice session a week during May and June, twice a week in July and then the actual event is August 6th. So that's not too bad. I checked with Marge and we agreed it would be fun and a good thing to do for the community.
Plus, I really love to dance. I'm not talented and I've had only a couple of lessons in my whole life, but in high school and college I was a dancing fool. The difference between now and then is now I don't dance so often. So I may not be very good, but I'm certainly enthusiastic.
So I also decided it might be fun to keep a journal of this experience, from start to finish - which I'm already visualizing my instructor partner and I, whoever she is, winning easily!! (There are some categories of awards for the actual dancing, but the biggest win is to the instructor-amateur team that garners the most financial support - as in, who raises the most money!). I'll take some photos and maybe some videos, too, to post in this blog/journal.
I wondered how Susan Lawing got my name but had a suspicion because (recently) former NBCC Executive Director Terry Grillo made a comment at a Business After Hours a month or so that I'd be a good candidate for Dancing with the Brunswick Stars and I just laughed it off. So I asked Susan and she said indeed it was Terry and a couple of other people. I called Terry at the chamber and asked Terri Andress, who answered the phone to tell Terry I wanted to talk to "Grillo, now!" And then when she answered we laughed about it.
Turns out my nomination isn't all that big a deal since they called from BCC needing a male and wanting some representation from the northern part of the county, so I've got to not get too swelled up about being asked - I fit the demographic, that's all. But I do like to dance.
The next day I got a call from Linda Boretti who's coordinating the event. Linda told me we're having a kick-off luncheon on April 12th to introduce the "Stars" and their instructors, who will meet for the first time. The instructors are key to this whole thing of course, and they generously donate their time and effort for those three months in support of this fund raiser.
So I don't know who my instructor is, other than she'll be from around the Leland/Wilmington area so travel time to practice shouldn't be an issue. Whoever you are, thanks in advance for what you're doing for the the students in Brunswick County and the community. I promise I'll work hard and be positive. (And, oh yeah, BTW, did you read I intend for us to win?)
Here's a shot from last year's competition when they awarded a $330,000+ check to BCC President Dr. Steven Greiner.
And here's a link to an article in the South Brunswick Magazine about last year's Dancing with the Brunswick Stars.
So I'll keep you posted on this. Look for more journal entries. Probably the next one will be after the April 12th luncheon.
- Brown out.
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