US Open 2014 Update #3 – Here We Go!
You know that smallish meeting room in the lobby, behind the front desk, It was like a packed nightclub. We’ve outgrown the room. Elevators crammed with racks of costumes on hangers, dancers practicing in every corner ...
Happy Thanksgiving United States West Coast Dancers!
Happy Happy Thanksgiving from the US Open!
It’s a beautiful sunny day here at the Open, and we’ve just started Jack and Jills!
Here’s the schedule for the weekend (desktop version) (mobile version) if you’re following along …
And here’s the live feed ….
Last night was funnnn! You know that smallish meeting room in the lobby, behind the front desk, where the pre-dance is always held? It was PACKED and I mean overly packed – crowded – too crowded – barely room to dance or even stand around the edges. Like a packed nightclub. We’ve outgrown the room!
We stopped in briefly round midnight and Jack Smith’s music was FANTASTIC, energy on the floor fabulous. So crowded the dancing had exploded out the door into the lobby … dancers from Australia, Singapore, France, UK, Germany, Brasil … so exciting! Competitors! Competitors! Ferocious, scared, determined, lusty competitive dancers from EVERYWHERE around the world!
Yesterday, watching the hotel change hour to hour, crazy …
From ghost town in early morning …
Then Phil, Raymond, and crew setting up the ballroom early in the day ..
Then Ruth and her crew with crates and boxes out at the registration desk at noon …
Then suddenly, mid-afternoon, the lobby, halls, and elevators swarming with dancers, suitcases, clipboards, staff, pros, newbies, backpacks, coolers, bellboys pushing luggage racks with rhinestoned costumes hanging in plastic …
People running everywhere intent on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.
By 6:00 PM the registration table had become a massive hubub of laughing and yelling, crates folders lists pens forms waivers computers everywhere …
Line forming of last-minuters getting weekend tickets, jack and jills, strictlys …
The long hall suddenly expelling competitors in sweats no makeup, emerging from practice rooms like bad-tempered bears coming out of hibernation ….
Some furry wild animal throws its arms around my back hugging kissing – Oh! It’s Annie! In a new fur coat she bought because she’s freezing (it’s chilly tonight, after a blazing hot day) announcing that her ears have gotten longer did we know ears keep growing? Feet too, they keep growing, her feet have gotten larger …
And here comes Yvonne and entourage with folders and clipboards all laughing yelling coordinating at once …
And here’s Jim Tigges booming self-deprecating jokes and hilarious snarky witticisms …
Carlito at the entrance hugging every person that passes, pounding backs, recommending the sea food restaurant across the street, shaking his shoulders laughing with a smile so big it runs around the back of his head …
The line getting longer and louder by the minute, a bustle of black coats and scarves …
Here are Doug and Nicki Silton holding hands and a big bag of dog food (“How have you guys spent the last two weeks?” “Practicing our routine all day every day, getting ready to say goodbye to LA, take our stuff out of storage and move to our new home in Oregon Monday after the Open. With a quick stopover in Bali,”) … Ben Morris in a hipster black parka from Iceland … Cameo with Ben and Nick (“You practice with both of these guys at once?” “I have two more! I’m doing four routines this weekend!”) … Peter Fradley and Michelle (“New routine! So excited, so nervous! It’s hard in Australia! Time with a coach means a flight, huge expense!”) Leah Flores, Stephen and Sonya (Oh no she’s injured! Groin pull! Hip and thigh in tape, planning to dance, but haven’t been able to practice as they needed so disappointing,) Eddie and Jennifer demoing their gorgeous new Showcase routine in glittering jewel-encrusted costumes (with diamonds on the soles of her shoes! Paul Simon meets Manolo Blahnik!)
Meanwhile … across the hall … through the doors into the ballroom … all day and long into the night …
Phil, Raymond, and a crew of tired, scruffy, serious workers are climbing around on ladders with hammers and tape measures and wires and drapery, and tool-bags …
The floor a jumble of transport crates, plastic tubs overflowing with equipment, lighting laid out in rows, tall piles of steel bars, rolls of fabric, overhead rigging stacked in mounds … pots of poinsettias ..
Melissa Greene in a quiet war with the on-the-floor video camera, struggling to find visual center. The lines of the stage don’t line up with the lines of the floor! Which don’t line up with the lines of the seating! The stage decorations are not symmetrical! Melissa is having a polite, silent OCD conniption fit.
And now it’s today! Thursday, Thanksgiving day! Ballroom is finished, Novice and Intermediate prelims just over … Masters are lining up …
Running down to watch!