Hi everyone -
This message is going out to all friends and family that I know in the greater Washington, DC area, as many of you have requested that I let you know when there was a top level ballroom competition in your area at which we were going to be dancing. So here are the details of the upcoming USA Dance Mid-Atlantic Championships, which is one of this year's National Qualifying Events for the USA Dance National Ballroom Championships. The event is going to be held at the ***** ******* Bethesda, *** Bethesda ***** ******, **** ********* Ave, Bethesda, MD ***** on Saturday, February 27, 2010. Many of the dancers that you can see at this competition are some of the best in the nation. Some of them might be among the future National Champions in their respective discipline or age group when they compete in April of this year in Los Angeles.
While the competition will be held all day Saturday and Sunday, Saturday night is the best time for a spectator to go, as that is when all the top Championship level dancers will be dancing. We will be competing as well that night in both the Senior 1 and Senior 2 divisions of the International Standard Championship events. The website is
http://www.tribalwars.com/forums/ for all the details. Currently, the schedule only shows that the Championship events are to run on Saturday evening. My best estimate is that the evening might start as early as 6:30pm, but the details will not be posted until all the entries are in and they know how many dancers there are. Usually, we do not dance until later in the evening, possibly starting around 8:00pm or so, and dance on and off until fairly late in the evening. The competition usually goes until close to midnight. These competitions are not like going to a show that has a specific start time and end time for all spectators. You can show up at any point in the evening, so that you can see the dancers that you want to see. The final schedule will be available about one week before the event, at which time I can let you know when we will be dancing, and when you might plan to arrive to see the very best dancers, and also us, without living there for five hours or more!
There is ticket information on the website under Spectator Information. Tickets can be ordered online using the competition registration system, and picked up at the door, or purchased at the door. No one that I am aware of who has ever attended one of these top level competitions has been disappointed in what they saw. The costuming will be spectacular, and the excitement is so much better up close and personal than any type of ballroom event that you might have seen on TV. Even the guys who think that they would not be interested in a dance event tell me that they really enjoyed seeing one of these competitions, especially the Latin dancers. There will be several rounds leading up to the final round for many of the events, so that you can see many of the best dancers several times as they work their way to the final round.
If you would like to have more information than I have provided here or than you can find on the website, please feel free to give me a call or contact me by return e-mail. I know that you will not be disappointed if you decide to attend. I would love to see any of you there, if this sounds like an interesting evening out for you and some friends or family. It is always more exciting to dance for people you know, and not just the judges! If you happen to be free that night and plan to come, please let me know so that I can look for you, as I would not want to miss seeing you, if you are in the crowd somewhere! If you have friends who love "Dancing with the Stars, please pass along this information, as it is not every day that the National qualifying event is held in their back yard, yet the public rarely know an event like this is available to attend.
I hope that the New Year has started well for all of you. I know that I am looking for a better year in 2010 than the last two years. Let's hope that this year the financial markets finally recover all the way!
Carol
PS: For those of you who do not have it - My cell phone number is ***-***-****, and the home phone ***-***-****.
