danzbuddies Wednesday Class - new dances

1st March 2010

hi danzbuddies,

here are details of new dances to be taught this week.....

- 'Adios My Darling' by DJ Dan & Wynette. 64 counts, 2 walls, beginner level. No tag , no restart. Very nice song 'Vaya Con Dios' by Heather Myles who gave it a nice country flavour with a rumba beat. Dance steps are well choreographed and easy to master.....a great dance with good promise.

- 'Bobbi With An I' by Rachael McEnaney. 48 counts. 2 walls. beginner level. No tag, no restart, no stress! The song is 'Bobbi With An I' by Phil Vasser - nice country number, a bit fast. Steps are quite easy.

- ' Lover's Heart' by Francien Sittrop. 32 counts, 4 walls, intermediate level. The song used is a Boyz 2men version of 'Cupid' - quite a nice treatment to this song with a 'slow segment' towards the end. You'll need to do a 'slow count - waltz beat' tag during this segment (at end of wall 8).
Another good dance with promise.....

Holiday in Sydney - Feb 2010

13 February 2010

It was time again for our annual visit to Sydney to see our son Kenny and this time we decided to fly in the daytime going via SQ 223 leaving Singapore at 8.00 am. We arrived on schedule at 6.00 pm Sydney time, collected our Hertz rental car and found our way to the Medina Grand Service Apartment in Chinatown where we were to stay for 3 nights.


It was a great place to stay, centrally located in Chinatown / Darling Harbour neighbourhood. we had a suite on the 28th floor which allowed us a great view of the city on one side and Darling Harbour on the other side...... Dinner on our first night in Sydney was at a Thai Restaurant at Milson Point, North Sydney near Kenny's workplace - nothing to shout about, but a good meal none the less.

The next morning, after a quick breakfast with Kenny and fetching him to work, we were back in Chinatown where we spent the whole morning shopping at Paddy's Market. It was great to see the many lion dance performances all over Chinatown, -it was after all, the first day of the Lunar New Year. What impressed us were the many 'ang mohs' doing the lion dance and the REAL noisy, smokey and littering firecrackers!



Our first stop in Paddy's Market was to Lee's Fashion Shop - we visit her so often, we've become good friends.
Another regular shop we go to is 'B.B.Q. King' roast duck / char siew shop - we decided to 'ta pau' a variety of the roast meats for lunch in the apartment.

For dinner we decided to go to Darling Harbour to try out one of the nicer restaurants - no luck there - it was also 'Valentine's Day' and there was going to be a firework display at 8.30 pm that night - every good restaurant was booked solid, many had also jacked up their prices for 'Valentine's Day Special meals'. We decided to have a quick pasta meal and headed back to the apartment where we were able enjoy the 10 minute firework display from the suite's balcony...


Monday was spent at Bondi Junction shopping mall - where we shopped and shopped, had a 'yum cha' lunch at Kam Fook and tried out the massage service. That night we headed back to Darling Harbour again - we were not happy that we could not get a good meal there the previous night ; we just had to try again and landed up in the popular Criniti's South Italian Restaurant. The seafood platter they served up there was really good....yummy!
The next two days were spent in the company of Peter and Liz Heath and their Line Dancers of South Australia in Adelaide. See next article posting for story on our stay in Adelaide.......

Back in Sydney from Adelaide we spent Friday and Saturday on more shopping and .....eating -
'Yum Cha' lunch at Market City with Rosemary's sis April who drove 5 hours from Cowra for lunch......, - dinner at the well-known Billy Kwong Restaurant and breakfast at the sidewalk cafe outside Kenny's apartment block.



The best meal we had had to be the one at the 'Quay Restaurant', reputed to be one of Sydney's top restaurant. Situated at the water side opposite the Opera House, it was a great setting for a romantic dinner.
For dinner there is a fixed 4-course menu at $155 per person. The menu allows some choices for every course and we were able to find something we like for each course.
We started dinner at 7.30 pm when the sunlight was still shining bright onto the Opera House. and through the dinner, we were able to see the slow change of colour on the 'sails' of the Opera House as it got dark. Truly a great gastronomical experience. well worth the price we paid for that dinner.

A Wonderful Time with the Line Dancers of South Australia

16th & 17th February 2010

It was a very early morning wake-up for us on Tuesday as we had to leave the Medina Grand at 5.00 am, arriving at the airport at 5.30 am to catch the 6.30 JetStar flight to Adelaide. The flight was on schedule, we arrived at the Adelaide Airport, was met by Peter 'Bicycle Waltz' Heath who whisked us off to his home in Salisbury, north of Adelaide City where we were to stay for two nights. After a quick wash, it was off to Peter and Liz's basic level class.
.

It was an enjoyable class. We even shared a dance with them - 'Wanna Dance' which everyone enjoyed. After class, we were treated to a nice pizza lunch at a nearby Cafe.

After lunch, we took an afternoon rest, had 'Tea' (more like dinner) with the family and then went to join an 'Advanced Level' Class taught by Liz. She was not feeling so well, so we had Peter taught us the dances for the night.

The next morning we joined another basic level class of Liz - and this time we were having Sandra doing relief duty on behalf of Liz. We enjoyed another great line dance session and were happy to share with them "Pretty Little Baby" which was well received.

After the class, we were guests of a group of Liz's students - a very nice friendly group of line dancers who were originally from Malaysia. They brought us to a couple of their homes, showed us their fruit trees in the garden and treated us to a nice lunch in Chinatown

Back to the home of Peter and Liz Heath we went to prepare for a "re-union" dinner party they had arranged for us to meet the group who had visited us in Singapore last June. It was good to see them again and it seems like we have been friends for so long. Our thanks to each of them for taking the time to come and see us again.

A Big 'THANK YOU' to Peter and Liz and family for hosting us and for their very warm hospitality. We enjoyed staying at their mansion..........

We must also thank all of the 'Line Dancers of South Australia' we met - all of them have been so friendly and helpful to us during our short stay in Adelaide. We hope that many of them will come and visit us in Singapore for us to return the warm hospitality shown to us.

danzbuddies Ukulele Band Performance @ Goldhill N C Event

Sunday 21st February

On a rainy Sunday, 21st February members of the Goldhill NC Ukulele Band & Sing-along Club turned up in full force to perform for the Goldhill NC Lunar New Year Party at the Goldhill Community Garden.

The group played 'You Are My Sunshine' to welcome the Guest of Honour, RADM (NS) Lui Tuck Yew when he arrived at 6.15 pm. Mr Lui gamely joined us in the singing before going on to declare open the extension of Goldhill Community Garden.

danzbuddies Wednesday class - new dances

hi danzbuddies,

here are details of dances we will share this week:

- 'American Cowboy' by Peter & Alison. 64 counts, 2 walls, beginner level. One restart during wall 2. An easy dance, steps go well with the song - 'American Cowboy' by Jada.

- 'Rhyme or Reason' by Rachael McEnaney. 64 counts, 4 walls, beginner level. One restart during wall 3. Another easy to manage dance . Song used is 'It Happens' by Sugarland.

- 'Tomorrow's Sorrow' by Rep Ghazali. Danced to a very nice version of 'Without You' by Collin Raye with Susan Ashton. 32 counts, 2 walls, intermediate level. Tag and restart on 5th wall. There seems to be many complicated turns, but song is slow, gives you time to do the turns.

- 'Bubble Gum Cowboy' by Jules Langstaff. 32 counts, 2 walls, beginner level. A very easy 'fun dance' with a cute song by Loco Loco.

danzbuddies Friday Jam session - Feb 12th

hi danzbuddies,

come and join our Friday line dance jam session and help welcome the Year of The Tiger.........
There will be good company, nice dances, great makan-makan, wine treats.....etc

Dance list is as follows:

01 Cowboy Cha Cha
02 Fool In Love
03 Holding back The Ocean
04 About A Girl
05 Easy Bad Boy (new)
06 Can You Feel Me (new)
07 Freak Like Me
08 Stomp & Kick (new)
09 Call Me Crazy
10 Here 'Til The End

11 Walkin' In The Rain
12 In Private
13 Teresa Tentg
14 Rockin' That body Body
15 Martini Moments
16 7 days

plus requests of your favourited dances.

REMINDER ! Our February Line Dance Party will take place on SUNDAY, Feb 28th.......
This is a special 'Lunar New Year / Valentine's Day' Party organised with Tanglin CC WEC with Buffet Dinner provided.

danzbuddies Wednesday Class - new dances

hi danzbuddies,

here are details of new dances we will be sharing this week:

- 'Easy Bad Boy' by Joey Prieur. 32 counts, 2 wall, beginner level, no tag, no restart. Song used is Imelda's May's "Big Bad Handsome Man". An easy, 'no stress' dance. Click to see the video.

- 'Stomp & Kick' by Kate Sala, danced to a nice Amy Diamond song "Don't Lose Any Sleep Over You". 40 counts, 4 walls, intermediate level. 3 tags at the end of walls 2, 4 and 6. Steps are not the regular type - some interesting variations in the dance routine. Click to see video.

- 'Can You Feel Me' by Chris Cleevely. 64 counts, 4 walls, intermediate level. no tag, no restart. Nice song "Can You Feel Me" by Michael Bolton. Although rthere're 64 counts, steps are easy to learn. Click to see video.

danzbuddies Ukulele Band going places

Our Ukulele Band is getting along fine - more have joined and our regular Friday night jam sessions are getting to be very enjoyable. We welcome anyone who is keen to take up this hobby to join us any time.......no experience needed...........we will teach you to play one song within one session........In the three months since we started, the group is able to play more than 10 songs well.....and we will be performing for the MP soon at a Goldhill Garden function on February 21st........