The
Marathon is just that - every year more of everything
than the year before. There’s a free
shuttle to the hotel from the airport and James
Gregory and Jean Garr always have wonderful staff
to greet you. The hotel staff really treat you as
a guest in their hotel. This year the theme was
Boot Camp and the marathon portion of
this event is certainly an understatement. There
are lessons in five different rooms from morning
until night, the instructors teaching all levels
so that there is always something for everyone all
day long. There is also open dancing all day long
in case you want to dance some of the things
you learned or just take a break.
All the lessons started at 2pm on Thursday.
This day is reserved for people to teach popular
dances that are not their own and I think this
year there were even more impressive dances than
previous years. The instructors for this
year is a virtual who’s who and who’s
up-andcoming in Line dance.
People like Cato Larsen,
a great pool of US instructors, our British friends,
Neville and Julie, Dave and Pauline, Johnny 2-Step,
Nigel Amon and Dee Musk.
Friday
started off with previews in the morning, lessons
all day long, and of course a party at
night. So many people told me afterwards how much
they enjoyed the cookie party and just meeting other
people and mingling.
Saturday
was more lessons all day leading to the highlight
of the weekend -- the show and the parade on Saturday
night at midnight with everyone dressed up in military
uniforms of all descriptions. Pepper, our MC, did
a great job as always and kept everything running
smoothly. |
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After
the show, it is time for the parade. I am always
so impressed with what effort people putinto their
costumes so I stayed up really late on Saturday
to drag it out as long as possible. I was so tired
and sleep deprived that one more night with no sleep
could not make any difference.
Lessons continue on Sunday morning. I left before
the choreography competition (pro and amateur) but
I heard the room was packed. This is such a big
draw at events and I just love watching it. The
Marathon also goes on all day
Sunday with dancing and many people stay over.
I’d like to recognize the great staff that
work so hard at events like this one. From
negotiating with the hotel, hiring the
instructors, worrying about getting enough
people to pay the bills, getting the instructors
from the airport to the hotel, deciding on the decorations,
laying the fl oors (which is a massive job), getting
all the brochures done leading up to the event,
organizing the vendor
spaces, setting up all the sound systems,
making sure the hotel staff is doing what
they need to do for a dance event, planning the
hospitality room for the instructors and volunteers,
arranging for parties and the welcoming reception,
planning everything for an entire year, getting
the registrations posted and confi rmed, dealing
with a million questions and doing the schedule
(never an easy task), cleaning everything up afterwards
and making sure that any problems or issues are
dealt with during the event. Every time someone
comes up to me and complains about some petty little
problem they had during any weekend I just look
at them and think “I’d like to see you
pull this off!” I remember the days when there
were no events to complain
about. As I always say, every dancer should attend
the Marathon at least once. Can’t wait for
next year!
Carol and Stacy |
