{"id":37,"date":"2012-05-23T23:46:51","date_gmt":"2012-05-23T23:46:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/evelynanddenny.com\/?page_id=37"},"modified":"2023-12-08T14:12:51","modified_gmt":"2023-12-08T22:12:51","slug":"articles-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/articles-2\/","title":{"rendered":"My 2 Cents!"},"content":{"rendered":"<h6><a href=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents4.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-11352 \" src=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents4-140x150.png\" width=\"50\" height=\"54\" srcset=\"https:\/\/evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents4-140x150.png 140w, https:\/\/evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents4.png 183w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 50px) 100vw, 50px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>We should all owe but not reparations. <\/strong><\/span>I know this is political but I think it&#8217;s a good read no matter what political thinking you may have.\u00a0 I also think this speech should go viral.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/h6>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/f2EDIuToeQ4\" width=\"325\" height=\"211\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 10pt; color: #000000; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">(July 2, 2021)<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h6><a href=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents4.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-11352 \" src=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents4-140x150.png\" width=\"50\" height=\"54\" srcset=\"https:\/\/evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents4-140x150.png 140w, https:\/\/evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents4.png 183w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 50px) 100vw, 50px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Great video Newt Gingrich 10\/1\/18<\/span><\/span><\/strong>. <span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"> Everyone should view this video and it should go viral.<\/span> <strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">My 2 Cents<\/span><\/strong> <span style=\"color: #000000;\">(October 2, 2018)<\/span><br \/>\n<\/span><br \/>\n<\/span><\/h6>\n<div style=\"width: 290px;\" class=\"wp-video\"><video class=\"wp-video-shortcode\" id=\"video-37-1\" width=\"290\" height=\"164\" preload=\"metadata\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"video\/mp4\" src=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/Newt-Gingrich-destroying-America-10.1.18.mp4?_=1\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/Newt-Gingrich-destroying-America-10.1.18.mp4\">http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/Newt-Gingrich-destroying-America-10.1.18.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n<hr \/>\n<h6><a href=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents4.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-11352 alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents4-140x150.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"46\" height=\"49\" srcset=\"https:\/\/evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents4-140x150.png 140w, https:\/\/evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents4.png 183w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 46px) 100vw, 46px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">My favorite<\/span> <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">singer of all time, George Strait.<\/span><\/strong><\/span>\u00a0 Alan Jackson is singing along with him.\u00a0 My kind of country music!\u00a0 One of the greatest country songs. <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">My 2<\/span> <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">cents <\/span><\/strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">(June 20, 2018)<\/span><strong><br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/NK1Vrur_ewM\" width=\"290\" height=\"164\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/h6>\n<hr \/>\n<h6><a href=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents4.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-11352\" src=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents4-140x150.png\" width=\"46\" height=\"49\" srcset=\"https:\/\/evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents4-140x150.png 140w, https:\/\/evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents4.png 183w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 46px) 100vw, 46px\" \/><\/a><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #ff0000;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><br \/>\nOne of the best videos.\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">If you have never seen this, check it out. God Bless The U.S.A. <\/span><\/span><br \/>\n<strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">My 2 cents<\/span> <\/strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">(May 10, 2018)<\/span><strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000000;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/UFv-fqQ9D_Y\" width=\"290\" height=\"164\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h6>\n<hr \/>\n<h6><a href=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents4.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-11352\" src=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents4-140x150.png\" width=\"46\" height=\"49\" srcset=\"https:\/\/evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents4-140x150.png 140w, https:\/\/evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents4.png 183w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 46px) 100vw, 46px\" \/><\/a><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Using the same music as another choreographer.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000000;\"> Should a choreographer use the same piece of music that another choreographer has already used?\u00a0 Well, there is no exact answer, only opinions.\u00a0 Here\u2019s mine.\u00a0 There is no rule or law for that matter that states music can only be used once.\u00a0 That means no choreographer owns any piece of music just because he\/she used it for his\/her dance.\u00a0 Having said that, IF you are a \u201cpopular\u201d choreographer around the world and have used a specific piece of music, should you \u201cexpect\u201d no one else to use it.\u00a0 The answer again is no, you shouldn\u2019t.\u00a0 But maybe some do.\u00a0 In past years, I have been a choreographer of dances (all of which are posted on this website by the way).\u00a0 I always tried to find out whether a dance had already been done to music I picked before using that music.\u00a0 If a popular choreographer had used it I would definitely not use it, since my dance probably wouldn\u2019t have much of a chance of getting out there.\u00a0 Also, if a \u201clocal\u201d choreographer had used a piece of music I would definitely not use that song, even if that local choreographer was not necessarily popular around the world. In addition, I would definitely not use a piece of music that a friend of mine had used, whether or not a popular choreographer, a local choreographer, or whether or not his\/her dance became popular.<\/span><\/h6>\n<h6><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">There are times when using the same piece of music as another choreographer seems okay. One of those times would be when a dance using a specific piece of music was choreographed a long time ago (say 5 or more years), but is not being danced much anymore, if at all&#8211;but still not if the choreographer is a friend of mine.\u00a0 Of course, the 5-year mark is my own opinion.\u00a0 Another time is when someone choreographs a <u>beginner<\/u> dance using the same piece of music as an <u>intermediate<\/u> or <u>advanced<\/u>&#8211;not if the choreographer is a friend, as mentioned above.\u00a0 It could be okay in this case to use that piece of music (provided the music is not used by a local choreographer or friend choreographer).\u00a0 However, and this is really important, the beginner dance must be truly a beginner, not an upper beginner, advanced beginner, improver, or the like.\u00a0 There is not enough difference in the level of dances unless the new dance is a \u201cbasic\u201d beginner.\u00a0 The problem arises when folks in different regions, states, or even cities in the same area have their own judgment as to what constitutes levels of dances.\u00a0 But, for the most part, \u201cbasic\u201d beginner (or you could say, first-time beginner) dance leveling seems to be pretty much the same.\u00a0 I must emphasize again, however, that anything other than a \u201cbasic\u201d beginner dance using the same piece of music should be avoided because of the reasons listed in the above.\u00a0 Having said all of this, some choreographers wouldn&#8217;t mind no matter what.\u00a0 One could always contact a choreographer to ask whether that person cares whether you use a piece of music of not.\u00a0 Bottom line is, having said all of this, there still is no rule or any type of claim regarding only one person using a piece of music.\u00a0 The above is only based on one&#8217;s judgment.\u00a0 The above are my thoughts, obviously.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/h6>\n<h6><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">On a little different note, it is too bad that dances done by choreographers who are not well-known around the world are overlooked much of the time.\u00a0 I can understand why, but still, I wish there were a better way of getting their dances out there.\u00a0 There are many dances coming out regularly. \u00a0As an instructor I admit that I glance at who the choreographer is on a dance before anything else.\u00a0 That glance at least narrows down some of the dance choices.\u00a0 Of course, I would then review that dance with the music to determine whether to teach it or not, paying close attention to the lyrics.\u00a0 Of course, I review dances by non-popular choreographers, but not as often.\u00a0 <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">My 2 cents<\/span><\/strong><\/span> (Mar. 12, 2018).<\/span><\/h6>\n<hr \/>\n<h6><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents4.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-11352\" src=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents4-140x150.png\" width=\"44\" height=\"47\" srcset=\"https:\/\/evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents4-140x150.png 140w, https:\/\/evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents4.png 183w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 44px) 100vw, 44px\" \/><\/a><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Tina Turner&#8211;Proud Mary.\u00a0<\/span> <\/strong>Tina has always been one of the best showpersons on the planet.\u00a0 This older video shows just why.\u00a0 Incredible performance.\u00a0 <strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">My 2 Cents <\/span><\/strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">(Feb. 9, 2018)<br \/>\n<\/span><\/span><br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Tina Turner - Proud Mary (Live from Arnhem, Netherlands)\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/TTfYnRQgKgY\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/h6>\n<hr \/>\n<h6><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents4.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-11352\" src=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents4-140x150.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"45\" height=\"49\" srcset=\"https:\/\/evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents4-140x150.png 140w, https:\/\/evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents4.png 183w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 45px) 100vw, 45px\" \/><\/a><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Restarts in a dance not accurate. <\/span><\/strong>Here is one of my new pet peeves.\u00a0 I say new, because I saw the 1st case last year, 2017, and another this year, Jan. 2018.\u00a0 So, here goes.\u00a0 I&#8217;m talking about written step descriptions of line dances.\u00a0 Keep in mind, I&#8217;m only one instructor and have seen only 2 cases so far.\u00a0 But, there may be many out there.\u00a0 If there are restarts in a step description, the choreographer states such as part of the step description&#8211;usually at the top of the description, but the mention could be at the bottom.\u00a0 Not uncommon, right?\u00a0 But, the couple of dance descriptions I have recently<\/span><\/span> <span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">seen have the number of restarts listed as LESS than the actual number of restarts.\u00a0 What?\u00a0 One of the descriptions I have (and I have actually taught the dance after I figured out the restarts) states that there are 3 restarts in the dance rather than 5.\u00a0 Also there are 2 tags in the middle of the dance, not at the end of the dance as they usually are&#8211;even this okay.\u00a0 Of course if the tags are at the end of the dance, the dance automatically &#8220;begins&#8221; again without any mention of a restart. Not an issue about the tags themselves.\u00a0 However, after the tags in this dance (again, which are in the middle of the dance), the dance starts over from the beginning&#8211;2 MORE RESTARTS.\u00a0 However, the choreographer doesn&#8217;t count these 2 restarts.\u00a0 What?\u00a0 In this particular dance, there are 5 restarts because you restart the dance 5 different times total&#8211;all somewhere other than at the end of the dance.\u00a0 The choreographer considers 2 of the restarts as 1 because they happen at the same spot within the dance.\u00a0 So what?\u00a0 Again, a restart is a restart!\u00a0 Why the choreographer doesn&#8217;t count the 2 restarts after the tags is misleading.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/h6>\n<h6><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">I think that the choreographer(s) may be trying to start a new fad of how to count restarts (which, obviously, I do not agree with), or they are trying to make the dance not seem as complex or difficult.\u00a0 If I pick up a dance description and see that there are 3 restarts and 2 tags, the description doesn&#8217;t seem as complex as a description I pick up that shows 5 restarts and 2 tags.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/h6>\n<h6><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Another example of the same type of counting, is a step description I have that shows the dance has 3 restarts.\u00a0 This particular dance is one I&#8217;ve also taught (after figuring out the restarts and that there were 5).\u00a0 But, I did at first see that it had only 3 restarts.\u00a0 However, dancers must restart 5 times in the dance not 3.\u00a0 The breakdown is:\u00a0 2 of the restarts are in the same spot in the dance (choreographer counts those as 1 restart, similar to the mention of such in the paragraph above), 2 restarts are both in another place in the dance and but happen in the same place (counts as 1 additional restart), and 1 restart is in a totally different spot than all of the above shown in this paragraph.\u00a0 Choreographer states, therefore, there are 3 restarts.\u00a0 What?\u00a0 There are 5 restarts no matter how you look at it.\u00a0 Again, if I saw that a dance had 5 restarts I may have passed it by.\u00a0 <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">My 2 Cents<\/span><\/strong><\/span> <span style=\"color: #000000;\">(Feb. 1, 2018)<\/span><\/span><\/h6>\n<hr \/>\n<h6><span style=\"font-size: 8pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents4.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-11352\" src=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents4-140x150.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"45\" height=\"49\" srcset=\"https:\/\/evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents4-140x150.png 140w, https:\/\/evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents4.png 183w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 45px) 100vw, 45px\" \/><\/a><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">BnB Presidents<\/span><\/strong>.\u00a0 <\/span>Each year I publish a list of all the Presidents of the Boots &#8216;n&#8217; Buckles Dance Club (located in Newark, CA).\u00a0 The new list for 2018 is here:\u00a0 <strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/BnB-Presidents-as-of-2018.pdf\">BnB Presidents as of 2018\u00a0<\/a> <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">My 2 Cents <\/span><\/span><\/strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">(Jan. 30, 2018)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h6>\n<hr \/>\n<h6><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents4.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-11352\" src=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents4.png\" width=\"47\" height=\"50\" srcset=\"https:\/\/evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents4.png 183w, https:\/\/evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents4-140x150.png 140w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 47px) 100vw, 47px\" \/><\/a><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Marine says it all.\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong>I couldn&#8217;t resist posting this.\u00a0 So, I hope I don&#8217;t offend anyone but this Marine says it all, in my opinion.\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=RTXN2p3qVRg\">Marine says it like it is<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong> <strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">My 2 Cents <\/span><\/strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">(Jul. 3, 2017)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h6>\n<hr \/>\n<h6><a href=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents4.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-11352\" src=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents4.png\" width=\"47\" height=\"50\" srcset=\"https:\/\/evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents4.png 183w, https:\/\/evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents4-140x150.png 140w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 47px) 100vw, 47px\" \/><\/a><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Video with Josh Turner. <\/span><\/span><\/strong><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">This video is a fabulous version of the song originally recorded by George Jones.\u00a0 Fabulous.\u00a0 <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/gz8kAYWtzWA\">He Stopped Loving Her Today<\/a>\u00a0 <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">My 2 Cents <\/span><\/strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">(Feb. 21, 2017)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h6>\n<hr \/>\n<h6><a href=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents4.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-11352\" src=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents4.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"48\" height=\"51\" srcset=\"https:\/\/evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents4.png 183w, https:\/\/evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents4-140x150.png 140w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 48px) 100vw, 48px\" \/><\/a><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">That&#8217;s our Alfonso!<\/span><\/strong><\/span>\u00a0 <span style=\"color: #000000;\">I think I will always remember him (Alfonso Ribeiro&#8211;Carlton) on The Prince Of Bel Air.\u00a0 This particular recording was from Dancing With The Stars. I wanted to post this just<\/span> <span style=\"color: #000000;\">for fun.<\/span> <strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">My 2 Cents <\/span><\/strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">(Feb. 3, 2017)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h6>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/pbSCWgZQf_g\" width=\"290\" height=\"164\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h6><a href=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents4.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-11352\" src=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents4.png\" alt=\"my2cents\" width=\"51\" height=\"55\" srcset=\"https:\/\/evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents4.png 183w, https:\/\/evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents4-140x150.png 140w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 51px) 100vw, 51px\" \/><\/a><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Incredible new song by Reba McEntire.\u00a0<\/span> <\/span><\/strong><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Reba is certain<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">ly doing her part to bring folks together with songs.\u00a0 This is released 2017.\u00a0 (Liberals take note, since you apparently do not defend freedom of speech (see UC Berkeley &#8220;riots&#8221; on 2\/1\/17 forcing a scheduled speaker to cancel.)\u00a0 <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>My 2 Cents<\/strong><\/span> <span style=\"color: #000000;\">(Feb. 2, 2017)<\/span><br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/S9q-08aTNh8\" width=\"290\" height=\"164\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h6>\n<hr \/>\n<h6><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-11352\" title=\"my2cents\" src=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents4.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"51\" height=\"54\" srcset=\"https:\/\/evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents4.png 183w, https:\/\/evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents4-140x150.png 140w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 51px) 100vw, 51px\" \/><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Scotty McCreery. <\/span><\/span><\/strong><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">I couldn&#8217;t resist posting this video. Incredible, that&#8217;s all I can say.<br \/>\n<\/span><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">My 2 Cents <\/span><\/strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">(Oct. 28, 2016)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h6>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Scotty McCreery - Five More Minutes (Official Video)\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/2dPDBU9MC8c?list=RDCMUCi6ot_hQURY84xgaSKrCx3w\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h6><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-11352\" title=\"my2cents\" src=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents4.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"59\" height=\"63\" srcset=\"https:\/\/evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents4.png 183w, https:\/\/evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents4-140x150.png 140w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 59px) 100vw, 59px\" \/><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Good Sayings<\/span><\/strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>.<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0<span style=\"color: #000000;\"> I just couldn&#8217;t resist posting a few of these because they are so true (and I&#8217;ll be adding to this list as time goes on):<br \/>\n1.\u00a0 A bad attitude is like a flat tire. You can&#8217;t go anywhere until you change it.<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">2.\u00a0 The only way to win with a toxic person is not to play.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\">3.\u00a0 Maybe some people are just meant to be in the same story. (<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">love this one<\/span>)<br \/>\n4. Unless you are willing to pick up a rifle &amp; defend our country, I suggest you stop criticizing those who will.<br \/>\n5.\u00a0 Don&#8217;t ever let anyone stop you from being true to yourself. If negative people are around you then you need to distance yourself and surround yourself with positive friends and family. Jealousy is ugly and those kind of people will get back ten fold what they give out!<br \/>\n<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">6.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Sometimes the first step toward forg<\/span>i<span style=\"color: #000000;\">ven<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">ess is realizing the other person was born an idiot.<br \/>\n7.\u00a0 You don&#8217;t need 30 rounds to hunt. True, but the founding fathers didn&#8217;t write the 2nd amendment because the deer were coming.<br \/>\n8.\u00a0 Be decisive.\u00a0 Right or wrong, make a decision. The road of life is paved with flat squirrels who couldn&#8217;t make a decision.<br \/>\n9.\u00a0 If you can&#8217;t do anything about it, then let it go. Don&#8217;t be a prisoner to things you can&#8217;t change.<br \/>\n10.\u00a0 Sometimes all you have to do is &#8220;forget&#8221; what you feel and &#8220;remember&#8221; what you deserve.<br \/>\n11.\u00a0 Don&#8217;t waste your time on revenge. Those who hurt you will eventually face their own karma.<br \/>\n12.\u00a0 Don&#8217;t wait for things to get easier, simpler, better.\u00a0 Life will always be complicated.\u00a0 Learn to be happy right now.\u00a0 Otherwise you WILL run out of time.<br \/>\n13.\u00a0 A good life is when you assume nothing, do more, need less, smile often, dream big, laugh a lot, and realize how blessed you are.<br \/>\n14.\u00a0 If you always do what you always did, you&#8217;ll always get what you always got.<br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">15.\u00a0 The New Year lies before you, like a spotless track of snow; be careful how you tread on it, for every mark will show.<\/span><br \/>\n16.\u00a0 Take pride in yourself that you can correct yourself.<br \/>\n17.\u00a0 Difference between ingest and digest:\u00a0 (a) ingest&#8211;take in as much information as possible; (b) digest&#8211;be able to sort through the garbage of information and dwell on only the important, constructive stuff, then get rid of the rest.<br \/>\n<strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">My 2 Cents<\/span><\/strong><\/span> <span style=\"color: #000000;\">(Aug. 19, 2016, added more Aug. 29, 2016, Dec. 9, 2016, Jan. 5, 2017, Feb. 16, 2017, Nov. 19, 2017)<\/span><\/span><\/h6>\n<hr style=\"height: 3px; width: 100%; color: #ffffff; border: 1px solid #cccccc;\" noshade=\"noshade\" size=\"3\" width=\"100%\" \/>\n<h6 style=\"line-height: 18px;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/articles-2\/my2cents-5\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-11352\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" title=\"my2cents\" src=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents4-140x150.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"60\" height=\"65\" \/><\/a><span style=\"font-size: 12px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Levels of Danc<\/span><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">es<\/span>.\u00a0<\/strong> <span style=\"color: #000000;\">Over the last few years a &#8220;new&#8221; category of dance levels has appeared on step descriptions.\u00a0 This category is &#8220;Improver.&#8221;\u00a0 To me there is no such level.\u00a0 Now we have a level between beginner and intermediate.\u00a0 Give me a break. The traditional categories of levels are:\u00a0 easy (ultra) beginner, beginner, advanced (or upper) beginner; next there is easy intermediate, intermediate and advanced (or upper) intermediate.\u00a0 Then we have the advanced category which is a stand alone level for the very serious and highly skilled dancers.\u00a0 It&#8217;s just called advanced, there is no easy advanced, etc., as that would really be silly and make no sense.<\/span><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 12px;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">There is no room for a category of levels in between the beginner categories and intermediate called improver.\u00a0 Yet, some folks somewhere have &#8220;squeezed in&#8221; the improver level.\u00a0 So, now there seems to be: easy beginner, beginner, advanced beginner, improver, high improver (yes, I&#8217;ve now seen &#8220;high&#8221; improver), easy intermediate, intermediate, advanced intermediate, and advanced. This is crazy.\u00a0 Choreographers need to commit to defining their dances into the levels in the beginner category or levels in the intermediate category.\u00a0 I repeat, there should be NO category in between. What could be more explicit or simple than that.\u00a0 What the heck does improver mean anyway.\u00a0 Does it mean the dancer is just improving but not good enough for easy intermediate?\u00a0 This <span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">is totally not true.\u00a0 Choreographers:\u00a0 Please make a decision and commit to placing your dance in the advanced beginner or easy intermediate level rather than cop out and <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 8pt;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">place<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\"> your dance somewhere in between&#8211;in an improver category.\u00a0 It&#8217;s a catch all level and totally unnecessary.\u00a0\u00a0 As a choreographer and instructor, I can always tell when a dance is upper beginner or easy<\/span> <span style=\"color: #000000;\">intermediat rather than in the cop out category of improver.\u00a0 If I see a dance description with the &#8220;im<\/span>prover&#8221; level on it, I will communicate back to my students and other instructors that the dance is, indeed, upper beginner or easy intermediate. So, come on, folks, please categorize your dance in the appropriate levels; don&#8217;t keep this new &#8220;squeezed in&#8221; level of improver!\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"> <strong>My 2 Cents<\/strong><\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\"> (March 21, 2016)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h6>\n<hr style=\"height: 3px; color: #ffffff; border: 1px solid #cccccc;\" noshade=\"noshade\" size=\"3\" width=\"100%\" \/>\n<p style=\"line-height: 18px;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/articles-2\/my2cents-5\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-11352\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" title=\"my2cents\" src=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents4-140x150.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"60\" height=\"65\" \/><\/a><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Release of Step<\/strong><\/span><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"> Descriptions<\/span>. <\/strong>Another of my humble opinions is discussed in the following paragraphs. There may be a lot of folks that don\u2019t agree with my comments (perhaps some choreographers), which I totally understand.\u00a0 But, here goes.\u00a0 I very much wish that choreographers would release step descriptions when they teach them at a line dance event.\u00a0 Line dance packets are received at a line dance event (which contain all dances to be taught at those events).\u00a0 But there have been too many times when a packet is missing dance descriptions.\u00a0 This is usually because a choreographer will be teaching the same dance in 2, 3, or even 4 weeks away at another event&#8211;the thought being that if a choreographer provides the step description before the next event, many folks will already have learned the dance and perhaps not attend that particular workshop or will already be doing them at their own home dance floors.\u00a0 WHAT?\u00a0 NEWS FLASH:\u00a0 Workshops at the subsequent event WILL STILL be packed for those same dances.\u00a0 This has proven to be the case over and over and over&#8211;and I have been to many a line dance event in my line dancing history!\u00a0\u00a0 So, there should definitely be no worries in this regard.\u00a0 The dance floors at the events will also STILL BE PACKED!\u00a0 Gosh, maybe I sound like a broken record.<br \/>\nI\u2019ve been line dancing for 25 years, an instructor for 24 of those years, attended many line dances over those years, and only in more recent years have choreographers refused to release a dance at the time it\u2019s been taught at an event. Yes, there may be a couple of exceptions, but those usually happen when choreographers choreograph a dance AT the event, on their way TO one, or co-choreograph a dance on the spot at the dance.\u00a0 There are really not very many excuses.<br \/>\nSome instructors teach dances from videos which may be taped but still without step descriptions.\u00a0 This is perfectly okay of course, and I do not wish to make any type of argument against that. But, with so many dances out there coming our way every day, I would rather teach one of those than spend time teaching a dance which only is available through a video.\u00a0 It\u2019s not that I cannot do so; there is no question about that.\u00a0 I think instructors should not feel pressured into thinking a dance is so &#8220;urgent&#8221; that it warrants teaching it without a step description.\u00a0 In days of old (over my 25-year span), we only had step descriptions to teach from&#8211;no videos!<br \/>\nI really think It&#8217;s <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">common courtesy<\/span> to provide a step description in a timely manner (at the time of the event).\u00a0 In many cases, instructors and students alike have had to wait over a month for a step description to appear.\u00a0 By the time a month rolls around, or even 2 weeks for that matter, the dance with an unreleased step description may not get the following it could have received had the step description been released when the dance was taught at a particular event. If a choreographer is popular enough, this may not hold true.\u00a0 But, the arguments are still week against not putting out a step description.<br \/>\nAlso, I think that choreographers are letting the dance community down. There is a lot of disappointment felt by dancers when a choreographer holds back.\u00a0 But more importantly, a choreographer may eventually feel the loss of a missed opportunity.\u00a0 Choreographers can argue all they want about why they do not wish to provide a dance description at an event, but the bottom line is that it doesn&#8217;t sit well with instructors nor students alike (and I am both). I really admire and like all the choreographers out there, but please be courteous to others and provide the step descriptions as noted above.\u00a0\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong> My 2 C<\/strong><strong>ents<\/strong> <\/span>(September 27, 2015)<\/span><\/p>\n<hr style=\"height: 3px; color: #ffffff; border: 1px solid #cccccc;\" noshade=\"noshade\" size=\"3\" width=\"100%\" \/>\n<p style=\"line-height: 18px;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/articles-2\/my2cents-5\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-11352\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-11352\" title=\"my2cents\" src=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents4-140x150.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"60\" height=\"65\" srcset=\"https:\/\/evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents4-140x150.png 140w, https:\/\/evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents4.png 183w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 60px) 100vw, 60px\" \/><\/a><span style=\"font-size: 12px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">4th Annual Bay Area Line Dance Connection (2015)<\/span>.<\/strong><\/span> Well, what can I say except that a fabulous<\/span> <span style=\"color: #000000;\">time was had by all at the 4th Annual Bay Area Line Dance <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Connection, sponsored by Boots &#8216;n&#8217; Buckles.\u00a0 Dance clubs from around the San Francisco Bay Area came together for one wonderful night of fun and comraderie.\u00a0 It was sooooo much fun.\u00a0 Each dance club submitted their 3 favorite dances which were incorporated into a pre-set program for the evening.<\/span>\u00a0 <span style=\"color: #000000;\">It was very cool to see the various dances from each club (one of the main points of the whole event).\u00a0 There were close to 100 dancers in the hall (probably around 92 or 93, but close enough!), which created a ton of <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">energy that was non-stop until closing at 11:00 p.m.\u00a0 Gary Clayton was our DJ once again and did his usual<\/span> <span style=\"color: #000000;\">spectacular job. There was time left in the evening, starting around 10:40 p.m. to play requests from the audience so folks got to do even more favorites. BnB out-did themselves this year with the snack table.\u00a0 Individual servings of nuts, fruits, etc. were laid out perfectly.<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 There were also plates of cut up fruit for the taking as well as candies and a Jun<\/span>e <span style=\"color: #000000;\">birthday cake for all.<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;\"> <span style=\"color: #000000;\">Lots of our current class favorites and favorites from around the entire Bay were in the program or on the ending request list including these (there were a lot more of course so see the program in this post):<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<h6 style=\"line-height: 18px;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;\">Flashlight (N.Fitzgerald, Julie Harris)<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;\"> Slam Goes The Door (Fitz., Harris)<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;\"> Darling Hold My Hand (Fitz., Harris)<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;\"> Foot Play (Daniel Whittaker)<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;\"> And Get It On (Daniel Trepat, Jose Vane)<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;\"> Feel The Light (Roy Hadisubroto, Fiona Murray)<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;\"> Rolling Down Under (Ward, Vos)<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;\"> Alvaro (Robbie McGowan Hickie, Karl-Harry Winson)<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;\"> Girl Crush (Rachael McEnaney, Alison Johnstone)<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;\"> Turn The Beat Around (Rob Fowler, Dee Musk)<\/span><\/h6>\n<h6 style=\"line-height: 18px;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;\">Below are the dance programs for all 5 dance connections!<\/span> \u00a0<span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12px;\"><strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/1st-Annual-Line-Dance-Connection.-List-of-Dances-By-Group-1.pdf\">1st Annual Line Dance Connection<\/a> &#8211;<\/strong> <span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000000;\">c<\/span><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">oordinated by Evelyn Khinoo, June 2012<\/span><\/span><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><strong> <span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/2nd-Annual-Line-Dance-Connection.-List-of-Dances-By-Group.pdf\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">2nd Annual Line Dance Connection<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/strong> &#8211; <span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">coordinated by Evelyn Khinoo, June 2013<\/span><\/span><\/span><br \/>\n<strong><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/3rd-Annual-Line-Dance-Connection-1.pdf\">3rd Annual Line Dance Connection<\/a><\/span><\/strong>\u00a0<span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">&#8211; <span style=\"color: #000000;\">coordinated by Evelyn Khinoo, June 2014<\/span><\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/home\/2nd-annual-line-dance-connection-list-of-dances-by-group-2\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-14995\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/a><\/span><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/BnB-Dance-chart-Final-2015.pdf\">4th Annual Line Dance Connection<\/a><\/strong> <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">&#8211; coordinated by Cathy Dacumos, June 2015<br \/>\n<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/5th-Annual-Line-Dance-Connection1.pdf\">5th Annual Line Dance Connection<\/a> <\/strong>&#8211; coordinated by Cathy Dacumos, June 2016<br \/>\n<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/2017-Line-Dance-Connection-Play-List-for-June-23rd.pdf\">6th Annual Line Dance Connection<\/a><\/strong> &#8211; coordinated by Mike Hanson, June 2017<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/2018-Line-Dance-Connection-Dance-List.pdf\">7th Annual Line Dance Connection<\/a> <\/strong><\/span>&#8211; June 2018<br \/>\n<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h6>\n<h5><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000000;\">(note:\u00a0 the date on the 5th Connection program still shows 2015, but the date should be June 2016)<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"> <span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">My 2 Cents <\/span><\/strong><\/span><span style=\"color: #ff0000; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">(updates are just to add the list off dances; article still remains untouched; the 5th connection had about 80-90 attendees<\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 8pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000000;\">; <span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">3rd connection had approx. 140)<\/span><\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 10pt;\"><a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/home\/bnb-4th-line-dance-pre-set-list-2\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-14996\"><br \/>\n<\/a><\/span><\/h5>\n<hr style=\"height: 4px;\" size=\"4\" width=\"100%\" \/>\n<p style=\"font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-3878\" title=\"my2cents\" src=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents-140x150.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"56\" height=\"61\" srcset=\"https:\/\/evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents-140x150.png 140w, https:\/\/evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents.png 183w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 56px) 100vw, 56px\" \/><\/a><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>3rd Annual Line Dance Connection.<\/strong><\/span> Wow!\u00a0 What a fabulous time experienced at the Boots \u2018n\u2019 Buckles<\/span> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/3rd-Annual-Line-Dance-Connection2.pdf\">3rd Annual Line Dance Connection\u00a0<\/a> <span style=\"color: #000000;\">June 25, 2014.\u00a0 14 dance clubs from around the Bay attended, as well as did dancers from all over the Bay area!\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"> Mission<\/span> <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">accomplished\u2014<span style=\"color: #000000;\">to get dance clubs from around the San Francisco Bay area to gather in one spot for a fun night of dancing together.\u00a0 There were 163 dancers in attendance dancing with friends and meeting new ones.\u00a0 The energy was extremely high all night, including pre-dancing (before 8 pm when the official dance started).\u00a0 Couldn\u2019t ask for anything more.<\/span><\/span><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The dance clubs each submitted 3 of their favorite dances for a total of 42 dances for the pre-set program.\u00a0 It was amazing how full the dance floor was during the entire evening.\u00a0 Gary had about 10 min. at the end of the dance<\/span> <span style=\"color: #000000;\">program where he once<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\"> again took requests (did so during pre-dance also).\u00a0 Speaking of Gary\u2026what a fabulous job he does every year!\u00a0 There was pre-dancing (7-8 pm) requests taken and requests taken during the last 10 min. of the event after all of the pre-set program was completed.\u00a0 Made it even more fun to get more dancing in!<\/span><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Most of all, I\u2019d like to say thanks to all of the dancers for coming to this fabulous event.\u00a0 All I can say is wow!\u00a0 (P.s., the program is above in case you previously missed it. If you would like copies of the Connection for 2012 and 2013, just email me and I\u2019ll send\u2013see contact tab above.)<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">My<\/span> <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">2 <\/span><\/strong><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Cents<\/span><\/strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\"> (June 28, 2014) <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<hr style=\"height: 4px; width: 100%; color: #ffffff; border: 1px solid #cccccc;\" noshade=\"noshade\" size=\"4\" width=\"100%\" \/>\n<p style=\"line-height: 18px; color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-size: 13px;\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12px;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-11349\" title=\"my2cents\" src=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents1-140x150.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"53\" height=\"57\" srcset=\"https:\/\/evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents1-140x150.png 140w, https:\/\/evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents1.png 183w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 53px) 100vw, 53px\" \/><\/a><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>DJ Request Lists&#8211;How To Interpret.<\/strong><\/span> Some folks like to count the number of request initials that are placed next to dance names on weekly request lists (perfectly fine, and DJs welcome this of course), which dancers interpret as the most popular dances.\u00a0The request\u00a0lists are preprinted lists of dances placed on the request table by the DJ.\u00a0One guideline that lets the DJ know how anxious folks are to do certain dances is the number of request initials placed next to a dance (as we know).\u00a0 HOWEVER, and I&#8217;ve been a long proponent on this, the number of requests (initials) is not necessarily the only indicator of how popular a dance is.\u00a0 For example, the recent Boots &#8216;n&#8217; Buckles Xmas dance 12\/13\/13 held in the San Francisco Bay Area\u00a0Illustrates this point&#8211;not atypical of other regular dances.\u00a0 Several dances had about 20 or so initials next to them. \u00a0There were approx. 100 people\u00a0in attendance that evening. \u00a0Even those dances with fewer initials PACKED the floor!\u00a0\u00a0We should not, however, leave out the data point of how many initials are next to a particular dance, as the data is a guideline for DJs.\u00a0 Turns out, about 75-80% of dances with most initials do get played on &#8220;regular&#8221; dance nights.\u00a0 DJs\u00a0use their discretion and\u00a0leave room for other dances as well, depending upon who is in the audience (dancers, groups of dancers from around the Bay, etc.&#8211;a very critical factor in being a DJ).\u00a0 Bottom line:\u00a0\u00a0The initials are just NOT THE ONLY data point, but nonetheless good data.\u00a0\u00a0The FILLED FLOOR is definitely an indicator of popularity of a dance!\u00a0 There needs to be a good balance between these 2 factors.\u00a0 I must say, that the DJs in the Bay Area really do a good job in figuring out what dances to play based on all of the above.\u00a0 A lot goes into being a DJ.\u00a0 See my article below on &#8220;So, You Want To Be A DJ&#8221;\u00a0 if you are interested in what really goes on in the DJ booth!<\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12px;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\">I would also just like to add that DJs try to play &#8220;something for everyone.&#8221;\u00a0 This\u00a0of course does not mean every single person&#8217;s absolute favorite (with 75 in the hall that would mean, of course, 75 dances, as an example&#8211;and there is only room for 40-45 in a 3-hour night!).\u00a0 It does mean that\u00a0it&#8217;s highly likely that a person will get to dance some of the dances that he\/she likes, whether a favorite or not!\u00a0 The DJ keeps an eye out for who is in the dance hall and tries to\u00a0ensure that those folks get a chance to dance also.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 P.S.\u00a0 An interesting stat:\u00a0 When there is a special night such as a Xmas party (with say 100 people)\u00a0or an instructor\/student night (5 fav. dances of theirs played for sure), and many dance cards given to the DJ, such as 6 or more (cards received in a raffle drawing that allow\u00a0recipients to give to the DJ for any dance they choose), approx. 40 min. can be taken up with just those dances (3-4 min. per dance).\u00a0 Amazing isn&#8217;t it?\u00a0 <strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">My<\/span> <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">2 Cents<\/span><\/strong> (Dec. 17, 2013) <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<hr style=\"height: 4px; width: 100%; color: #ffffff; border: 1px solid #cccccc;\" noshade=\"noshade\" size=\"4\" width=\"100%\" \/>\n<p style=\"line-height: 18px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 13px;\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-11350\" title=\"my2cents\" src=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents2-140x150.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"53\" height=\"57\" srcset=\"https:\/\/evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents2-140x150.png 140w, https:\/\/evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents2.png 183w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 53px) 100vw, 53px\" \/><\/a><span style=\"font-size: 12px;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Few And Far Between&#8211;Have The Nerve To Complain<\/strong><\/span>. This is\u00a0my humble opinion\u00a0to add to my collection of articles and &#8220;my 2 cents&#8221;\u00a0below. It&#8217;s not meant for anyone to agree or disagree, it&#8217;s\u00a0just my opinion.\u00a0 One of our favorite dance clubs, Boots \u2018n\u2019 Buckles (Fremont, CA, USA), still exists today after <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">29 years<\/span> of holding dances every Friday night!\u00a0 <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">One<\/span> of the main reasons is that it welcomes dancers from everywhere (certainly throughout the San Francisco Bay Area in particular).\u00a0 <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Another<\/span> important reason why\u00a0it still exists\u00a0is that the club has a variety of DJs who draw folks from various parts of the Bay Area; and they each have his\/her own style&#8211;a very welcomed trait.\u00a0\u00a0In addition to the regulars at BnB, dancers sometimes decide to come to one of the BnB dances because they know a certain DJ will be there and\u00a0know that that DJ will play something for everyone including them.\u00a0\u00a0This variety of dancers is what most of us &#8220;love&#8221; about BnB.\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 12px;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We also know that on many nights, most of the dances that have the most request initials next to them (initialed by dancers in the hall) DO get played during the evening.\u00a0\u00a0Yes, there are some exceptions to this statement sometimes, as already mentioned above&#8211;and rightfully so!\u00a0 The audience on any given night makes a difference as to what dances are played. \u00a0Some nights mostly newer dances are played due to folks in attendance. (Also see my article below on &#8220;So, You Want To Be a DJ?&#8221; for more info on this subject). One person\u2019s favorite is not necessarily everyone else\u2019s favorite especially for those dancers who may not be regulars every Friday.\u00a0 In those cases, a\u00a0DJ will <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">absolutely<\/span> make sure those dancers get to dance too (and should do so without hesitation or doubt).\u00a0 \u00a0If there are some regular favorites or newer dances that don\u2019t get played in an evening, then so be it!\u00a0 Those will probably be played the next time.\u00a0 We call this phenomenon \u201cplaying SOMETHING for everyone!\u201d\u00a0 It is not called \u201cplaying EVERYTHING\u00a0for everyone.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12px;\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><br \/>\nThere are enough major world-wide current hits played at BnB on any given Friday night to make most folks happy.\u00a0This club is also\u00a0one of the <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">few<\/span>\u00a0in the Bay Area to play a lot of the world-wide current hits. \u00a0It\u2019s also\u00a0interesting to note that oldies as well as long-time favorites can jam the dance floor as well as the newer dances, regardless of the number of initials.\u00a0 Also, one person&#8217;s long-time favorite or oldie is not necessarily what someone else calls a long-time favorite or oldie.\u00a0\u00a0Same thing with so-called world hits.\u00a0\u00a0Each dancer has his\/her category of dances defined.\u00a0 So, when someone says my favorite dance\u00a0didn&#8217;t get played, someone else&#8217;s did&#8230;.and so it goes.<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Having said all the above, here\u00a0 is the <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">main<\/span><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"> reason for writing this blurb<\/span>&#8230;&#8230;.I\u2019m truly <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">amazed<\/span> that there are from time to time one or two attendees (and thank goodness the number is so small)\u00a0who complain that their favorites did not get played, or those dances with the most initials didn\u2019t get played, or etc., etc.\u00a0 But, I\u2019ve just explained a few of the <\/span><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">reason(s) up above, and it\u2019s not the first time I\u2019ve explained the reasons.\u00a0 Those few people\u00a0need to make room for all dancers, at the<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"> very <span style=\"color: #ff0000; text-decoration: underline;\">s<\/span><span style=\"color: #ff0000; text-decoration: underline;\">mall<\/span> sacrifice <\/span>of letting go one or two or three\u00a0favorites for the evening or holding up on complaining that a couple of the favs are not played until late in the evening,\u00a0etc. etc.\u00a0 No one can convince me that out of approx. 45 dances played in an evening, a person is refrained from dancing enough in\u00a0one night. So, yes,\u00a0I\u2019m still amazed a few can bring themselves to make complaints or argue at all.\u00a0 Dancing and having a good time with friends is what it\u2019s all about (and I know this is the case for\u00a0almost everyone).<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">I would also like to add that being courteous and kind\u00a0to fellow dancers (and the DJ) is the way it should be,\u00a0and I know that\u00a0the majority of folks<\/span><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"> treat their dance friends this way, always.\u00a0 [There are enough RUDE people in the world that the rudeness does not need to be brought to the dance floor along with the BAD MOUTH language I have personally heard way too many times&#8211;thank goodness from just a couple people.\u00a0 Yes, you know who you are and NO it is not acceptable].\u00a0 Many thanks from me to all of the rest of you\u00a0for making Friday nights so much fun. I&#8217;m having a great time and am so <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">very\u00a0thankful<\/span> for our dance clubs who provide such great venues EACH and\u00a0EVERY Friday (as well as many Saturdays and Sundays!). We are very lucky.\u00a0\u00a0 <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">My\u00a02 <\/span><\/strong><\/span><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000; text-decoration: underline;\">Cent<\/span><span style=\"color: #ff0000; text-decoration: underline;\">s<\/span><\/span><\/strong> (Sept. 9, 2013).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<hr style=\"height: 4px; width: 100%; color: #ffffff; border: 1px solid #cccccc;\" noshade=\"noshade\" size=\"4\" width=\"100%\" \/>\n<p style=\"line-height: 18px; color: #000000;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents3.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-11351\" title=\"my2cents\" src=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents3-140x150.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"53\" height=\"57\" srcset=\"https:\/\/evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents3-140x150.png 140w, https:\/\/evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents3.png 183w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 53px) 100vw, 53px\" \/><\/a><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12px;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Here&#8217;s the<\/span> <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">explanation (at least mine<\/span><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">)<\/span><\/strong>&#8230;..of why a certain song has not been played (during the summer of 2013)\u00a0by several DJs at some of our local dance venues, and why some instructors have chosen not to teach the dances that use the song (even those outside our local area).\u00a0 Over the years dancers have all tolerated songs that include suggestive lyrics and push the edge in terms of being offensive.\u00a0 So be it.\u00a0 However, when there is one song (so far anyway) that hits a huge number of people&#8211;and yes, it&#8217;s a huge number, regardless of what you might &#8220;think&#8221;&#8211;folks pay attention, especially DJs who play music for dance venues on weekends and instructors.\u00a0 It&#8217;s not about one person liking the song, or another person not liking it, nor is it about the dance being a world-wide hit.\u00a0 It&#8217;s about affecting too big a group.\u00a0 If folks don&#8217;t\u00a0understand that, then I guess they just won&#8217;t.\u00a0 If I had a favorite dance, and I found out that the song to that dance offended a &#8220;LOT&#8221; of people (not a few), I would drop it in a heartbeat. It&#8217;s a no brainer.\u00a0\u00a0Simple as that.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 12px;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 There are many, many\u00a0world-wide hits (those are in the eyes of the beholder, of course, or in the eyes of whichever chart one is looking at, but let&#8217;s just say world-wide hits for now) that are being done on dance floors.\u00a0 I can let one of them go.\u00a0 Again, it&#8217;s a no brainer.\u00a0 Why offend so many people?\u00a0 I must repeat, it&#8217;s not a small number of folks; this particular song affected a huge group.\u00a0 <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">That&#8217;s what this is about<\/span>.\u00a0 Also, the artist of this particular song was on the Ellen show (nationwide and I&#8217;m sure worldwide in some countries), and on America&#8217;s Got Talent this last season&#8211;just ending in Sept. 2013.\u00a0 During both of those performance the artist was &#8220;not&#8221; allowed to sing the particularly offensive verse nor\u00a0the cuss words.\u00a0 The song versions on those shows had to be revised to take out all that stuff.\u00a0 So, it&#8217;s not a surprise that the song is not played at some dance venues.\u00a0 Also, I&#8217;ve gotten several responses from folks in other areas that have said the same thing&#8211;will not play, nor are they allowed to play the song.\u00a0\u00a0Yes, it&#8217;s too bad.\u00a0 The song had a great rhythm and good for line dancing.\u00a0\u00a0I\u00a0hope the trend of over-the-top offensive lyrics doesn&#8217;t continue to the point where more and more folks\u00a0will be\u00a0affected in a negative way.\u00a0\u00a0Folks in our dance\u00a0community are not &#8220;prudes;&#8221; there just becomes a point where some songs are just &#8220;over the top&#8221; for <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">too<\/span> many people.\u00a0\u00a0 Obviously, I cannot emphasize enough that it&#8217;s the\u00a0number of people this song offended.\u00a0 Whew! <strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">My 2 Cents<\/span><\/strong> (Sept. 2013)\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<hr style=\"height: 4px; width: 100%; color: #ffffff; border: 1px solid #cccccc;\" noshade=\"noshade\" size=\"4\" width=\"100%\" \/>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/leg-cast.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-11140\" title=\"leg cast\" src=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/leg-cast-67x150.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"30\" height=\"70\" \/><\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/articles-2\/ode-to-the-knee-replacement\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-16646\">ODE TO THE KNEE REPLACEMENT<\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/strong><\/span> <span style=\"font-size: 12px;\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">This article is written in dance titles.\u00a0 It just might put a smile on your face!<\/span>\u00a0 <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><span style=\"font-size: 8pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">My 2<\/span> <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Cents <\/span><\/strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">(Nov. 2010)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 100%; height: 2px; background: #000000 none repeat scroll 0% 0%;\"><\/div>\n<p style=\"font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/D.J..png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-11141\" title=\"D.J.\" src=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/D.J.-150x141.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"68\" height=\"65\" srcset=\"https:\/\/evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/D.J.-150x141.png 150w, https:\/\/evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/D.J.-300x282.png 300w, https:\/\/evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/D.J..png 384w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 68px) 100vw, 68px\" \/><\/a><span style=\"font-size: 12px;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/Want-to-be-a-D.J..pdf\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12px;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/Want-to-be-a-D.J..pdf\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">So, You Want To Be A DJ?<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/strong><strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">The discussion points in this article are written in good spirit. It\u2019s not meant for anyone to agree or disagree with the content. All of the content here is, obviously, my opinion, although based on a lot of experience. My long-time DJ background gives me a lot of ammunition to say that I do know what I\u2019m talking about. However, we all know that nothing is engrained in gold.<\/span> <span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">There are no hard-fast rules.<\/span><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"> Without further ado, let\u2019s move right along. <\/span><\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-family: Georgia;\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">My 2 Cents <\/span><\/strong><\/span>(<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-family: Georgia;\">J<\/span><span style=\"font-family: Georgia;\">une <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Georgia;\">2012).<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<hr style=\"height: 5px; width: 100%; color: #ffffff; border: 1px solid #cccccc;\" noshade=\"noshade\" size=\"5\" width=\"100%\" \/>\n<h6 style=\"font-family: Georgia; line-height: 18px;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;\"><span style=\"font-family: Georgia;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-3878\" title=\"my2cents\" src=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"59\" height=\"62\" srcset=\"https:\/\/evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents.png 183w, https:\/\/evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents-140x150.png 140w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 59px) 100vw, 59px\" \/><\/a><\/span><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Happy 17th Birthday<\/span><\/span>!<\/span><\/strong><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;\"> The dance I choreographed, Silk &amp; Satin, will be 17 years old on Dec. 13, 2012! Michael Barr used to be the DJ\/MC at a bar &amp; grill called Jelly\u2019s in San Francisco, 295 Terry Francois Blvd. between 3rd and 48th Street (neighborhood known as SoMa, down by the shipyard).\u00a0 It closed in Aug. 2010.\u00a0 A photo is below.\u00a0 Michael invited choreographers to come to Jelly\u2019s every Wednesday to introduce new dances.\u00a0 I did so on Dec. 13, 1995 with Silk &amp; Satin.\u00a0 So, Jelly\u2019s was the first\u00a0venue at which I debuted officially to the public and taught S&amp;S.)\u00a0\u00a0P.S. see my other 31 dances under the choreography tab, and Denny\u2019s too!<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 Times sure have changed.\u00a0 When Silk &amp; Satin came out, it was considered a difficult dance to learn (intermediate), even though it has only 32 counts and no tags nor restarts.\u00a0 Today, some instructors think Silk &amp; Satin is an upper Beginner or Easy Intermediate dance!\u00a0 Wow, huh?\u00a0 Just shows you how far line dancers have come and how sophisticated they have become.\u00a0 I remember when we danced through what we call &#8220;tags&#8221; today, as well as danced through &#8220;restarts.&#8221;\u00a0Those tricks were not even thought about back then.\u00a0 \u00a0Also, I remember that when the music ended, the dance ended on whatever wall you happened to be facing.\u00a0 Today most dancers turn to the front wall when the song ends, no matter what wall they are facing when the song actually ends.\u00a0 If the music has a\u00a0definite ending (as opposed to the music fading out), many choreographers will write the dance such that dancers face the front wall when the music ends.\u00a0\u00a0We never did this long ago.\u00a0Today a shuffle is often called a chasse;\u00a0a step half pivot turn is called a chase turn.\u00a0 What?\u00a0 Different names for the same steps are perfectly okay.\u00a0 However, some of those steps are really ballroom dancing terms.\u00a0 I personally would rather stick to a step pivot or cross shuffle or\u00a0a forward and back\u00a0shuffle rather than\u00a0chasses and such.\u00a0 Also\u00a0I&#8217;d rather stick with\u00a0&#8220;double grapevine&#8221; or 5- or 6-count grapevine\u00a0(not a weave, which it&#8217;s called by many today).\u00a0 There are other newer terms used today too, but as mentioned I&#8217;d rather use the older terminology.\u00a0 Maybe I should get with the program!\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0My <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">&#8220;next article&#8221;<\/span>\u00a0could be on the history of line dancing, as I know it, here in the Bay Area over the last 22 years.\u00a0 It will include dance venues, choreographers back then and now, lessons, music, etc.\u00a0 It could be interesting!\u00a0 <strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000; text-decoration: underline;\">My 2<\/span> <\/span><span style=\"color: #ff0000; text-decoration: underline;\">Ce<\/span><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000; text-decoration: underline;\">nts<\/span><\/span><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">.\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">(Dec. 2012)<\/span><\/span><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h6>\n<hr style=\"height: 5px; width: 100%; color: #ffffff; border: 1px solid #cccccc;\" noshade=\"noshade\" size=\"5\" width=\"100%\" \/>\n<p style=\"font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents4.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-11142\" title=\"my2cents\" src=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents4-140x150.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"55\" height=\"60\" \/><\/a><span style=\"font-size: 12px;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Choreographers Need To Promote Themselves.<\/span> <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">What?<\/span><\/strong> He<\/span><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">re, in the San Francisco Bay Area, we have several really spectacular choreographers.\u00a0 Many of their dances are definitely better than some of those known world wide.\u00a0 Their dances just don&#8217;t always get around as quickly nor as far as those dances that are presented and taught at major events.\u00a0 Just like a singer&#8230;..if she\/he goes on tour, suddenly there are thousands of record sales.\u00a0 Same is true if\u00a0choreographers\u00a0teach their dances at different events around the globe (or get someone else to teach them!).\u00a0\u00a0Also, some local choreographers don&#8217;t &#8220;push&#8221; their dances very forcefully out of the local area (except for perhaps a few times on Facebook, or\u00a0on a couple\u00a0of the dance sites), or do not have a lot of connections (nor care to) out of the local area.\u00a0 Many times, however, the dances are exceptional and, as mentioned, better than a lot of dances out there by well-known choreographers.\u00a0\u00a0It&#8217;s too bad that the world misses out on these dances.\u00a0 So,\u00a0I do try to teach as many dances by our local choreographers as is reasonably possible.\u00a0 Here&#8217;s kudos to\u00a0those instructors who do the same.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">\u00a0<strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000; text-decoration: underline;\">My 2 Cents<\/span><\/span><\/strong>.\u00a0 (June 2012) (<strong>Revised Mar. 2013<\/strong>).\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<hr style=\"height: 5px; width: 100%; color: #ffffff; border: 1px solid #cccccc;\" noshade=\"noshade\" size=\"5\" width=\"100%\" \/>\n<p style=\"font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents4.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-11352\" title=\"my2cents\" src=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents4-140x150.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"52\" height=\"56\" srcset=\"https:\/\/evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents4-140x150.png 140w, https:\/\/evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents4.png 183w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 52px) 100vw, 52px\" \/><\/a><span style=\"font-size: 12px;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Folks Don&#8217;t Need To Dance Perfectly.<\/span><\/strong> When folks have just learned a dance and want try them out on the dance floor, I&#8217;m really not concerned whether they do that dance perfectly or not!\u00a0 Some\u00a0seem to think folks should know them perfectly before trying them out.\u00a0\u00a0Not true at all;\u00a0at least in my humble opinion.\u00a0 Sometimes it takes\u00a0more than 1 week to get a dance\u00a0down, and many times 2 or 3 weeks for the tougher ones.\u00a0\u00a0The fun\u00a0is all about being enthusiastic and wanting to try out the dances you just learned, and getting out on the dance floor!\u00a0 I&#8217;m not saying folks shouldn&#8217;t try to get them right, and of course they shouldn&#8217;t interfere with other dancers.\u00a0 But I&#8217;m saying folks should never be intimidated and to go ahead and try out the new ones they have learned.\u00a0 Follow along if you wish&#8211;I do too!.\u00a0 Everyone will be okay; they really will.\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000; text-decoration: underline;\">My 2 Cents.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 (June 2012).<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<hr style=\"height: 5px; width: 100%; color: #ffffff; border: 1px solid #cccccc;\" noshade=\"noshade\" size=\"5\" width=\"100%\" \/>\n<p style=\"line-height: 18px;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents6.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-11144\" title=\"my2cents\" src=\"http:\/\/www.evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents6-140x150.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"54\" height=\"59\" srcset=\"https:\/\/evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents6-140x150.png 140w, https:\/\/evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/my2cents6.png 183w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 54px) 100vw, 54px\" \/><\/a><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Too Many Dances.<\/span><\/strong> Are there too many dances coming out at once these days?\u00a0 Well&#8230;I can tell you that in my class in Palo Alto, I still teach 2 dances a week, which has always been the case&#8211;for 21 consecutive years!\u00a0 So, nothing has really changed there.\u00a0 We\u00a0all have easy access these days to dance videos via the internet and can learn more at any time we want, and this happens a lot! Plus there are more classes now than ever before here in the Bay Area, so yes,\u00a0in this respect we can say there are many more dances being taught.\u00a0There is nothing to do about it really.\u00a0 Just embrace\u00a0it!\u00a0 Even if all of the dances don&#8217;t stay around long (in the early days&#8211;20 years ago&#8211;the dances did stay around for quite some time), the <\/span><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">joy and challenge\u00a0of going through the learning process, and running onto the dance floor when you hear that dance called&#8211;especially if you just learned it&#8211;is still way too much fun<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;\">!<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;\">\u00a0\u00a0If a dance fades out quicker than a dance used to, there&#8217;s no real harm done.\u00a0Lots of the dances do stay around. Some dance venues play more new dances; some play more favorites or oldies.\u00a0 So, we pick our dance venues that best suit us and go for it.\u00a0 The best thing has always been to have fun, and I think that fact still stands without a doubt.\u00a0 <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000; text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>M<\/strong><strong>y<\/strong><\/span><span style=\"color: #ff0000; text-decoration: underline;\"><strong> 2<\/strong><\/span> <strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000; text-decoration: underline;\">C<\/span><span style=\"color: #ff0000; text-decoration: underline;\">ents<\/span><\/strong><\/span> (Aug. 2012). <\/span><\/p>\n<hr style=\"height: 5px; width: 100%; color: #ffffff; border: 1px solid #cccccc;\" noshade=\"noshade\" size=\"5\" width=\"100%\" \/>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"pvc_clear\"><\/div>\n<p id=\"pvc_stats_37\" class=\"pvc_stats total_only  \" data-element-id=\"37\" style=\"\"><i class=\"pvc-stats-icon small\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" version=\"1.0\" viewBox=\"0 0 502 315\" preserveAspectRatio=\"xMidYMid meet\"><g transform=\"translate(0,332) scale(0.1,-0.1)\" fill=\"\" stroke=\"none\"><path d=\"M2394 3279 l-29 -30 -3 -207 c-2 -182 0 -211 15 -242 39 -76 157 -76 196 0 15 31 17 60 15 243 l-3 209 -33 29 c-26 23 -41 29 -80 29 -41 0 -53 -5 -78 -31z\"\/><path d=\"M3085 3251 c-45 -19 -58 -50 -96 -229 -47 -217 -49 -260 -13 -295 52 -53 146 -42 177 20 16 31 87 366 87 410 0 70 -86 122 -155 94z\"\/><path d=\"M1751 3234 c-13 -9 -29 -31 -37 -50 -12 -29 -10 -49 21 -204 19 -94 39 -189 45 -210 14 -50 54 -80 110 -80 34 0 48 6 76 34 21 21 34 44 34 59 0 14 -18 113 -40 219 -37 178 -43 195 -70 221 -36 32 -101 37 -139 11z\"\/><path d=\"M1163 3073 c-36 -7 -73 -59 -73 -102 0 -56 133 -378 171 -413 34 -32 83 -37 129 -13 70 36 67 87 -16 290 -86 209 -89 214 -129 231 -35 14 -42 15 -82 7z\"\/><path d=\"M3689 3066 c-15 -9 -33 -30 -42 -48 -48 -103 -147 -355 -147 -375 0 -98 131 -148 192 -74 13 15 57 108 97 206 80 196 84 226 37 273 -30 30 -99 39 -137 18z\"\/><path d=\"M583 2784 c-38 -19 -67 -74 -58 -113 9 -42 211 -354 242 -373 16 -10 45 -18 66 -18 51 0 107 52 107 100 0 39 -1 41 -124 234 -80 126 -108 162 -133 173 -41 17 -61 16 -100 -3z\"\/><path d=\"M4250 2784 c-14 -9 -74 -91 -133 -183 -95 -150 -107 -173 -107 -213 0 -55 33 -94 87 -104 67 -13 90 8 211 198 130 202 137 225 78 284 -27 27 -42 34 -72 34 -22 0 -50 -8 -64 -16z\"\/><path d=\"M2275 2693 c-553 -48 -1095 -270 -1585 -649 -135 -104 -459 -423 -483 -476 -23 -49 -22 -139 2 -186 73 -142 361 -457 571 -626 285 -228 642 -407 990 -497 242 -63 336 -73 660 -74 310 0 370 5 595 52 535 111 1045 392 1455 803 122 121 250 273 275 326 19 41 19 137 0 174 -41 79 -309 363 -465 492 -447 370 -946 591 -1479 653 -113 14 -422 18 -536 8z m395 -428 c171 -34 330 -124 456 -258 112 -119 167 -219 211 -378 27 -96 24 -300 -5 -401 -72 -255 -236 -447 -474 -557 -132 -62 -201 -76 -368 -76 -167 0 -236 14 -368 76 -213 98 -373 271 -451 485 -162 444 86 934 547 1084 153 49 292 57 452 25z m909 -232 c222 -123 408 -262 593 -441 76 -74 138 -139 138 -144 0 -16 -233 -242 -330 -319 -155 -123 -309 -223 -461 -299 l-81 -41 32 46 c18 26 49 83 70 128 143 306 141 649 -6 957 -25 52 -61 116 -79 142 l-34 47 45 -20 c26 -10 76 -36 113 -56z m-2057 25 c-40 -58 -105 -190 -130 -263 -110 -324 -59 -707 132 -981 25 -35 42 -64 37 -64 -19 0 -241 119 -326 174 -188 122 -406 314 -532 468 l-58 71 108 103 c185 178 428 349 672 473 66 33 121 60 123 61 2 0 -10 -19 -26 -42z\"\/><path d=\"M2375 1950 c-198 -44 -350 -190 -395 -379 -18 -76 -8 -221 19 -290 114 -284 457 -406 731 -260 98 52 188 154 231 260 27 69 37 214 19 290 -38 163 -166 304 -326 360 -67 23 -215 33 -279 19z\"\/><\/g><\/svg><\/i> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"16\" height=\"16\" alt=\"Loading\" src=\"https:\/\/evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/plugins\/page-views-count\/ajax-loader-2x.gif\" border=0 \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"pvc_clear\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We should all owe but not reparations. I know this is political but I think it&#8217;s a good read no matter what political thinking you may have.\u00a0 I also think this speech should go viral. (July 2, 2021) Great video &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/articles-2\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"pvc_clear\"><\/div>\n<p id=\"pvc_stats_37\" class=\"pvc_stats total_only  \" data-element-id=\"37\" style=\"\"><i class=\"pvc-stats-icon small\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" version=\"1.0\" viewBox=\"0 0 502 315\" preserveAspectRatio=\"xMidYMid meet\"><g transform=\"translate(0,332) scale(0.1,-0.1)\" fill=\"\" stroke=\"none\"><path d=\"M2394 3279 l-29 -30 -3 -207 c-2 -182 0 -211 15 -242 39 -76 157 -76 196 0 15 31 17 60 15 243 l-3 209 -33 29 c-26 23 -41 29 -80 29 -41 0 -53 -5 -78 -31z\"\/><path d=\"M3085 3251 c-45 -19 -58 -50 -96 -229 -47 -217 -49 -260 -13 -295 52 -53 146 -42 177 20 16 31 87 366 87 410 0 70 -86 122 -155 94z\"\/><path d=\"M1751 3234 c-13 -9 -29 -31 -37 -50 -12 -29 -10 -49 21 -204 19 -94 39 -189 45 -210 14 -50 54 -80 110 -80 34 0 48 6 76 34 21 21 34 44 34 59 0 14 -18 113 -40 219 -37 178 -43 195 -70 221 -36 32 -101 37 -139 11z\"\/><path d=\"M1163 3073 c-36 -7 -73 -59 -73 -102 0 -56 133 -378 171 -413 34 -32 83 -37 129 -13 70 36 67 87 -16 290 -86 209 -89 214 -129 231 -35 14 -42 15 -82 7z\"\/><path d=\"M3689 3066 c-15 -9 -33 -30 -42 -48 -48 -103 -147 -355 -147 -375 0 -98 131 -148 192 -74 13 15 57 108 97 206 80 196 84 226 37 273 -30 30 -99 39 -137 18z\"\/><path d=\"M583 2784 c-38 -19 -67 -74 -58 -113 9 -42 211 -354 242 -373 16 -10 45 -18 66 -18 51 0 107 52 107 100 0 39 -1 41 -124 234 -80 126 -108 162 -133 173 -41 17 -61 16 -100 -3z\"\/><path d=\"M4250 2784 c-14 -9 -74 -91 -133 -183 -95 -150 -107 -173 -107 -213 0 -55 33 -94 87 -104 67 -13 90 8 211 198 130 202 137 225 78 284 -27 27 -42 34 -72 34 -22 0 -50 -8 -64 -16z\"\/><path d=\"M2275 2693 c-553 -48 -1095 -270 -1585 -649 -135 -104 -459 -423 -483 -476 -23 -49 -22 -139 2 -186 73 -142 361 -457 571 -626 285 -228 642 -407 990 -497 242 -63 336 -73 660 -74 310 0 370 5 595 52 535 111 1045 392 1455 803 122 121 250 273 275 326 19 41 19 137 0 174 -41 79 -309 363 -465 492 -447 370 -946 591 -1479 653 -113 14 -422 18 -536 8z m395 -428 c171 -34 330 -124 456 -258 112 -119 167 -219 211 -378 27 -96 24 -300 -5 -401 -72 -255 -236 -447 -474 -557 -132 -62 -201 -76 -368 -76 -167 0 -236 14 -368 76 -213 98 -373 271 -451 485 -162 444 86 934 547 1084 153 49 292 57 452 25z m909 -232 c222 -123 408 -262 593 -441 76 -74 138 -139 138 -144 0 -16 -233 -242 -330 -319 -155 -123 -309 -223 -461 -299 l-81 -41 32 46 c18 26 49 83 70 128 143 306 141 649 -6 957 -25 52 -61 116 -79 142 l-34 47 45 -20 c26 -10 76 -36 113 -56z m-2057 25 c-40 -58 -105 -190 -130 -263 -110 -324 -59 -707 132 -981 25 -35 42 -64 37 -64 -19 0 -241 119 -326 174 -188 122 -406 314 -532 468 l-58 71 108 103 c185 178 428 349 672 473 66 33 121 60 123 61 2 0 -10 -19 -26 -42z\"\/><path d=\"M2375 1950 c-198 -44 -350 -190 -395 -379 -18 -76 -8 -221 19 -290 114 -284 457 -406 731 -260 98 52 188 154 231 260 27 69 37 214 19 290 -38 163 -166 304 -326 360 -67 23 -215 33 -279 19z\"\/><\/g><\/svg><\/i> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"16\" height=\"16\" alt=\"Loading\" src=\"https:\/\/evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-content\/plugins\/page-views-count\/ajax-loader-2x.gif\" border=0 \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"pvc_clear\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-37","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/37","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37"}],"version-history":[{"count":374,"href":"https:\/\/evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/37\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27276,"href":"https:\/\/evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/37\/revisions\/27276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/evelynanddenny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}