Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Seattle Easter Swing

From 2pm to 2am Friday. From 9am to 4am Saturday. From 9am to 6pm then 10:30pm to midnight Sunday. Two competitions. COuntless performances. One midnight breakfast. Lots of friends. Hours and hours and hours of dancing. Two very sore feet. One fantastic weekend!

I competed in two categories this time around - Jack and Jill (unknown music and random partners) and strictly swing (unkown music but you choose your partner). They were both fun, and extra exhilirating when I was dancing in front of the 'home crowd' and they were yelling and cheering and screaming my name! So fun! I didn't place or even make finals, but who cares! It was a blast!

There was large group of my friends who went down, so it was great to hang with them all weekend, too.

I danced with eight of the pros, which, while fun, is still intimidating. "Gak! He's a pro! Don't screw up, don't screw up! AK! I screwed up! Oh shoot! Oh shoot!" Rinse. Wash. Repeat.

There was one dance, however, that stood out. I was sitting at my table with some friends taking a breather for a while, when a tall handsome stranger swooped down, sat beside me, and said, "Hello. I'm Jason. What's your name?" Stunned, I answered him. With a smile, he asked for a dance: "Hillary, I would love to dance with you." Uhhh, OK! He escorted me out onto the floor, hand on the small of my back, and asked where I was from. He was from South Carolina. Ah, that southern charm!

He was really good, but never once threw me a move I couldn't handle. We played with the music, hit all the breaks, and had a FANTASTIC dance. The thanked me, gave me a hug, and escorted me back of the floor. "Now, where did I take you from?" He complimented my dancing and waved goodbye.

The next day, he saw me in the hall and waved. "Thanks again for the great dance last night."

Ok, um, *swoon!*

Later on Saturday night, I was watching one of the pro category dances, and there he was! Holy crap! He was one of the pros!!! Heh, no WONDER he was so good! But the charm! Wow!

Videos were a big fat ol' no no in the ballroom, unfortunaltey, and there weren't even photos allowed during the comps, but they had a great photographer there who I bought some photos from. Hehe, here's me!



This is my friend Chris and I in the Strictly Swing comps.



Below is the Jack and Jill competion. I didn't know this partner. (Anne - this is the shirt I bought when I was shopping with you. I think of you every time I wear it! :) )



They had a "dollar dance" to raise money for a charity - put in some money and dance with a pro. I danced with six of them. Here I'm not having any fun at ALL dancing with Robert Cordoba. Woohoo!


10 comments:

anne said...

Looks like you had an absolute blast!! And you do look fabulous in that shirt. :) I'm happy to go shopping with you anytime!

sarah cool said...

hahaha!!! i love the south carolinan man story!!!!!! "hi, i'm hillary, i would LOVE to dance with you." hehehe!!!!

Hillary said...

OH! No, I was unclear. HE said that to ME. Going to go edit now...

Unknown said...

Love the hairflip with Robert Cordova ;).

Jean said...

What a great way to spend a weekend!! Thanks for buying pictures and sharing them! You look amazing! :)

heather said...

awesome! looks like a ton of fun!! i love the hair flip when dancing with the pro, too.

Unknown said...

As a matter of fact, our friend Hillary here almost made it to the semifinals! Way to go! Check yer mail, little lady. The Seattle Swing scores are now up!

Shan said...

LOVE IT! GREAT PICTURES! You look so cutie :). Looks like you have really good posture in your form. I know nothing about it but I am an avid DWTS fan-teehee. And the story about the Pro? SWOON is right! Wow, that must have been fun :D. Yeah for you!!

Unknown said...

I read: "tall...handsome...Jason" and you know who I thought of? :) Did you have fun with Robert too? Went to one of their workshops and it was absolutely excellent. Thinking of getting one of their DVDs. Good idea?

Hillary said...

His name WAS Jason, but nope, 'twasn't you m'dahling, sorry! ;)

My interactions with Robert lasted no longer than 30 seconds. Didn't go to any workshops with him. His partner is Deborah S... yeah, her. I've always said "Selezky" in my head, but apparently it's said "Saykay" but still spelled differently. All's I know is she was giving our lovely T many many shots between her glasses of wine and T was a very sick little dancer on Saturday night. Did you notice her black eye on Sunday??? Yipes!

As for the DVDs, always a good idea if you're willing to share! :)