**Here is my letter in Honor of Blair. *******
Blair : Since I included you in our PNW FIRST DANCE….I thought I’d tell you a little bit of the backstory. Also wanted to tell you it has been a honor working with you over the years which is why I just had to use your voice, The Voice of FIRST for our dance.
My basic vision is just to have a real FIRST dance for the the kids, mentors, volunteers, et al. Having noticed all the dancing during competitions and realizing many are quite old…YMCA being from 1978 is older than a lot of the kids’s mothers…..I figured time was ripe for something new.
I set up the FaceBook FIRST DANCE CREATION group several yrs ago.
Links here==>
https://m.facebook.com/groups/167892...35247573195032
http://youtu.be/kBAayhc4nDI. Teaching video side view
http://youtu.be/Z6hjnSXsNsE. Teaching video from behind .full captions.
I kept putting it off, a little stuck on the 4000+ FIRST song list. BUT I always felt the Dance should somewhat mimic a Match. Other elements should be: repeats, some break moves, a full wave, not much foot travel so audience can do while sitting/stuck out there. Wanted Match sound effects, auto mode, bonus section and some kind of driver/bot actions.
So last fall I actually hired a pro choreographer. We worked on it until almost too late for reveal this season…but this really did seem to be The Year. Having done a dozen or so Flash Mobs in Seattle I knew how to teach and spread it. With the PNW District model we had some sessions in March. Our big reveal at Portland Championship is a story I need to get onto video..it was a lot of magic energy that worked out just fantastic.
http://youtu.be/Z8C--du84Jk
Bringing to St. Louis was a lot of fun. I saw Kansas team doing it at front entry. Some Swamp team in Florida is doing it. And a London team has promised me a video. So yes I hope it will continue to spread around, become one of the many energy breaks/dances we have at events. Please mention it to any FIRST staff. I would be glad to fly back and teach it at some point…you’ll see I even have a slow motion version on YouTube. And yes I did teach it to several normally sitting Judges! So anyone can do it. Thanks Blair and Dance On, Brogan 10/15/14