If you enjoy these videos, please be sure to thank our demo dancers whenever you see them and attend their events whenever you can. But don't forget that none of this would be possible without floor time. We are indebted to the San Diego Round Dance Festival, Palm Springs Roundup, USA West, and Curt and Tammy Worlock's Stardust Dance for giving us access to their dance floors to record these videos. Please support these events. Not all event managers are so generous. One event has forbidden us to record anything except showcases of the dances actually taught there. Another has attached strings that we feel would undermine our efforts. So, please thank and support our event hosts and demo dancers, without whom we could not do what we do. Merry Christmas from DanceDemos!
Back from Boot Camp. It was awesome! An added bonus - they spent quite some time on the very combinations that our 4/5 workshop group has been working on - Overspin Turn or Outside Spin to a Right Turning Lock. Now we need to go practice all the things we learned.
Another bonus. For those who haven't been to Stardust Dance in a while, there is now a huge Publix Market a couple of blocks away that has an enormous selection of ready-to-eat foods and an upstairs indoor/outdoor seating area. Very handy.
You may have noticed the conspicuous absence of regular demo dancer Tom Hicks in these recent videos. That's because Tom's teenage son Grant was involved in a serious motorcycle accident just after Palm Springs 2023 that caused damage to his spinal cord. Young Grant is facing a challenging future and Tom has been going back and forth every weekend helping to outfit Grant's house to make it wheelchair accessible.
On this day of thanks giving, take a moment to give thanks for Tom Hicks and his many contributions to the activity and to this channel. A Gofundme campaign has been set up to help defray the costs of Grant's new life at https://www.gofundme.com/f/hb967g-for-medical-expenses. If each of our 2700+ subscribers gave just $5, that would provide more than $13,000 to help Tom and Grant. Please take a moment now to help.
Grant is a resilient young man and has remained upbeat and positive, like his dad, throughout his difficult rehab. He sent this video to thank the dance community for their support.
Bill Davenport was in high demand in San Diego...
DanceDemos hit a huge milestone today - a total of a MILLION views since we started the channel 5 short years ago. Total watch time is more than 33,000 hours - the equivalent of someone watching 24/7 for almost 4 years! We could never have imagined this back when we started. And we've met so many wonderful people along the way! We hope this channel has inspired you and helped you along your dance journey.
And we hope that at least some of those million views represent outsiders and that they came away with a positive view of our activity. When we first started dancing, we kept asking ourselves, "Why have we never heard of this? Why is it such a secret?" Hopefully, "ballroom dancing's best kept secret" is a bit less of a secret now, and we hope that DanceDemos channel has helped with that.
Many thanks to our demo couples, our cuers, and especially to all of you, our viewers. We feel like proud parents! A million views... wow!
WCS Boot Camp
Day 1 of WCS Boot Camp! Lots of mistakes, lots of laughter, but we're learning a lot!
Happy Birthday to Us! DanceDemos published its first public videos five years ago today! Many thanks to all our demo dancers, cuers, and others who have helped along the way, with a special thank you to Rey and Sherry Garza. If they hadn't signed up to be our first demo dancers, this project would never have gotten off the ground.
Five years later, we're closing in on a MILLION total views. So, thank you to YOU, the viewers, for helping us promote this wonderful activity.