by Mary Serico
Happy Holidays! I hope your holidays are everything you wished for and more. I am finishing up my December blog at the airport on our way to sunny and hopefully warm Disney World in Florida. The trip is a belated birthday present for my husband Joe and probably one of my favorite places to visit, especially when it is cold at home. We are scheduled to be back for the Dance A Lot’s Holiday Gala on December 15 with a day to spare which as you can imagine, is making Adi and Georgi a little nervous. I promise we will be back in time. 🙂
For the past few Holiday Galas, my dance partner Georgi and I performed a Christmas themed dance showcase (“Santa’s On A Diet”, “Stretchy Pants”, etc.), but this year, there wasn’t time for new choreography, learning the new steps or new props. So for this year’s Holiday Gala we decided to do our “Why Don’t We Just Dance” Swing showcase. Of course, we needed to add something Christmassy so we asked Adi to help us with the routine. She tweaked the steps a little bit and came through, as usual, with a few changes (mostly on Georgi’s part). A coaching session with Adi is always a fun learning experience for me and usually gives Georgi more work to do. It is amazing how just a little shaping, a slight change in amount of turn, etc. can make the showcase look so much better. I just hope I can remember half of the new enhancements. I will have to get some practice maybe with Mickey Mouse as my dance partner. 😀
I got a new dress (courtesy of a fellow dancer), that is red, with a Christmas pattern, and housewife style. After seeing it, Georgi decided to match its 60’s look and I got him a red vest and glasses. Thankfully it was delivered just before vacation — courtesy of Amazon.
We are already working with the amazing Maxim Kozhevnikov on our 2025 show for the Dance A Lot’s 15th Annual Showcase “Dancing Stars” as well as the 2025 Holiday Gala. Let’s just say I get to play a conga, and Georgi is playing the bongos while dancing…through out the entire dance. The original instrument was an accordion, but thank goodness I was able to veto it. What can I say — we need to keep stretching Georgi’s experience with unusual props. haha 😀 The next blog will have some more details about the new showcases. In the meantime, have yourself a Merry Christmas and enjoy the rest of the year.
About Mary: Mary has been dancing since 2006. She loves dancing Cha Cha, Rumba, and Swing, but her favorite thing is to do showcases. With her husband Joe, they spend their time enjoying the retired life at the Jersey shore, golfing, traveling, and attending rock concerts.
