1. Beantown’s Got Talent - specifically the hilarious comments by Jen, Sylvia, and especially Peter. Good, funny, fun times. First time I actually participated in 5 years too :)
2. Soul night - men vs. ladies dance off…Naomi absolutely putting Mikey in his place. Don’t ever step up against Naomi in a dance off…ever.
3. Practicing aerials in the grass near the lake. Beautiful campus.
4. Naomi singing on the last night with Gordon Webster and his bad. It was amazing. That last part with all the call-back singing and crazy jams was just awesome. Ah! Good memories.
5. Getting to dance in the amazing, first-time-ever, Beantown show! It was such an honor to perform with some of my heroes—Ryan Francois, Jenny Thomas, Skye Humphries, Peter Strom, Naomi Uyama, Ramona Staffeld, Michael Jagger, Evita Arce, Mike Roberts and Laura Glaess.
6. Learning Jungle Speed Turbo (or whatever it’s called). I think my butt, for once, sweat more sitting down than dancing.
7. Michael Jagger. Period.
8. Eric Fenn.. Hip Hop.. Double Period..
9. Getting my shizzle broke down and rebuilt even better like the bionic man in the now annual relearn-what-you-thought-you-knew-and-were-good-at-change-your-dancing-for-the-better-awesomeness-that-is-Beantown.
10. Knowing that the time, effort, and money was once again completely worth it. My 5th year was amazing—can’t wait for the 6th!

Well, it looks like the end of vacation is here and its back to reality tomorrow.  I wanted to let you know that I had a real nice time at Beantown this year. Stayed up very late dancing two or three nights (hit the pillow at around 3:30 PM on one night) and had more fun with the dance this year as a result of my comfort level growing.  In the classes, I really felt like I was able to absorb a lot more this time around as a result of having the benefit of a bit more experience.

You guys conduct a very organized event at a beautiful facility, I am sure you know that it is widely appreciated. The vibe there is really cool.

fabulous! fabulous! fabulous!

In a word: fabulous! Thanks for a remarkable week that hit all the right notes. I can’t imagine NOT being at Beantown year after year. I love it that much.

Thank you, Aurelie! Thank you, Tony!

Big hugs!

My husband and daughter who aren’t from the USA and had never social danced before, let alone Lindy Hopped, said it was wonderful and plan on coming back next year!! Yay!!

What a week. Thanks so much to everyone for putting in such long hours to make Beantown such an amazing event! Most definitely worth the investment, says I.

Thanks for all your hard work for the camp.

Thank you for Beantown 2010!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just got back to Montreal from Beantown 2010. (Had the Swing tunes and bounce going on in me even through 9 hours of bus ride!). It’s been one of the most joyful and memorable experiences for me!

It was my first time and I loved it, even with sleep deprivation and sore muscles. (OK—next year I get in shape BEFORE!)  Lovely campus, marvelous food. (Can you believe I actually lost some weight while eating like a horse! Go figure!)

I really appreciated the calibre of the teachers and their patience with us!

The Tai Chi classes with Richard REALLY helped a lot—helped clear my fuzzy brain for a new day of learning. Hope he can be available more often in the future. The stretching classes were absolutely marvellous too - kept me from becoming a human pretzel!

Applause to the schedulers—yikes! Don’t know how you did it! Superb!

The camp has really kicked my love for, and hopefully skill in, the dance up a notch or two! A thought came to me at one point during the week—it really was/is a privilege to be with, and learn to be a “bearer of joy” through these fun-tastic dances!

Many thanks once again!

Without a doubt—the best Beantown ever.

Thanks again for everything, Aurelie & Tony. Yes, it was incredible, absolutely incredible. I’m so glad I couldn’t bear to go home & stayed. It is really absolutely fantastic what you & Tony have put together at Beantown. Really truly incredible and fantastic. I wouldn’t have wanted to miss it!

Beantown Camp 2010—Top 10 Good Times

A few reasons why Beantown was so awesome this year:

1. Feeling like I’m in a House Party movie during the spontaneous soul train and boys vs girls battle at Peter’s Soul Night in the lodge.
2. The foreshadowing of Hammertime, so you’re ready for it when Hammertime actually happens.
3. Tap dancing in the show alongside some of my favorite dancers, and witnessing the amazing Jenny Thomas throw it all together on the spot in 10 minutes.
4. Doing the Big Apple during sound check on the first night and watching Joel rock out with a soccer ball.
5. Feeling like I’ve been to dance boot camp. It’s been a while since I’ve learned this much dance stuff in a week.
6. Watching Reid and our other students bust out the Beyonce hand to hand Charleston move in class.
7. Having the time and opportunity to get to know people and just hang out in between activities.
8. Eric’s hip hop classes, and watching his class performance.
9. PB and J sandwich making/ eating contest and Andrew catching an apple in his mouth.
10. Busting out to the Cangelosi Cards and Gordon Webster as well as Michael Gamble and Mary Freitag’s DJing.