One of the things you can do when you're sitting at home sick is experiment with all the gadgets you never have time to figure out in the time left over from the normal day-to-day rat race.
Well, I am sitting here at home today, stuffy and congested, honking and sneezing, and have spent much of the day in two projects: cleaning up my study (believe me, Hercules had it easy with the Augean Stables), and figuring out how to get our gazillions of hours of family and dance videos digitized so we can make our own DVDs. With the aid of my spiffy new Pinnacle Dazzle Video Transfer gizmo, I have finally made a breakthrough - I can get video from the tapes to the Mac. Now I just need to figure out how to combine all the video clips into the sort of DVDs Agnes wants, with chapters and titles and bells and whistles. But one thing at a time...I'm happy just to have gotten this far for now...and it gives me a chance to try something else - post my first video clip to the blog!
The clip below is from the video we had shot during our participation in the 2006 Grand National Ballroom Dance Championships in Miami, and it shows our Quickstep heat. I chose this one because it has a story behind it...
Those of you who are ballroom dancers or have watched the popular show "Dancing with the Stars" may recognize national champion Tony Dovolani in this clip...he was attending the competition with one of his students and, with his partner Elena Grinenko, did the competition's professional show. Agnes and I went down to the ballroom early one morning to warm up before the day's sessions started, and discovered Tony Dovolani and his student already there. There was plenty of room on the floor with only two couples, and so we all were able to work, and when we all took a break, Agnes and I asked Tony if he might have time to teach us for an hour at some point. He agreed (no dance professional ever turns down a paying customer), and later that afternoon during a session break, he spent an hour coaching us in the Quickstep. Quickstep is Agnes's favorite dance, but it's my least favorite, because its speed and complexity seriously challenge my limited coordination skills, and so I figured that if I was going to spend a lot of money for an hour of time with a national champion, it might as well be in a dance I needed serious help with.
Tony was a very nice, very down-to-earth fellow, but warned us up front that he was a very tough teacher. Agnes fired right back at him that she was a tough teacher, too, and the two of them spent the next hour riding me all over the floor like a rented mule.
So, fast forward to the next day, when we danced our International Style Standard heats (Waltz, Tango, Slow Foxtrot, Viennese Waltz, and Quickstep). As the video clip begins, Agnes and I are taking our places on the floor, and you'll see Tony and his partner come up behind us. Knowing that I was going to be nervous about dancing the Quickstep, he steered his partner right to the spot I was in and tried to elbow me out of the way. I pushed back, we both laughed, the music started, and ... well ... click on the clip below to see how it came out.
Well, I am sitting here at home today, stuffy and congested, honking and sneezing, and have spent much of the day in two projects: cleaning up my study (believe me, Hercules had it easy with the Augean Stables), and figuring out how to get our gazillions of hours of family and dance videos digitized so we can make our own DVDs. With the aid of my spiffy new Pinnacle Dazzle Video Transfer gizmo, I have finally made a breakthrough - I can get video from the tapes to the Mac. Now I just need to figure out how to combine all the video clips into the sort of DVDs Agnes wants, with chapters and titles and bells and whistles. But one thing at a time...I'm happy just to have gotten this far for now...and it gives me a chance to try something else - post my first video clip to the blog!
The clip below is from the video we had shot during our participation in the 2006 Grand National Ballroom Dance Championships in Miami, and it shows our Quickstep heat. I chose this one because it has a story behind it...
Those of you who are ballroom dancers or have watched the popular show "Dancing with the Stars" may recognize national champion Tony Dovolani in this clip...he was attending the competition with one of his students and, with his partner Elena Grinenko, did the competition's professional show. Agnes and I went down to the ballroom early one morning to warm up before the day's sessions started, and discovered Tony Dovolani and his student already there. There was plenty of room on the floor with only two couples, and so we all were able to work, and when we all took a break, Agnes and I asked Tony if he might have time to teach us for an hour at some point. He agreed (no dance professional ever turns down a paying customer), and later that afternoon during a session break, he spent an hour coaching us in the Quickstep. Quickstep is Agnes's favorite dance, but it's my least favorite, because its speed and complexity seriously challenge my limited coordination skills, and so I figured that if I was going to spend a lot of money for an hour of time with a national champion, it might as well be in a dance I needed serious help with.
Tony was a very nice, very down-to-earth fellow, but warned us up front that he was a very tough teacher. Agnes fired right back at him that she was a tough teacher, too, and the two of them spent the next hour riding me all over the floor like a rented mule.
So, fast forward to the next day, when we danced our International Style Standard heats (Waltz, Tango, Slow Foxtrot, Viennese Waltz, and Quickstep). As the video clip begins, Agnes and I are taking our places on the floor, and you'll see Tony and his partner come up behind us. Knowing that I was going to be nervous about dancing the Quickstep, he steered his partner right to the spot I was in and tried to elbow me out of the way. I pushed back, we both laughed, the music started, and ... well ... click on the clip below to see how it came out.
We took first place in our age category in that heat, and I think I owe a lot of thanks to Tony Dovolani for distracting me at the start so that I'd think about something other than being nervous.
And doesn't Agnes look great in that dress?
Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.
Bilbo
You cut a good rug! You both look so elegant and graceful! I'm impressed. You make it look easy when I know it's anything but.
ReplyDeleteLove the dress! Very Ginger Rogers! :)
Yeah, where's the feathers floating up around her head? (a la White Christmas). Gorgeous dress, which I presume she made?
ReplyDeleteSo smooth and graceful. I expected something more like a jitterbug with a name like the quickstep. Shows what little I know.
Belated congrats on the dance and today's congrats on mastering the video thingy.
She looks FABULOUS in that dress, and the two of you cut one dashing rug.:)
ReplyDeleteWOW! The both of you look so elegant. I'd love to be able to dance like that. No chance though since Richard isn't into this sort of thing :(
ReplyDeleteGood on you for posting a video of yourselves on your blog. I haven't figured out how to do that myself yet. Go for it.
ReplyDeleteHope you're feeling better quickly and soon too.
Cyalayta
Mal :)