In a recent article, I wrote about the resurgence of line dancing in local bars. I have noticed the various teachers post about their “crews” which got me thinking about the first bar where I ever taught line dancing and the line dance “regulars” who I met and instructed there.
Prior to teaching at this bar, all my classes were held in large studios, gyms and auditoriums. The bar owners heard about my reputation (thanks Elane) and hired me to teach a weekly line dance class, which I started in August 2011. Unfortunately it ended in May 2014 when the owners decided to take the bar in a “new direction.”
Over the previous dozen years, I stayed in contact with a handful of my former “crew” members and I decided to contact them to get together for a line dance reunion at the place where we spent many nights dancing. I invited 7 dancers, and 6 attended; the other one completely forgot about it, and she was the first one to respond! Life gets busy, so I understood.
You might wonder why I chose to invite only 7; prior to sending out the Facebook private event, I went to scope out the place with a friend (thanks Linda). The bar’s dance floor is much smaller now, due to the owners placing a pool table on one end and a couch on the other, with a railing and dart board in the middle! So I decided that no more than 8 of us could dance in that space.
It was great to catch up with everyone; some I hadn’t seen since we last danced there in 2014. It was on this small floor in downtown Sharon where I honed my skills teaching in a bar and was humbled to hear how much our weekly nights dancing meant to everyone. Except for about 5 other people, we were the only patrons that night. The bartender doubled as our DJ (thanks Kayla) and played all our requests.
When I created the event, I asked everyone for their favorite dance/song requests that I taught back then. Let me tell you, they requested some I remembered right away, and others I had to look up! I couldn’t locate one dance online, so I had to get out my “bible” of hard copy step sheets to find it! (Good Girl, choreographed by Buddy Mulford) Another dance is only viewable on the Kick It website (Hillbilly Bone, choreographed by Gwen Walker).
After explaining that I would do a quick review of each one before we danced it to the music, I started the night by reviewing the very first dance I taught there back in 2011, Nashville Twist. Over two hours later, we succeeded in dancing all 12 requests, plus another dance to a song the DJ/bartender wanted to hear. Here are the links to the step sheets for a few we danced:
CopperKnob – Alley Cat – Donna Aiken (USA)
CopperKnob – Creepin – Kate Sala (UK) – August 2011
CopperKnob – Fighting Those Blue Jeans – GYTAL (USA)
CopperKnob – Makin’ Waves and Catchin’ Rays – M. Clements – August 2012
Thanks to everyone who attended this line dance reunion; you all have no idea how helpful you were to shape my line dance career and how enjoyable it was to dance with you all again!
