Angie’s January 2009 Tidbits

 

 

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Grant us the serenity to accept that which cannot be changed, the courage to change that which can be changed and the wisdom to know the difference.  ~Serenity Prayer

 

Happy New Year to everyone!  I hope the year has gotten off to an excellent start for everyone and I’m excited to see what this year has in store for all of us.  I have been so happy to be back in class in the New Year. Even if I’m not able to go “full force” with my jamming, I love bouncing around to the music, acting crazy with everyone and when possible doing a couple “easy does it” numbers up front.  Today Dahlia is actually 6 weeks old and I have my checkup appointment tomorrow, so I hope to be given a thumbs up to do a little more. 

 

I hope you might take the time to read some of what is going on this month in QCDQ classes and read about my reflections for this month’s quote.  Thank you all of you for being so wonderful and for rocking out our classes in the New Year!!!

 

Angie’s January Tidbits Highlights

Imperfections

QCDQ Instructor team ROCKS!!

DanceOut! Demo at Eastridge Mall

New Class Card and Sign-in System

Important Notes about Dance Fanatic Class Cards

Spread the Love

Hickory Grove Cafeteria

Still recruiting Jam Crew!

QCDQ shirts on sale ‘til February 14

QCDQ Instructor Training

Other tidbits

 

 

 

Imperfections Imperfections are all around us. Some of them can be changed and some of them can’t. But when we get hung up on each little thing that is wrong, we risk missing the beauty of the big picture.  As I once heard someone say, if you look too hard at the scratch, you’ll completely miss the diamond.  At times, we must learn to live with these “scratches”.  Applying this to myself personally, I think about how disappointed I was that I had to have a c-section.  But if I dwell on that, it means that I am failing to dwell on the wonderful and precious baby that came as a result of that surgery.  Applying this to our classes, I think about how each location in which we have our classes has its downfalls.  For the most part, these are things that I cannot control and so if I dwell on those shortcomings, then I fail to dwell on the fabulosity and magic that occurs within each place.  While these are examples of imperfections that we cannot change, sometimes imperfections do provide us with opportunity to grow and improve ourselves.  Applying this to our classes, I know we as instructors sometimes “mess up” with our cueing, forget the choreography or simply could’ve taught something better.  We use these imperfections to improve as instructors to make things better for you.  Another example that we can all relate to is our health.. I know we can all make resolutions to feel better through eating right and through exercise….And what better way to exercise than jamming with QCDQ!!!!

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QCDQ Instructor team ROCKS!! Thank you so much to the instructor team- Gina, Lisa, Demetria and Sara- that kept the QCDQ classes rockin’ during the holidays and continue to do so now while I am still recovering from the surgery.  If you get a chance to thank them in person please do or you can send them an email. All of these instructors are relatively new to this and are still honing their instructor skills, and I think they are doing SPECTACULAR.  Without them there wouldn’t be any classes at all right now and I am thankful that they are as committed to all of you as I am. 

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DanceOut! Demo at Eastridge Mall As part of the Activate Gaston Health Fair, Queen City Dancing Queen will be doing a demo of our DanceOut! Class at 6pm in Center Court of Eastridge Mall this Friday, January 16th.  If you are interested in joining us on stage, meet us in front of Sears on the first floor at 5:45 pm.  Even if you don’t want to come on stage, we’d love to have you in the audience cheering us on and perhaps encouraging audience participation.  Let’s show Gastonia how we JAM on Thursdays at the ARC!!!!

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New Class Card and Sign-in System Thank you to all of you for your patience as we all get used to our new Class Card and Sign-in system.  For your information, here is a brief run-down of what you should do when you come to class.

1. Give your card to the person helping with sign-in for her to punch it OR give her your receipt.  If you are Jam Crew, make sure you remind the person giving the punches so they can give you a JC punch.

 2.  Print your name on the sign-in sheet and circle how you are paying for class. For example, if you have a…        

-5 class card, circle 5.

-10 class card, circle 10

-20 class card, circle 20

Free pass, circle FR

Receipt for a Drop-in, circle DI

If you don’t have any of these because you have to pay that day, then you can go ahead and circle what you are going to pay for and then tell the sign-in person what you need.

3.  Go forth and JAM! Show ‘em whatcha workin’ with!!!

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Important Notes about Dance Fanatic Class Cards We’ve started the new class card system and there are some important things that I wanted to emphasize about the cards.

1. Please don’t lose your card.  Treat it as you would a gift card to a store. Put it in a safe place in your wallet or attach it to your key chain. Cards are non-replaceable.

2. Please bring your card to every single class so it can be punched to reflect the usage of that class.

3. Please feel free to share your card.

4. If you bought your card online, please remember to bring your receipt.  We can’t give you your card without your receipt.

If you still haven’t purchased your card, you can do so in class or online.  For more information and pricing of cards, please click here.

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Spread the Love Don’t you just love our classes so much that you want to tell everyone you know?  From now until February 14, you can give a “Spread the Love” flyer to anyone who’s never taken our classes and they can take the class for free.  Then if they buy a class card, your name will be entered in a drawing for free classes.  Let’s spread some dancing love.  Come into class for more information and to get your flyers.

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Hickory Grove Cafeteria Thank you to Hickory Grove Rec Ctr who has arranged for us to use the school’s cafeteria for our Wednesday night Zumba class until the gym is open again. Yeah!! There is one condition though.  We have to help move the tables before and after class.  If you are as thankful as I am that we won’t have to squeeze into the multipurpose room, then perhaps you might feel moved to volunteer a minute of your time to help us do this.  Think of it as the weight-training portion of your workout.  :) Anyway, any help that you have time to give we would greatly appreciate. 

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Still recruiting Jam Crew! Calling all Dance Fanatics who would like to earn even more FREE classes by becoming part of the JAM CREW!!!  Jam Crew members are a very important part of the fabulosity of QCDQ classes.  Just to name a few important things that Jam Crew does…Jam Crew members provide other class participants with different models of the moves that the instructor is doing.  They embody the message "If you are moving, you are doing it right".  Even though they are always JAMMIN’, they don't necessarily do everything high level and they aren’t always experts at the choreography.  They show people the different levels that the moves can be done at.  Jam Crew members also clap, hoot and holler before, during and after class, and sing loudly when at all possible.  If this sounds like something that you would be interested in, click here for more information.  But hurry, to make sure you get the size and style shirt you want, you must pay for your shirt online or in class before this Saturday, January 17th.

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QCDQ shirts on sale ‘til February 14   I will be putting in the order for regular QCDQ shirts soon so make sure you get yours.  This year’s design says “QCDQ will move you” and they are available in various styles.  Check out the HOT new design.  Thank you to Lauren Mecum, a Gastonia participant, who helped me get that done.  Get yours today!!  Click here to order online.

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QCDQ Instructor Training After my last email, some of you have expressed interest in the instructor workshop that I will be hosting.  The date is set for February 21, 2009 from 9-4 at Tom Sykes Recreation Center.  This workshop is a requirement for current QCDQ instructor trainees, but it is also open to the general public and any of you who might be interested. Click here for more information.

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Other tidbits

1. Need some fun workout pants?  Our QCDQ instructor Sara bought some UFO cargo workout pants size Medium that just didn’t work for her.  They are brand new and she wants to see if someone would like to buy them from her.  She is selling them for the exact price that she bought them for which is $35.  If you are interested, email her.

2. Zumba pants. Speaking of fun workout pants, I also wanted to get an idea of how many of you would be interested in purchasing Zumba cargo pants. (Sara has been wearing these to class).  I’d like to order a batch of them if the interest is high.  Here is what they look like. The cost is $64.95, the same as if you bought them from zumba.com but you won’t have to pay shipping if you buy through me.  Shoot me an email if you’d be interested.

3. Dog Dancing.  I know this is an old YouTube post, but if you haven’t seen this video in a while or if you haven’t seen it at all, it is definitely worth watching.  Smiles guaranteed. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqbVbPvlDoM

4. Beautiful artwork.  One of our Charlotte participants Margee Halsch is a very talented painter and I was so impressed by her work, I wanted to share it.  Please go to: margeehalsch.com to view her paintings.  Enjoy!

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Important Updates to January Tidbits… Sent a few days later.
I wanted to follow up with all of you to give you the good news that my doctor has given me his official blessing to continue with my exercise as I wish!!! He said I could do whatever I felt comfortable with.  And since we don't do "typical exercise" moves, I had to make sure he understood exactly what he was telling me.  In other words, was it okay to do all the hip pumping, grinding, shaking and shimmying that we do in class?  I not only asked him about this but I gave him a quick little demo just to make sure we were clear.  Needless to say, he was a little taken aback, but he quickly assured me that was okay.  So, now that I know I won't pop open, I can let loose now, as long as I'm listening to my body.  (By the way,  this is what everyone should always do anyway even if you aren't recovering from surgery.)  The question is this:  Are you all prepared for Angie in full force again??? 

QCDQ showed Gastonia how we JAM
The DanceOut! demo was absolutely fabulous.  We had about 16 QCDQ jammers with us presenting at Eastridge Mall last Friday.  We had a huge audience from both the top and bottom floors and they loved us!  I had a lot of people tell me that we were the
best presentation of all the demos that day, which included Zumba, Body Pump, Cycling, Yoga, Line Dancing, and even the Top Cats.  The consensus was that we were having the most fun and that we were the most energetic.  We jammed to Circus, Krazy, You can't stop the beat, Honky Tonk Badonkadonk and Single Ladies.  Thank you to everyone who participated and everyone that came out to cheer us on!!!!!  And a shoutout to Sara and her QCDQ peeps who kept it real at Tom Sykes that same night... I heard it was a great class!!!

HIT IT is hittin' it
You all are going to
have to try Hit It- the new class that we just recently added to the schedule.  I did this class on Saturday (not holding back) and my butt, legs, abs and arms are sooo sore (in a good way)!!!  By the way, this is where most of our new choreography has been focused, including Disturbia by Rihanna, Green Light by John Legend, Just Dance by Lady Gaga, Damaged by Danity Kane, and Love Lockdown by Kanye West.  We've done some of these numbers in other classes, but to get the full effect, you have to come and check out Lisa on Saturday at Armstrong Athletic Club.

ZUMBA is ON tomorrow!!
Even though it is a holiday for Martin Luther King, we are still going to have Zumba class tomorrow at New Hope Baptist Church as always.  We'll be busting out our 2 new numbers, Circus (our new warmup) and Somos los Campeones de la Salsa (you guessed it.. our new salsa).  Hope to see you there!!!!

Song List Updated
FYI.... I updated the new songs mentioned above on the website and also on the printable PDF version.

 

Thanks for taking the time to catch up!

Hope to see you in class very SOOOOON!

 

Big Hugs,

Angie

Angie Acosta
Owner and Head Instructor
Queen City Dancing Queen
www.queencitydancingqueen.com

 

 

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Dahlia at 6 weeks