07/03/2013
On behalf of Takin' It Step by Step, I would like to personally thank each and everyone of you who supported and attended our 4th Annual Southeast's Largest Dance Convention!
Weekend In Review:
Thursday kicked off with our T-Shirt Cutting Class led by Atlanta's finest instructors, Vanice Walker and Dee Robinson of the Southside Steppers, where ladies learned how to cut up various designs. The Repeaters' Party allowed us to recognize and thank those guests who have attended this particular event in past years over drinks and hors' d'oeuvres! Then, the evening dance party started off with Christopher Page co-hosting, and a live performance by Cupid, song artist/creator of the Cupid Shuffle & Cupid Love Slide, who sang several of his popular songs, taught us a few new slides, and took time out afterwards for autographs and photos with our guests!! He is so very down to earth and has such a beautiful, pure voice!
Friday & Saturday mornings got off to a healthy start with awesome fitness classes taught by Sommer Foreman (Zumba), JoAnna Ward (Master Abs Class) and Master Young (Tai Chi w/ Yoga) who all worked out our guests!
Instructors gathered together again this year to discuss thought-provoking topics in the Instructors' Forum followed by us serving them lunch. A special thank you to our Forum Panelists: Warren Moon, StepN2TheBeat (ATL) and Roland Ford, Pittsburgh Soul Steppers (Pittsburgh) for leading the discussion.
The Friday evening highlights included a well-planned and fun Meet & Greet hosted by Atlanta's own Reggie Sullivan & the Southside Steppers including games, partying & awesome performance showcases by Takin' It Step by Step's Senior Line Dance Group, the Northwest Louisiana Steppers, JesMove2 from Mississippi, Next Level led by Ninja who had a surprise performance by Jay Croz, followed by ATL Connect's Flash Mob!! Big hugs to Tiff Nicole, our choreographer of the Atlanta showcase, Warren Moon for coordinating practices at your facility, and all of the Atlanta groups who came together to participate! On Saturday night, Teddy Massey co-hosted, and The Force MD's entertained us with a mini-concert during dinner with several of their popular old-school songs ("Tender Love", "Love Is a House", etc) and, none other than Chubb Rock, came in at the last minute and surprised our audience with a guest appearance! DJs Kelvin & Carla Ross (ATL) kept the floor packed each night, kept the music rotating, and were very accommodating to our guests' music requests! Congratulations to the two winning tables from Maryland & Louisiana for winning the Table Decorating Contest! Winners received copies of the 2-disc workshop CD.
The weekend could not have ended more perfectly with the sermon delivered by Christopher Page on Sunday morning. Christopher's message was very profound and relevant to the entire weekend's activities.
A big thank you to all of the workshop presenters & participants who brought their talent, energy, creativity and dances! They included: Burley Johnson, Denise Bryant, Monica Bizzle, Stephanie Crusoe, Mia Barney & Stacie Archie, Donald Jones & Latosha Washington, Teddy Massey, Ziggie Phillips, Quan Terrell, Bernadette Burnette, Sommer Foreman, Roland Ford, Warren Moon, Ninja, Christopher Page, Yolanda Scott, JoAnna Ward, Master Young Washington, Vanice Walker, & Dee Robinson.
A special thank you to our vendors who had some very nice quality items for our guests as well!
There is absolutely NO way that this event would have been as successful if it weren't for my awesome Volunteer Committee led by Michele Watkins & Shendra Gardner! Several of you came from out of town just to be a part of this awesome experience and I truly appreciate you for that! Thank you ALL for your hard work before, during and after the event, helping with the telephone calls, showing up on time to work your shifts and for being friendly & helpful to our guests. I must give special recognition and a shout-out to my auntie Gail, who served as Event Coordinator and my right-hand 'woman' throughout the entire planning process! Thanks so much Gail for your love & support! And, thanks to the rest of my family, Denise Fortune (sister) and my mom, Betty Patterson, for coming down to lend me a hand.
Thanks to each of you for the sacrifices and contributions you made to help make our event another success! With SO many events going on across the country, we truly appreciate you making the decision to attend ours. We hope that we not only met but exceeded your expectations, that you met some new friends, reunited with some old ones, and went home with fond lifelong memories of our event.
Photos and some video footage from the event can now be viewed at https://www.facebook.com/takinitstepbystep!
Thanks again for the love and support!
Warmly,
Carolyn A. Patterson
Takin' It Step by Step is the SE's premiere dance organization dedicated to promoting the health & fitness benefits of dance. HTTP://WWW.LETSTEP.COM
