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I really enjoyed Shut Up and Dance last year, and something by marianas trench, (maybe "Fallout" or "One Love" could be a rumba or night club 2 step. "Celebrity Status" or "Haven't Had Enough" probably works for Swing)

They played "Hot Mess" by cobra starship one year for a cha-cha and I thought it good. BUt I understand if you don't want to play the same thing every year.

Major improvement over last year (as I had to wait in line for 2-3 hours last year.) I was very pleased with it.

Slight improvement suggestions.

--Staff member on Friday was at the back of the line with a line that said something like "linecon is best con" and in some mask. I completely approve of the sign, but it is hard to know if it is an actual con/rover person with authority, or just a cosplayer. Maybe give them an arm band, orange vest, or have the other side of the sign say "end of line."

--The swap meet times were not advertised in the fanime booklet I don't think, or was hard to find. If found the description of the swap meet, but no time or no time and location. Also I don't think it was easily findable in the quick guide to con.

They played "Hot Mess" by Cobra Starship a few years ago for a cha-cha and it was the best cha-cha I had ever done.
Also "Haven't Had Enough" or "Stutter" by Marianas Trench make good swing songs methinks.

I can't seem to find a thread or form for submitting feedback on the swap meet.

We need a larger location. In previous years, I didn't have to wait at all to see the swap meet. This year I waited in line for 2-2.5 hours. The civic auditorium was just too small. Could we get the tent next to the convention? Maybe have the people on the side of the walkway under the convention? Use part of the dealer's hall (which now is a lot bigger)? Have it at the edge of the game room like before?

Maybe pass out tickets that say "return from 8:00-8:30"?

I don't feel the art was overpriced. They're actually cheaper than what I'd pay for some mass produced poster from the dealer's hall. If you want to talk about overpriced, check out the dealer's hall.

[Black and White Ball (and lessons) shoutouts:]

A couple of shoutouts here

Black and White Ball (and lessons) shoutouts:
To the gal in the black and white illusion-looking dress from a yogurt shop in Florida- you talked with my friend on the sidelines for quite a while in the later hours of the ball, then took him out to dance. (He's a big fellow, had a camera around his neck until I took it so you could dance!) Thank you for interacting with him, and getting him on the dancefloor- it made his and our night!

To the ladies who danced East Coast and Cha Cha with the bigger gal in the red dress (ringleted hair, roses and the like) sorry my dress was a bit long, and thank you for dancing with me! You picked up on the dances very well!

To the fellow at the East Coast Swing lesson Saturday night (all I can remember appearance wise is that you had a large backpack and short hair) thank you so much for staying and dancing with me during the "decompression" time! (And for teaching me all the moves I didn't know!) That was a bunch of fun!

General Shoutouts:

To everyone who was asking about the giant rose I had as Arrietty, my friends found it for me at Hobby Lobby around Valentine's Day. Good luck to that cosplayer who said she needed one!

One more- to the fellow that got all excited about my Ruby (RWBY) costume Friday night in the breezeway of the gaming hall (even though I was lacking a scythe and wig at that point!) thank you so much for your kind words! That was the best reaction I got all weekend, even when my costume was complete and I had an Adam with me, and after having a long and unpleasant day, it really made everything seem better.

That Gal with the yogurt shop is my sister! She learned everything she knows from me.

Black and white ball - Girl in black Dress, red ornament in hair, works in costume design. Amazing dancer. I dressed all in white.

Pro:
New Black and white ballroom was awesome!
The extra game stations and tables in the gaming room were great.

Con:
I didn't see the martial arts/weapons demo in the schedule, so I missed out on that.
Too many west coast swing songs at the black and white ball. I guess it's everyone's favorite, but I'd like to see more Waltz, Tango, and Samba. I think there were only 2 samba songs.

It was very crowded in the walkway between stage 0 and the dealers room entrance. Maybe we could NOT put a food vendor at the entrance. Maybe put the directional tape  on the ground (not that people seem to follow it, but it'd hopefully prevent stopping, or encourage people who want pictures to step to the side.)

I didn't understand that clockworks alchemy was at another location which you could take a shuttle bus to. Maybe there could be a little explanation in the pocket schedule. It said there was a shuttle, but didn't say where it was picking up from, that it was for con goers. i thought the shuttle was for people who were staying at the double tree/ holiday in hotels, not for people trying to go to clockworks alchemy.

I missed having intermediate dance lessons, there were only beginner ones.

Suggestions:
Maybe we could have recycling for the cups at the Black and White Ball. I noticed the cups were recyclable, but were just getting thrown in the trash cans.

For the video game tournaments, maybe we could get a projector on a wall/screen, or a TV placed above everyone's head level so that spectators can easily watch, at least for the final rounds.

Music was fine in my opinion; I enjoy doing a cha cha to unconventional ballroom dance songs like Another One Bites Da Funk, but not everyone seems to share that feeling, so maybe we could establish a good ratio of modern to classical songs?

There needs to be some control over the dances. If you are on the dance floor, I expect you to be doing some form of partner ballroom dancing. Instead there were people standing in a circle dancing as if it was a rave/a club. That's not so bad on slot dances, but it's not so great for the dancers on traveling dances when the dance floor is crowded. I guess that might be a bit unfair to those who don't know how to dance formally, but we have lessons for that and they are willingly attending a ball, not just a dance. I don't want to get to a point where we are all super strict and take away from the fun of the evening by being so focused on enforcing dancing standards.

Thank you to the people who broke up the congo line that started forming at one dance. Maybe we could add that to the rules? Like "no congo lines, no just jumping up and down during a dance (as it kills the dance floor and interferes with those trying to do traveling partner dances.) I'm not against having fun, but there is a rave dance every night for that type of stuff in my opinion. Maybe we can vary up the rave dance music so they can have music appropriate for congo lines?

Could we add some samba maybe? We could have samba lessons too.

With the demos, maybe limit it to one per type? I think there were two argentine tangos or maybe one was tango and one was argentine tango. I guess maybe you want to show off the difference between the two if that's the case? BUt I think I could of done with less demos.

Most important thing though is a larger floor.

Overall, I had an excellent time and it was a fantastic night, thanks again.

Is there any chance someone could post what the playlist was for the black and white ball. There was some song I liked played towards the end what I thought was called or by "hot stuff" but that doesn't seem to be it in all my google searches.

I would like to see more intermediate dance lessons next year. I have learned the basic steps to the majority of the dances, but when I only know the basic step, a quarter turn and maybe a promenade, and not even an underarm turn, that isn't much for a 4 minute dance. (Props to our excellent dance instructors though since I realize there was time limit.)  I think there was only intermediate lessons for east coast swing, disco hustle, foxtrot, and salsa, and all those were offered at the same time so you had to choose which one you wanted.

Bigger dance floor would be cool. I couldn't keep with the line of dance as there was nowhere for me to move. ANd then a bunch of people were not even moving so if I tried to keep with the line of dance, I'd be weaving in and out of people creating more of a hazard. 

I was looking forward to getting to dance in the mixers, but then all 5 of my partners I had during the mixers did not know the dance. I do not know if it is dance etiquette to line up for a dance you don't know how to do, but maybe that is something that could be addressed or announced. Maybe you could have a mixer line of those who know the dance and a mixer line of those who don't know the dance. But then maybe that would just result in a bunch of people who don't know the dance clogging up the dance floor.

I really liked how the dance was 5 hours and then towards the end, it became less crowded as the less hardcore dancers fleeted out.

I was Kakashi Hatake from Naruto at the Black and WHite Ball. I was dressed all in white though. If anyone has any pictures from that I'd really appreciate it.

If anyone has any pictures of me as the "fashion" police that'd be cool too.