Ballroom Dancing Weekend

Basics for Beginners
8:30pm – 9pm
Meet your instructors. Is it your first time out on the dance floor, or do you simply need a refresher? Come early for a “quick start” and learn the steps that will carry you through the weekend. No experience needed!

Welcome Dance with Margi and the Dapper Dots
9pm – 11pm
What better way to recapture the bygone but not forgotten musical aura of the Great American Songbook and Old Hollywood than to listen and dance to Margi & the Dapper Dots! Inspired by the wonderful vocalists of the era, Margi Gianquinto will serenade you on the dance floor with selections from Gershwin and Berlin to Mancini and Jobim. A legendary era of great melodies, vocalists, and composers comes to life in one splendid evening.

Beginner Foxtrot/Waltz
9:30am – 10:30am
This class is a gentle introduction to two of the classic ballroom dances, the Foxtrot and the Waltz. The Foxtrot is one of the most versatile ballroom dances which can be adapted to a variety of musical styles. The Waltz originated as the original scandalous dance of the 16th Century in which the dancers actually held one another! Candace Woodward-Clough will teach the basic steps as well as important leading and following techniques.

Intermediate Foxtrot/Waltz
9:30am – 10:30am
New patterns and advanced techniques of leading and following, taught by Gene Eagle, will enhance the skills of guests with some prior experience in ballroom dancing.

Beginner Salsa/Cha-Cha
10:30am – 11:30am
Enjoy learning the basics of these spicy Latin dances with Jeni Breen.

Intermediate Salsa/Cha-Cha
10:30am – 11:30am
Intermediate dancers will enjoy learning some new turn combinations and styling possibilities in this rhythmic and lively class taught by Laurie Shayler.

Beginner Swing   
11:45am – 12:45pm
Learn the basics of single-step swing dance with Candace Woodward-Clough.

Advanced Swing   
11:45am – 12:45pm
Dancers with a foundation in swing will enjoy learning some new combinations and styling possibilities in this lively swing class with Laurie Shayler.

Beginner/Intermediate American Tango     
2:30pm – 3:30pm
Dancers with some experience can use this opportunity to refine what they know and pick up some new techniques along the way with Jeni Breen.

Beginner Quickstep    
3:30pm – 4:30pm
If you’d like to travel around the dance floor to peppy music that’s too fast for the Foxtrot, the Quickstep is for you! Come join Gene Eagle to learn the basics and get ready to fly.

Dance, Dance, Dance with the Dan Levinson Band
9pm – 11pm
This dynamic band brings together the cream of New York City’s flourishing hot jazz scene, resulting in a magical chemistry that blends the raucous, freewheeling sounds of the Jazz Age with the alluring, hypnotic beat of dance.

Practice Session
10am
Dancers can use this hour to practice steps they’ve learned and get ready for the Farewell Dance.

Farewell Dance
11am
We welcome Gene Eagle from the dance floor to the DJ table for our final dance party. Join us for live Jazz and Swing music in the morning and the final dance of this fun-filled weekend!

Candace Woodward-Clough

Candace Woodward-Clough, founder of ballroom dance instruction at the New York Health and Racquet Club, has been a freelance teacher for four decades. She has danced in and choreographed off-Broadway, summer stock, movies, soap operas, and videos.  Candace teaches at Princeton University, Mercer County Community College, the Peddie School, and has her own studio in Hightstown New Jersey.

Gene Eagle

Gene Eagle teaches social ballroom dance and DJ’s in Manhattan, and has been dancing ballroom and swing for over 25 years. He has performed at venues including the Waldorf Astoria and the 92^nd Street Y, where he was also the host and DJ for the 92^nd Street Y Ballroom Dance parties, and has DJ’d for Mid-Summer Night Swing at Lincoln Center as well as dance studios and private functions in NYC. He continues to host social dance parties in NYC under the auspices of GE Dance. His eclectic music library includes both traditional ballroom dance music and contemporary pieces ideal for all styles of ballroom dancing.

Laurie Shayler

Laurie Shayler has been dancing her entire life and started teaching children at an early age. Before falling in love with Ballroom Dancing and forming her company Dance Connection, she received a B.A. in Dance from SUNY Brockport. After moving to New York, she worked as a professional modern dancer with many choreographers performing and teaching in New York City, and touring across the U.S., Europe and Asia. She created the innovative Dance as a Second Language Course (DSL), merging the studies of English and Social Dancing at Baruch and LaGuardia Community Colleges. Now settled in Brooklyn, her passion for dance and teaching continues with her company Dance Connection offering group and private classes in Swing, Latin & Ballroom styles and specializing in Wedding Choreography.

Jeni Breen

Jeni Breen is the owner and Artistic Director of Jeni Breen Tango Academy in Manhattan. She was Director of the Tango and Salsa Programs at the Sandra Cameron Dance Center in NYC for many years, and prior to that was a member of the legendary modern dance company Donald Byrd/The Group.

Dan Levinson

Dan Levinson, the 2017 winner of Hot House Magazine’s “NYC Jazz Fans Decision” award for Best Clarinetist, is equally at home as both leader and sideman, fronting his own groups as well as performing with those led by others. His roster of musical associates includes such names as Mel Tormé, Wynton Marsalis, Leon Redbone, and Dick Hyman. Originally from Los Angeles, Dan has been based in New York City since 1983, although his busy schedule often takes him across the continent and around the world. He has performed in Brazil with filmmaker Woody Allen’s band, as well as in Japan, Iceland, Latvia, and 18 European countries. Since 1993 he has been a member of Vince Giordano’s Nighthawks, the country’s preeminent 1920s-’30s hot jazz orchestra, with whom he has appeared at Carnegie Hall, on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, and on Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion radio program. Dan’s successful Benny Goodman tributes have been presented both in the U.S. with James Langton’s New York All-Star Big Band and in Europe with the Berlin-based Swing Dance Orchestra. Dan has recorded over 150 CDs, including nine under his own name. He can be heard on the soundtracks of the films “The Cat’s Meow”, “Ghost World”, “The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond”, and Martin Scorsese’s “The Aviator”, as well as on all five seasons of the Grammy Award-winning HBO television series “Boardwalk Empire” and all three seasons of the Amazon Prime Video series “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”.

Margi Gianquinto

Margi Gianquinto has built a reputation for authenticity and excellence on the New York jazz scene since 2012, transporting audiences back to an earlier era with the music of legends like Berlin, Gershwin, Porter, Arlen, and Rodgers & Hart. Recently, she played to a sold out room at Birdland Jazz Club, a tribute show created around the songs of the great Jo Stafford. In June 2017, she made her debut at Midsummer Night Swing at Lincoln Center (Ballroom) and at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. Margi has performed at Mezzrow Jazz Club, The Metropolitan Room, The Jalopy Theater, The New York Swing Dance Society, Swing Remix, and other venues in and around NYC.  Margi also teaches individual piano lessons, is Music Director at St. Clement of Rome, and is also director/accompanist for The Songsters, an adult men’s choir in Stamford, CT. She is an avid yogi.