Smooth & Ez Hand Dancers (Victor Howard, Angela Tindle, Randy Portis, Tia Quander and SEZ Founder, Lawrence “Brad” Bradford) performed on Fox 5 DC News July 7, in a feature on the Smithsonian Folklife Festival.  Check out the video below.

Holly Morris – Smithsonian Folklife Festival: MyFoxDC.com

THANK YOU HAND DANCE COMMUNITY

OLD SCHOOL & NEW SCHOOL

AND

CONGRATULATIONS U.S. OPEN COMPETITORS

HAND DANCE PLACEMENT RESULTS

Cabaret

2^nd Place – Db’S Mvps

Allstar/Advanced Jack & Jill

2nd Place  – Xavier Young Washington, DC and Catriona Wiles London, England

Strictly Hand Dance

1st Place – Xavier Young Washington, DC and Deonna Ball Washington, DC

2nd Place – Lewis Neal Catonsville, MD and Tammy Brown Baltimore, MD

3rd Place – Kevin Fitzhugh Hyattsville, MD and Erica Smith Silver Spring, MD

4th Place – Lawrence Bradford Washington, DC and McKindria Letsinger Washington, DC

5th Place – Markus Smith Hyattsville, MD and Tren Veal Landover, MD

Junior Strictly Swing

1st Place – Randy Portis Washington, DC and Tiara D.K. McCoy Suitland, MD

Strictly Swing

Challenge (Team contest between Shag, Lindy-Hop, Hand Dance and West Coast Swing)

Team Winner: HAND DANCE

The Smooth and EZ Family extends a heartfelt thank you to each and every one of you for your financial and moral support to our young adult dancers.   Your support made it possible for the NHDA to administer the necessary funds to send our young people to the U.S. Open in Anaheim, California last week.  Thank you NHDA for all of the work you did to help make the U.S. Open trip a success.

All of the Hand Dancers are to be commended for their efforts this past weekend. They all danced well and represented Hand Dance like never before at the Open.  However, the youth and young adults deserve special recognition for their performances and, in particular, the energy they brought to the event.  They did what young folks do when encouraged; they came together with all of the other young dancers –  Shaggers, West Coast Swingers and Lindy Hoppers –  shared moves, techniques and dance styles, made new friends and showed the rest of the swing community that Hand Dance is on par with all of the other nationally recognized swing dances.

Deonna Ball and DB’s MVP dancers (a product of the Smooth and Easy young adult dance troupe) require special recognition.  Simply put, they brought the house down! They received the first ever encore requested at the U.S. Open.  They did not win first place on the judges’ score cards but they won first place in the hearts of all the spectators in that room that evening.

OTHER 2009 U.S. OPEN HIGHLIGHTS

Sixteen year old Randy Portis and the beautiful Maxine Grant performed a skate demonstration, sharing one of the traditional and unique Hand Dance techniques.  Their performance WOWed the audience!

Notable celebrities in attendance: Ms. Norma Miller (the Queen of Swing) and Paula Abdul.

The five finalists will compete on Saturday, October 31st at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. For tickets and other info, the link is: http://www.gwul.org/