JANUARY 2017 Class Dates

JANUARY 2017 West Coast Swing classes starts Jan 11th!!!

C&W Waltz WORKSHOP Jan 23rd!!!

Northside WCS Jan 12th!!!

O-M-G PURE Dance Houston Tickets are almost sold out…OMIGOD

Wild West 4th WEDNESDAY …that’s Jan 25th!!!

We hope everyone had a wonderful and relaxing holiday season!!! Thank you to everyone who came out to our annual FUNDance Christmas party. A good time was had by all and we are happy to announce that due to your generous support we were able to raise $1337 for Shriner’s Hospital for Children. 2017 is upon us and we want to wish everyone a happy and healthy New Year. FUNDance has a ton of stuff planned for 2017 (PURE DANCE, MORE LADIES STYLING CLASSES, SPECIAL WORKSHOPS), as well as some changes to our regular schedule (check out Monday evenings), so make sure you scroll down to get the latest information.

O-M-G

THERE’S A NEW EVENT IN TOWN!!!

O-M-G

ok that’s enough…

OMIGOD

no really, that’s it…

ERMAHGERD

really that’s the last one, I promise…

HOLD ON TO YOUR HATS!!! For years we’ve heard about how there are too many competitions…no social dancing during sane hours…there should be more workshops catering to social dancers instead of competitions…HALLELUJAH your prayers have been answered! Fearless Leader’s latest creation, with the invaluable help beyond measure of Empress FUNDance is coming to Houston! Mark your calendars for Feb 10th and 11th (yes it’s only Friday and Saturday, so you can get back home and resume real life for Monday at work) because it’s going to be an AMAZING weekend! Confirmed instructors – JAMES BAILEY from SAN ANTONIO, BRYAN JORDAN from BATON ROUGE, TERRY ROSEBOROUGH from TULSA, ANYSSA OLIVARES from HOUSTON and we have a VERY SPECIAL GUEST…CHRISTINE TIEDGE all the way from BERLIN will be in the house!!! We’re adding two nights of social dancing…15 workshops…and even a catered dinner! Tickets are almost sold out so make sure you check out our FACEBOOK event page [https://www.facebook.com/events/202853710151653/] for all of the details!!!

NORTH HOUSTON SWING DANCE CLUB FUNDance’s Thursday Night Class!!! First Class of the Year January 12!!! We want to remind you that Fearless Leader and Empress Fundance are teaching on Thursday evenings with the North Houston Swing Dance Club. Thank you to Jan Gordon, Harry and the entire gang at NHSDC for asking us to be part of their wonderful organization. We will be teaching their Advanced class from 7:15-8:15pm. Please note that we will only be teaching three classes for the month of Januarystarting on the 12th. Don’t forget there’s social dancing after class until approximately 9:30pm. Thursday night classes are held at Big Texas Spring/North. Come join us and make new friends on the North side!!! For more information or if you wish to register for Thursday night class, please contact the North Houston Swing Dance Club directly through their site at northhoustonswingdanceclub.blogspot.com.

THEY ARE HERE!!!! NEW DVD’S ERMAHGERD! Couldn’t help it…had to do it again… We are so excited to announce that our brand new series of instructional DVD’s are finally completed and available for purchase!!! Make sure you check out Mario’s 2 newest additions to the Greatest Hits series…GREATEST HITS VOLUME 3 and GREATEST HITS VOLUME 4. The entire “Greatest Hits” series is a favorite with Leader’s as it consists of cool, social, LEAD-ABLE patterns that work with everyone. For the Followers…you will be happy to know that we have also just finished filming two brand new Ladies Styling DVD’s!!! These long overdue DVD’s feature both general styling instruction as well as specific movements for the most common patterns in West Coast Swing. We are very excited about this new series of DVD’s and we expect them to fly of the shelves!! We pride ourselves in ensuring that every one of our DVD’s have at least 60 minutes of instruction, so you can be sure you are getting a nice variety and a full helping of movement and instruction on every DVD. Please see below for more detailed information on all of our classes. Respectfully

Submitted, EMPRESS FUNDANCE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

FUNDance Announces West Coast WEDNESDAYS

NEW CLASSES START JANUARY 11TH!!!

We hope you make it one of your New Year’s Resolutions to join us every Wednesday for the best in West Coast Swing. Our classes for January begin on the 11th (after we return home from teaching at the Sweden Westie Gala). Fearless Leader has promised this is his FINAL WORLD TOUR in 2017. As always we will offer all three levels, so you can be sure to find the class that is right for you! We are happy to announce that the beautiful SHERRY “DJ” DEEJEEZUZ will be our guest D.J again this month. We had a lot of compliments on her music the last time and it was so nice to hear fresh sound. If anyone is interested in being our guest DJ for the night, please tell Empress FUNDance or Fearless Leader. Hopefully this will give everyone a chance to hear some different songs as well as help to grow our practice time. Tell your friends!!! We want to remind you that the music on Wednesday nights will now begin at 6:30 pm and end at 9:30 pm. Instead of starting class with only a few songs to warm up to, we will now have the music on a half hour before class begins. This change in schedule has been a big success with many more of you arriving early and getting in some quality practice time before class begins. Don’t forget that on the final Wednesday class of each month we will be turning the music off early and heading over to the local country bar. Classes will still be held at the usual time but the music will stop around 9:15pm and the party will move over to Wild West. Wild West is a favorite among many dancers and a great place to dance on Wednesday evenings. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

QUICK FACTS ABOUT WEST COAST WEDNESDAYS IN JANUARY..

* Dates – January 11th, 18th, 25th

* Class Time – Beginner and Intermediate is from 7-8pm, Advanced is from 8-9pm.

* Place – Eddie’s Exclusive Dance Club (formerly Dancing City) 2726 Fondren, Houston, Texas 77063…right next door to Luby’s.

* Cost – $40 per person for the month of regular classes, or $20 per person for a single class.

* Parking – Still not an issue!!! WAHOO!!! (it’s been so long, why do we even have this)

* Levels – 3 week Class – BEGINNER and INTERMEDIATE 7pm, ADVANCED 8pm

* No Partner? No Problem…we rotate in class! However, rotating is in no way mandatory if you’d prefer to stay with your partner for the entire class… ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

FUNDance Announces COUNTRY MONDAY WORKSHOPS

BEG/INT C&W WALTZ, JANUARY 23rd!!!

We had such a fantastic response to our workshops in November, that we have decided to carry them through into 2017!!! Based upon your attendance and feedback we have decided to make some changes to our schedule on Monday nights. Level 2 Two-Step will not resume in January (have no fear….if enough of you request it we can make it a workshop in the future). Instead, we will be offering one workshop every month based upon popular vote. Many of you have expressed interest in learning other dances, so that you can be comfortable with a variety of different music and social settings. Some of our most popular requests include C&W Waltz, Night Club, Polka and Cha Cha. You can expect to see these dances being offered in 2017. Monday nights began with our Cotillion series where we covered a different dance each month, and we’re headed back in that direction! If you have a group and would like to continue weekly country two-step lessons, by all means let us know and we can set up a semi-private lesson or class.

This January we will be offering a Beg/Int C&W Waltz. Based upon your votes this was the number one choice. Our November workshop was a huge success with many new faces coming out to learn this beautiful dance. We will start by reviewing our basics (for the Beginners) and technique (for the Intermediates) and end the class with a fun social pattern that works with everyone. Each class will be 90 minutes in length, to give us plenty of time to get through thematerial comfortably. If you ever had friends wishing to join you on Monday nights…now is their chance!!! Please help us spread the word so that we can get a great group together to learn these fun and practical dances. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

QUICK FACTS ABOUT OUR MONDAY WORKSHOP IN JANUARY…C&W WALTZ

* Dates – C&W Waltz January 23rd.

* Class Time – 7pm to 8:30pm

* Place – Eddie’s Exclusive Dance Club (formerly Dancing City) 2726 Fondren, Houston, Texas 77063…right next door to Luby’s.

* Cost – $25 per person for a single class.

* Parking – Still not an issue!!! WAHOO!!!

* Levels – Both classes at Beg/Int Level/ Stephanie (Doctor Pincushion/Empress FUNDance) Robau will be at the helm for our Country series.

* No Partner? No Problem…we rotate in class! However, rotating is in no way mandatory if you’d prefer to stay with your partner for the entire class… ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

WHAT ABOUT THOSE PRIVATE LESSONS???

Yes, we are available for private lessons throughout the week. Daytime not an issue, actually you have a better chance of booking immediately. Mario, Stephanie, and Anyssa are all available to teach private lessons. Contact us for more information. * Mario Robau – 281 815 7208 or marioswingdaddy@yahoo.com * Stephanie Robau – 281 815 7208 or lotusteph@yahoo.com * Anyssa Olivares – 832 638 0036 or anyssadances@gmail.com Looking to improve your skills faster, and have a group? Both Mario and Stephanie are now offering semi-private lessons. Limited to no more than 5 couples, these intimate lessons allow us to cover MUCH more information than a normal group class. These one hour sessions allow you to pick who’s there with you, what material is covered (in virtually any style of dance) and you dictate the pace and the content! Both Mario and Stephanie have limited slots available for these sessions, and will be on a first come, first served basis. Cost is based on the size of the class, and will always be more affordable than private lessons. If you have a group together and would like to find out more, email Mario directly marioswingdaddy@yahoo.com or call us 281.815.7208 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ABOUT THE TEACHERS

Mario Robau Jr. is the most decorated WCS instructor in Houston, period. With a competitive career spanning 3 decades, he hasover 30 National Titles covering all styles of competition, having multiple wins at the national level in Classic, Showcase, Strictly Swing, and J&J. 3-Time US Open Champion, member of 4 different Halls of Fame, including Dallas Dance, Living Legends and the World Swing Dance Council, he’s choreographed more US Open Championships (over 20) than anyone else. Since 1990, Mario has traveled over 40 weekends per year across North America, South America, Europe, and Australia in the Swing, Country, Ballroom, and Carolina Shag circuits.Most recently, Mario became the first instructor in WCS history to be hired to teach in all 50 states. No one else in Houston has these credentials.

Stephanie McPherson-Robau is a 4 time UCWDC (United Country Western Dance Council) World Champion, twice in the Master’s Division (the highest level of competition offered in the UCWDC) and twice in Division 1. No one in Houston has won more titles in this field. She has coached and taken at least 10 of her Pro-Am students to earn their own UCWDC World Championship Titles at their respective levels. Classically trained in Ballroom and Latin, Stephanie has incredible knowledge of dance technique in ALL dances, not just WCS.

Anyssa Olivares began learning West Coast Swing at the age of 14 and quickly fell in love with competing. Starting out as the “AM” (amateur) in Pro-Am Routines as well as Pro-Am Strictly Swing she quickly rose to the top and secured several top finishes all over the United States, including back to back wins at D.A.L.L.A.S Dance. Within the same time frame, Anyssa teamed up with a junior partner and (through the Assistance of YASDA – Young Adult Swing Dance Association and a few others) continued to tour the country with a Young Adult Routine for the next 4 years, where she placed in the top 5. She was the YASDA Tour National Champion of 2012, runner-up in 2013, and has also placed third in the NASDE (National Association Of Swing Dance Events) Jack and Jill Final Standings. She currently competes in the All-Star division throughout the nation, consistently placing in the top 5. Your entire teaching staff is available for private lessons throughout the week. For more information or to schedule a lesson, talk to us at class or call 281.815.7208 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

FUNdance is all about real social dancing.  We’re here to bring you quality instruction from top professionals in a non-competitive environment. If you have any suggestions on how we can better serve you or make our classes better and more accessible, please email Mario directly mario@fundancehouston.com. MISSION STATEMENT FUNDance Houston is all about teaching social dancing. Our goal is to provide a fun, relaxed yet professional atmosphere. Our group classes focus on social, leadable material that works and can be danced with everyone, not just those attending the class with you. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

FunDance Houston

Mario and Stephanie Robau 281-815-7208

www.FUNDanceHouston.com