Empire DanceSport 2015

This year's Empire Dancesport Championships were held at the New York Marriott Marquis in Times Square. A hotel that sits on the most valuable land in the world.

This was my 5th time attending this event. We arrived in NYC early and had time to see An American in Paris at the Palace Theater. It was wonderful. 

The show is an adaptation of Vincente Minnelli's 1951 film.

For this  show we actually selected seats in the upper balcony for a better view of the choreography.

The following day we danced in the morning session at Empire DanceSport. The ballroom at the Marquis was beautifully lit in shades of blue this year. The ballroom was much larger than the previous location for this event, at the Conrad Hilton. During warms ups, I ran into Susan Cruickshank and John Campbell, who went onto win both the smooth and standard scholarships.

After dancing, it was nice to walk and explore the NYC Highline, along with a break at the Hotel Wellington.

Before going home, we had coffee in Times Sqaure patiently waiting for the chiming of the clock tower at the Paramount Theater. Every day the clock tower chimes "Give My Regards to Broadway" at 1:45 and 7:45, alerting theater goers that there is 15 minutes until curtain time.

The chimes are also very helpful when you have an 8pm returning bus to Washington, D.C.!