Sam's book: Sam Sadano, Passionate Journey

 This week I started reading Sam's biography, written by Sharon Savoy. It's the perfect book for anyone with an interest in dance history. The book includes insightful stories on his early family life, Sam's military career, and rare photographs of his competitive dance partners.

Our studio closed... what's next?

For the last 4 months I have been out of work. The studio stopped operating on March 16 and then went out of business on June 4. The restaurant where I work stopped operating during the same week. It seems that none of the dance teachers qualified for unemployment from the dance studio, all along it has remained unclear. Everyone had a difficult time filing as an independent contactor. Avant Garde isn't the only studio that had to shutter due to staggering COVID losses, we've been reading that many studios are closing permanently due to unforgiving landlords and property managers. Now everyone is wondering who might be interested in taking the studio over. The floor, mirrors and fixtures are still in place. As the world slowly reopens, perhaps someone will negotiate a deal for the space and reopen. Local dancers are all talking about who might be next to shutter, and who stands a chance of reopening. It's been difficult to make any career decsions, not knowing what the options will  be.

Looking for a new studio

There was a lot of sad news this week. The studio closed with no advance notice and it's left the students and staff in search of a new home. It's sad, the COVID crisis has hit the industry hard.

Avant Garde Ballroom Closes

The song has ended but the melody lingers on. Another studio closes, but this one feels like the death of a friend. A good job, no scandals, good bosses, fair pay, better than pay was the freedom to travel, do what we please and create... they gave us trust. The studio lead the way in this region on breaking color barriers, female owner, female office manager. Pinky, Nick, and Slava were good to work for. Affordable classes for underprivileged youth. A workplace with diversity and acceptance. Was too good to last, like many good things in the dance business..... now gone .... to the land where the good songs go.

Dark days for dancing with the Cornona Virus

Only days after we returned home from the New York Dance Festival, news about the Corona Virus escalated. During the first week of March, many of us at the studio were living our days normally, with no idea that we would soon be shut down, and closed for business completely.

Heading into the month of March, we still had a packed schedule, we had flights booked for a studio crusie in March to the Carribean, along with April tickets booked on the Queen Mary 2. Life was going full swing, with plenty of dates filled in on our dance cards and calendars. Little did we know how quickly things would change. By the 16th of March, I was out of work completely (from both jobs), and we've been stuck with stay at home orders ever since.

Since the lock down began, the stress began mounting. Working as an independent contractor at the dance studio, I still have been unable to navigate the unemployment system as far as dancing goes.

I was working more than full time before all this started, but the only unemployment benefit that I qualified for was from working part time at Mr. Henry's.

As dance gigs have been put on hold, I've been passing my time by volunteering for seniors citizens meal delivery. I've also been helping with conference meetings by phone with the American Legion.

With all the downtime that I've had, I've been running two dance education groups on Facebook, taking yoga class daily online, and running the Anacostia River trail.

The downtime from the stay at home order has afforded me time to update my video library on youtube. In a way, I'm still just as bsuy...... but it's frustrating. Eveyone in the dance business is wondering if and when things will get back to normal by November.

New York Dance Festival 2020

In the last week of February, 2020, the studio attended the New York Dance Festival at the Roosevelt Hotel. I've attended this event many times and it is among my favorites. We had a nice group and took the train up from Union Station. I traveled with my dance partner, Kat Flores, along with Anne-Marie Lund, and Beth Mobley. Kat traveled with her students as well, Steven Pollinger and David Wang.

Upon arriving in NYC we all were heavy with luggage. Although I consider myself an experienced traveler at New York's Penn Station, this time we were required to take the elevator to the street level, as we had some in our group who were unable to use the escalator. Finding the elevator proved problematic, we ended up lost in one of the concourses. Once we found a working elevator, a homeless guy urinated in it. It was a less than pleasant start to the trip.

Once we settled in at the hotel, I met my aunt and my cousin at the Russian Tea Room for lunch on West 57th Street. Beth and Anne-Marie joined us. We had a swell time. It was during lunch that we were discussing world news and the subject of the Corona Virus in China and how some of the cruise ships were on lock down with sick passengers.

That night we arrived back to the hotel, went straight into the dance event full swing. There was a black tie dinner that night in the ballroom, with social dancing. Eddie Simon was there and he greeted our table. The comp started early the next morning.

The Saturday competition flew by. We only danced smooth this year, to save on expenses. Dancing in New York is always a thrill, but there was added stress from the ballroom being so crowded. There were several elite competitors there who were less than friendly. We ended our competition day with dinner at Tony's DiNapoli , which may be one of my favorite tourist spots in NYC. The food was wonderful.

On our last day in New York, we spent the afternoon at Ripley's. Then in the evening, we went to Swing 46 for dinner and dancing. Joining me for dinner that night was my former dance partner, and best friend, Shealyn Jae. It was a surprise to see her, but as luck should have it, we were both in NYC on the same day.

When I was a kid, the retired city firefighters had  garage shop downtown, always working on an old Pierce Arrow. One of the old men said that Greta Garbo left it outside the Totem pole ballroom, not sure if the story was true but I always enjoyed hearing it. I loved hearing stories about the Totem Pole, my grandparents went dancing there when they were dating. Must have been the top of the world. 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QZpnzIMhzqU