Click to open Google Map and get directions to here.

Click on the map on the left to open Google Maps. In the Lakeview bubble, click on Get Directions. Type in your starting location (i.e. your street) and click Go. If there are multiple places with the same starting location, select the correct one from the left panel. Click on Get Directions on the left panel. The Directions/Instructions from the starting location to Lakeview will be displayed on the left panel.

If you have trouble finding the place, pls do not hesitate to call me!

Not all of us are game or fancy those permanent black green tattoo but those glittering feminine tattoos are now an in thing during recent line dance parties. You can be stylish too, without having to endure the pain of tattooing and carry the permanent mark forever (perhaps risk regretting about it many years down the road). Temporary stick-on tattoos can be purchased in many accessories shops. They are easy, pretty, glittery and most of all, temporary and cheap!

At my upcoming Spicy Bollywood party, Christina Lee, an avid line dancer, will be going her rounds of creating fresh-made glittery tattoos for the guests. She is currently doing this for charity and hoping to collect funds for charity purposes. Each tattoo costs RM10 and will only take minutes to be done. They can be done on your shoulders, chest, back, naval, thigh or arms (or anywhere else you want!). Do give her your support.

Note: Chris will be at Lakeview Club from 11.30am onwards to do the tattooing until 1.30pm.

Here are some pictures and samples which she sent me:

Tattoo for charity

2 pages of it, click to enlarge and print.

Page 1

Page 2

It all started in Margaret’s home, after a round of delicious durians. Wendee asked if I like Anita Mui’s songs, which I eagerly nodded my head. Back in the 80’s, she was one of my pop idols and this very song which we had choreograph to, is one of our favourites. The song is 將冰山劈開 or translated to “Splitting the Ice”. With my limited knowledge of Mandarin, I think the song meant breaking the ice between her and her loved one? Maybe others who know the full lyrics of the song can tell me!

Back to the choreography, Wendee was very excited about it and been researching on Anita’s styles. We finally met one afternoon to put the steps together as we both have bits and pieces of ideas in different parts of the song. In 1 hour, we have put together part A but Wendee was having a tremendous headache, so we decided to stop it there. The next evening, Wendee was hospitalised for HBP and Influenza Like Illnesses and was out of action for a week or two to be quarantined and to recuperate.

We met again a month later to complete the dance. To commemorate her “headache” and “hospital stay”, we added in a “Headache Step” in Part B. Do check it out!

Last weekend, we got Cindy in for the video shoot. We rehearsed and added some extra styling to make the dance more interesting, but definitely optional. By the time we’re ready to shoot the video at 2.30pm, we’re all so tired and hungry as no lunch yet! You can see our fatigue in the video! But this dance definitely needs more energy and attitude to dance. Mood? Fierce but sexy, powerful but demure, the Anita way!

Hope you like the dance. The stepsheet will be released in a few days. If you prefer to dance to the English version of the music, the song is In The Heat of the Night by Sandra. Sequencing of the phrases is a little different from the Cantonese version. Details will be available on the stepsheet!

p.s. Don’t be worried about the number of counts/phrasing as there are many repetitions and hold counts. Also, if you find the Cantonese song a wee bit too long, feel free to trim it, so you’ll have less phrasings to worry about! [The English version is shorter]

Suggestion to trim:

1. As the intro is 38 seconds long, you can trim the beginning at 0:30 and start on the vocals at A. Omit the first 2 A-’s.
2. Alternatively, trim the ends at 4:33 where B- connects to B+. Fade the music off.

By trimming off both the front and end, the dance will be just under 4 minutes.

Not everyone is a born dancer. Even the most professional dancer goes for classes to enhance his/her skills and techniques. Over the years, I’ve observed and by experience found that the following may help to improve your Line Dancing skills.

1. Run through the steps – After learning a new dance in class, run through the steps again when you get home to reinforce them. Refer to the stepsheet and make notes on it. If it’s impossible for you to dance out the steps physically, at least visualize through all the counts. This can be done when you get into bed, and instead of counting sheeps to sleep, visualize the new dance of the day (for the entire week!).
2. Practise makes Perfect – Not every one has the free time/means to attend dance classes daily. If you attend classes only once a week, chances are the steps would be forgotten in next class! 1 week = 7 days = 168 hours = … Many things happen in a week- jobs, kids, excitement, bad news etc for our brain to deal with, and if you don’t practise at least once, chances are you’ve forgotten 80% of the steps. Thus, the week’s practice is essential to remember the steps better. Spend at least 10-15 minutes a day (maybe when you wake up in the morning, do some light exercises!) and practice the steps of your dance.
3. Listen to the Music – We dance to music. Every step should be intepreted according to the  type of music. Get used to the beats and rhythm of a music by listening to them more often. Play it while you cook or while driving. The more you listen, the more you can anticipate and remember the phrasings, tags and restarts of the dances. Get into the music, feel it and you’ll find that you are able to dance better! Dance with your soul touched by music!
4. Attend Dance Parties – A good form of motivation for you to remember your dances and steps are going for dance parties. There are plenty of parties to choose from every weekend with a variety  selection of dances. Many also find that dancing in a crowd gives more “ooomph” and are able to dance better. It’s also a good way to socialize with dancers from other groups/classes. Don’t forget to observe and pick up some styles/techniques as danced by the better dancers!
5. Watch the Tube – Internet and technology are so advanced nowadays, dancers today often wonder how dances are promoted and spread in the yesteryears! There are numerous line dance videos published on the internet, be it from the more popular YouTube or other video sites. Watching the videos can help you to inteprete, assimilate and remember your steps better. Many groups of dancers have unpainstakingly spent lots of time and energy publishing dance videos for the benefit of other dancers. These videos are of great help (and some for extra styling) and especially when the choreographer’s videos are not available.
6. Get on the Tube – At least offline! Take videos of yourself dancing and later give constructive comments when watching it. Watching yourself dance and giving constructive comments is a good post mortem to improve your dancing skills/style. You might notice “Oh, my arms are so stiff!” or “My arms swing around so much” or “My turning is not sharp!” or “I look so fierce, should smile more!” etc… realising your shortcomings is the first step for you to improve exactly that! Alternatively, dance in a room of 4 walled mirrors!
7. Put Up a Performance – I’m sure you want to put up a good show. Putting up a performance will motivate you to practice harder besides improving your techniques and styling. It also enables you to think creatively to make the performance dance looks more interesting.
8. Take an Exam – Who says there are no exams in Line Dancing? There are numerous bodies that offer exams of different levels to dancers who wish to upgrade and certify themselves. Some popular ones are ISTD and UKA. Not only you have a professional guiding you for the exam, you will find that your techniques and confidence will increase too!
9. Join a Competition – An excellent way to improve yourself is by competing. Olympic and World records are broken when top athletes compete with one another and push themselves harder and beyond their usual fare. Likewise, when you take part in a competition, the competitive pressure will push you further and better. Dancing alongside excellent and top dancers will also give you a tremendous experience. Winning them will give you more confidence and go for more and higher levels of competition.
10. Pick Up other Dance Genres – Envious of dancers who are graceful as a swan, can wiggle their butt/shimmy effortlessly, or twist the cuban hips sexily or do multiple turns without getting dizzy? These techniques can be further picked up and enhanced by joining the special classes such as ballet, belly dancing, hip hop, latin, jazz etc. Then incorporate them  into your line dance! (Don’t you get stuck there and forgot to return to line dance!!)

This is by no means the 10 commandments . But do try them out and wish you the best in improving your line dancing!

I’ve been asked many times and again, when are you hosting your own line dance party? I succumbed to this pressure finally!

Dear friends in the line dance community, please keep 3 Jan 2010 free, as my inaugural line dance party would be held on this date, tentatively. More details will be posted up as soon as they are finalized. The date is chosen so we can usher into year 2010 with DANCING!

I’m currently drawing up the dancelist, and welcome your suggestions of dances: favourite dances or the dances that you and your group would like to dance to during the party. You can email me the list of your choice dances by 10 Oct 2009.

More to come! And looking forward to your dance suggestions! And mark your calenders, PDAs etc now!

Oh yea.. new dance again. This time I co-choreographed it with Wendee Chen, a really good friend of mine. We met last month and completed half the dance and then she was hospitalised for a week for ILI (H1N1 scare, but no, phew!). Thankfully Wendee is alright now and could complete the dance with me today!

This dance is choreographed to a song sung by the late “Madonna of Asia”. When I was younger in the 80’s, this song was very hot and popular. The dance is phrased and has some Anita’s “flavour” and is rated Intermediate. An English version of the song is also available, so it’s perfect for those who don’t really enjoy dancing to Chinese songs.

Give it a week or two, and the dance will be published here. Stay tuned!

T’was just 2 weeks ago that I uploaded and published Love, Love Me Do and I’m really surprised by the great response! I had initially thought that the int/adv dancers wouldn’t even bother with such a simple dance but boy I was so wrong! I guess that it being simple with the witty restart/tag which simply attracts dancers, stress-free and yet, anticipating the restart/tag! And thus, dancers of all levels were being able to pick it up easily and quickly, hassle-free.

Requests came in from far and wide requesting for the script and song as many in the US weren’t able to buy the song off iTunes/Amazon… hmm and I had thought it’s easy to get the Beatles song!

Feedbacks were superb too. Some of the keywords were Simple, Fun, Nice, Cute, Stress-free and Love the Music! Many said that the ‘Hitch’ resulted in so much laughter during class.

There’re close to 10 videos on youtube of the dance now, with Nancy doing a walk-through and some with extra stylings. Do check them out! I’m gonna embed one video here which was very well taken/danced, by Mr K of Korea. Have fun and Love Me Do!

Here’s my new baby: Love, Love Me Do, a 52 count 4 wall advanced beginner line dance to the song “Love Me Do” by The Beatles. Yup, there were the idols back then in 1960s, and I wasn’t even born yet! I hope you will enjoy it, as we did while dancing it for the demo. I taught my girls in mere minutes and we shot the video. The “hitch” in the Tag and “stomp” in the Special Jazz Box is the anticipation of this dance.