Lindy Hop on Queen St., Niagara Falls

We had a great time dancing in the street and in the store and we’re looking forward to spending more time dancing and shopping at the store this fall.

Any excuse to wear a nice swing dress!

If you’re looking for more activities, entertainment and things to do in St. Catharines and the Niagara Region, as you can see learning to swing dance opens up so many interesting opportunities. Take a few beginner dance lessons and the next thing you know, you’re putting on a show in the middle of the street!

Mandi & Geoff swing dancing in the street

This boutique opening is really lucky for the swing dancers and vintage enthusiasts in the Niagara area because it can get expensive when you order clothing from these lines on a one-off basis. Stef from the boutique has great taste and is carry some of my favourite clothing lines and can also help you to special order something else that you’d like from lines like:

Stop Staring!
Bettie Page Clothing
Sourpuss Clothing
Rock Steady Clothing
Zombie Kitten Skirts
Dungaree Dolly Bags
Retro-a-go-go
Avental Kitchenware
and more!

Swing Dancing in the Retro Boutique

Men, hang in there because the store is planning to carry some very slick men’s bowling shirts very soon!

Geoff & Christine swing dancing in the store

I used to wear a lot of authentic vintage clothing but the fabrics are just too fragile to dance in. I’ve ripped so many beautiful dresses (usually under the right arm when passing under a turn) and it’s just such a shame to spoil real vintage clothing, and very unnecessary when these re-creative lines are available.

Trying to swing dance but distracted?

Check out the store and start building your own swing wardrobe today!

Betties & Bombshells Retro Boutique, downtown Niagara Falls

Betties & Bombshells Retro Boutique
4345 Queen st
Niagara Falls, ON, L2E 7J7

Phone:905-353-0607
Tues – Fri: 11:00 am – 7:00 pm
Sat: 11:00 am – 6:00 pm

Brocante Lux Fashion & Art Market coming to Niagara this September!
http://www.brocantelux.com/

Niagara is bursting at the seams with talented local designers and artisans. Brocante Lux is a place where you can find that unique item of clothing, an accessory, or art work that will have your friends asking, “where did you find that?!!”

Local artists and business women, Erin Snow and Julie Prescesky, have teamed together to provide a consistent outlet for themselves and other local artisans to showcase their work on a monthly basis.

The goal is to provide a central place where the arts can grow and flourish while helping support Niagara’s artistic vibe and local economy.
Prescesky comments, “we’re hopeful that this will aide in boosting the general public’s awareness of the immense talent that is right here in Niagara, and that this will be a place that people come to expect to find fashionable high quality, unique, one of a kind, handmade items. There are plenty of outlets for hobbyists out there. Certainly, we welcome hobbyists, and we also want to create a place where artists and designers who courageously desire to pursue their arts as their primary career choice to be able to have a venue that supports their goals.” Brocante Lux is set up as a place where you can grow your local customer base and your over all confidence in your art and your business.

Brocante Lux Fashion & Art Market
The Market Square – St. Catharines, 90 King St.
September 17th
7pm to 8pm+

…Swing Dance Demonstration
Free Mini Swing Dance Lesson
+ Social Dancing for everyone!

Bees’ Knees Dance will also have a table at the market all day so feel free to drop by and say hello, ask questions, and watch some dance videos.

WHAT IS THE BROCANTE LUX FASHION & ART MARKET?
http://www.brocantelux.com/

Niagara is bursting at the seams with talented local designers and artisans. Brocante Lux is a place where you can find that unique item of clothing, an accessory, or art work that will have your friends asking, “where did you find that?!!”

The market’s goal is to provide a central place where the arts can grow and flourish while helping support Niagara’s artistic vibe and local economy.

Prescesky comments, “we’re hopeful that this will aide in boosting the general public’s awareness of the immense talent that is right here in Niagara, and that this will be a place that people come to expect to find fashionable high quality, unique, one of a kind, handmade items. There are plenty of outlets for hobbyists out there. Certainly, we welcome hobbyists, and we also want to create a place where artists and designers who courageously desire to pursue their arts as their primary career choice to be able to have a venue that supports their goals.”

Brocante Lux is set up as a place where you can grow your local customer base and your over all confidence in your art and your businesss.

More details can be found on our Dance Lessons page.

The class will take place at 7pm at the Folk Arts Multicultural Centre, rear building. That’s at 85 Church St. in downtown St. Catharines.

To register now, click here!

All welcome!

The Groupon-coupon is designed for new students who are absolutely Beginners. We look forward to making the new people feel welcome in the non-intimidating and fun way that we believe in at Bees’ Knees Dance.

How Groupon works:

1. Each day they feature something cool to do at an unbeatable price.
2. You only get it if enough people join that day… so invite your friends!
3. Check back the next day for another awesome Groupon!

http://www.groupon.com/deals/bees-knees-dance/posts

Well a lot of people seem to want to learn to Swing Dance – who can blame them? – so this is working out really well. Get ready for a busy fall at the studio, and welcome to all of our new dancers!

This is an opportunity for a small group of dedicated dancers to participate in a Lindy Hop Performance & Training Troupe this fall.

WHAT
Lindy Hop Training and Performance Troupe with a 3 month commitment. (September, October, November.) This will include one to two complete performance numbers.

WHEN
Mondays, 9pm to 10pm from September 13th to November 29th. (No practice on Thanksgiving Monday.) On weeks that we are learning new choreography, we will run for a full hour. On weeks when we are just practicing, the session will be 30 minutes plus 30 minutes available for optional rehearsal.

THE PLAN
This is an 11 week commitment and pre-registration and pre-payment is mandatory because I need to know that you’re really dedicated to doing this. If you miss a week, we can arrange a time to catch you up on anything that you miss.

COST
I would like to encourage people to continue working on their social dancing as well, so I’m offering a price of $150 for BOTH the 8pm social dance class and the 9pm troupe for all 11 weeks. However, if you cannot commit to attending the social dance class then the cost for just the Troupe is $66. (If you pre-register for both, you’d be saving $26.)

If you cannot pay in full at the beginning of the series, I can accept post-dated cheques in 2 or 3 installments.

To register, please select Lindy Hop Troupe from the Registration form: http://www.beeskneesdance.com/bees_knees_sc/registration/

*Please note that since this is a limited group, I will contact you to confirm your eligibility based on your experience and level of dedication. I look forward to discussing it with you!

- Mandi

Registration is open for September classes. Please click here to register, and remember the first class is always free!

I’m pretty excited to be doing the choreography for a show at this year’s Toronto Fringe Festival!

******

For Immediate Release:
Please add to your listings/announcements

From the folks who brought you All Hams on Deck
Brock & John Productions presents:

Joe White and the Seven Divorcées
a new musical comedy
book by John Mitchell
music & lyrics by Brock Simpson

Joe White and the Seven Divorcées is the story of an innocent confronting jealousy, a mirror, a poisoned apple, and seven seriously unhappy women. Joe’s father wants to kill him. The divorcées want to help him. Ultimately, Joe must find his own destiny.

The cast features two of the final five contestants in How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? – Janna Polzin and Marisa McIntyre. Marisa graced the Toronto stage in Mamma Mia and is joined by fellow alumni Denise Oucharek, Nadine Roden, Nicole Robert and Graham Coffeng, who plays the title character. Denise and Janna were recently in the run of The Sound of Music, Janna as the Maria alternate. Rounding out the musical veterans is Opera Atelier favourite Curtis Sullivan, also known to Toronto audiences for his role in Sondheim’s Passion.

They are joined by film and television veterans Jeanie Calleja and Catherine Bruhier. Jeanie is best known to Toronto audiences for her work in the comedy troupe The GTOs (nominated for a Canadian Comedy award) and the shows The Trial Of Thumbelina & Pond Life with her husband Gord Rand. Catherine is best know for her role in the internationally syndicated show Due South and as co-host on Polka Dot Door, as well as her theatre work across Canada, most notably in Toronto in Andrew Moodie’s Riot. Also in the cast is Jonathan Crombie, who most recently played Man in Chair on Broadway and in the first national tour of The Drowsy Chaperone. He is also known for his television work in Slings & Arrows and the Anne of Green Gables series of telefilms
.
Brock Simpson & John Mitchell were a popular musical comedy duo in the 90’s. Their first show was at the 1991 Fringe, An Evening With Brock & John. They have since collaborated on several musicals, including: Honest Ed, The Bargain Musical (with Drowsy Chaperone lyricist Lisa Lambert), People Park (2000 Fringe), and All Hams On Deck (chosen one of the outstanding productions of the 2005 SummerWorks Festival, which included Jeanie Calleja and Jonathan Crombie in the cast).

Brock Simpson’s critically acclaimed musical This Could Be Love (directed by Mitchell) garnered a Dora
nomination for lead actress Krista Sutton. It was remounted at the New York Musical Theatre Festival, and was recently produced at Lunchbox Theatre in Calgary. Simpson has written several musicals for the Fringe, most recently Lust Labour’s Lost. Mitchell was instrumental in the initial creative development of The Drowsy Chaperone and originated the role of The Groom. He went on to become associate director in charge of musical staging for two Toronto productions, including the Mirvish production under director Daniel Brooks. Mitchell is currently finishing production on his first documentary (with collaborator Jonathan Crombie), Waiting For Ishtar.

Joe White and the Seven Divorcées
presented by Brock & John Productions
as part of The Toronto Fringe Festival

Book by John Mitchell, Music & Lyrics by Brock Simpson
produced by John Mitchell and MK Piatkowski
Directed by John Mitchell, Musical Direction by Brock Simpson

The Bathurst St Theatre
736 Bathurst (the SW corner of Bathurst and Lennox)

Wednesday June 30 @ 10:30pm
Saturday July 3 @ 11pm
Monday July 5 @ 4:45pm
Wed July 7 @ 9:15pm
Thurs July 8 @ 1:45pm
Friday July 9 @ noon
Saturday July 10 @ 7:30pm

All tickets $10 at the door, or book in advance by calling the Fringe Hotline at 416.966.1062 or online at www.fringetoronto.com
Fringe Passes are also available after June 5, 2010, for more info visit www.fringetoronto.com

For show info please visit www.joewhite7.com

Media Contact:

Brock & John representative: jmit65@gmail.com, 416.921.5623 or
Fringe representative: fringe@flip-publicity.com, 416.533.7710 X231

Many of us went early to have some dinner since we knew that we wouldn’t be drinking much once we started dancing. We still want to support the venue, of course, so this was a great option and the menu is really quite good and well priced too. They were even willing to adjust the recipe on the Ancient Grains dish for me to exclude dairy since I’m still in the middle of my 21 Day Vegan Challenge.

The band went on some time after 8pm. They were able to pull in the drummer that we requested and that was just perfect. They were Lily Nazar and the Don Cyr Trio, except they were a 4 piece with the drums and much better that way for dancing.

It’s a nice wood floor there and we moved aside the tables and chairs so that there was room to dance. Amazingly, with the great turnout we had of almost all of the dancers from St. Catharines and Virgil, we were already filling the place. Everyone looked so great on the dance floor! It definitely seemed more like a scene that’s been around for well over a year or two, not just a few months.

There was an interesting occurrence at the end of the first band set. The fire alarm went off due to the hot water in the women’s washroom blowing out the tap. I guess they don’t call it “Taps” for nothing! Hardyharhar. Or, as some people said, our dancing was too hot for the place! You can insert other cheesy comments in here. It was solved pretty quickly though and we were back to dancing in no time at all. We threw in a Big Apple and a Shim Sham for good measure too.

All in all, it was a fabulous first night. Mike Hawk seems to think we’ll be able to do this as a monthly event which would be terrific!