News!

Green Personal Training Anna is very excited to be working in a field that combines her love of movement, fitness, teaching, and the outdoors, with making a difference in people's lives and the health of the planet. Anna has developed this eight week program to help people implement realistic changes in their lifestyle that will help them get in shape and lower their carbon emissions. Check here for more information.

Anna and Gavin 9 Dance at Las Vegas and Nationals! Anna and her partner Gavin were very excited to dance at the Nevada Star Ball. They enjoyed dancing in the Rising Star and Open categories in both Rhythm and Smooth. They in fact got to compete against their teacher Steve Vasco and his new partner on Saturday, and then got to compete agains their teacher David Weise and his new partner on Sunday. They also enjoyed a little chill time in Vegas (not literally).
They are excited to be heading to Nationals in Florida in just a week! They have lots of ideas of things to improve in their dancing even before that quickly approaching deadline.

Equinox Dance Videos I apologize for the delay! Here are the videos of the routines that we did, I hope that you will continue dancing. Because these video files are fairly large I would highly recommend you right click on the link below and select "save link as". Once the file is downloaded to your desktop you can watch it much more easily than trying to stream it.
I hope you will continue dancing, and if you are interested in another ballroom sampler class, I am beginning one at Decathlon Club in Santa Clara on the 11th of September. We will have an 8 week sampler, hope you can join us!
Salsa
Cha Cha
Rumba
Merengue
Swing

Anna and Gavin 9 Dance at IGB Anna and her partner Gavin will be competing at the upcoming competition, the International Grand Ball. For the first time they will be dancing both American Rhythm (cha cha, rumba, swing, bolero, and mambo) and a brand new set of American Smooth dances (waltz, tango, foxtrot, and viennese waltz). They are practicing like mad to get ready and hope you will come out to cheer them on. The rhythm competition will be Friday the 25th late at night, the smooth will be Sunday afternoon the 27th.

Every Gym that's Fit to Teach When Anna decides to go for something, she jumps in with both feet. In order to begin her work on fitness and green personal training, Anna is teaching at various gyms to meet new clients. And when she says various, she means it. She is now regularly on the schedule at Reach, Equinox, Decathlon, and The Club of Mountain View. As of August, she will add regular classes at Vivre, BaySport, and 24 Hr Fitness in Mountain View. As well, she is already subbing and will be adding classes (eventually) at Gold's Gym and Google. Check here for her schedule of classes.

Contact Camp at BRC With her newfound interest in contact improv dance , Anna and Heraldo have decided to join Camp Contact for their expedition to BRC this August. If you will also be out on the playa and would like to camp with them, please send Anna an email.

Irish Dance Video For all those dancers from the Alameda Ceili who would like to see the recent performance at Stanford, the video is now online. Because of the size of the file it is best to right click on this link and specify "save this link as". It's a little too big for Quicktime to handle, at least on my computer! Right click here.

Sun First Solar Anna had a lovely time working with Sun First Solar and is very greatful for all the training and knowledge that they passed on to her. She enjoyed being part of their work to promote green energy through residential and commerical solar installations. Even though Anna has decided to follow her interests to something that fits daily life a little better, she still believes strongly in solar as a solution to many of our environmental problems. If you, or someone you know, is considering solar and would like more information, please contact Anna at the email below.

Anna Volunteers In other news, Anna is volunteering on two different fronts. With the California primary so close at hand, she has become involved in the campaign to elect Senator Barach Obama. More thoughts on why here. As well, Anna is volunteering to help coordinate for Acterra's annual fundraiser, Party for the Planet. This event promises to be a fun night of dinner and dancing, with a silent auction to support Acterra's great environmental work. If you'd like more information on the event check here.

Anna and Gavin team up for Classes and Performances Gavin and Anna have known each other for 6 years, but only recently teamed up to practice, perform, and teach together. Anna is very excited to have found a local partner who is and old friend too! They have already been performing on the salsa circuit, mostly recently in the Alberto's professional salsa contest where they qualified for the finals to be held on September 27th.

Anne Remsen = Anna Botelho If you were a little confused, yes, Anne Remsen has changed her name to Anna Botelho. This is in part due to her very happy marriage to Heraldo Botelho on June 16th, 2007.

Anna and Gavin to perform at the Puerto Rico Salsa Congress Anna and her new partner, Gavin Calkins, enjoyed performing at their first salsa congress, the Palm Springs Salsa Congress in August. They were happy with the good reviews and the invititation to return in January to perform again. Anna and Gavin are also excited to be invited to perform at the Puerto Rico congress in October. As Anna has never been to the Caribbean before, she is thrilled to have this opportunity to enjoy the beach.. and dance!

Upcoming Ballroom Dance Competitions Anna and her students are planning to dance at the local ballroom dance competition, the Autumn Dance Classic. This will be the third weekend of October in San Francisco at the Cathedral Hill Hotel. This competition is very friendly and local, please come out and enjoy watching some dancing!

Dance Week at Stanford Anne was invited back to teach at the Annual Stanford Dance Week and taught two morning classes, salsa and West Coast Swing. Anne had the pleasure of co-teaching with her partner, Gavin Calkins, and they had a great time passing on some challenging material to all the dance week participants. Good job to all who stuck with the classes - as they were quite fast paced!
Here are the videos of the routines that they covered: The Salsa routine with Counts
The Salsa routine with Music
The West Coast Swing routine with Counts
The West Coast routine with Music

Anne really enjoyed returning to Stanford and wish she could have stayed all week - thanks for the warm reception and enthusiasm.

A New Congress of Vienna Anne and Heraldo had a great time teaching at the June Friday Night Waltz in Palo Alto. For the first time ever they taught a new choreography to The Congress of Vienna, including all kinds of fun pivots, skates, spins, and wraps. Many people requested the notes to the choreography, and they are listed below. There were also requests for a video of the choreography, and that may happen in a month or so (after Anne and Heraldo are done getting married).
Here are the notes:
A New Congress of Vienna

Opening:
Bow and curtsey
Connect right to right with partner
Lady's Underarm Turn to Right to Shadow position

First section:
Two shadow position cross-steps, both begin with R foot
Lady double Underarm Turn to Right as man circles to closed position
(and fakes to first foot)
Wedding cake position, 2 full rotary waltzes (4 measures)
Skate, rotary, Skate, rotary
Free spin (cast off) to Shadow position (men fake to her foot)

Second section:
Four shadow position cross-steps, both begin with R foot
Two windmills (men fake as they return to closed position)
1 rotary (2 measures)
2 canter pivots
1 rotary
1 canter pivot and slide to 2 hand hold.

Wrap section:
Right to right handhold, lady turn half to left inbetween arms, then full right turn under arms ending with her back to man. One side to side waltz with left hand unwrapping, then right hand unwrapping.
Lady turn half to left to face partner on last measure.
Repeat wrapping man under arms.
Change to open hand hold one extra measure.
Lady dances underarm turn to right for double hammerlock, both travel forward around circle. Man switches to left shadow on last measure.
Lady ducks behind man's back and out other side. Both travel forward around circle, and she turn underarm left on last measure, ending with right to right connection.
First wrap is repeated.

Anne and Heraldo will definitely teach the choreography again for those who missed the class, and for all who would like a review.