Tea time for the Leopard Ladies!

Excuse me, your Lordship, but this table is reserved for the Leopard Ladies!  It was off for a little English culture at Brambles' Tea Room on Wednesday, July 27, for the ladies of Modern Steps.  If you have never enjoyed an afternoon tea, someday you should enter the land of fine china and tiny sandwiches and pastries.  There you will experience the calming effects of warm tea and delightful friends, while sharing in one of Britain's most enduring traditions.

Cindy Swanson, with our hostess, Tammy Clemens

The ladies waiting enjoying their tea-Pat Vautrinot, Susan Grigsby, Carol Speidel

Some of our Leopard Ladies!
Deborah Jansen, Brenda Griebahn, Pat Vautrinot

The whole group, except our photographer, Jennifer Schooley

The Leopard Ladies' next Girls' Night Out will be Friday, September 16 at 5:30pm at Modern Steps.  Come and join us for a relaxing cocktail hour and fashion show, featuring Cabi fall fashions presented by Carla Bobka

He Dances, He Sings, He's our very own Jim Clemens!

Sometimes we have diamonds in our very own backyard and we never really see them.  One of our shining, multi-faceted diamonds is Jim Clemens, owner and instructor at Modern Steps School of Dance.  You have probably seen Jim at the studio teaching lessons, or dancing at a competition, winning great accolades with his students and for the studio.  But you may not know that he is also a popular singer with a local group of entertainers called the Consecutones.  The trio of Jim, Antoine "Motown" Walker and Steve Fenntiman perform a wide selection of favorites from the 50's, 60's, 70's and 80's and you can see them on Friday nights in July at Bill's Steak and Seafood Restaurant, located at the corner of Lakewood Blvd and Tamiami Trail East in Naples.  Not only can you get a great meal at Bill's, but you can enjoy this talented group of gentlemen as they bring back oldies and our favorite love songs from 6:30-9:30pm.
Social dancing is one of Jim's passions, and you usually see him on Friday night dancing with students at Bill's and enjoying the music from the dancer's shoes he wears so well.  He has another side that we don't see as often, but his wonderful renditions of our favorite songs are a testimony to the shiny facet that you don't want to miss on this gem we are proud to call one of ours

Jim and Tammy before the show.

Steve Fenntiman and Antoine "Motown" Walker are
the other two thirds of The Consecutones.

The Consecutones at Bill's Steak and Seafood Restaurant

In addition to enjoying the great music, friends get together to dance and enjoy an evening out at Bill's.  You will often see students and friends of Modern Steps out enjoying the music and dancing around town at various venues.  Social dancing is just that--a great way to meet friends, dance and feel the joy of the music, all wrapped up in one great package.

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Part 2 of "An Evening in the Spotlight"

Here are some more great shots by Joe Parisi of Frame, Focus, Shoot from our Spotlight performance on April 29. 2016.  Enjoy!!

Jennifer sets the Paso Doble on fire!

Nancy and Mac connect in the ChaCha

Cindy-our lady in blue!

Tango time for Thelma and Jim!

Deborah strikes a pose in her tango

Brenda and Lynn loving the waltz

Quickstep!

Tammy and Mac

The Greggs take their bow

"An Evening in the Spotlight":Taking a Look Back (Part 1)

Time flies when you're having fun, but time also flies once the fun is over!  It's hard to believe it has already been 2 months since our "Evening in the Spotlight" student performance night.  As we reflect on the fun and the fabulous performances of our students from this distance, we know that it was a night we want to remember.  Thank you to our students, and teachers--Jim Clemens, Tammy Clemens, Mac McCord, Jennifer Schooley and Justinas Maliaskus--for beautiful selections that were both moving and entertaining.  So without further ado, and because a picture is worth a thousand words, here is the first installment of some memories in pictures that we want to share!

Our Emcee for the Evening-Jim Clemens

Dancing the Samba-Thelma Negley and Justinas

Cindy Swanson and Justinas dancing American Rhythm

Brenda & Lynn Griebahn dance their competition Bolero

Pat Vautrinot tunes in her inner cowgirl with Mac in the West Coast Swing

Mike Assaf debuts at Modern Steps in the Hustle with Tammy

Rose Mahoney and Jim take the Foxtrot to the floor

Deborah Jansen takes her Vienesse Waltz off the floor with Mac

High drama from the Paso Doble by Jennifer and Justinas

Barbara and Russ Gregg looking lovely as they perform the Waltz

Joanne Bates shines when she dances the Bolero with Justinas

Things get steamy when Nancy Goodchild dances the ChaCha with Mac

The best of the best-Jim and Tammy show how it's done in an impromtu performance

Girls' Night Out = Fun!

It was a great night to be "one of the girls" last Friday at Modern Steps School of Dance!  Except for a few cameo appearances by some of the guys, it was a purely feminine exchange of ideas and information.  Oh, and we exchanged ideas over some great hors d'ouerves and champagne while we were at it!  Kathy Potter presented the Younique line of cosmetics, and several of the ladies had the opportunity to experience the techniques she shared with us.  With parties, competitions and performances, we were all fascinated with the new information Kathy provided from her training in California and ready to try it out.  Lots of laughs and encouragement were on the agenda, and when we were finished with the make-up portion of the evening, we moved across the street to 21 Spices and enjoyed the lovely evening on their patio with some flirtinis and some great cuisine by Chef Asif.  Be sure to join us at our next event--we are planning a fashion show for our next #GirlsNightOutatModernSteps!

Kathy demonstrates make-up techniques

Relaxing with the Girls

Kathy Potter was our presenter of Younique Products

Cindy puts on finishing touches to go out :)

Learning competition make-up 

Kathy and Tammy at 21 Spices

Pat and Cindy check out the goods

Watching the process

Thelma, Brenda and Pat

Tammy and Brenda testing out the Younique products

Lynn and Brenda Shine in Baltimore at National Competition

It was raining in Baltimore last weekend, but there were bright lights shining on the dance floor at the USADance National Championships. And Modern Steps was proudly represented by Lynn and Brenda Griebahn, who earned silver medals in Senior II and III Gold American Rhythm and Senior II American Smooth, as well as bronze medals in Senior III Gold and Senior III Silver American Smooth.  Lots of hard work paid off, and the Griebahns were very happy with their dancing.  "We have made great progress in our Rhythm dancing, thanks to Justinas and Tammy," Brenda said when they returned to Naples.  Lynn was delighted with the results: "We were very happy to do so well in such a large national competition.  The competition was really tremendous, and the fields were very large, especially in the Silver divisions."  Over 500 couples competed in divisions from Pre-Teen through Senior III in the USADance National events, as well as the World Dancesport Federation ranking events in Adult and Senior I International Standard and Latin events, which qualify those couples to compete at World Championships throughout the coming year.  Modern Steps was proud to sponsor this event this year by providing scholarships in two of the Senior III divisions.  Congratulations to Lynn and Brenda on great dancing at this important event!

Brenda and Lynn with coach Tammy Clemens

Bronze medal in Bonus Bronze Standard Division

Celebrating after the competition,  Sarah Griebahn, Tammy and Brenda

Red and Rusty take to the floor in Sarasota!

The Sarasota challenge on March 20, 2016 was the place to be if you were looking for great ballroom in SW Florida.  Two of our favorite gals, Thelma "Red" Negley and Pat "Rusty" Vautrinot were part of one of the largest competitions in our area.  With over 500 heats of dancing going on throughout the day, they were part of the non-stop action!  Dancing with our fabulous instructors, Jim Clemens and Justinas Maliaskas, they spent the day showing off their stuff in all the dance categories.  The 2 day event included workshops for participants to attend, as well as amazing professional shows in the evening.  Congratulations to both Thelma and Pat for their accomplishments!