Bracken Heidenreich
Dec 11, 2022
PINK WARNING - this one’s fluff full of pertinent particulars you’ll want to wade through over and over to get the best shrimp in your beak. :)
Hello, fabulous flamingo flock!
PINK WARNING - this one’s fluff full of pertinent particulars you’ll want to wade through over and over to get the best shrimp in your beak. :)
For those new to the event, Palm Springs Winter Break is held in the Pavilion, a wonderful, large one-room ballroom with seating, tables, and a stage. We all learn the same dances. The dance floor is humongous with plenty of space for floor splits. A snack bar is available all day to keep our flock thriving. Thursday night downtown Palm Springs features a craft/artisan fair starting at 6 PM. We encourage you to enjoy the downtown area, and then come to dance in the Pavilion. On Friday & Saturday, the dinner break is 2 1/2 hours so you can enjoy dinner at one of the MANY restaurants Palm Springs has to offer before dancing til a respectable hour at night.
DECORATIONS
Thank you to Terri Slemmons for being the lead flamingo this year on decorations! Terri and her volunteers will be decorating the Pavilion starting Thursday afternoon at 3 PM.
If you’d like to volunteer to help with setup or cleanup, please contact our Volunteer Coordinator Peggy Hall (email: pegatha_h@yahoo.com).
The gorgeous, precious, handmade chair covers made through a labor of love by Trish Little and Kim Costello will be back, too!
Some have asked about bringing your own decorations - of course we encourage free flamingo expression; however, we do ask that you consider tables are to be shared with fellow flamingos, we are not a territorial flock. So be sure any feathery fandangles you fluff out don’t impede friendly flamingling - share the roost!
SCHEDULE
The event schedule will be posted in advance on the website, sent to the Fla-lingo Flash, and shared in the Facebook group. For now, here’s the sky-level plan.
Thursday:
7 PM Pavilion opens
7:30 PM Dancing with DJ Megan
8:30 PM Flockstar Introductions and Fun Lesson
10:45 PM music ends; all flamingos must exit by 11 PM
Friday and Saturday:
8:15 AM Pavilion opens
9 AM Flamingo Festivities begin
Workshops, open dance, with lunch “break”
5 PM Dinner Break
7:30 PM Dancing with DJ Megan
11:45 PM music ends; all flamingos must exit by 12 midnight
Sunday:
8 AM Pavilion opens
8:30 AM Flamingo Funday Sunday Festivities begin
Workshops, open dance, with lunch “break”
4:30 PM event ends; all evidence of flamingling must be cleared out of the Pavilion by 6 PM
LUNCH "BREAKS"
You are welcome to bring your own food and drinks (but no alcohol!) into the Pavilion. Dorothy & Bob at the snack bar will have coffee, soda, water, and a variety of snacks for sale. There are some eateries within walking distance (a map will be provided to assist), and tons of eateries in close driving proximity. In past years, some table groups have coordinated food pickup from local restaurants so one person brings lunch back in for their table. With services like UberEats and DoorDash and GrubHub and such - I haven’t heard of anyone using those for food delivery at the Pavilion but that MIGHT be an option, too!
Lunch break will start at 12 noon on Friday and Saturday (11:30 AM on Sunday) with no dancing, no entertainment - simply soothing, serene sounds to give our flockstar staff time to eat and fuel themselves appropriately - for the first 30 minutes of the lunch break.
NEW THIS YEAR - At 30 minutes into the lunch break, in the Pavilion, we will have a hosted Q&A with at least one of your flockstar staff each day. More details to come!
After 30 minutes of getting to know your flockstars a little more, DJ Megan will play open dance requests for another 30 minutes before workshops begin again.
THEMES
The themes brought into Palm Springs Winter Break by Michele Burton & Michael Barr are continuing! That means FLAMINGOS all weekend and LIGHTS for Saturday night. There's lots of flamingo paraphernalia out there - feel free to flock in flamingo frills (say that 5 times fast) all weekend!
The SATURDAY NIGHT THEME PARTY is You Light Up My Dance Life. Wear anything that lights up. The crazier, the better. It’s such a high-spirited night of fun. DJ Megan will keep the dance floor full of all your favorites and floor splits.
AIR CONDITIONING
The Pavilion air conditioning is set by City rules (off site) at 68 degrees.
There will be signs posted to remind everyone, but here’s a heads-up, too - we cannot prop open any doors. That will end up stopping the AC.
Dress in layers and strip your feathers as needed!!! Dancers know it can get warm inside. Hand fans are great :-)
DANCE FLOOR
During open dance, some dances will have floor splits. We have a DJFeed (web page you can view on your phone or tablet all day/all evening) and a projection screen during the evening dances that will post the upcoming dances and floor splits. You are always welcome to do your own floor split.
VENDORS
We have space for vendors onsite!
I am working with a new-to-the-area dance shoe vendor to get her at the event, and I am working with Global Dance Television to see about getting their video services at the event.
We also, of course, will have the PSWB Snack Bar where you'll be able to purchase coffee, sodas, water and a variety of snacks.
If you know vendors who would like to join us, please have them contact me.
SEATING
The round tables in the Pavilion seat 8. Please welcome stray flyers to your table if you have open chairs. We have lots of first-timers to PSWB signed up this year - let’s show them how friendly flamingos are!
ONLINE REGISTRATION LIST
The list of registered dancers is posted on the website. I’m doing my best to keep it updated more frequently as the event gets closer.
If you have fellow flamingos who haven’t registered yet, please let them know that mail-in registrations need to be postmarked by January 9 to reach me in time, and online registrations will be accepted until January 17 unless we sell out before then.
REQUEST LIST
If you have not already done so, please send your dance requests in through this form (https://questionpro.com/t/AV0YzZvmw6). You do not have to answer every question to submit your requests.
Your pre-event requests will help us plan floor splits and help your fellow flamingos see which dances need to be fluffed out and reviewed before the event.
DANCES TO PRACTICE
In case you’re wondering which awesome dances to practice, the top requests right now are:
Champagne Promise (beginner) by Tina Argyle
Get It Right (improver) by Maddison Glover
Gypsy Queen (improver) by Hazel Pace
Good As You (intermediate) by Michael & Michele
Never Gonna Not Dance (intermediate) by Maddison Glover
6’s to 9’s (intermediate) by Jo & Scott
A few other dances you might want to brush up on are:
1+1 (intermediate) by Niels Poulsen and JP Madge
American Pop (intermediate) by Michele Burton
Country in 3 (intermediate) by Michele, Jo, and Maddison
Handclap (phrased intermediate) by Bracken Heidenreich & Brandon Zahorsky
Hey Soul Sister (intermediate) by Ruben Luna & Bracken Heidenreich
Portland Cha (low advanced) by Niels Poulsen, Amy, Dustin, JP, Jose & Simon
Take Me to the River (intermediate) by Roy Verdonk & Jonas Dahlgren
Angel & Corona (improver) by Roy Verdonk, Kate, Darren, and Guylaine
Beautiful Goodbye (easy intermediate) by Michael Barr
Can’t Walk Away (improver/intermediate) by Megan Barsuglia & Christopher G
Doing the Walk (high improver) by Roy Verdonk, Pim, and Jef
Rolling Rhythm (beginner) by Michele Burton
Something in the Water (beginner) by Niels Poulsen
Train Wreck (high improver) by Niels Poulsen
Yeah! (improver) by Michael Barr
And for floor splits, these are always good ones to have under your wing:
Lay Low by Darren Bailey
Mamma Maria by Frank Trace
Ticket to the Blues! By Niels Poulsen
Dizzy by Jo Thompson Szymanski
Cruisin’ by Neil Hale
Blue Night Cha by Kim Ray
Wave on Wave by Alan Birchall
Beautiful Goodbye by Michael Barr
Groovy Love by Fred, Daniel, and Jonas
Rolling Rhythm by Michele Burton
Back on Texas Time by Gail Dawson
Rio by Diana Lowery
CHECK-IN / PACKET PICK-UP
The Pavilion is a City facility, so there are certain restrictions (hours, AC, no alcohol, etc.) that we have smoothly followed for years at PSWB. The Pavilion is gorgeous, and the City asks very little of us in return for its use.
This year, due to a change in City policies, we have one additional step to the check-in / packet pick-up process.
Please be patient with our fabulous registration extraordinaire Peggy Hall and her flip-feather-fantastic volunteers as everyone checks in. This added step is necessary for us to be able to enjoy dancing in this extraordinary, beautiful facility.
When you all registered for the event, you signed acknowledgement and acceptance of waiver language. Due to a shift in City policy, the event insurance (required for the event to occur) is being held by a different insurance provider than in the past. The 2023 PSWB insurance provider needs each participant to sign different waiver language. The intent of the waiver language is NOT different than the language you already signed to register for the event. The insurance provider simply has a much longer worded waiver that they require us to use.
When you check-in at the event, the first step will be to sign the waiver. Once you’ve signed the waiver, you can continue the normal event check-in process to get your wristband, name badge, printed stepsheet booklet (if you ordered one!), and other event materials.
No one will be allowed to enter the event without signing the waiver (just like they do at trampoline parks and other physical activity events).
If you would like to expedite your check in, I will be posting the waiver on the website - you are welcome to print the waiver and bring a signed one with you to hand in. I will send another Fla-lingo Flash with a link to the waiver.
50/50 AND EVENT PASS PRIZES
As in past years, you will have the opportunity to win a free pass to other events or win half the funds raised in the OPPORTUNITY CONTEST.
Due to California laws, this will be done a bit differently than before. More details at the event, but this way everyone entering will get to have a little fun and excitement, we all stay legal, and you will not need to be present to claim your prize. How flamazing is that?!
PAST UPDATES
If you missed the updates from previous Fla-lingo Flashes, they can be found on the website. https://www.palmspringswinterbreak.com/news
Did you make it through all that flufftastic information? Whew! Congratulations!
Thank you for supporting Palm Springs Winter Break.
Looking forward to a flamazing flamingling weekend with you all!
Bracken Heidenreich