Saturday night, the Quad Cities "Thrill the World" was held at QC Soda.  Patrice did an awesome job organizing the event.  Hats off to her.  Here is video footage of "Thiller" from Saturday.  Have fun watching the mob! ~ Korah

Today we would like to extend a warm welcome to Greg Marquis. Today marks his first official day of teaching lessons at QC SoDa. Greg is a highly respected competitive dance instructor out of Chicago. He comes into the Quad Cities for just under two days a week to train local dancers. He is an excellent dancer and we are proud to partner with him. He has invested many years in helping build the skills of Quad City dancers and we wish him the best as he makes the transition here.

This is it! The free week is finally (almost) here. We start Monday with an astounding array of 23 classes and 3 dances. A free punch card goes to the person who attends the most classes. :-) Here's our calendar to check out all the August 1-6 classes and dances. Call us at 309-798-0279 if you have any questions. We love to help!

Last minute notice, River City Six is playing at the Redstone Room in Davenport tonight at 5 p.m.  Our friend Kirk plays in the band and he said they made room for dancers for today.  Here's a link to the site that tells all the info. Cover is only $7 if you want to attend. 

In other news, Gunter and I just returned from our third weekend of going and teaching at The Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage in Rutledge, MO.  We love spending time there in such a unique community.  This year they are hosting Off Grid Blues in October.  This is going to be an amazing event with top level instructors.  Let us know if you have interest in Blues dancing.  We are mainly going to this event because I adore dancing to the blues.  If there's an interest in learning it in the Quad Cities, we could look into having a class to share this amazing, intimate dance for those who want to learn.  Call us at 309-798-0279 to let us know.

Also, a friend of our just started a new business.  He takes a photo booth to events.  It's a super great product.  The link to his "In the Moment Photo Booth" facebook page is here.  He and his wife are great people trying to get started in this new business.  We know how that feels so if you have a moment, could you check out his site and tell someone about his photo booth.  Thanks for supporting and believing in local people.

Today's the big day! Meet us at 7 p.m. at Schwiebert Park for a concert with the Bare Handed Wolf Chokers.  There's a big surprise waiting for you.  :-)

Mark your calendars. Friday, June 3rd is our Summer Dance. This is the event where we usually have special deals on private lessons and punch cards so it is fun and beneficial to attend.  Also, come on down to our Tuesday, May 31st swing night lesson and dance.  That marks our last swing night before we go into summer mode for June & July and encourage everyone to go outside with us dancing to live music all over the Quad Cities.  We will recommence normal classes the first week of August by having all our events be free that first week.  Great time to bring friends and family who would like to try for free.  Keep checking in with our calendar to see where you can plug in to dance for June & July.

Last night we had our first QC SoDa Dance Recital. We were super proud of our students. We were also honored to have Greg Marquis and three of his students attend and do three excellent performances during the recital.  Our first performance was by two of our students from St. Ambrose.  They did an Argentine Tango that really showed their dedication to learning the dance.  We had many other dancers share what they have been practicing.  During the dance afterward, we had a nice couple stop by and say they saw heads bopping around as they were driving by and decided to check in on what was going on.  They said they had moved here from Chicago and enjoyed Steppin'.  It made me interested to see how many other people in the area love doing that dance but do not have a variety of places to go to in order to enjoy it.  If you know of some steppers in the area, send us an email so we can see if there is some interest in having a dance night some time in the future.

This month we are focusing on Swing Dancing.  We are trying to get everyone who is interested ready for all the live bands that will be playing in the Quad Cities this summer.  There will be free dancing in Davenport, free dancing in Moline, free dancing in Rock Island, free dancing in Bettendorf... you get the idea.  Tons of free dancing to be had.  Make sure to check out the calendar here to find out what locations have live bands playing.  We are going to try to attend as many of the events as we can.  We will be shutting down our normal Tuesday & Thursday night classes for June and July in order to get out in the community and share the dance love for free for two months (we will be teaching a free dance lesson before some of the bands play.)  Also, for our first week back for classes (August 1-7), we plan to have all of our classes and dances be free for anyone who catches the dancing bug over the summer and wants to take classes.  Everyone is free to invite all their friends to attend that week at no cost.  We hope to help build the dance community that way.  Until then, drop in on some of our classes during May to get ready to dance to live music all June and July.  :-)

Tonight a photographer from The Moline Dispatch Argus came over and took some photos for a possible article about QC SoDa. It's to help advertise for our SPRING DANCE coming up on March 11, 2011. The pictures might be printed in early March so keep your eye on the newspaper for us. If you happen to get an extra copy would you be willing to bring it by and put it in our mail slot if you don't happen to stop by while we are having a dance? Thanks! It's always nice having extra copies of stuff that comes out in the paper. We're getting excited for the Spring dance. Last year we got to advertise for it on Paula Sands Live and it ended up being a really well attended event. We are planning on the same for this year. It feels like the word is getting out more and more that we are here and we want to do our part to add to the social dance scene in the Quad Cities. In March, Doug Foster is joining our team to add a country element to our mission statement that has been primarily swing, ballroom & salsa up until now. We are excited to have him on board. We are also welcoming a second Zumba instructor on Tuesdays. We now have two Julies teaching two different Zumba classes which I think is a hoot. Check out the calendar for our added classes in March.

On a different note, we got the chance to perform on February 18th for The Bucktown Revue at River Music Experience downtown Davenport.  It is the third Friday of every month.  You should check it out some time.  Mike Romkey and Co. throw on a nice performance.  Lots of fun to be had and you get to support the Arts!

Ok, in your mind envision Jennifer Hudson standing on a wide stage with the spotlight on her.  She sings out in her amazing voice, "It's a new year, and I'm feeeeeeeeling good!"  That is where our hearts are at right now at QC SoDa.  On January 1st we celebrated our first year of having a successful dance studio.  We are super excited about that fact.  Last year we had to be honest with ourselves and say, "Is this the right time to follow our dreams and start a social dance studio during the middle of a recession?"  We put a lot of thought and prayer into it and decided to follow our hearts and do what we love, hoping that others would love it with us and we would grow.  A year later, we are making it due to old dancers and new dancers trying us out and spreading the word grassroots style about what we are doing here.  Our vision is to provide instruction and a venue where people can get a chance to learn real life dancing and have a blast doing it.  We want people who have never learned a step in their life to be able to come to a safe environment where everybody gets to dance and change partners so that we can all grow in our dance skills and have fun.  Dancing is meant to be social.  We want to embody that.  We want to continue seeing high school & college students, singles, married couples, retirees, newcomers, established dancers, wedding couples with jitters about their first dance and everybody else who has always wanted to dance but never had the right circumstances come about to get started.  There's no time like the present.  We love dancing.  It brings us joy and helps us positively deal with stress in life.  So, may this coming year be an amazing one for you and we hope that you are blessed in a myriad of ways.  Hopefully, this year you get to Resolve to Dance! 

Winter dance is coming... Winter dance is coming... Winter dance is! Ok, enough with my chanting. Our big seasonal dance appears on the scene on Friday, December 3rd, 2010. This is one of our biggest and best dances of the year with lots of people coming from many different areas. We are excited to invite you to mark your calendars for this awesome event. A short lesson starts the night at 6:30 p.m. with the open dance kicking off at 7:00 p.m. See you there!

We have been celebrating here at QC SoDa this week because Günter finished creating new advertising for us. He put up huge signs in the downstairs and upstairs windows. He wrote out Quad Cities Social Dancing, www.qcsoda.com, (309)798-0279, and drew pictures of three dancing knights. I keep telling him they look awesome, but I am biased of course. :-) Let us know what you think of the new signage. Can you see everything clearly even if you are just driving by?

In dancing news, we are gearing up for our big Halloween dance, Saturday, Oct. 30th at 6:30 p.m. I am still trying to figure out my costume but I am sure I will come up with something before the party. Also on the 22nd through 24th, we are going to have our Salsa workshop weekend with guest instructors from Costa Rica. We are excited to have them come and show us their dance styles from south of the border. Call us for more details (309)798-0279. It should be a wonderful weekend of Salsa, Bachata, Bolero, Cumbia and much much more. See you then!

Last week there was a moment where I stopped what I was doing and took a moment to take in the cooler, fresher air that had rolled into the Quad Cities.  It caused me to smile knowing that my favorite season is cranking into gear.  I get to pull out my sweaters and jackets and start enjoying Autumn.  For QC SoDa, it also means that we have started having our classes and dances back downstairs again!  Yay!  We love our floor downstairs, so now that we don't need AC anymore, we are putting the downstairs back to use. 

Due to the popularity of West Coast Swing in August, we have also added a Friday night class for those of you who needed a weekend class instead of a weeknight one.  Take a look on the calendar for more info.  Also, mark Friday, September 24th on your calendar because that is our big Fall dance.  We have all kinds of extra stuff going on that evening that we think you will enjoy.  You can stop in the studio for a flyer, click on the event in our online calendar or call Gunter at 309-798-0279 for more details. 

Enjoy Autumn to the utmost!  :-)  ~  Korah

Jazz lovers and volunteer type people, this announcement is for you. The Bix Society is still very much needing people to volunteer to check people into the Jazz concerts at the stadium downtown Davenport.  Friday and Saturday night (July 23-24) are their times of biggest need.  By volunteering for one of the evenings, you get a free T-shirt, access to all the weekend concerts and the joy of knowing you got to help a wonderful Jazz festival that is unique to our area. If you could swing volunteering, send an email to info@bixsociety.org or call (563)324-7170 and let them know you can help out July 23rd or 24th.  Keep in mind, Korah is celebrating her birthday during the Bix at the Col Ballroom on Saturday night, so try not to double book if you were planning on celebrating with her.  Let's do what we can to support the Bix.  If you are at the Clarion Hotel concerts on Friday, say hi to Gunter.  He is volunteering there until 3 p.m.

Just a reminder to spread the word for us... we will NOT be having our normal Tuesday night swing dance on July 20th, 27th or August 10th because instead we will be giving FREE lessons before Rock Island's Starlight Review (concerts in the park) summer series.  The two concerts in July will be held at Lincoln Park and the final one in August will be held at the beautiful new Schwiebert Riverfront Park. Here is a link to read up on the wonderful concerts Rock Island is hosting.  You can click here to go to our calendar.  Click on the days of the concerts for more info.

Hey! Like the new website format? Tell us what you think on Facebook or Meetup. We'd love to hear your thoughts.  Also, our big summer dance is coming up on the July 17th.  DJ Amy will be playing wonderful songs for our dancing pleasure. Be sure to check out the Jack and Jill contest earlier in the day.  There is still time to register for it if you contact Gunter at 309-798-0279, otherwise, see you at the dance.

We have added Saturday classes and several out of studio events to our calendar.  It's great to see the weather changing and new faces coming to classes since we don't have to all battle the cold anymore.  Viva Spring!

As of today, www.qcsoda.com has a brand new look.  This site will still be very much intertwined with Meetup because that site has such great features that allow dancers to be able to connect and see what is happening in the dance community.  Overall though, we wanted to expand our own website so we can have greater flexibility in getting information to people specifically interested in what QC SoDa is doing.  Our studio has been steadily growing and we are excited to provide a fun place for people to learn and dance.  We feel very blessed.  Later on today we are going to be interviewed on Paula Sands Live at 4:30 p.m. CST.  We are hoping that this will help get the word out to even more people about what we are trying to do here.  We want to thank everyone who has helped us out from the start by being grassroots minded and letting their friends know about us.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.  It has been a bit daunting starting a new business during a recession and in the winter, but things just keep getting better and better as time goes on.  We could not ask for more.  Thanks to all of you who have supported us right from the start and hello to all of you who are new to dancing and the community.  We are SOCIAL dancers.  :-)  We want everyone to feel welcome and know that we are are glad they are able to come out, have some fun and do something healthy for themselves.  Take a look around the site and give us a quick email qcsoda@gmail.com to let us know if all the links are working correctly or if there is some way we can make improvements.  We are doing the website by ourselves so we are still working all the kinks out.  Thanks so much.  Hope to see you out dancing soon! ~ Korah

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to schedule a free initial private lesson to try out QC SoDa