Dance, Dance, Dance

Last weekend was the grand Spectacle de Fin d'Année, end-of-year dance performance for the students taking classes at the Culture Center in Metz. There are classes for kids from kindergarten through high school, plus beginning and advanced adult classes. Dance has been huge fun this year and I've met some really great messines - women from Metz.

The theme for the spectacle this year was "And now a word from our sponsors..." so each class was dancing to a song from a well-know TV commercial. There was music from Coca-Cola ads, McDonalds ads, iPhone ads, eBay ads and ads for French products. Basically, it meant there was a lot of really good, fun music, too. And the kids had great costumes.

Two of us from the advanced class were asked to join the beginner class to boost not only their numbers, but also their confidence. This piece turned out really well and we had good fun preparing.

Louis Armstrong - C'est Si Bon

This is the advanced adults' class, where we spent as much time laughing as we did dancing in class this year - usually at the same time! And while we botched the choreography a bit in the performance, you'd never know from this (carefully chosen!) photo! Fortunately, we got our revenge and performed flawlessly yesterday at a festival for the elementary school where our classes are held.

Etta James - I Just Want To Make Love To You

Our entrance in the grande finale, where each class danced a small section before we all swarmed the stage to salute the audience and take our bows.

Gloria Gaynor - I Will Survive

The whole group with our lovely teacher, Florence (left) and the theater teacher (right), whose students performed "commercials" between the dance pieces.