Our heat was the fourth of four pre-semi-finals in the first-round
in Kansas City. By the time it reached our clubhouse the contest had judges.
Some of the contestants came all the way from Kirksville, MO. At the top
left are Kirk Marsh and Annie Miller. Annie is co-president of the Truman
State University swing club in Kirksville.
At bottom right are our three judges and the representative from New
Line Cinema. They are (left to right) Jewel Siggs, Bill Hatton, Mark Harris
and Mark Brookstein.
In all we had nine couples competing at the clubhouse that Friday night.
We made sure that everybody got a chance to warm up (a couple of people
located us very close to the start time so we moved the contest to 9:15
rather than 9pm. Bill Posladek did the DJ honors. While the contestants
practiced he tried various tunes out to make sure everybody could dance
well to them. The very fastest tunes weren't that danceable for everybody
so Bill picked the medium-speed east coast tunes for the contest.
Our judges divided the contestants into two groups for the first heat,
playing the same tune for each and keeping scores. After both groups danced
five contestants were chosen for the final heat. Three couples were picked
to go to the semi-final at the Grand Emporium Sunday January 17, 1999 (two
nights later).
