This year, we have been invited back to cover the American Star Ball Championships being held again at the Golden Nugget in Atlantic City, NJ! This event has grown every year that we attend, and the dancing keeps getting better. With new ownership taking over the competition, this year will have some changes which you should see at their new website.
The venue is also one of the best reasons to attend this comp. The hotel has been completely renovated at this time from the previous Trump Marina site in Atlantic City. There is easy access to all the hotel amenities, and the large ballroom where the dancing is held is a perfect setting for ballroom dance.
As a repeat venue, there are many benefits especially for us. Just knowing how to load in all of our equipment takes a lot of the worry when going to an event so far from home. With this in mind, we are looking forward to a great weekend! Here are some of my favorite images from last year’s event. Enjoy!
More photos from the DC Area Arthur Murray Spring Freestyles. This was the first of their 4 local events that we covered last year. It was held at the Sheraton Premiere in Tysons Corner, VA. This is a site of many of their events, and overall a great ballroom for photography. Additionally with the available balcony, we have a lot of flexibility in setting up our lights. On balance it is always nice to work at a familiar venue!
As can be seen this room offers a lot of options from photography. With this intention, you need to have different approaches to photos. Especially since you will be there for many hours of a weekend. In order to get a variety of images to keep fresh, it is useful to change your body position, and your angle to the dancers out there. You can go from a low angle, a higher angle, to change the backgrounds in the photos. With the length of the room, it still allows you to blur the backgrounds.
In 2012, Arthur Murray dance studios celebrates their centennial as a company. Overall, the longevity has to be admired – only a privileged few have been around since then! Their studios and instructors introduce so many around the world to ballroom dance. In fact, this is where my wife and I discovered dancing. Still, we continue to go to the studio in Tysons Corner to stay in touch with the community.
A Tango from the Silver Spring studio:
A Quickstep from the Alexandria Studios:
Centennial celebration
Over the year, there were themed parties and events which highlighted the changes and styles since the company’s inception. At the first event of the year, their Spring Freestyles, the staff of the DC Area studios came together. Prior to the event, they created a coordinated show featuring each of the studios. Entitled, “Dancing Through the Decades” it was an amazing showcase of all of these professionals. TimeLine Media was asked to video tape the performance which we were happy to do! I will see if I can get the entire video posted to the blog, as it was a great showcase of the talent of the dancers!
From the Ashburn, Virginia studio
Ladies from the Maryland studios
From the Chevy Chase, Maryland dance studio:
Tysons Corner, Virginia studio:
From the Gaithersburg, Maryland studio:
One of my favorites from the show was the photos of Leisa & Joe Howard from the Columbia studio. I have so many amazing photos of these champion dancers doing showcases and professional competitions from the last few years, but this one was a nice moment –
There was more production value put into this show than any I have seen in ballroom. The music seamlessly changed through all the decades represented, in addition to a video presentation that highlighted important points in Arthur Murray history.
Thanks again to Steve and Mark Theiss that have been very supportive of our photography, and allow us to partner with them to get some great images of their local events. Best of luck for the next century of dancing!
