Our 2018 Spring Freestyles was on March 2 and 3, and it was an absolutely amazing time! It was our second year as a two-day event. It was also the first year that Arthur Murray Paoli and Narberth could join us, making for a total of six schools attending, our biggest yet. Curious exactly what a Freestyles event is? Check out our blog post explaining here!

In line with the Kings & Queens theme, our Guest Judges were the illustrious Bob and Cynthia Long, of Arthur Murray Albuquerque, the creators of the current Arthur Murray syllabus. Despite having judges, Freestyles is not a competition, and is instead focused on giving feedback to the students — as well as being a celebration of their dancing. It is a great learning opportunity, both offering an outside perspective as well as valuable floor time.

“If the studio is the practice field, then Freestyles is game day,” says student Jerry Cerulli of the event. Jerry has been dancing with the Cranford studio for over 5 years, and has been dancing in our Freestyles events since his first year with us.

We also had a full Juniors Division on Saturday for the first time. With nine students in the Children’s Programs for both Cranford and Hillsborough, the kids had the opportunity to dance in heats with their instructors. For some of them, this was their first Freestyles events, but others have danced with us in prior Freestyles.

For some of our students, this was their first time dancing in a Freestyles event. “Fun — the first thing that comes to mind is ‘fun’! It was a lot of fun,” says student Diane Toma of her first time. Diane has been dancing with the Cranford team since last August.

The grand finale of the weekend is always our formal banquet, held on Saturday night. Unless you’re ready to dive right into the dancing portion of Freestyles, we always recommend joining us for the evening portion. It’s a great opportunity to cheer on your fellow students, enjoy dinner, watch professional shows, and let loose on the dance floor with your Arthur Murray family. It’s an excellent way to see what Freestyles can be about if you feel you are not ready for two full days of dancing just yet.

We hold this event twice a year, in the Spring and Fall, so your next opportunity to join us is in October. We can’t wait to see how many of you will join us then!