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Who's Who |
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The A Train Trainiacs constitute a
real cool collection of cats originating from numerous
far off alien distant lands, like Germany and Oklahoma.
All have sojourned to Washington D.C. to seek fame,
fortune and the perfect aerial. Without a doubt we are
D.C.'s Funnest Swing Dance Team golly, even when we
fight we have fun. We're also darn good looking, so
rehearsals are like being on the set of 90210. Since
everyone on the Team is 21 and holding were not
bothering to include our ages. So check us out, drop us a line, save us a dance!  Jason B.
Aldrich - "No cable TV and no beer make Homer go
crazy!" Every group needs a lawyer, and Jason fills
that role for us. He is the embodiment of Speak Softly
but Carry a Large Stick of gum, and has a higher score
for Ms. Pac-man (232,000) than anyone *you* know. He's
been dancing for four years, and has taken classes from
Tom & Debra, Steve & Carla & Kevin. His
other dance influences include Frankie Manning, Dean
Collins, Charlie Wyler, and, of course, Stephanie
Robertson (see below). In 2001 he won four dance awards
(three firsts, one second) between Swing Fling and the
Virginia State Open (VSO), so for 2002 we all expect
him to stop fooling around and get serious. He's a big
fan of the Jive Aces and the Artie Shaw Orchestra, and
when dancing he likes to perform the "Shakin' Change"
aerial - and use the resulting coins to help feed his
cat Malley. Andy Choi -
"No Mr. Bond, I expect you to die!" Andy is a
local D.C. product, quite an excellent dancer guy for
only three years of instruction, actually likes his day
job, and professes to be an accomplished blower of spit
bubbles. We gladly take his word on this. His favorite
band is Lavay Smith and Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers -
we take his word on this as well. Andy is a Wahoo from
UVA, and can readily be found hanging around Chevy
Chase Ballroom, Clarendon Ballroom, Glen Echo,
Bop'n'Bowl, or any of the local Silver Diners. He came
in Third Place at the 2001 VSO Amateur Hollywood Jack
'n Jill, has studied with Tom & Debra, Steve &
Carla & Kevin & Carla, and thinks "Love Me Or
Leave Me" by Nina Simone is worth blowing a lot of spit
bubbles over. Hank
Dearden - "Fall seven times, stand up
eight." Hank has been appointed Chancellor of the
Exchequer for the Team, which means that he's in charge
of making sure that during our weekly visits to
Ireland's Four Courts ("The Pub") everyone tosses in
their fair share of loot when the check comes. He's
been called "truly weird", in the vein of David Byrne,
and therefore darn proud of that. He gets his intrinsic
rhythm from being a rock, jazz, and jazz-rock drummer
since age seven, i.e. for 14 years. He hilariously
claims that swing dancing is the natural confluence of
playing drums and playing basketball, his other great
passion. Who's to argue? His teachers/influences over
the past five years have been Tom & Debra, Steve
& Kevin & Carla, Eric & Sylvia, and Frankie
Manning. He competed in the VSO for the first time in
2001 and since no one booed he's convinced himself that
he won it All. We don't see any need to burst this
little bubble. Poppy Rose
Friske - "Well behaved women rarely make
history." Yes, her real name is Poppy. Yes, her
last name rhymes with "risky". Yes, since her middle
name is Rose she hales from Mathis ("dirt ball two-stop
light know-nothin' do-nothin', never live there again")
Texas, and YES, she plans on making a lot of history.
She's some kinda Director of Desktop Technology for a
local firm, prefers boxers on her men, and is the proud
mother of a very grumpy cat. She started her dancing
career at an early age with Ballet, Tap, and Jazz and
stuck with it through college. She's been doing
ballroom and mostly on a swing kick for four years,
dance instructors include Mark Shepanek & Ellen
Engle, Tom & Debra, and Carla & Kevin. As for
dance influences she's "just a people watcher" and is
expert at stealing, uh, repurposing moves from swing
kids, or from Argentine Tango, or from West Coast, or
from polka...klezmer...metal... Glenn
Gasner - "Oh, I don't need lessons, I just get
on the floor and swing dance!" (Intoxicated female)
Glenn is always smiling, and the girls on this team
have voted him "sweetest, cutest and cuddliest" of the
guys. Which he is (see photo). Ever the dichotomy,
however, his favorite non-dancing activity is spray
painting "Anarchy Rules!" on any of the numerous
pristine marble monuments that so define our Nation's
Capitol. Glenn knows them well, because he's actually
from the area and is a devout Terapin from #1
University of Maryland. He's been swing dancing for
about four years and "without a doubt" the reason he's
learning Hollywood style is because of Steve &
Carla's performance at 94th Aerosquadron in 1999.
People are still talking about that one. They're also
talking about Glenn's taking 1st Place in Amateur
Showcase Hollywood at the 2001 VSO. If you have a
strong stomach ask him to show you this "weird thing"
that he does with his elbow muscle. Cherri
Harris - "Yeeeaaaaah!!!!" (when she sees a dance
move that she likes) Cherri "Bay Yay Bee" loves to
dance and be sung to while dancing, and her face glows
a *lot* when this happens. We constantly have to warn
her: "you're going to hit someone with that smile,
girl", and she does. But it feels good, so no
complaints. Cherri is from Detroit, danced in about 736
categories at the 2001 VSO (placed in most of them),
has studied with Tom & Debra and the other usual
local suspects. She has seven cats, named Monday
through Sunday, does a lot of volunteer work in D.C.,
and when she gets *really* mad she storms home and
makes matzo-ball soup to die for. Michael
Johnson - "We should consider every day lost in
which we do not dance at least once." In the
beginning, Michael spent many years growing up happily
in North Carolina before being drafted into the Army.
To his surprise it was the German Army, the land of his
birth, so off he went back to the Fatherland to do his
service, but with the U.S. Army since at the time, he
couldn't speak German. Luckily he was honorably
discharged and the little incident with the General's
daughter overlooked, so back he came to D.C. where fate
and the muses compelled him to be a driving force in
creating the Team. His favorite aerial involves
Christine Sofie (see below) and for some reason they
call it "The Sofie" - now their signature move.
Michael's other signature move is being first to get to
The Pub following rehearsal and/or breakfast. He's got
a cat that owns him, a love for The Simpsons, a
motorcycle, and an honest appreciation for instructors
Marcus Koch & Bärbl Käufer (its the
Teutonic thing), Yuval Hod & Nathalie Gomez, Ryan
Francois & Jenny Thomas, Charlie Wyler & anyone
he's dancing with. He scored many awards in 2002
between the VSO and Swing Fling, including the VSO Jack
and Jill Open Category - 1st place.Denise E.
LeBlanc - "With those boys you will start out
dancing but may end up kneeling." The youngest "21"
year old member of the Team, she's also the most "grown
up" at this writing, as the sparkling rock on her third
finger, left hand will attest. She's two years landed
from Plaistow, New Hampshire, and as soon as she thawed
out she jumped into the local swing dance scene. During
her day job selling tickets at Wolf Trap she gets to
deal with surly customers complaining about
uncomfortable seats and "those annoying people who
dance while holding hands" - like us. She's a Russell
Sage College graduate, which prepared her well for the
Real World, to wit. she showed no ill effect after
being dropped on her head while dancing at a recent
Christmas party. Consequently, we're all big fans of
our own sweet and demure chunk of "hot blonde" New
Hampshire granite.Rob Lee -
"You know, Hobbes, sometimes even my lucky
rocketship underpants don't help" Rob was the
biggest guy on the Team before Jay (see below) came
along, and therefore the obvious choice to be point man
for Jay's "introductory hazing" ritual. Sadly (or
luckily) the opportunity passed. He's been dancing for
three years, and since he's an Air Force Academy
graduate his special talent is "snowball fighting in
hell". He was raised in Denver, and now makes a fine
living serving as a Baby Name Moderator. Check out his
website at www.ifyouthinkimkiddingyourewrong.com, where
he also boasts of his (impressive) VSO
accomplishments. James Michael Martin - "If you're not
crazy you'll go insane" Good looking and funny,
James Michael is the most devout crazy person on the
Team. Hank the "truly weird" is, to be sure, in awe of
his lunacy, so you know we're talking Varsity here.
He's a good dancer, somehow always manages to have two
days worth of whiskers on his face. Always. Like Andy
he's a UVA graduate, but unlike anyone else he's from
Tennessee. He does "computer stuff" during the day, and
counts as his dance influences/instructors Donna
Barker, Tom & Debra, Carla & Steve & Kevin,
Spinal Tap, and Curly, Joe & Moe.Stephanie
Elaine McGinnis - "What else do we live for, but
to be sport for our neighbors and laugh at them in our
turn" Stephanie spent time as a military brat and
now works for a -- uh -- military contractor - that's
all we can say. She's the self-appointed Julie McCoy of
the Team, spends a lot of time organizing fun stuff for
us to do, for which we are all quite grateful. She's
been dancing for over two years, and her dance
instructors/influences include Tom & Debra, Steve
& Kevin & Carla, Jim & Elizabeth Engel,
Iver & Deb Brooks, and all her "coachin', swappin',
sharin' dance pals!" Other dance influences include the
cast of "Singin' in the Rain," Ryan & Jenny, Gretta
Thorn, and Sylvia Robinson. She's a VA Tech graduate
who likes hanging out at The Pub (duh!) and at her pal
Rebecca's crib. Her favorite parole officer is Barney
Fife, since he lets her watch all her favorite TV shows
(too numerous to mention). And she just *loves* doing
aerials. Jay
Rockwood - "There is glory in a great
mistake" Checking in from Dallas, Texas, Jay is
(currently) our newest member. Since he's also the
*biggest* member the rest of the guys decided to forego
the ritual "welcoming hazing" and we'll just plan to
haze the next guy twice. Besides, with eight years
experience Jay is by far the most accomplished dancer
on the Team, with competition awards from Monsters of
Swing, Red Jacket Dance Contest, Swing Castle Dance
Contest and performances with Flying Lindyhoppers and
Big Bad Voo-Doo Daddy. When he's not home watching
Civil War Journal or listening to CDs of Johnny Reno
and the Lounge Kings, he's reflecting on his many dance
influences: Frankie Manning, Steve Mitchell, Ryan
Francis, Eric Robison and Nathalie & Yuval Hod. Jay
drives a muscle Mustang convertible with the top down,
in winter, and for some reason no one thinks this is
strange.Stephanie
Anne Robertson - "Make metal face, Silent Bob,
girl think sexy!" Stephanie is one of the many "hot
blondes" on the Team and is a proud mother of the
world's weirdest cat. We think it's because she has
daily combat with Kitty over the limited supply of IAMs
in the house, but we could be wrong. When she's not
being a landscape architect she's dancing dancing
dancing or passed out on her couch...from too much
dancing. She likes watching weird movies with her weird
cat and knows how to "work that skirt" with the best of
them. Christine Sofie - "Life has no dress
rehearsals, it's a final performance only!" An
original team member and "hot blonde" from Summit, New
Jersey, Christine spends a lot of time dancing either
West Coast or East Coast style swing, when she's not
fending off marriage and/or indecent proposals from the
guys on the Team. Her many decades spent in competitive
swimming have rendered her quite buoyant in all forms
of fluid, including "air", and hence she spends a lot
of time executing high-altitude aerials that compel her
to initial the ceiling. This is a lot of fun for the
guys, so we happily overlook the fact that she smells
faintly of chlorine. She prefers boxer-briefs, guys,
and her dance instructors/influences include Tom &
Debra, Nathalie & Yuval, and the Artie Shaw
Orchestra. She's a graduate of West Virginia University
and declines to list any of her favorite hang-outs,
since doing so might connect her to a few local crimes.
We'll never tell.
D.C.'s favorite dance team!
Salto differenter.
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