The Jazzercise International Fitness Convention 2008 was held in New Orleans this year and I was lucky enough to go! Terri & I caught a flight at 7am to Dallas and then on to New Orleans by noon. Except we didn't get there until 1 because something was wrong with the windshield heater, but once they fixed that it was smooth sailing!

We got to our hotel and checked in then walked across the street to the Convention Center to meet up with Becky and Tressa. Tressa is an associate instructor at the Jazzercise center that Becky goes to and will hopefully be teaching at once she gets certified here in a couple of weeks!

Becky, Tressa & I attended some instructor seminars given by members of the taping team and management staff at the corporate office.

At 5pm on Thursday, there was a kick-off class led by Judi Sheppard Missett, Shanna Missett Nelson, and the rest of the taping team (Rich, Karen, Janet, Nancy, Young, and Chere). They debuted some all new material that we'll hopefully be teaching here in a couple more weeks. Did you know that Jazzercise sends out about 28-30 new routines and music for instructors to learn every 10 weeks? That's what keeps classes so fun and new!

At 7pm on Thursday night there was an instructor reception so we hurried back to our hotel, got changed, and went back over to the convention center. It was very nice! In the picture below are Kristen, Becky, Tressa, and me. Kristen is the center owner where Becky and Tressa teach in Connecticut.

After the reception we met back up with Terri and went to Mulate's for a very late dinner!

Here are Terri, Becky & Tressa waiting for the Guts & Butts class to start at 8am Friday morning. We took 6 classes on Friday!

Guts & Butts, Country Funk, Street Jazz, New Orleans Stretch, Core Connection, and Salsa

Friday night was the Opening Night Show (even though it was the 2nd night... go figure). Several local acts performed along with Charmaine Neville, Henry Butler, Amanda Shaw, Jimmy Thibodeaux, the Hot Club of New Orleans and Billy Iuso and the Restless Natives, and the Giordano Dancers were amazing! Below is a video of Amanda Shaw playing the fiddle.

On Day 2 we "only" attended 5 classes. Here we are back again at 8am waiting for Dancin' Abs to start. Along with Dancin' Abs, we also attended the International Instructor Showcase class, Boot Camp, the Men's Class taught by a group of male instructors, and Party Jazzercise. We went to the Riverwalk for lunch and took some pictures by the Mississippi River. I also met up with 2 good friends from the instructor chat boards, Heidi and Ashley.

Saturday night was our last night and only free night in New Orleans so we took advantage of it and went to dinner in the French Quarter at Tony Moran's which is the birthplace of Alfredo sauce and the oldest Italian restaraunt in the US! So, of course you know what we ate!


Then it was down to Bourbon Street to check out the craziness and grab us some beads!

It was a long and hilarious walk back to the hotel complete with this photo of a bike chain-locked to a tree with no tires, re-enacting our highschool dance team parade march routine, and guessing how many more steps we had until we reached the door of our hotel, then counting out loud until we got there. I guessed 600, Tressa got it exactly right with 625! By the time we reached the door we were laughing so hard we could hardly stand up straight!

After several failed attempts to walk to Cafe Dumond and get beignets, Terri and I split an order at the airport.

I gave my beads to Max when I got home. I sure did miss him!