Chapter Newsletter

Another season of “Dancing with the Stars” is done, with Kristie as the winner. What a great show this has become and what a terrific advertisement for ballroom dancing! Whenever I mention my dancing to friends or family, they ask about DWTS and comment on the obvious fun being had by the stars. Many of you have had similar experiences. That’s a great time to invite them to attend a dance with you. Next up is another wonderful television dance series – “So You Think You Can Dance” - airing Thursdays on Fox. On this show, dancers compete in each of several styles – Jazz, Hip Hop, Contemporary, Ballet, and Ballroom – to ultimately select one dancer as “America’s Favorite”. Check it out – you will be amazed at the talent displayed by these dancers.

We had over 100 in attendance at Byrd in May. Bill Irwin continues to provide great music with Lynn’s refreshments as the perfect complement. Come join us and see how much fun we’re having going “back to school”. And Ed Pabalate really challenged the group with a tough Swing routine in the lesson at Deep Run. He also did his typical great job as deejay and performed an exhibition with Teresa Gregory (Tri-Cities Chapter) that featured the new routine. I also saw several couples practicing it during the course of the evening - that’s always an indicator that people enjoyed the lesson and wanted to retain the new moves. Thanks, Ed! Your Board continues to look for ways to improve the dance experience at both venues. Among things being considered is moving the monthly lesson to the 1st Saturday dance at Byrd. We would not make any change to the lesson format this year, however, as the schedule of dances and instructors is already complete. Another change is moving admissions upstairs at Deep Run to ease the congestion and reduce the noise in the foyer outside the lesson. We will continue to explore options to make things run smoother and provide a better dance environment. To express your opinion on these or other possible changes, feel free to contact any board member or attend a monthly board meeting. Check the calendar inside for meeting dates and location.

And finally, I’m again making my monthly pitch to remind you that this IS a volunteer organization, dependent on the active participation of members to make the dances successful. We appreciate those who step up to help with admissions, refreshments or to help set up or take down chairs and tables at Byrd. Please call Joyce Thompson (520-7001) to help with refreshments or show up before 7:00 PM at either dance and pitch in as needed. Anyone is welcome to help!

See you on the dance floor! Phil

Mildred Privott & Sandra Hicks Counting all those new members and renewals!

By Ruth Wilbourne

We were delighted that so many of you came out for the May dance, especially because it took place on Mother’s Day weekend. All the ladies who came were presented with a carnation surrounded with greenery and baby’s breath. Eight lucky dancers who had winning tickets each took home a potted flower. Arthur Dewey gave his second lesson in Night Club 2-Step, and dancers expressed many positive comments about Arthur’s manner of teaching and they look forward to his third lesson at the June 14th dance. Doug McRae played his excellent music, and the dancers noticed that he had added some new selections to his playlist. John & Eleanor Brooks performed a beautiful Bolero; Sieglinde Holtz, Renee Stephan and Mary Kate Creasey provided delicious refreshments. Five new members joined: Randy Goodfellow, Raymond Meade, Jennifer & Ryan Kidd, and Stanislava Remennikova. It was a good night!

Our ANNUAL GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING will take place at the June 14th dance. Please come and get firsthand information on the future plans of your chapter. Edith Lanning will be our DJ and Arthur Dewey will teach the final lesson in the Night Club 2-Step series.

Eleanor & John Brooks perform a Bolero

Please call me at 672-2657 - if you can dance on Saturday, June 28 to entertain the residents at Lucy Corr Village, 2:00 – 3:00pm. The residents enjoy our dancing, and the facility has a good-sized dance floor for us to use.

Notify all your friends that our chapter will have a DISCO DANCE on July 12th. If you were into the disco scene many years ago, this dance will bring back lots of memories, as well as familiar music.

Congratulations to Edith Lanning who, dancing with her professional partner, Rock Foster, won first place in Waltz, Viennese Waltz, Foxtrot and two in Quickstep at the Easterns Dance Competition in Washington, DC on May 11. Way to go Edith!

Arthur Dewey teaching Night Club 2-Step figures to the ladies

Remember, dancing feet are happy feet. See you on June 14.

Ruth

By Charleen Whitehead

Sandra Hicks

LOD: How did you become interested in ballroom dancing? When and where did you start?

SANDRA: In 1995 when trying to work through my grief over the sudden loss of my husband of 29 years, I was encouraged to try a ballroom dance class. I took classes for about 4 weeks. Then life took me down a lot of different roads, and I ended up transplanted in Richmond to begin my new life. Along about 1999, my oldest sister, who lives in Maryland, invited me to join her and her husband for a Christmas Dance. After much deliberation I went and had a great time thanks to my brother in law, who is a great dancer. Shortly after that, I joined USA Dance then known as USABDA. I was a member for approximately 4 years before I ever attended a dance in Richmond. After reading Lesly Duff's story, I decided I wanted to and could learn ballroom dance. Thank you Lesly. I started going to dances at Pinchbeck Elementary School , then Dance Space and then showing up at many dance studios for all group lessons plus attending the dances with my sister and her husband. Now I can't enough of dancing.

LOD: What is your favorite dance, and why is it your favorite?

SANDRA: It is hard to single out one favorite but the top three are Argentine Tango, Rumba and Swing. Argentine Tango because it is so expressive and improves true following skills, and I like the music. Rumba is just fun to dance and very romantic. Swing is good for raising the heart beat.

LOD: What is the most exciting/fun place you have ever danced?

SANDRA: On a cruise ship while on a cruise to the Western Carribean.

LOD: In what part of town do you live?

SANDRA: I live in the village of Goochland.

LOD: Where do you work and what do you do?

SANDRA: I work for the Virginia Tourism Corporation. We ensure that Virginia's 13 welcome centers located at the various interstate gateways into the state are staffed, and that staff have good customer service skills as well as marketing tools. Our goal is to get more visitors to stay longer in Virginia and to spend more money.

LOD: Are you from Richmond? If not, from where do you hail?

SANDRA: I am Virginia born and bred. I grew up in Rockingham County near what is now known as Massanutten Resort. I have lived in Northern Virginia and now in Central Virginia.

LOD: What other activities do you enjoy besides dancing?

SANDRA: I enjoy gardening, mostly admiring others now instead of laboring in mine. I also enjoy visiting and playing with my two year old twin granddaughters who live in Charlotte, NC. I like ACC basketball and spending time with family and friends.

LOD: Something people probably don't know about me is…

SANDRA: I won a jitterbug dance contest sponsored by Dr. Pepper when I was in high school (just a few years ago….HA!) that was televised on a local TV station.

LOD: What is the most exciting/exotic vacation you've ever taken? What experiences made it interesting?

SANDRA: Hot Air ballooning in Palm Springs Desert CA. Also getting to see Tom Selleck play in a Sand Volleyball tournament in Honolulu Hawaii.

Because we all change our email addresses from time to time, our email address list is very outdated. It is important that you know why we are asking for your email addresses. Mailing of this newsletter is becoming more cumbersome every month. You may not realize this, but we copy, fold, staple, label, sort by zipcode, and process at the bulk mail entry unit over 350 newsletters every month. Most chapters in the country do not send their newsletter via "snail mail", as it is so popularly referred to, but rather via email. We began discussing this possibility several years ago when Betty Thomas was editor, but for various reasons decided to continue mailing the Line of Dance.

The time is soon approaching when we will be sending the newsletter via email. If you don't have email, you will not be left out - you will receive a copy via first class mail.

There are some kinks to be worked out, the first being your email address where you want the newsletter sent - home, work, or wherever. We are asking you to begin sending an email to usadance@thebat.net with your full name in the subject line.

In preparation for this change, it will also be necessary for you to have Adobe Reader installed on your computer so that you can read a PDF file.

Ed Pabalate & Teresa Gregory demonstrating Swing, the lesson Ed taught that evening.

Suzanne Hoffman, new member

Herb & Adrienne Schoenes, Maria & Ciro Robustelli provided refreshments at Deep Run in May

Ed and Tereasa's Swing Demo

New Member, Bonnie Cavins

Ed's swing lesson was so popular that we had to use the entire ballroom!