Greater Columbia Chapter #6032

USA Dance, Inc.

September 2001 Newsletter

From the President’s Desk

We were very saddened to read about the tragic death of one of Columbia’s premier amateur dancers and USC professors, Charlotte Elfe. Charlotte had been ill with Bulber’s palsy for several years and she succumbed to the illness on August 14. Charlotte and her husband, Wolfgang, were two of the founders of our own Columbia USABDA chapter, and they nursed it through its infancy to its maturation. Beautiful and accomplished dancers, they competed in USABDA events throughout the United States. They were even featured on the cover of The Amateur Dancer, and they served as dance ambassadors for Columbia wherever they traveled. Last year, our Columbia chapter sponsored a $300 scholarship in their name for the winner of the Championship Standard event at the Southeastern Regional USABDA Competition. We are again offering the scholarship this year in Charlotte’s memory. It is the least that we can do. Charlotte did so much to inspire all that met her to dance as if there were no tomorrow. We will miss her greatly.

USABDA National Competition, Salt Lake City

August has been a very busy month for amateur dancers. Grace Keller and I had the wonderful opportunity to compete once again at the USABDA National Competition, this year held at the Grand America Hotel, Salt Lake City, Utah. Salt Lake is rapidly gearing up for the 2002 Winter Olympics and the Grand America Hotel will be one of the major hotels available. Grand hotel it is – we haven’t seen so much marble since Versailles! The competition as usual was a first class event – it was sort of a who’s who of ballroom competitors with judges including Corky Ballas, Victor Veyrasset, Heather Smith, Darius Mostieca, Dan Callaway, and Silke Nowak among other notables. Grace and I learned some rather important lessons that we will pass on to you. Perhaps the most interesting lesson is that USABDA is moving towards incorporating the international standard heat timing of two minutes per heat. Most of the heats were one minute fifty seconds – including Viennese Waltz and Quickstep, instead of the one minute thirty seconds at previous events. As a result, conditioning was important especially since Salt Lake is close to 5000 feet above sea level! Choreography was very important - we found, at least at our proficiency levels, the need to dance particular amalgamations along the short wall and along the long walls in almost a strict order simply to keep the dance moving. Also, the dance floor in one ballroom was smaller than the full size floor in the other. Consequently, floor conflicts were the rule rather than the exception. We had to learn to deal with them on the spot, regain our form and continue with our choreography, and try to recapture the beat of the music. One of our teachers had told us that the way to deal with dance conflicts is to really stretch your dance frame, rather than shrink it. Sometimes we were successful and sometimes we weren’t. We also found that effective arm styling is extremely important at this level of competition – so get comfortable with it and really hold your frame up.

Finally, the judges enforced the rules for no costumes at syllabus level events - that is, Gold level and below. Competitors were not allowed to wear tail suits or ball gowns until dancing at least at the novice level and above. Therefore, we were judged strictly for our dancing and frame, and not for our costumes. Overall however, Grace and I had some success and some disappointments. We were thrilled to earn a first place in the American Silver smooth event – especially miraculous since I can never seem to find the beat in Foxtrot (good thing Grace back-leads!).

Next year’s national competition will be held in Minneapolis and we are already looking forward to the event. The Nationals are really the best of everything USABDA has to offer!

Florida Dance Spree Weekend

Southeastern Regional Dance Championships

The Southeastern Regionals will again be held at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta.  This is one of the premier amateur comps in the country.  If you can’t make it to the Nationals, then the SRC is a close second in terms of quality.  We are very fortunate to have been offered two free weekend passes to the SRC, including the Saturday night banquet.  We will be holding a raffle drawing and the winner of the raffle will receive both tickets.  Raffle tickets will be sold for one-dollar each at our August 25 and our September 8 dances, with the winner to be announced at the September 8 dance.  The value of each ticket is $55, so please don’t miss this fantastic opportunity.

That’s all for now.  See you at The Barn on September 8 and 22.  Keep dancing!

National Ballroom Dance Month, September 2001

In celebration of National Ballroom Dance Month, we are again offering beginner ballroom dance lessons at various locations throughout the Columbia area in September.  Friarsgate Park, in Irmo, will have swing and foxtrot lessons on Tuesday, September 4, and cha cha and rumba lessons on Tuesday, September 11.  We will offer swing and foxtrot lessons at Perez Gym at Fort Jackson on Wednesday, September 19, and at The Barn on Saturday, September 22.  Swing and foxtrot lessons will also be offered at Polo Road in Northeast Columbia on September 26.  These will be beginner lessons and will cost only a nominal amount.  Please call me  for times and for more information.

Daytona Beach National Dancesport Festival

We will be telling you much more about the National Dancesport Festival in the coming months.  Once again it is being held at the Ocean Center in beautiful Daytona Beach, Florida – right across from the ocean.  Plan on attending!!  The dates are January 5 through January 12.  It features workshops all day long taught by world-class professional championship competitors, nightly dance competitions, floorshows, nightly social dances, a full meal plan, and great fun and socializing.  We went in 2000, and it was absolutely GREAT!!  The only – and I do mean only – bad part of the event is that my legs were tired from all the dancing!  It is without a doubt, the best and most reasonable dancing of your life!  We hope to see you there – it would be great if we could get a contingent of people from Columbia to attend.  The rates for students are especially reasonable, so plan now to book at least four to a room!!  We will have registration packets available at our dances, if you are interested.

Nominating Committee Notes

    You should have received your ballots to elect our GCC-USABDA’s President and Treasurer for a two-year term.  Our job is to elect qualified and willing people to serve on the board for the entire term of their respective office.  These candidates should also be able to work with other directors, with both local ballroom dance schools, and should be willing to welcome new membership. 

 All GCC USABDA members in good standing as of August 1, 2001, are eligible to vote.  Included with your ballots is a resume of the candidates for each office.  In addition to the candidates’ names is a space for write-in candidates.  Remember – if you are writing in a candidate’s name, make sure he or she is willing to serve and is willing to devote the time and patience required for that position.  The ballots must be returned in the self-addressed, stamped envelopes enclosed with your ballot, by September 19, 2001.

Timetable for the election process:

 Receive ballots, voting deadline - September 19

Count, validate ballots - September 20 - 21

Announce new officers -at the September 22 dance

Currently Interested in assuming office:

President

    Mike Verdone (incumbent): He is completing a 2-year term as GCC USABDA President.  He is a competitor level USABDA dancer.  He is reponsible for the music board at all USABDA dances, increasing our music CD library and establishing our dance video library.  Away from USABDA, he is the General Manager and Secretary/Treasurer of Creative Outdoor Designs, is a member of the Government Relations committee of the Lexington Chamber of Commerce, and is retired from the U.S. Air Force.  Mike is also an avid college football fan.

 Treasurer

   Jerry Camillo (incumbent):  Jerry is completing the prior Treasurer’s 2-year term as Treasurer of GCC USABDA.  He also has a BS-BA degree with a major in Hotel and Restaurant Management from the University of Denver and an MBA with a major in Accounting from the University of Baltimore, with ten years of experience managing restaurants and 25 years’ experience in the accounting field.  For the last 22 years he has worked at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of South Carolina.  During his tenure there he has installed the Corporate Accounting, Cost and Cash Disbursement Systems, managed many departments.  For our club, Jerry has completely computerized the club’s accounting system, to include monthly attendance reports, new member reports and budget reports.  Prior to being Treasurer, Jerry was the Member-at-Large.