DAKOTA TERRITORY
DANCE CLUB
NEWSLETTER
January
2003
Volume 10, Edition No 4,
January 2003
Our Primary Goal is to Promote Dance!
Officers
President Elect – Jim Bob Stephenson 342-2245
Vice President – Not currently filled
Vice President – Not currently filled
Treasurer - Gary Willmes 343-3309
Secretary – Not currently filled
Past Co- Presidents- Elaine Reed & Henry
Olivier
Committees
Cards: Kathy Goodrich 343-3309
Clean up: Need Volunteers
Telephone/E-mail: Dennis & Arlene
Wilkerson 255-4383
dawkrson@enetis.net
Jackets: Paul
and Mary Arthur 341-5682
Host:
Henry Olivier 343-3235
Membership:
Elaine Reed 343-8929
Newsletter:
Donald Reed reed_de@hotmail.com 343-8929
Practice:
Linda Splittstoesser 399-9813
Public Relations: Terry & Colleen
Marvin 341-1285
Tickets: Need a volunteer!
Workshops: Linda Splittstoesser 399-9813
Area
Representatives
Belle Fourche / Deadwood / Lead /
Spearfish
Sturgis / Whitewood / Vale
Patrica Hofer 644-1649
Rapid City
Arlene and Dennis Wilkerson 255-4383
Linda Splittstoesser 399-9813
The Board of Trustees
includes all elected positions at large, area representatives, and the last
past president. If your area appoints a
new representative contact the president so he/she can be included.
Advertising
Rates
Business card ad (card only, no larger
than 2 inches)
Non-member $45/12 or $25/6
Business card (member) $1 per issue
Full page ad $15.00 per issue
Half page ad $7.50 per issue
Per column inch $1.50 per issue
Fliers $.03 (150 flier minimum)
Send payment
with a brief worksheet explaining your figures to Dakota Territory Dance Club,
ATTN: Treasurer, PO Box 9583, Rapid City, SD
57709.
Newsletter
article deadline is the 20th of the month previous to publication. Contact a
board member or send information to Dakota Territory Dance Club % Newsletter
Chairman, PO Box 9583, Rapid City, SD 57701
http://rap.midco.net/reedde/www
Notes
From the PRESIDENT
The next member meeting will be at 6:30 pm Tuesday January 14, 2003 in
the main hall at the Canyon Lake Senior Citizens Center (Prior to the beginning
Cha-Cha class.)
The DTDC will be dancing to the music of “Fiddle Strings” at the Moose
Lodge in Rapid City, Saturday January 18th beginning at 8:00 PM.
Keep on dancing!
J.
R. Stephenson
DEC.
Meeting Minutes
Dakota Territory Dance
Club
Tuesday Dec. 14, 2003,
6:30 PM Canyon Lake Senior Citizen Center (CLSCC)
Minutes of previous meeting were approved as written in the newsletter.
The Dec 14th minutes were included
in the previous newsletter.
Don Reed
Publisher
PRACTICE
THE DANCE CLUB NEEDS YOU & YOU & YOU We can’t have too many people!
Our lessons
are held at the Canyon Lake Senior Citizen’s Center, and are usually located in
the Main Hall. Beginner level lessons,
emphasizing basic footwork, are at 7:00 p.m.
Intermediate level lessons, emphasizing patterns and moves, begin at
8:00 p.m. The charge is $2 per person.
Our cha-cha classes begin on Jan. 7th.
Henry & I will be doing the basic
classes
and Bill Gabbert will be doing the
Intermediate. We hope to see you all
there.
[We need single men, men, men!]
Scott Lagred will do the
nightclub-two-step
in
Feb. and Henry & I will do
the east-coast swing in Mar. April is
still
open, so if there is a dance you’d like to
learn or expand on, give me a call.
Instructors, if there is something you
would like to teach give me a call.
Again, all of you dancers remember these
instructors volunteer their time for
the lessons; that’s one reason the price
stays
so reasonable. Please, thank them for
their
efforts and patience.
See You on the Dance Floor!!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Linda Splittstoesser,
Practice
Chairman
Card Corner
Nothing to report.
Kathy
Goodrich-Willmes,
Cards Chairman, 343-3309
Email
Those who serve on the telephone committee appreciate all of the E-mail addresses we have now. It has saved many hours on the phone when notifying members of club activities. More addresses can save more time. We encourage those of you who have not shared your E-mail address with us to do so.
Send your E-mail address to:
dawkrson@enetis.net or reed_de@hotmail.com
jackets
The
new style jacket is available and can be purchased individually but at a
savings if several are ordered at one time.
Call Paul and Mary @ 341-5682 or superb39@home.com for more information.
Member Profile
Bill Gabbert
Bill began his exposure to dance in 1986 starting dance lessons at the NASA Dance Club . He instantly discovered that he either had two left feet or that he didn't really know which was his left foot ! However , he found that dancing was thoroughly enjoyable .....why had this taken him over 50 years ? Basic class followed basic class resulting in some minimal success . Years of counting followed until one day he discovered that it was possible to have a conversation with his dance partner on the dance floor - now that was true accomplishment ! Bill retired from NASA in 1989 , returned to South Dakota and immersed his energies into dance . Dance consumed his life for about the next five years . It was during these years that he entered into Competition Dance . Hour followed hour of practice and the stress between dance partners was too much . Dance was beginning to resemble work and Bill was retired . With the realization that his love of dance was being lost , he ended this phase of dancing . As an observer , he still enjoys the competitive events but realizes the time and dedication it requires to dance at those levels . Bill attended a number of Dakota Territory Dance Club Dances before becoming a member , but has been a member since December, 1995. Any excuse to go dancing is a good one and somehow the hours are gone so quickly ! Such pleasure .......... is this REALLY LEGAL ! Remember there are no such things as errors on the dance floor ...... only a new variation ! The long struggle and years of counting are now memories of enjoyment .
Membership
News
Thank
you to
those who have renewed their memberships:
Carol
& Ronald Kazmierczak
Carol
& Hugh Brechtel
Darla
Reddick
Membership Due Dates are printed on the
newsletter-mailing label. “Membership Due” is stamped on
newsletters the month previous to and the month of your membership due date. “Last
Newsletter” is used the month after your due date. Please use the
membership registration form enclosed to send your renewal ($15/ person.)
Happy Birthday to the following members:
January:
09 Gary Willmes
13 Les Harrington &
Becky-Gab Schroeder
17 Mary Arthur
20 Jo Carlson & Dave
Philips
21 Russ Ochsner
25 Wanda Pakalski
26 Al Boysen
February:
13 Gene Patterson
14 Jane DeSmet
15 Darwin Knudtson
16 Larry Paulsen
24 Sandra Knudtson
Anniversary’s:
February:
01
Elaine & Donald Reed
07 Kathy
& Gary Willmes
13
Ronalda & Dan Driscoll
Encourage
your friends to join us.
See
you on the dance floor!
Elaine
Reed,
Membership
Chairman
LaLee Van Leuven
Dance
BASICS
Raper
Enterprises, Inc.
Ladies
- Developing Your Double Turn Technique
By H.
Leon Raper
All
good dance instructors teach their students the important points relative to
developing good turn technique. Some students are able to adapt quickly to
these techniques, but most will not be able to adapt without quite a struggle and
a
lot of
hard work. The technique I describe here will allow ladies to quickly improve
their double turn technique. First, I will review the basics of good turn
technique such as: stand erect, keep eyes level, pick some point to spot, keep
your feet close together, and press up into the turn allowing the weighted
foot to
pivot in the direction of the turn - do not do a walking turn. Students will
say "I can't remember all that stuff at the same time." OK, lets get
into the technique that will work for most people. Of all elements of turn
technique I just mentioned, concentrate on one thing only. That is, "keep
your feet close
together
(almost touching)" as you execute the turns. Before going further lets
talk about some natural human reactions. When you turn quickly your mind tells
you to stick your foot out to the side to keep you your body in balance, but
when you do so, you find yourself off balance. You would think your mind would
know better, but for some unknown reason it doesn't. To solve the problem we
must do some exercises to convince the mind that you have a much better chance
of staying balanced with your feet close together. So, we will explore one
technique to accomplish that task. The technique is as follows: First, the
woman must concentrate on one thing only and that is keeping her feet close
together.
Second,
the man must make her feel completely secure by keeping his left hand in one
spot, directly over her head while she is turning. Thirdly, comes the practice
technique to develop a good double turn. I have found that using a
modified
tuck double turn throw-out from closed position feels the most
comfortable
for the lady and yields the quickest results. When I say a modified tuck double
turn throw-out, what I mean is a tuck double turn which leaves the lady right
in front of the man - not having her travel down the slot as would a normal
tuck double turn throw out. This allows her to execute a double turn
without
any travel whatsoever. During the execution of this turn the man is to keep his
hand very solid directly over the ladies head - not moving his hand at all
until she has completed her turns. This will make the lady feel very secure.
You can
try any of the other tuck turns, but I have found the lady feels the most
secure with the one from closed position - as I described. The lady will
probably be quite surprised the first time she tries this technique how well
she
able to
keep her balance. By just concentrating on keeping the feet close together we
automatically accomplish all the other things we talked about in the beginning.
For
instance, you will automatically stand erect, keep your eyes level, and press
up into the turn. If you don't, you won't be able to stay balanced and keep
your feet close together. With the newly found success most ladies will say,
"I keep reverting back to my old ways." They probably will revert to
their old ways. So, we have to develop a learning technique, through which
repetition will finally solve the problem. Now that the ladies know what to do,
they cannot expect to execute the turn correctly every time the man leads her
into a double
turn.
The lady still needs more help. Ladies, when you find yourself reverting to the
your old unsuccessful turn technique, stop right now. Tell who ever you are
dancing with that you want to work on improving your double turn technique.
Tell him how to lead you, and tell him when you want him to repeat the lead. He
won't mind at all. In fact, he will be flattered and feel good knowing that he
was able to help someone improve their swing dance technique. Experienced swing
dancers take their dancing very seriously. They know swing is a very difficult
dance to learn. They are very proud of their accomplishments and most are very
happy to help other less experienced dancers improve their dance technique.
They know someone helped them to learn and are quite willing to help others in
return. Please note, this double turn technique applies to men as well as
women.
However,
the practice methods will differ.
Published
in Flagstaff Swing Dance Club, Inc. Newsletter, August 1994
Published
in NTA (National Teachers Assn.) Newsletter, November 1994
NAME TAGS
Check out our new style name tags!
Beginning this dance year, new members were given complimentary name badges in
the new style. They are smaller, with
black background and gold lettering.
Best of all, they have a magnetic clasp, so thin material won’t get
damaged or torn, yet the magnets are strong enough to hold through very thick
material, such as a sport coat. If you
would like to replace your current name badge with the new style, the cost is
$6. Please call Elaine Reed (343-8929)
with your order.
Dance
team!
Linda Splittstoesser is organizing a
dance team for this
year. If you’d like dancing
Choreographed moves with
several other couples,
then this is the
activity for you!
Dance Team participation
helps you to hone your
lead and follow skills
and the repetition of doing the
choreographed patterns
enhances your ability to
perform them on your
own.
Please call Linda (399-9813) ASAP to join.
UPCOMING DANCE EVENTS:
January 17th, 2003 – Council Bluffs,
Iowa.
“Country Dance” on new 4000 sq. ft., Oak dance floor. $6.00, from 7:00
PM to Midnight. BYOB. Council Bluffs
“Center” 714 South Main St.
Ron Doering 402-296-4429
Dance Fiesta – 2003 in Cancun, Mexico:
Jan. 25 – Feb. 1, 2003. Also
March 21-23 – “Tri State Dance Fest”
Workshops line dance & couples also
competitions. Dubuque, IA.
For more information, contact Mary & Dean
Faast 651-738-0712, Fax: 651-578-3838,
E-mail fasstcntry@aol.com
or check Web site: http://www.faastcountry.com
February 14 – 16, 2003
“Line Dance Showdown” The Weston
Waltham, Mass.
70 Third Ave. Waltham, MA. 02451. 1-800-937-8461
or www.linedanceshowdown.com
March 28 – 30 “March Madness in Music City” – Workshop
Weekend. Nashville, TN
Event Coord. Jamie Marshall, 615-822-7345
E-mail: jddancer@aol.com
April 19 “Dance-A-Lot”
workshops
Kenosh, WI. Workshops & evening dance.
Debi Erskine, 262-554-6547, E-mail: gale@dancalot.com.
From
the December Dinner/Dance, we’d like
to
give a BIG Thank You, to
all of the Spot Light
Dancers. Pictures on next page:
Zee & Bill
Linda & Henry
Lorry
& John Talley
Hot Shots
DTDC
Dancers
Wanda
& Dave
Naomi
& Les
Heartland
Dancers
