 December Announcements
 Survey
Please take the time to respond to our survey. The club board is always interested in suggestions and comments that improve your dancing experience. To that end we are conducting an electronic survey, please use the following link and help us be a better club:
Balboa Park Survey Page.
Classes
In December our smooth/standard dance is Waltz and the latin/rhythm dance is West Coast Swing.
Waltz
Waltz is a dance born in the suburbs of Vienna and in the alpine region of Austria. As early as the seventeenth century, waltzes were played in the ballrooms of the Hapsburg court. The weller, or turning dances, were danced by peasants in Austria and Bavaria even before that time. Many of the familiar waltz tunes can be traced back to simple peasant yodeling melodies. Today Waltz is a smooth progressive dance characterized by long, flowing movements, continuous turns, and rise & fall. Graceful and elegant, Waltz dancers glide around the floor almost effortlessly. The American style is punctuated with lavish open movements, underarm turns, and solo spins. At 28-30 measures per minute, the tempo is slow at best, but the expressive quality of the music often invites very powerful and dynamic movement from dancers. Waltz is the one of the easiest ballroom dances to learn so don't hesitate and join our classes and be ready for the holiday dances this months.
West Coast Swing
West Coast Swing is a form of swing dancing that is danced in a slot to moderate tempo blues, R&B and, in recent times, contemporary music. It is the smother, sexier version of the swing dance family. Its basic patterns are both 6 and 8 beats, but those patterns can be varied by +/- 2 beat increments. It is characteristically highly musical and can adopt many nuances from other forms of dance. This makes West Coast Swing a highly versatile dance form.
West Coast Swing is a really fun dance and allows the follower much greater freedom of movement to express the music.
Calendar
There is no classes on 12/1 and 12/24, we may be dark on the 31st, we suspect that attendance will be very low due to the New Year's celebrations. We will have our Christmas Dance party on December 8th.
Remember to check the calendar in case there are last minute cancellations. Click the image to view the online calendar.
After receiving comments on the extra workout Quickstep and East-Coast-Swing were we have shifted around the Rhythm dances in 2018, the new annual calendar is:
Membership Renewal
The renewal drive is in process. On most class nights between now and January a table will be set up in the Balboa Park Club foyer between 6:45pm and the first class. A BPD board member manning the table will be accepting payment of $20 cash/check or $21 credit card for the 2018 membership. Membership for new members will commence in late December.
If your last name, address, email or phone number has changed please write down your NAME and new information on a suggestion slip form and put it in the BLUE suggestion box on the entry table. Please, please remember to give us your name....it will make its way to membership and make the line move FASTER!
If you have lost your nametag, a new one is available for $2.00 to cover costs. If you are patient and can wait until we issue new tags for new members, we sometimes have empty slots and can provide a new one at no charge. Write your request on a piece of paper and put in the suggestion box.
**If your card has an issue with the barcode, the paper label can be removed with a coin edge and a little effort. Barbara/membership has goo-b-gone to manage this effort, leave your membership card with the cashier and we'll get your card repaired or issue another one at no charge.
Your Comments and Suggestions
Let me use this section to address comments: verbal, written, and electronic.
People ask about videos showing the classes or examples that can help them practice. For any given month the class calendar page has example music and YouTube videos for the beginning students. At the end of the month we post links to Kurt Popp's advance class figures. These calendar pages persist so you can go back and review the figures. We are working on a system for the intermediate students.
Sometimes beginners ask what it takes to get better. I know it can be intimidating to see other dancers so effortlessly dance. We have all been there, you must stick with it, they did. Take the classes, pay attention to the instruction, and practice when you can.
Sometimes people suggest we use multiple rooms or change the times of the classes. Through programs administered by the city of San Diego we get to use the fabulous ballroom at these times at no cost. There are no other rooms that are suitable for ballroom dancing at these times, and we have the best facility available.
The advanced class has a policy where new attendees should not join the class if they have not attended at least two out of four of the first four lessons. People who do join often slow down the class for everyone else. Observe the sign that is posted indicating of the class is open or closed to new attendees.
Facebook
The club now has a Facebook group page. We invite you to join the page to allow the cub to better communicate and allow you to engage with your fellow dancers. Our instructors will be posting tips and special events to improve your dancing, the board will post last minute calendar changes and parking warnings, and we will have photos and videos of special events like the showcase at the San Diego County Fair. We would also like you to post your music suggestions and get comments from other club members.
Tim Waldowski
President, Balboa Park Dancers
http://www.balboaparkdancers.org
Phone (outgoing message only) 858-859-1926.
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