March NewsNotes

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.
If you have not responded to the survey please take the time to share your opinions, even if you have filled it out before we have made some changes and need your updated answers.  The survey results affect decisions on issues such as the class calendar and music so take a moment and share your thoughts.
 
Classes
In March our smooth/standard dance is Foxtrot and the latin/rhythm dance is Salsa.

Foxtrot

Foxtrot is a smooth dance, traveling around the line of dance. The long walking movements involve a subtle rise & fall action. Turning movements are similar to Waltz, but with a more moderate rise and fall, and more length-wise action. The Foxtrot is danced to music written in 4/4 time with the first and third beats of each measure more heavily accented. It is danced in combinations of slow and quick steps, with each slow step taking two beats and each quick step one beat of music. Foxtrot is extremely versatile and can be danced to a variety of musical styles and tempi. Foxtrot music has a tempo of 29 to 34 measures per minute.

The dance was premiered in 1914, quickly catching the eye of the husband and wife duo Vernon and Irene Castle, who lent the dance its signature grace and style. The exact origin of the name of the dance is unclear, although one theory is that it took its name from its popularizer, the vaudeville actor Harry Fox. Two sources credit African American dancers as the source of the Foxtrot: Vernon Castle himself, and dance teacher Betty Lee. Castle saw the dance, which "had been danced by negroes, to his personal knowledge, for fifteen years, [at] a certain exclusive colored club".

Salsa


Salsa is a popular form of social dance that originated in the Caribbean. The movements of salsa have origins in Puerto Rican bomba and plena, Cuban Son, cha-cha-cha, mambo and other dance forms. The dance, along with the salsa music, originated in the mid-1970s in New York. Different regions of Latin America and the United States have distinct salsa styles of their own, such as Cuban, Puerto Rican, Cali Colombia, L.A. and New York styles. Salsa dance socials are commonly held in night clubs, bars, ballrooms, restaurants, and outside, especially if part of an outdoor festival.

In many styles of salsa dancing, as a dancer shifts their weight by stepping, the upper body remains level and nearly unaffected by the weight changes. Weight shifts cause the hips to move. Arm and shoulder movements are also incorporated. It generally uses music suitable for dancing ranges from about 150 bpm (beats per minute) to around 250 bpm, although most dancing is done to music somewhere between 160.220 bpm. The basic Salsa dance rhythm consists of taking three steps for every four beats of music. The odd number of steps creates the inherent syncopation to the Salsa dancing and ensures that it takes 8 beats of music to loop back to a new sequence of steps.
 


Calendar

We have several cancellations a the end of the month: we are dark on 3/23, 3/25, and 3/30 because the ballroom will be in use for the Round Dance Festival or closed for Cesar Chavez Day.  The board considered cancelling the party due to the unusual number of dark nights but the decision was that as a social club we should hold the party.  the party is on March 9th hosted by John Nagel.

Remember to check the calendar in case there are last minute cancellations. Click the calendar image to view the online calendar.
 
Club Dance Party - March 9th

The party will be hosted by John Nagel -  our beginning class instructor.  John Nagel has been teaching people to dance for over 15 years. His skills stretch from International and American Ballroom to many of the popular street dances. His high-energy and fresh approach add excitement. John and his talented wife, Lisa Duncan, dance together all over San Diego.

We play music for a variety of dance styles, from classic ballroom (Waltz, Foxtrot, Tango) to Rhythm and Latin Dances (Salsa, Rumba, Cha-Cha, swing). We also take requests for your favorite song. There will be snacks and cool drinks in the foyer. During the course of the evening we will have a mixer or two and John will teach a short lesson that will be really fun and will get everybody on the floor.

Our parties are a potluck affair, we ask attendees to bring finger foods - sweet and savory - in disposable containers ready to serve.  The club will be providing extra sumptuous snacks in the way of savory foods

 
Lost and Found

The club stores lost items that we find after classes in a bag that is secured in our storage area when we are not in session. Check there first when you have forgotten something in the ballroom. When the bag overflows we take the lost items off site for storage prior to donating them to a worthy cause. The following list shows the items scheduled for donation, if you see an item that is yours contact a board member to retrieve the item:
  • Original Deer Coat - XL
  • Man's black pullover sweater - small
  • Man's gray pullover sweater - large
  • Woman's teal August Silk jacket - medium
  • Man's flannel shirt - large
  • Concepts by Claiborne black jacket - large
  • Nautica tan jacket - small
  • Black sweater with hood - maybe medium
  • Woman's L.L. Bean green jacket - small
  • Flipflops - tropical design
  • Woman's Banana Republic brown sweater - small
  • Gray sweater - large
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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 and the board will post last minute calendar changes and parking warnings.

 

Tim Waldowski
President, Balboa Park Dancers
http://www.balboaparkdancers.org
Phone (outgoing message only) 858-859-1926.