President’s Letters

Hi!

On November 19^th at the Keith Holmes VFW Post #402 in Coraopolis, we danced to Mark Boucher’s music, learned a lively Tango from Mikayla Schultz and enjoyed the Tango routine she and Cris Sharpley, both instructors at the Arthur Murray South Hills Studio, performed at half time.

Our December 17 dance at the Lauri Ann West Community Center in O’Hara Township will feature Jon and Stratton DeWitt teaching Viennese Waltz and Brian Lee’s music. 

There’s still time to indicate your interest in becoming a board member! We’ll take your self-nomination form at the December 17 dance.

Members of the current Board of Directors have agreed to stand for re-election:  Michelle Clark; Jane Downing; Janine Hauck; Andy Orochena; John Siefken; and Megan Stanis. We will present the slate for 2023/24 at the January 21 dance at the Coraopolis VFW. The more volunteers we have, the easier each activity becomes. We particularly need volunteers to help with social media/marketing and the special initiatives- collegiate and special needs outreach programs.

It’s been a busy 2022!  We supported the USA Dance Inc. National Competitions on April 1-3; tested different formats for incorporating competition preparation in three dances including two on Sundays; launched the Special Needs Dance Program; and hosted nine social dances including a dinner dance on the third Saturday of the month, a social dance at Nationals and a segment of Jeff Shirey’s Summer Dance Festival at Avonworth Park.

We’re beginning to plan our activities for 2023 and would appreciate any feedback you might have on new activities we might try, or things we tried this year and could have done better.

I am grateful for the contributions each of our board members brought to our activities; Eva Maschak and the volunteers who helped during the USA Dance National Competitions; Christine Zona for her help in programming for collegiate dancers; all our instructors and DJ’s; and everyone who has attended our dances. 

Best wishes for a meaningful holiday season and hope to see you dancing soon!

Jane Downing, President USA Dance Pittsburgh Chapter #3007

Hi!

October has been a busy month for our Chapter.

• On October 9, we launched the weekly Special Needs Dance Program being held at the Arthur Murray South Hills Studio. Many of the Yes, You Can Dance! performance team are attending classes led by April Fisher and Hannah Clark. USA Dance member mentors include Dennis McCann, Linda Kuosman, and Keith Swanson. Barb Johnson, Cecilia Mallama, John Siefken, and Jari Jariwala continue to manage the in-between session details. A Halloween party was a big success.
• At Wightman School, on October 2 and 30, we held pilot social dancing / competition preparation events. Christine Zona provided incredible detailed coordination for both, including recruiting Aaron May, formerly Arthur Murray Downtown, and Jimmy Page, Night and Day Dance Studio (who also MC’d) at judges for the Mock Competition. Anne Wildenhain served as Scrutineer (score recorder). We believe it was successful for those who participated! Like most first-time ventures, there were lessons learned…so more to come. On October 15, Cris Sharpley, Arthur Murray South Hills, taught Nightclub Two Step and Amanda Wolf DJ’d. We appreciate everyone who attended these events.

On November 19th from 7-10:30 pm, we hope to see you at the Keith Holmes VFW Post #402 in Coraopolis to dance to tango instruction by Mikayla Schultz, Arthur Murray South Hills, with music by Mark Boucher.

It’s time to elect USA Dance Pittsburgh Board of Directors for 2023 and 2024! Responsibilities include:

• attendance at monthly board meetings the week before the social dances
• attendance at monthly dances (3rd Saturday of the month)
• planning & implementing special initiatives such as dinner dances, Special Needs Dance Program, social dance / competition prep activities, and workshops
• organizational activities such as membership, communications, recruiting instructors and DJs

There are nine Board member positions. If you’re interested and contact me by November 30 (contact info, email, (412) 508-1952, or one of the dances), I’ll send you the self-nomination form. If we receive more than nine nominations, we’ll send out ballots. If fewer agree to serve, USA Dance members will ratify the nominations at the January 2023 dance.

We are thankful for your participation and support for all our activities. Best wishes for a Happy Thanksgiving!

Jane Downing, President, USA Dance Pittsburgh Chapter #3007

April 2022

Great news! Everyone on the national planning committee for the 2022 USA Dance National Ballroom DanceSport Championships in Pittsburgh at the Wyndham Grand from April 1-3 thought we did a terrific job. It attracted nearly 900 dancers, about half collegiate! The committee said this was the best Nationals in a very long time, in part because the Chapter worked with them throughout. Thanks to Eva Maschak’s care and organizing ability, they loved the professionalism and attitude of the 56 volunteers, especially those who worked more than 8 hours, many who worked multiple days, and the anti-doping chaperones who worked after midnight. (The committee wants to import all the volunteers to Cleveland next year…) They also thought we did a great job in attracting competitors and spectators and hosting a great Social Dance. Hats off to all of you who participated!

Special thanks to Christine Zona for sharing her knowledge of USA Dance competitions throughout the six months of planning and creative ideas for involving the three collegiate clubs in our adult activities; Eric Kiefer, John Siefken, Eva Maschak who put in three 17- hour days as coordinators for awards, ballroom floor monitoring and music for the Social Dance, and volunteers, respectively, and Janet McQuaid for organizing the first consignment shop at Nationals; Dmitry Demidov, Chris Drum, Kent Berkey for participating in the Pro/Am competitions with 11 students; Carlos and Liz Blandino-Lopez for competing as Professionals; Michael Haynie/Mara Linaberger, Jon and Stratton DeWitt, Jerry Freiberg/Julie Mavrodis, Chuck Watson/Lynn Preisser, Kent Berkey/Virginia Gill, John and Deana Foley, Daniel and Joy Grise, and Keith Munshower/Lisa Pope for being Adult competitors; at least 40 students competing on the 5 collegiate teams from CMU and  Pitt; Jim Page for organizing the fun dances at the Social Dance, and being an anti-doping chaperone; and Gabriela Citrone for developing and posting our social media outreach.     

March 19 Dance at the Keith Holmes VFW Post in Coraopolis.  Many thanks to Carlos and Liz Blandino-Lopez, Arthur Murray South Hills Studio, for the Bachata lesson and performance and to Mark Boucher for the great music. 

Our next dance on May 21 will be at the Lauri Ann West Community Center in Harmar Township. Rozana Sweeney from Art and Style Dance Studio will teach ChaCha and will be the DJ. 

Our June 18 dance will be at Wightman School, and we’ll be participating in Jeff Shirey’s Outdoor Summer Dance Party on Sunday, June 26 from 5-7:30 pm at the Avonworth Community Park Pavilion.

Jane Downing, President, USA Dance Pittsburgh Chapter #3007