The 6th Annual High Desert Dance Classic will be held March 12-14th in Lancaster, CA at Antelope Valley College.

This event is a perfect dance camp for the social dancer with over 25 workshops taught by US Champions in Ballroom/latin, West Coast Swing and Salsa, over 96 dance competitions for the competitive dancer and the perfect warm up for USA Dance Nationals and Emerald Ball, social dancing, performances and more.

Registration for adults is $100 for the entire weekend, or $70 gets you a Saturday Ballroom pass. College students and students under the age of 35 get in for the entire weekend for only $35.

For more information, please visit www.highdesertdanceclassic.com

David Grace and his talented dance partner and wife Annette have informed us they’ve started a new party, slated for the 4th Friday of every month, at International City Lodge #389 in Long Beach.

David Grace is a South Bay/Harbor-area professional dance instructor who for the past several years has taught ballroom classes for USA Dance L.A.’s Middle School outreach program. His new dance helps supports the Lodge’s community programs, including Relief for Haiti Earthquake victims and a Child Identification System that helps authorities track down missing or abducted children.

David and Annette’s first dance is on Friday, April 23rd. It kicks of with beginning and intermediate level dance workshops taught by David, starting at 7:30 PM and 8:00 PM, respectively. The workshops are followed by general dancing from 8:30 to 11:00 PM.

Regular admission is $10 but USA Dance L.A. members with valid card will get in for $8!

International City Lodge #389 is located at 5155 E. Pacific Coast Highway, Long Beach, CA 90804.

For more info contact David Grace at (949) 278-1989 or captgrace@hotmail.com

At the South West Regionals in Long Beach in early February, hosted by the Orange County Chapter, L.A. Chapter members including five former L.A. Board members showed up to compete or to simply volunteer to help. It’s rare to have the Nationals this close to home, but you don’t have to compete to enjoy. If you love ballroom dancing, just watching and being there is a great way to get the most out of your USA Dance membership.

You can even volunteer your time to help if you want, in exchange for a free ticket to attend the events.

TICKETS:

Tickets for each day and evening are available online at usadancenationals.org. Daytime events are available for $15 and evening events for $35. (There is a $5 additional cost for tickets purchased at the door.) There are also weekend packages available ($90 for 3 evenings only; $120 for 3 days and 3 evenings). There are tea dances on Friday and Saturday for social dancers from 3-5 pm. Heats for the competitions and some dance workshops are available during the daytimes, and the evenings are devoted to the finals in the various categories. Saturday evening should be especially interesting, since it will feature a number of special exhibition dances in addition to the championship finals in some categories.

Thus, for little or no money, you can see some great ballroom dancing, and unlike most attendees, you won’t need a plane or a hotel to be there. It’s Los Angeles!

For all the exciting details, visit usadancenationals.org and mark your calendar today. If you miss this, you’ll regret it.

– Jeffrey The Barak, USA Dance L.A. Chapter 4031 Member

USA Dance L.A. is proud to announce our March 21, 2010 SPRING DANCE featuring a SURPRISE MYSTERY INSTRUCTOR, one of the most
accomplished instructors in the country who will be teaching a Waltz lesson.

Then, elegant Ballroom Dancing, Smooth and Latin, plus Hustle and West Coast Swing from DJ James Woo.

Download the flyer in JPG or PDF format.

* Beginners Welcome
* Dance Hosts for Ladies
* Mixers
* Complimentary hors d’ouvres
*Water $1 Donation or bring your own

Schedule
*Doors open at 6:00 p.m.
* 6:30 p.m. Promptly – complimentary lesson
*Open Dancing from 7 – 10:00 p.m.

Where

SUNDAY, March 21, 2010 at Culver City Veteran’s Memorial Hall (4117 Overland Ave. CC 90230 at the corner of Overland and Culver)

*Room for 400 dancers!
*Plenty of FREE parking in all the lots along Culver Blvd.

Admission:
$15 USA Dance members (please bring card)
$25 for non-members
Or Join tonight ($25) and enter for just $10 ($35 total)

David Spetner, USA Dance L.A. President (left) with Anna Trebunskaya and Jonathan Roberts of Dancing with the Stars

Our January 31 party was kicked off with a lively foxtrot lesson by Jonathan Roberts and Anna Trebunskaya.  Jonathan told us at the start of the lesson that their offering tonight would be a sample of the way they teach the “stars” they work with on “Dancing with the Stars.” The formula for flash he presented consisted of some fairly simple steps (the most complicated being a “grapevine”) enhanced by a lot of style in arm and body movements. Most of the crowd were experienced dancers who—even in the face of some confusion about rotating partners—were able to follow along and enjoy the coaching from these two consummate professionals. At the end of the lesson, Jonathan picked one couple to demonstrate for the whole group their impressive form in the sequence he’d just taught us. Amazing what these two fine teachers accomplished in a half-hour class!

Jonathan Roberts of Dancing with the Stars teaching at our Jan. 31 2010 dance

For the rest of the evening, we all enjoyed dancing to James Woo’s excellent music—a skillfully chosen mix of standard ballroom dances spiced up with a sampling of salsa, bolero, hustle, Argentine tango, samba and quickstep. As always, the waltz and foxtrot mixers brought the most people out on the floor, and for once the men’s line was almost as long as the women’s. The tasty snacks on the buffet table were devoured quickly by the larger-than-usual crowd of over 300 hungry dancers. All in all, it was a wonderful way to spend a cold winter’s evening.

  —Judith Searle

• Reina Bibber – Treasurer
• Winnie Carnegie
• Jerry Hernandez – Dance Hosts
• Herbert McGurk – Vice President
• Dave Pierce
• Nancy Rincon
• Judith Searle – Secretary
• David Spetner – President
• Livia Squires – Public Relations/publicity
• Marilyn Tucker
• Charles Edelsohn

We will update our Board of Directors page with the new board and their photos soon.

Thanks go to our membership for participating in the election. Here are the stats on the election: We received 138 ballots and each candidate recieved well over a 50% majority vote. Individual positions/titles, such as President, VP, Secretary, etc. will be decided at our next board meeting in early January.

USA Dance L.A. welcomes the new board and is looking forward to a great future.

Visit our Board of Directors page to learn more about our board!

Our Dec 6 Holiday Dance Toy Drive (Board Members from left to right: Ron Parker, Barbara Rosenberg, Meredith Stern, Harris Sperling at

Our Chapter finished out the year with a terrific holiday party.  Members were treated with a no-fee entry to a festive evening, highlighted with a lively lesson in salsa dancing, taught by Leba, and great dance tunes played by our wonderful DJ, James Woo.     The evening was made more special by having over 40 people sign up as new USA Dance members and putting the Chapter’s overall membership well over the 500 mark.   Our party goers came through with a bounty of gifts for our Toys for Tots drive and a number of children will have a big smile as a result. The Chapter president, Harris Sperling, presented a gift certificate to James Woo for his great work at each of our dance parties and lauded the work of the board during the past year.  He noted that this was not only the last dance of this year but also completed the term of the present board.

Dance features snacks and water. For more info visit Ballroom by the Bay