Summary of Spring Quarter 2000 SBDC Activities

SBDC Aerials Workshops with Bob and Nancy

Bob Rogers and Nancy Sandburg, local Swing Dance and Aerials experts, conducted a Saturday afternoon workshop for us (April 15th, 2000). There were two classes, Beginning Aerials, and Intermediate Aerials. Everyone had a good time, and Bob and Nancy will be returning to conduct more weekend workshops for us.

4th Annual SBDC 1950's Sock Hop

The SBDC 1950's Sock Hop Dance Party was a big hit last Saturday night (April 29th), and all the Daddy-O's turned out ("Mommy-O's" too). We had plenty of music, dancing, and ice cream sodas to go around. The decorations in Rob Gym sent us back in time to the 1950's. We even had life-size cutouts of Betty Boop and James Dean for the evening. The games and contests were a huge success. Prizes were handed out to the winners of the costume contest (was that "Kirk" or "Leslie"), the Hula Hoop contest, and finally the Limbo Bar contest. One of the highlights of the dance was the premiere engagement of the SBDC Swing Performance Group! Well done. Thanks to everyone who participated in the Sock Hop Dance Party!

SBDC Week #3 Theme Dance: Crazy Hats

The Week #3 Theme Dance was a huge success (April 17th)! Many people came in costume, for the "Crazy Hats" Theme. We awarded prizes to the best and craziest hats. People arrived in balloon hats, paper hats, hard hats, flower hats, and many more! We also had a good mix of the swing, ballroom and Latin music for all styles of dancing. Tonight's dance started with a specialty Swing Dance instruction: The Hustle. We are looking forward to the Week #6 Theme Dance, Monday May 8th, "a Hawaiian Luau"!

SBDC Week #6 Theme Dance: A Hawaiian Luau!

The Week #6 (May 8th) Hawaiian Luau was a huge success and a lot of fun. We danced all night in Hawaiian costumes (natives, no; tourists, yes), including grass skirts, coconuts, head-bands, and flowers. Everyone got "lei'd" that night. We held a Limbo contest, and a costume contest. We started the evening with a specialty Ballroom instruction: The Bolero. The next SBDC Theme dance will be Week #9 (Monday, 29 May 2000), a "Pajama Jammy Jam"!

SBDC Week #9 Theme Dance: A Pajama Jammy Jam!

The Week #9 Pajama Jammy Jam (May 29th) was fun for all. Some of the club members showed up in their best "Jammies", and others brought their favorite bed-time friends with them. Dancing in slippers seemed like a fun thing to do, too. Others came prepared for a "sleep-over". The specialty dance instruction for tonight was: The Viennese Waltz. Everyone agreed that these every-third week dances were a huge success, and we decided to continue having these in the fall quarter.

SBDC End-of-the-Year Beach Party and BBQ!

To celebrate the end of the UCSB school year, the Swing and Ballroom Dance Club sponsored an "End-of-the-Year" Beach Party and BBQ at Goleta Beach, Saturday June 3rd. The SBDC provided all of the main dishes, drinks, and fixen's, and the club members provided the rest. The party was a lot of fun! There was music, dancing, water balloons, and super soakers. The food was good, too. This turned out to be a great study break, since finals were less than a week away for some.

SBDC Dance Performance Groups

Spring Quarter turned out to be a banner quarter for the Swing and Ballroom Dance Club Performance Groups. The Swing Performance Group, lead by Erin Leebolt, successfully completed their Charleston/Lindy Hop routine and performed it at several different dance events throughout the quarter. The group also competed in a local Swing Dance Contest, Team Division, and finished in Second Place! So, now we have an "Award Winning" Swing Performance Group. . .
The Ballroom Performance Group, under the direction of David Uejio, successfully completed and performed their Cha-Cha choreography during the Winter Quarter. For the Spring, they worked on and masterfully completed a Rumba choreography, which they premiered to the Saturday Night Ballroom Dance Association.
Most of the performance group members will be returning in the fall.

SBDC Dance Etiquette "Tip of the Week"

As a new feature for the Spring Quarter, and as a service to all of our SBDC members, and as a resource to the dance community, we began a Dance Etiquette "Tip of the Week" feature at our weekly club meetings. Each week, one of the SBDC officers would announce the "Tip of the Week". Also, these were accumulated and posted on the SBDC Web Site in case anyone missed them during the meetings.

SBDC Weekly Basics I Lesson Schedule

As another new feature for the Spring Quarter, the SBDC Weekly Basics I Lesson Schedule was posted on the SBDC Web Site. This schedule included the topics for the weekly Monday Night Club Meeting 30 minute Ballroom lesson and the 30 minute Swing lesson. Generally, each topic was covered for two consecutive weeks. SBDC club members were able to find the dance topics of interest from the schedule, and plan in advance to attend those lessons. All lessons were supervised or conducted by the SBDC club officers.

SBDC Movie Night

As a special treat, the Swing and Ballroom Dance Club showed the recent film, "Shall We Dance" for the Spring Quarter Movie Night. The SBDC provided the film and the auditorium. The club members supplied the popcorn and snacks. This movie is made in Japan, and is about the life of a shy accountant who becomes interested in Ballroom Dancing. He keeps his new-found hobby a secret from his family and non-dancing friends. He eventually reaches the point where he is able to enter a dance competition. The film is very funny. Most of us can identify characters in the film that we can relate to.

This page was updated by Steve Carlan on 12/30/2002.