Summary of Spring Quarter 1999 SBDC Activities

Weekly SBDC Club Practice Meetings

The SBDC Club Practice Meetings were held on Monday nights in Rob Gym room 2320, from 8:30 pm to 10:45 pm. The average attendance at these meetings ranged from 75 to 150 dancers. Meetings consisted of our Basics I introductory dance program (for the beginning dancers), our Basics II practice and styling program (for the intermediate or advanced dancers), announcements of upcoming activities, and demonstrations or exhibitions.
In the Basics I program, introductory lessons were held in East Coast Swing, Lindy Hop, Charleston, The Madison, and other swing variations. Time was set aside at the weekly meetings to review these steps. Also, for those members who attended the SBDC Saturday or Sunday Afternoon workshops, time was set aside to review those steps as well.

Weekly SBDC Ballroom Dance Practice Night

For the Winter Quarter, the Ballroom Dance Practice Night was moved to Monday nights to coincide with the regular Weekly SBDC Club Practice Meetings. The Ballroom Dance Practice Nights were held from 8:30 pm to about 10:45 pm in Rob Gym room 2320 and Rob Gym room 1430. These were conducted by SBDC Ballroom Dance Coordinator Porfirio Landeros and his dance partner Laetitia Santore.
Each week, they showed introductory steps for three different smooth and Latin ballroom dances, including the Waltz, Foxtrot, Tango, Cha Cha, Mambo, Salsa, Rhumba, and Samba. Time was also set aside each week for practicing all the different ballroom steps.

Spring Quarter Workshops . . Workshops . . Workshops

The Swing and Ballroom Dance Club offered many workshops this quarter! For Ballroom Dancers, we held an all-day Workshop on Saturday April 24th featuring top DanceSport professional dancer/instructor, Paul St Denis of Los Angeles. We offered three classes: beginning, intermediate, and advanced/competition level. Each of these classes covered Smooth Ballroom steps and Latin Ballroom steps.
For the Swing Dancers and Lindy Hoppers we offered a variety of professionally taught workshop classes. We held three more Lindy Hop Aerials classes (beginning through advanced levels) on Saturday afternoons in April and May, taught by local instructors Bob Rogers and Nancy Sandburg. We also offered a Monday evening workshop of Balboa (beginning level) taught by local instructor Jonathan Bixby.
The SBDC is very pleased to be able to provide these workshop opportunities for its members. We welcome all members to try these classes to expand their dance repertoire and abilities. Most of the instructors who teach workshops for the SBDC are available locally for continued group or private lessons, as well.
(Photos to be added.)

Spring Quarter Big Band Dance

The Spring Quarter Big Band Dance (Friday May 14th) was a blast! The SBDC went all out for this event and brought the Art Slade 14-Piece Big Band Orchestra to play for us. They put us back to an earlier time as they played a variety of 1930's and 1940's Swing and Big Band numbers to a very enthusiastic crowd. The band intermissions featured an exciting Jack-and-Jill Swing Dance competition.

The SBDC Spring Quarter Big Band Dance featured the Art Slade 14-piece Big Band Orchestra.

Dance History Video Night

The SBDC again held two dance history video nights during the Spring Quarter. We watched film and video clips of the origins of swing dancing and Lindy Hop, documentaries compiled by National Geographic about the "Jitterbug", dance competition videos, "Groovie Movie", Herrang Dance Camp videos, Betty Boop, Swing Camp Catalina highlights, and much more! We also watched the Swing and Ballroom Dance Club commercial that was filmed in December 1998, and is currently airing on Cox Cable channel 17.

Swing Dance "Field Trips"

The SBDC Club members took part in the monthly Santa Barbara Elk's Lodge Sunday Afternoon Big Band Dances. These events are open to the public, and are a fund raising event for the Elk's Lodge. The Elk's provided the Big Band ("Kings of Swing"), a large wooden dance floor, and the facilities. The SBDC brought the dancers! These monthly field trips will continue in the summer.
SBDC Club members also took part in the local Santa Barbara Swing Dance Scene during Spring Quarter! The most popular dancing spots in town were Wednesday nights at the Yucatan, and the First and Third Friday Night Swing Dances at the Carrillo Recreation Center. You would be sure to find several dozen SBDC members dancing up a storm!

This page was updated by Steve Carlan on 5/13/2005.