general
Fall 2009 Update
Classes are starting soon:
Ballroom = Tuesdays 6:30-10:00, RMC Grand Hall
Tango = Wednesday evenings, TBA
Swing = Thursdays, 7:00-10:30, Miner Lounge
FREE DANCING! Every Tuesday, 10pm-midnight
TUESDAY, September 1 will be our first ballroom meeting. It’s a meet-and-greet dance, with pie from House of Pies!
More info coming soon…
Argentine Tango with Indre at Continental Club before Glover
In nature the circle often occurs in moments of transformation- the wave curls and breaks, the pebble dropped in a pool spreads a concentric pattern, the tree adds another ring. Such is life. Very similar to tango. In tango couples are turning all the time: in a big circle around the room in the line of dance, woman around the man, man around the woman.
Come and learn the Tango through turning. Learn 5 basic turns for social dance floor. 5 Mondays in a row.
Starting June 29 till July 27, Every Monday
At Continental Club 3700 Main @ Alabama
7pm- 8pm (Stay longer for glass of wine and dance tango to Glover Gill)
$40 for 5 classes, $10 drop-in, 50% discount for students.
To register, ask questions contact Indre at indrerapal (at) gmail (dot) com.
transform your life with tango
http://www.glovertango.com/home.html
http://www.continentalclub.com/Houston.html
In the Swing of things…
check out what the NewsBot turned up:
http://www.media.rice.edu/media/NewsBot.asp?MODE=VIEW&ID=3245&SnID=4
(RSDS Faculty Sponsor Dan Wallach, featured in a Rice News article from 2004)
Salsa dancing in May
The Melody Club and United Salsa Student Salsa Social Is Always The Third Thursday of The Month. The Next Will Tomorrow May 21, 2009.
The Houston Salsa Congress has new dates. The next congress will be January 14-17, 2010. Check out our newly confirmed performers who will come to Houston in 2010… May 31, 2009 is the last day to purchase discounted full passes for only $120…
Salsa socials at Sonia’s dance studio will continue as always the last Sunday of the month on Sunday May 31, 2009.
Year-End Report 2009
(as reported to the Student Activities office)
The Rice Social Dance Society holds three weekly dance classes – Ballroom, Swing, and Tango – taught by volunteer teachers from the Houston community. In the fall, RSDS hosted our second annual ballroom dancing competition, Dances with Owls. This competition invites dancers from nearby universities and community members to participate alongside our own members. RSDS also co-sponsored (with the Houston Swing Dance Society) the Harvest Moon Ball during Parent’s Weekend. The Harvest Moon Ball is a swing social with live music. In the early spring, RSDS hosted the four-day Houston Tango Festival, which provides a variety of Argentine tango workshops and evening dances. Finally, at the end of the spring semester, RSDS organized the Jazz Soiree, a social event for Rice students and other community members with live music provided by the Rice Jazz Ensemble. Check out the website — rsds.rice.edu — for information about past and future RSDS events.
Swing class tonight
Please note that although we met for the Sampler class at 7:00 while Terry and Van were teaching, Richard can come earlier so we are reverting to our original schedule!
6:30-7:30 Sampler class (Richard)
7:30-8:00 open dance time
8:00-9:00 Beginner Lindy Hop
Swing Sampler
The next three weeks of the Swing Sampler class (ie. up till our four day weekend) will be taught by Richard Lyders. Richard came to our swing class last semester quite a bit, so you might know him — he’s got spikey hair and he’s a really great dancer. Richard has been dancing with the Hepcats (the Houston Swing Dance Society’s performance team) for several years now.
Plus, Chloe, who will be teaching for two weeks after the break, will also be there, so we really get two for the price of one this round.
Beginner Lindy
Lindy Hop is the “grandfather” of all swing styles. This is the original dance from the 20s. It’s an 8-count dance and is traditionally danced to big band music (swing and jazz) but is extremely versatile and can be danced to anything from R&B to Matchbox 20 to 80s pop to… Well, you get my point.
What’s the difference from the class we’ve been teaching? Jitterbug is a six-count dance, and basically a somewhat simplified version of the Lindy Hop. The basic move is not the same, though you can mix Jitterbug steps into Lindy and vice versa (unless you’re at a competition, where they care about these things). More importantly, they both use the same lead-follow. In our Lindy class we will still spend time working on lead and follow, but in the context of learning the new dance style, techniques, moves, and footwork.
2009-2010 Officer Elections
It’s almost time to elect new officers for the 2009-2010 schoolyear!
The Officer Election Petition is available for download. If you’re going to run for an officer position, you need to fill out a petition and return it to us!
Elections will be held in late March.
We’ll publish the Constitution online before elections. In the meantime, you can read about the officer positions here:
The PRESIDENT shall…
- set a schedule for RSDS events
- have final responsibility for the organization of events
- along with the Vice-Presidents, act as a liaison to the Rice Administration and the US-ABDA
- convene and preside over meetings of RSDS
- have the power to appoint committees and determine their membership
The VICE-PRESIDENT shall…
- along with the President, act as a liaison to the Rice Administration and the US-ABDA
- perform other duties as determined by the President
The TREASURER shall…
- keep up-to-date and accurate records of RSDS finances
- act as a liaison to the Rice Administration on matters concerning RSDS finances
- be responsible for developing a budget
- administer fund-raising activities
The SECRETARY shall…
- be responsible for maintaining membership records
- handle all other recordkeeping necessary for the operation of the RSDS
- be responsible for RSDS publicity
The EVENTS COORDINATOR shall…
- be responsible for organizing all events, such as practice dances, cotillions, competitions, milongas, and socials
- perform other duties as determined by the Presdient
- NOTE: We allow up to three (3) Events Coordinators, to serve the Ballroom, Swing, and Tango programs. However, all the events coordinators will be responsible for contributing cooperatively to support the entire RSDS community.
If you have any questions, talk to Michael or Emilia (rsds@).
Officer Meeting minutes
Meeting Minutes
2009-02-09 RSDS Officer Meeting
agenda:
- Houston Tango Festival
- upcoming officer elections
- drop-in rates for dance classes
- the performance team
- schedule changes
- Jazz Soiree
meeting convened:
5:36pm
in attendance:
Emilski “el Presidente” Stepinski, Michael, Natalie Weber, Paul Anzel, Hannah Thalenberg, Heather Elliott, Vica Papp, Lez Tang, Emily Watkins, Tal E., Sriram Eleswarapu, Yang Hu, Autumn Allen, ZZ-pops, Joe, Becky
introductions:
Thank you Betty Crock– er, Becky Saunders, for the delicious cookies. Tal is taking over Swing unless somebody else wants to. Straw poll: nobody else wants to. OK, Tal, it’s all yours. Lots of people from tango and swing. W00t! Paul inserts shameless plug: Oil for Jazz is good stuff. Laura Liem is Emily Watkins’ sister. Pam == Super Awesome Team Mom.
officer elections:
We need more people involved with the club, contributing to planning, and sharing officer workload. Several officers are leaving next year, so people should start shadowing officers, especially Natalie. Tal, shadow Natalie. Everybody else, shadow Natalie. The rest of you can shadow me. You don’t have to be the super awesomeest dancer to be an officer. You just have to be interested and not a murderous pedophile. Talk to Michael or Emilia if you’re interested in being more involved with RSDS. Alternatively, just start doing stuff. (oh, and Emilia needs help organizing the UT Competition trip.)
jazz soiree:
Live band. Good times. Except we cant find a space yet. Martel is the new object of our desire. Autumn and Tal should bug Maria (Martel coordinator) about our space request.
Harvest Moon Ball:
Space has been requested. Natalie is going to a meeting. Take Tal and whoever else is interested in helping.
Houston Tango Festival:
We had good success communicating with HTF folks this year and getting some good perks for RSDS folks. Next year: performance team at HTF? “That could be cool.” Let’s ask for more beginner classes. Also, an “intensive workshop for just RSDS people” is in the works, tentatively slated to be given in the week preceding the festival. Anzel: “RSDS shoulds how up en masse at Milongas!” Send other ideas to Natalie.
LindyFest:
Coming up, March 21-23. Natalie will research prices. Michael Dirk is “international.” Heh.
drop-in rates for classes:
Difficult to keep track of prorated classes and individual payments. Conclusion: not for individual classes, but perhaps for special groups of classes. Straw poll says: Cool.
new swing schedule:
Free dancing, sampler class, semester-long Jitterbug class. Triple your options, triple your fun.
ballroom schedule:
Next semester might be on Tuesdays, due to Continuing Studies programs taking over the Grand Hall on Monday. Stay tuned for updates. Straw poll confirms: Tuesday isn’t quite as nice, but it’s not super terrible, either. Michael’s advice: Just keep your evenings free on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, and all will be well.
wannabe music directors:
Talk to Michael if you (A) want to DJ for RSDS free dance on Monday, or (B) need ballroom dance music.
other business:
Silence from the crowd. Conclusion: no other business.
meeting adjourned:
6:14, just in time to squeeze a couple good quicksteps in before lessons.
archival:
posted online – http://rsds.rice.edu
Respectfully submitted,
Michael Rog
RSDS Not-Secretary / Music Director
Beginning Swing Syllabus
A syllabus for the beginner swing class (Jitterbug) is up! We think it sums up pretty well the concepts and moves we will cover for each week, and gives you a good idea of the feel of the class:
Swing Dance Kick-off
Thursday night Swing begins this week, and we want to start the new semester with a bang. Join us for a free dance in Willy’s Pub with music provided by the wonderful Hailey Hinson. All are welcome, from beginners to advanced dancers from the community. If you’ve never been out with us dancing, this is a great opportunity to see some social dancing in action.
Hank Hauffe and Natalie Weber, the Beginners Swing instructors, will be there and will be happy to show you some moves. We’ll end the night with a short beginners’ introductory lesson, and encourage all seasoned dancers and RSDSers to stay to help out any beginners.
Please pass the word on to any dancers you know!
WHAT: Welcome-Back Swing Dance
WHERE: Willy’s Pub, basement of the RMC
WHEN: Thursday, January 15th. 7:00-8:30. Intro lesson follows.
Stay tuned for a syllabus of the beginners’ class this semester, and of a list of the advanced outside teachers we will be bringing in. See you Thursday!