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[1/26/2010 SteppersUSA Daily News]
Convention or Party Weekend?
By Markie Bee
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Today's Steppers Beat column is sponsored by: Steppers West Associates "A Memorial Day Weekend Jam" starting May 28, 2010 through May 31, 2010 at The Plaza Hotel and Casino One Main St., in Las Vegas, NV, 89101. They are offering a 4 Day Package Deal for $80!
What YOU would call a "REAL steppers convention"?
Yesterday, when I told the world that the CSC steppers convention would return, I received some interesting feedback. I started to wonder… what is the difference between a steppers weekend (3 or more parties under an umbrella organization) and a steppers convention?
First, I went to the World Dance Council's (WDC) website (www.wdcdance.com) to see if they had a convention and what it consisted of. The closest I got to finding a convention was a general administrative meeting, so I continued to search.
Next I went to the World Swing Dance Council's (WSDC) website (www.swingdancecouncil.com) and once again no such luck. The closest thing to a convention appears to be the WSDC Hall of Fame Presentation.
I decided to check for dance conventions in some other forms of dance. Salsa has what they call a
 

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"Salsa Congress" (in what seems virtually every city on the planet) but as I looked deeper it appears these are a get together for workshops, parties, artist showcases, dance demonstrations and salsa contests.
There is a Hip Hop dance convention but that consists of most of the same things you would see at a "Salsa Congress".
Square Dancing has a convention (filling a basketball arenas seats) it looks like they've been having it going on 59 years. The convention has an opening ceremony, dance events, BBQ's, parades, fashion shows, speeches, dancing, demonstrations, and workshops. They even had a press breakfast meeting where the room was as big (and as filled) as some of our largest events. So what seems to me to be line dancing's older cousin has a real convention which would fit a classic definition similar to conventions in business or politics.
Anyone who has been to a business convention of almost any type knows there is a certain amount of "business" involving speeches, and demonstrations, but most go because they can party.
So I guess a steppers party weekend is really just shy from being a real dance convention. If you think about it, when there are "steppers roundtables" with workshops, weekends full of dancing and the occasional picnic or BBQ might just be about as close as we can come to having a real "dance convention" or "dance congress".
At this point we don't have enough cohesiveness and cooperation happening among the various factions and groups (at least) in Chicago. Hopefully, people will get it together to properly represent as a unified and harmonious collection of steppers that can present large scale events like the other dance forms have been doing for years.
If you were to put together a steppers convention, how would you do it? What would be the makeup of the convention? What type of events would you like to see to make it what YOU would call a "REAL steppers convention"?
Still wading through bureaucracy
I'm burning up the phone minutes trying to find the right people at the Red Cross to help with the $100,000 Steppers Challenge. I'm determined to get results. I'll keep you posted.
The ISA conference call
I had an email exchange with Tim Wilson about the conference call I couldn't get into. He said, "We had a great call." He also said, "We are now collecting membership fees of $100 for charter members and $100 for Life Members. We anticipate having a working budget by 1 February which will provide the start up capital to move forward. Please see the schedule in the FAQ for the time line. The only change is that Washington DC will be the location for the charter ceremony on 26 June 2010."
If you haven't seen the official International Steppers Association (ISA) Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document from Tim Wilson who is the point man in this initiative. For your convenience I created a page on the site in proper FAQ format as well as a link to the original PDF file for you to download.
In the document there are 18 questions and answers to questions like: What is the International Steppers Association? Why are we aligned with the World Dance Council or World Swing Dance Council? Who are the members of the ISA? Why (and how) should I join? What does the initial membership pay for? As well as the one I personally consider to be the most important... Why organize stepping now?
They touch on important issues like insurance and standardized terminology as well as children's programs.

 

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