Goals

Our goal is to introduce the lesbian and gay community to the delights of ballroom dancing. As a group, we choreograph numbers in west coast swing, waltz, tango, east coast swing, freestyle, cha cha, and other ballroom dances, then perform these at the many lesbian and gay festivals and shows in Southern California and Las Vegas.

Welcome potential new member,

Thank you for showing interest in participating with Out Dancing Ballroom.

Rehearsals:

Contact us before you show up.,

General Description:
This dance troupe uses choreographed ballroom numbers with full costumes. Dancers do not need to be experts in dance, just great enthusiasm and a willingness to learn. The goal of the group is to introduce the lgbt community to the delights of ballroom dancing. As such, we are a performance troupe and performing skills are of utmost importance.

This is a cooperative effort. We need dancers, choreographers, costume designers, and people with organizational skills in media, bookkeeping, and more.

Quantity of dancers needed:
No number will have more than 6 couples on stage. Since we need alternates, the troupe should include about 16 people.

Choreography:
As of 2004, ODB has 6 choreographed numbers in its repetorie. New numbers are created each year. Members are welcomed to propose a new number and help with the choreography.

Costs:
1. Rehearsal Space— cost $25 per month per member. This will be collected from each member at the first of the month for the entire month. This cost is adjusted as the needs of the group change. If we have more members, the cost will drop.
2. Costumes— Each number will be costumed. Members will be responsible for the cost of their own costume. We intend to utilize the skills of costume designers to keep the cost down. Although you pay for the costume, if you leave the group the costume stays with us.
3. Travel— In most cases we will encourage car pooling to events. Most will be scheduled for southern California. However, there has be initial discussion to participate in the Gay Games in Australia.

Commitment:
Dancers must be willing to commit to weekly rehearsals, performances, and the expenses associated with being a member.

Performance Schedule and Reality:
1. There are about 18 LGBT events in southern California to which we can perform throughout the year. We dance at as many events as we are accepted and the membership agrees to participate..
2. The reality of performing can be disappointing. How many times have you seen already established groups perform to just a handful of people? This will be true for us. I encourage each of you who want to participate, do so because you love to dance and perform, regardless of how many people are in the audience.
3. We are going to rehearse in a space not larger than 25’X35’. This is because most performing venues will restrict us to this size. This is small and can be frustrating. It would be disastrous for us to become use to a much larger space when we have to adjust to postage-stamp size stages.

Frustrations:
1. Because this is a performance troupe, many ballroom steps will be modified to flatten them and change the action toward the audience. As such, some dancers may become frustrated with changes made to steps they already know.
2. Do not come thinking you will learn new steps that you can use at a regular dance. As many of you know, the flash and dash shown by exhibition dancers is impossible to do with uninitiated dancers. Likewise, do not expect rehearsals to be a replacement for dance classes. We encourage you to continue with dance instruction elsewhere.
3. Also, because you are a performer, people will have unrealistic expectations when you dance with them. You may become frustrated by not meeting these expectations.
4. Rehearsals are just that, rehearsals. We will have fun, but much of it is work. There will be a turn over in members. As such, once numbers are set, much of our time will be spent teaching new members the choreography as they join to replace members who have left. This can be tedious.

If you are still interested, contact Chuck Stewart. It will be fun and we will promote ballroom dancing to the gay and lesbian community. Indirectly, we will help Gloria Paternostro (909-861-1122) of Shall We Dance (http://members.aol.com/danceshlwe/), John Batchelor (323-661-4336) of the 2nd Friday Dance (Dance2live@cs.com), and other teachers of ballroom dancing in the gay and lesbian community.

Please forward this notice to others you feel may be interested.