As many of you are aware my wife, Deborah Nash, has recently been diagnosed with colon cancer. Unfortunately, it was not caught at an early stage so she faces months of radiation and chemotherapy in an effort to remove it from her body.
Deborah has maintained the riDance website, essentially as a one-person effort, since its inception. Between the website and her dance classes she has been kept pretty busy.
With the additional burden of travel time to various doctors and hospitals it will not be possible to maintain the riDance website as was done in the past. The strain of maintaining the site with timely information is simply overwhelming.
So, I have decided to step in and redo the website and to enhance it significantly. My goal is to streamline the acquisition of material, to keep it current, and to give some control of the content back to those of you who have been providing it. In this way I hope to make the site just as friendly and inviting as it has always been, and to bring more of the community into its development.
While this process is underway the old site will continue to be available and when completed I hope to include links to preserve the old content. The process will not occur immediately, and I will keep you informed of progress on the new site through this one.
Two Fundraisers for Deb Nash
Many of you have also asked how you can help Deborah. There are several events being planned to raise money to offset the huge medical expenses we have incurred. An organization, The Friends of Deborah Nash, is organizing several events in the coming weeks and months. I would encourage you to participate in those events.
Their first fundraiser is scheduled for August 29 from 5 to 7 pm at the Celestial Cafe on Route 2 in Exeter.
Come enjoy a wine tasting and Celestial Cafe's famous appetizers along with a silent auction.
Tickets are $35.00 per person. You are most welcome to donate if you cannot attend. Donations to the "Deborah Nash Medical Trust Fund"
will be happily accepted by those organizing the event.
For information on tickets or donations, please email
OR send checks along with names of those attending and a phone or email contact to Margie Versteck,
1499 Ocean Rd. #170, Narragansett, RI 02882. All checks should be made payable to: Deborah Nash Medical Trust Fund.
There are also plans in the works for a dance event to be held in the fall. Deborah has always loved dance and considers dancers some of the finest people she knows. I can’t think of a better way to express your feelings than to attend some of the events being planned and to get out there and show that you love dancing too.
Deborah and I look forward to seeing you all on the dance floor.
JANUARY 6 PBS JUDITH JAMIESON INTERVIEW
Monday's News Hour on PBS featured an interview with Judith Jamieson, director of the Alvin Ailey Dance COnmpany, who has announced that she will be stepping down from her position in 2011.
The PBS interview is broken into several smaller video's and her interview is the first and third videos
(the new content starts around 3 minutes on the 3rd down video). Other videos on this page show clips of Revelations, The Winter in Lisbon and Lettres de Amoue and a 1990 interview with Ms Jamieson.
[Jan 4 Judith Jamieson interviews and Ailey dance clips]
SEPTEMBER 30 DANCE TEACHERS - DON'T BE FOOLED
There's been a dramatic increase in the number of dance teacher scam emails.
If you have received a letter anything like the following....
Good day to you over there, I need a Private dancing Teacher for my wife (Reta) and my son (Jenny) for 3 months. I got your advert while surfing through the internet and I really want them to be taught by you. Reta is 37 year old and and Jenny is 15 years old. Although, I understand you are in U.S.A, but I am working on the arrangement for their accommodation since they are coming on 3 months Vacation Holiday. The both of them are beginners, I just want to fix this to make them busy at times. We are based in London, UK and they will be arriving on 28th of Desamber. Kindly get back to me with.
1.YOUR PRIVATE CLASS CHARGE FOR AN HOUR?
2.TOTAL CHARGES FOR 3 MONTH THAT THEY WILL BE TAUGHT 3 TIMES PER WEEK?
3.FULL NAME AND ADDRESS?
4.YOUR PHONE NUMBER?
Don't hesitate to e-mail with your total charges for the 3 months Private lesson.
Just delete it.
If you have already corresponded with the con artists, do NOT under any circumstances send out a check to them or anyone else. The certified check they will send you is a fraud. [Internet Dance Scammers
Improve Their Techniques]
DECEMBER 5 DANCE STUDIO STATS
Dance Studio Life recently did a survey of 753 dance school owners. The majority of studios had no downswing in enrollment in their 2007/2008 year in fact slightly more than 40% saw an increased enrollment. In addition, now almost 80% of the studios are doing competition. The number of non-competition dance schools continues to drop. [dance studio statistics]
NOVEMBER 29 THE PERFORMING ARTS NEED TO THINK GREEN
"EVERY theatre has a green room, but few are green in the modern sense. With their banks of dazzling stage lights and foyers ablaze nightly, theatres are energy-hungry beasts. Add to that the costs and waste associated with sets and props and the mountains of paper generated with every production and the world of make-believe begins to look grim..."
Down in Australia, they are already working to lessen the performing arts environmental impact. Andrew Upton, who will be co-artistic director (along with Cate Blanchett) of the Sydney Theatre Company, issued the following statement at a forum about the arts and pollution, "Theatre's role in any society is to be in engaged dialogue with the fundamental questions of the day...A person cannot simply talk about climate change, write plays about climate change and have forums about climate change; it's an issue that demands active engagement."
[Enter a greener limelight by Fiona Gruber The Australian 11/29/07]
NOVEMBER 29 WHY THE YOUNG DON'T DANCE
This from an article about the slow demise of polka in the rural west - "It's our generation's fault...When we were growing up, our parents would take us to the dances. We'd fall asleep on the side of the stage, or in the booths. But then when our generation grew up, we got baby sitters."
It does seem as though now social dancing is for adults unencumbered of child for an evening. The Hispanic culture has a tradition of bringing even the babies to dances with the result that by the time their children hit puberty, they are passable to good dancers. Maybe it's time for all dancing parents to start bringing the young ones so they can learn early rather than too late. Spread the wealth! [A rural dance tradition in twilight by Ben Ratliff Herald Tribune 11/29/07]
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