JOIN THE NATIONAL HAND DANCE ASSOCIATION
and other Dance Organizations, Dancers and Those Who Want To Dance

at
NATIONAL DANCE DAY

on the National Mall

sponsored by Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton & Nigel Lythgoe from “So You Think You Can Dance”

Saturday, July 31

3:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.

National Mall **LOCATED BETWEEN 3RD & 4TH Streets, NW

Performances ~~~~~Flash Mob Dance~~~~Dance Instruction

Performances by

B Fit, Beta Ya Feet Kings, Capitol Movement Project, Dance Institue of Washington, NCNW joined by Wanda Women Fitness, Dance Collective, Gotta Swing, The National Hand Dance Association, Step Afrika, Mamasita Movement & Wellness, Washington Ballet, and more………………….

The National Hand Dance Association will have performances on the Main Stage and a brief basic lesson in Hand Dance.  Performance/demonstration at approximately  3:15 p.m. Get there early to secure your spot on the lawn!

Join the thousands of dancers on the National Mall!

“National Dance Day and my resolution encourage Americans to live a physically active lifestyle and to have fun doing it.  Organizing a National Dance Day in the nation’s capital and throughout the country is a terrific way to promote fitness.”  — Congresswoman Norton

Effective January 2009 SEZ dance class tuition will be $10 per class for all new students. However there are payment plans available to help defray some of the cost.

Current and graduate students will continue to pay $8. Registration Fees will remain the same ($10, one time fee).

Each course is 12 weeks at $10 per class or $240 if tuition is paid per class.

Payment Plans

Payment Plan “A”

• Advance payment of tuition in full, 12 weeks at $8 per class or $192 plus a $5 registration fee for a total of tuition and fees of $197
• Savings of $48
• Payment can be made by check or money order

Payment Plan “B”

• Advance payment for ½ the tuition, 6 weeks at $9 per class or two payments of $108 for a total tuition of $216Savings of $24
• Second payment is due by the end of the 5^th week of class
• No Rollover on missed classes

Payment Plan “C”

• Advance Payment; tuition monthly 4 weeks at $9.50 per class or three payments of $76 for a total $228Savings $12
• Payments due the first class of the month
• No Rollover for missed classes

Payment Plan “D”

• Payment per class for 12 weeks at $10 per class for a total of $240
• We apologize but we will not be able to accept checks or money orders for Payment Plan “D”

We will accept cash, checks or money orders from individuals who pay in advance at the beginning of the course.  Checks and money orders should be made payable to: “Smooth and Easy”.

All payments are non-refundable and only apply towards the current session.

THANK YOU HAND DANCE COMMUNITY

OLD SCHOOL & NEW SCHOOL

AND

CONGRATULATIONS U.S. OPEN COMPETITORS

HAND DANCE PLACEMENT RESULTS

Cabaret

2^nd Place – Db’S Mvps

Allstar/Advanced Jack & Jill

2nd Place  – Xavier Young Washington, DC and Catriona Wiles London, England

Strictly Hand Dance

1st Place – Xavier Young Washington, DC and Deonna Ball Washington, DC

2nd Place – Lewis Neal Catonsville, MD and Tammy Brown Baltimore, MD

3rd Place – Kevin Fitzhugh Hyattsville, MD and Erica Smith Silver Spring, MD

4th Place – Lawrence Bradford Washington, DC and McKindria Letsinger Washington, DC

5th Place – Markus Smith Hyattsville, MD and Tren Veal Landover, MD

Junior Strictly Swing

1st Place – Randy Portis Washington, DC and Tiara D.K. McCoy Suitland, MD

Strictly Swing

Challenge (Team contest between Shag, Lindy-Hop, Hand Dance and West Coast Swing)

Team Winner: HAND DANCE

The Smooth and EZ Family extends a heartfelt thank you to each and every one of you for your financial and moral support to our young adult dancers.   Your support made it possible for the NHDA to administer the necessary funds to send our young people to the U.S. Open in Anaheim, California last week.  Thank you NHDA for all of the work you did to help make the U.S. Open trip a success.

All of the Hand Dancers are to be commended for their efforts this past weekend. They all danced well and represented Hand Dance like never before at the Open.  However, the youth and young adults deserve special recognition for their performances and, in particular, the energy they brought to the event.  They did what young folks do when encouraged; they came together with all of the other young dancers –  Shaggers, West Coast Swingers and Lindy Hoppers –  shared moves, techniques and dance styles, made new friends and showed the rest of the swing community that Hand Dance is on par with all of the other nationally recognized swing dances.

Deonna Ball and DB’s MVP dancers (a product of the Smooth and Easy young adult dance troupe) require special recognition.  Simply put, they brought the house down! They received the first ever encore requested at the U.S. Open.  They did not win first place on the judges’ score cards but they won first place in the hearts of all the spectators in that room that evening.

OTHER 2009 U.S. OPEN HIGHLIGHTS

Sixteen year old Randy Portis and the beautiful Maxine Grant performed a skate demonstration, sharing one of the traditional and unique Hand Dance techniques.  Their performance WOWed the audience!

Notable celebrities in attendance: Ms. Norma Miller (the Queen of Swing) and Paula Abdul.

The five finalists will compete on Saturday, October 31st at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. For tickets and other info, the link is: http://www.gwul.org/

Most of what you are about to read has come from one of my primary instructors and mentors, Ms. Skippy Blair. Much of it has been borrowed from the article “Thoughts for Dance Teachers” published in 1991. Still other comments are my own, an eternal student.

“People, who cannot learn, have not been taught.”

“Decisions based on education and discovery equal ten times the value of decisions based on personal preference and/or what someone said.”

“Successful dance teachers recognize that when a class diminishes in size and attendance that something is wrong with the teaching.”

“A successful dance teacher understands the needs of their students and provides what they need as well as what they want.”

“A successful dance instructor judges his/her competency not by how well they dance but how well their students dance.”

“Successful dance teachers keep their finger on the pulse of their craft by staying up to date through continuing education.” To stand still is to move backwards. Nothing is the same as it was five years ago, dance is not an exception.

“Education develops understanding and the ability to communicate. Language is the fundamental form of communication. Keeping an ear open to new terminology and new trends keeps all of us on the cutting edge.” It is my dream and the goal of SEZ to have Hand Dance as much of the cultural development of our young people as Ballet, Tap, Jazz and Modern dance and learning a musical instrument.

“Being able to train students beyond your own capacity is the true test of a teacher of any art form.” Limiting your exposure as a teacher and consequently limiting your students growth simply limits the growth of Hand Dance in the long run and potentially increases the likelihood of us losing once again one of our cultural art forms. If we lose it again it just may not come back.

In closing, I would like very much to hear from you and to get your reaction to these thoughts, positive and negative. Please take a minute and post your comments below.