A letter from Sasha

Dear all,

This is my end-of-the-year letter to all of you. Please read it and think of it what you will. I’ll be happy to respond to any comments and thoughts you have about it.

First, to throw this out there, this is probably the last e-mail you will be getting from me, as I am not planning to run for President for next year. I would like to thank everyone who has been supporting me throughout the last couple of months while I have been making this decision.

RE-CAP OF THIS YEAR:
Well, this is it, the end of the 07-08 year. We have had a bumpy, nevertheless, a very successful year. We almost doubled the number of classes offered. We increased our teaching staff. We successfully performed at OLAS show, IHouse Festival of the Nations, Manos Unidas Party, as well as cooperated with UBallet, RBIM, UofC Spanish Club, Dance Marathon, and Kuvia Winter Festival. We have successfully competed at a number of collegiate competitions in the Midwest area, placing in the finals every time. We have worked a lot on our Salsa Curriculum, updating, revising, and bettering it every quarter. We finally wrote and ratified a Constitution for our organization. Also, we produced To-Do’s and Team Manuals, in efforts to ensure smooth transitions in the future.

Personally, I have learned a lot this year, so have everyone at the BLDA, and I hope all of you as well. I was very happy to observe many of you in classes, and see you progress with every week.
Looking back at my three years with BLDA, we have improved and grown a lot since I came to UChicago. For this, I would like thank all of the people working with me on the Board of BLDA, as well as all of you, our students. Without you, we would not have a reason to exist! Without you, I would have nothing to do! I am also grateful to our advisor for always finding time to meet with me, listen to my complaints, and help me solve problems.

NEXT YEAR:
Next year promises to be even more exciting! We will continue offering our Beginning I through Intermediate II sequences, as well as Rueda I through IV and Cuban I though IV classes. We are hoping to have beginning Ballroom classes for all 20 Ballroom dances (Latin, Standard, Rhythm, and Smooth) as well as fun dances. We will also have intermediate Latin and Standard classes and weekly workshops covering nightclub dances such as Merengue and Bachata.

Of course, as always, there is room for improvement, as well as for other projects. In the past few years, we have been working with South Side schools, bringing dance to students as a part of their schools’ after-school or Saturday programs. One of my personal projects for next year will be work closely with various community service organizations on campus, as well as the Chicago’s program “Having a Ball” to formally establish a well-organized outreach program from UChicago to for all CPS students. I’ll also be working closely with various University bodies and student dance groups to improve overall quality of dance programming on campus.

PRESIDENCY:
Executive Board Elections will be taking place this Sunday, June 1, and before this date I would like to announce that I will not be running for re-election. I have had three wonderful years with the BLDA, starting out as a regular instructor and quickly rising up to the leadership positions of VP last year and President this year. I am very grateful to everyone who has been supporting me during these three years. Thank you all!

Right now, I believe it is time for me to step down and let others take charge of the organization. This decision was not easy for me to make, but ultimately, I believe it is the right one. In the next few weeks, I will be working with the newly elected Executive Board to ensure smooth transition. Next year, I will still be around, teaching Salsa and Ballroom and being otherwise involved with the dance scene on campus, however, I will not be playing any role in the administration of the BLDA.

CONTACTS:
Some names/e-mail you should be aware of now are:

Gal Oppenheimer: gal@uchicago.edu – will be the contact for administrative matters of BLDA
HQ Han: hqhan@uchicago.edu – will be the contact for the Ballroom Team
Current team captain should also be reachable at ballroomteam@uchicago.edu
Felipe Marin: fmarinp@uchicago.edu – will be the contact for Advanced Salsa/Performance matters, as well as any new instructors interested in teaching for us
The new president chosen on Sunday will be reachable at blda@uchicago.edu
All outreach inquiries should be sent to me (ballroom@uchicago.edu) or to the new president
I will still be reachable at ballroom@uchicago.edu and abelyi@uchicago.edu, but again, I will no longer be involved with the administration of the BLDA.

You can find all our up-to-date contact information on the ORCSA website: https://studentactivities.uchicago.edu/php/public/detail.php?org=54
or on our website: http://ballroom.uchicago.edu/docs/contact.html

SUMMER 08:
The new president will announce our summer classes in a couple of weeks. Watch your e-mails and our website: http://ballroom.uchicago.edu/docs/lessons.html.

Do not forget about Summer Dance in the Loop: http://www.ChicagoSummerDance.org

AUTUMN 08:
BLDA will have a welcome-back party on Saturday, October 18, from 7 to 11pm at Ida Noyes Hall 3rd floor Theater.

I hope everyone had a good year, and I am wishing all of you a great summer and a great 08-09!

See you on the dance floor!

Sasha
President
ballroom@uchicago.edu
May 30, 2008