<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; "><b><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">Welcome back dancers!</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><br>
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">We hope you enjoyed your</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"> summer and are ready for another great year of dancing! We have made some important changes to the club this year, so please read this email! </span></div>
<br></b>Our first lesson of the year will be MONDAY, Aug 24th on the first day of school, with our Bronze lesson from 8:30-10 PM in Cha Cha and Waltz. Closely following this will be our first American Social I and II Lessons (replacing Beginner 1) from 7:30-9:30 PM on Tuesday, Aug 25th with a lesson in American Waltz and East Coast Swing in Rangos 1 and 2 (To be continued weekly on Wednesdays from 7-9PM). Lastly, our Silver lesson set (replacing Intermediate and Advanced) will begin on Wednesday from 6-7 PM with a lesson in International Rumba in Rangos. <br>
<br>As always, your first lesson is free! After that, membership costs are $25 per person with student id and $35 for the general public. Membership covers our weekly professionally taught Social I and II lessons on Wednesdays (7-9PM, Rangos) AND our Bronze student-taught lessons on Mondays (8:30-10PM, Rangos). For reference, see the chart below:<br>
<i><br>Level 1 and Level 2 American lessons and Bronze International lessons<br>$25 for students<br>$35 for non-students<br><br>Additional +$10 - Silver International Lessons + the above lessons<br><b><u>OR</u></b><br>Additional +$20 - Gold International Lessons + the above lessons <br>
<br></i>NEW UPDATES FOR THE YEAR:<br>1. Lesson type changes: We have renamed and reformatted our lessons as follows, for more information, e-mail any questions/concerns to <a href="mailto:ballroom@andrew.cmu.edu">ballroom@andrew.cmu.edu</a>.<br>
Beginner 1 (Wednesdays, 7-9 PM Rangos) --> Social Levels I and II (same time and place)<br>Beginner 2 (Mondays, 8:30-10 PM Rangos) --> Bronze Lessons(same time and place)<br>Intermediate (Wednesdays, 6-7 PM Rangos) AND Advanced (Saturdays, 1-3 PM Activities room) --> Silver Lessons (same time and place as Intermediate)<br>
NEW Gold Lessons (tryouts will occur)(Saturday, 1-4 PM Activities Room)<br><br>What Lessons should I attend? <br><br>For dancers who attended ONLY Beginner 1 lessons in the previous year or have only one semester of Beginner 2, we recommend taking part in both the Social Level classes and the Bronze classes. If you feel comfortable, we recommend trying Silver lessons in the spring semester.<br>
For dancers who have completed at least one semester of Beginner 2 in the previous year, we recommend taking Bronze lessons and trying Silver lessons for the fall. <br>For dancers who have taken Intermediate lessons for at least one semester, we recommend taking the Silver lessons. <br>
For dancers who have taken Intermediate lessons and have consistently gone to one semester of Advanced lessons or dancers who have taken Advanced lessons for more than one semester, we recommend going to Silver lessons and attending the tryouts for Gold lessons in the Fall. <br>
<br>For more information and specific lesson descriptions, please check our website at:<br><a href="http://www.cmubdc.org/lessons.php">http://www.cmubdc.org/lessons.php</a><br><br>What are tryouts?<br><br>Tryouts demonstrate a dancer's ability and are one of the determining factors for placement into our more advanced classes. Any individual who is interested in advancing should talk to an officer to be put on the tryout list. A separate date for tryouts will be announced when everyone interested should come prepared to dance in all dances-a partner is not necessary but highly recommended. If you do not have a partner, we plan on having all individuals switch partners and will be looking at how the Individual dances overall (technique will be focused on rather than steps). To give you insight on what we look for, we look at tryouts like a dance competition. If the dancer is confident in dancing in the silver level, they may advance to our Gold lessons. Tryout results hold for the semester, but we encourage dancers to keep practicing and try out for the next semester! <br>
<br>LASTLY, we are happy to introduce our Dance Assistants (otherwise known as DA's)! One ballroom officer will be available to help out at every American Social lesson and Bronze International lessons. This officer will be the dance assistant to help you out when you need a review on a step that has already been covered, help the instructor demonstrate steps, come around and give tips and just be available to ask questions!</span><div>
<font class="Apple-style-span" face="Verdana"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Verdana">We're very excited to be back. This will be a great year of dancing! See you soon!</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Verdana"><br>
</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Verdana">Jessica Wong and Jackie Zhang</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Verdana">Co-Presidents of the CMU Ballroom Dance Club</font></div>