2/10/20 Week at a Glance – Michigan Ballroom Dance Team

Team members at MSU’s competition on Saturday!

Hi team,

Our most important announcement for this week is unfortunately there have been a number of thefts at DTS in the past few weeks during evening classes. The people involved have mostly been taking cash from wallets and airpods from coat pockets left unattended in the lobby area. So far nothing has been taken from members of our team, but in the next few weeks I strongly recommend that you keep all valuables in the cube shelves in Studio A or in the room with you while you practice. Please be vigilant while practicing and if you see someone in the studio you don’t recognise please inform a board member immediately!

With that out of the way, here’s our remaining announcements and schedule for this week:

Some things if you’re new to the team:

What is Week at a Glance??? I’m glad you asked! Week at a Glance (WAG for short) is our weekly newsletter containing information about all our upcoming events for the week, including lessons, practice space, socials and much more! Week at a Glance is your best source for all things MBDT, so please take the time to read through it thoroughly to ensure you don’t miss out on our events. Our lesson and practice schedule sometimes deviates from normal to accommodate special events, so please check the schedule below before turning up at the CCRB!
Mandatory SAPAC workshop on Thursday: We’re holding a workshop on consent and sexual harassment this Thursday 9-11pm in CCRB 3275. This workshop is mandatory if you are new to the team this semester or if you didn’t attend last semester’s workshop and have not completed the workshop twice before. The workshop is specifically tailored towards scenarios you might encounter in ballroom, so you are still required to attend even if you have completed other SAPAC training in the past. However, if you attended the ballroom SAPAC workshop in the fall you don’t need to come to this one. If you can’t make it on Thursday please contact Lizzie (enabney) to schedule a makeup, or you won’t be able to attend team social events for the rest of the semester 🙁
DTS intro session, competition info session and shoe vending on Wednesday: Outside of lessons, our main team practice space is Dance Theatre Studio (aka DTS). We will be holding an intro session to show you how to use the space and a quick info session about competitions this Wednesday at 9.45pm. Afterwards, you’ll have the opportunity to buy dance shoes from team alumni Vincent and Daisy, owners of Ypsilanti dance store VE Dance, who will be at DTS on Wednesday with a variety of shoes and a selection of other items from their store. If you’re interested in competing this semester this is the perfect opportunity to get kitted out for the competition floor! DTS is located at 713 North University, here’s a map to help you find your way. If you can’t make the info session, please contact your lovely Practice Space Coordinator Grace (gkraimer) to schedule a make up, or you will not be able to use DTS this semester. Also, please don’t show up to DTS outside the times listed in the schedule below as the studio will be full of many tiny children taking tap classes!
Ballroom Buddies! Our team is so large and complicated, it can be confusing when you first join. With this in mind, we’ve developed a ballroom buddy scheme: if you are a new member of our team, you can sign up to be paired with a returning team member that has volunteered to help you feel welcome and answer any questions about competitions/looking for a partner/anything and everything ballroom related. Your buddy is not responsible for teaching you dance moves or meeting with you all day every day (unless you both want to), but rather serves as a point person and guide to the team. Sign up can be found here and the deadline to sign up is this Friday (2/14) at 11.59pm! Please note that you won’t necessarily be paired with the person in the same row as you on the spreadsheet, just sign up in any order and we’ll send you your matches next week.
Join our Facebook group! It’s the hub of our community where we post event reminders and announcements during the week (also the many, many lost and found items people leave after lessons!). Check it out here, and just hit request access.
Calendar: The team has its own Google calendar, available here, which you can use for reminders for all our events during the week and to see what competitions are coming up!
Check out our newcomer guide! The password is in the email you just got with the link to this page. Click here to access.

Join this squad by ordering your team apparel, it’s the last week to get your own Michigan Ballroom shirt or track jacket!

Some things for returning members:

SAPAC workshop on Thursday (9-11pm CCRB 3275): Remember this workshop is mandatory if you didn’t attend last semester’s workshop and have not completed the workshop twice before. If you attended the ballroom SAPAC workshop in the fall you don’t need to come to this one. If you can’t make it on Thursday please contact Lizzie (enabney) to schedule a makeup, or you won’t be able to attend team social events for the rest of the semester 🙁
Vending: Team alumni Vincent and Daisy, owners of Ypsilanti dance store VE Dance, will be vending at DTS on Wednesday, 9.30-11.30pm, with a variety of Latin and standard shoes plus heel caps and a selection of other items from their store. Returning team members, please come at 9.30pm to avoid the rush when newcomers buy their shoes later in the evening.
American lessons: Our final Bronze American lesson of the semester (open to A-PreC teams) is next Monday (2/17) 7-9pm at Steve and Susan’s studio! Sign up here, the deadline is Friday (2/14) at 11.59pm.
Ballroom Buddies! Please sign up to become a ballroom buddy and help our new members navigate their first semester on the team! Or if you joined last semester and missed out on a buddy feel free to sign up and we’ll assign you an experienced team member to help you navigate the team! Sign up can be found here and the deadline to sign up is this Friday (2/14) at 11.59pm! Please note that you won’t necessarily be paired with the person in the same row as you on the spreadsheet, just sign up in any order and we’ll send you your matches next week.

Team karaoke is back by popular demand! Join us for a PON-tastic time singing Mr Brightside with your teammates by signing up below…

Some things for everyone:

Team Karaoke: Back by popular demand, we’ll be holding a team karaoke social 8-10pm on Friday February 21st! Sign up here and pay $10 to the team (Venmo @UMBDT or pay cash/check to any board member) by Friday February 14th to reserve your spot!
Last week to order apparel! Rep the MBDT! Team apparel is now available to order on our website until February 16th. Check out this semester’s offerings here and contact your Practice Space Coordinator, Grace Kraimer (gkraimer) with any questions!
Ballroom Valentines: It’s time for this year’s Ballroom Valentines! Ballroom Valentines is a fun, whimsical way to make a new friend on the team. Just fill out this light-hearted questionnaire by 11.59pm on February 12th and your fabulous PR Chair Jing will match you with someone else on the team! Here are some ideas for things you could do with your Ballroom Valentine:
- meet up for a coffee
- surprise them with candy or chocolate
- create a meme about them and post it on our team meme page

Your team board are always happy to answer your questions! Find info on each board member here, and you can contact the whole board by email at ballroom-exec@umich.edu or using this form on the website

Monday 2/10

7-9pm: Silver American lesson open to A/B teams

8pm-midnight: Open practice in the League Ballroom! We only have the ballroom a few more times this semester, come and practice your standard!

No DTS, come to the League instead!

Tuesday 2/11

9-11pm: Newcomer review lesson in CCRB 3275! This is the place to be if you missed our Saturday lesson or just want to review what was covered again. Experienced team members will go over the material from the lesson on Saturday and answer all your questions 🙂

10pm-midnight: Open practice at DTS

Wednesday 2/12

Deadline for Ballroom Valentines!

9.30-11.30pm: VE Dance vending at DTS!

9.45-11.30pm: Newcomer DTS intro session and competition info session, followed by vending!

No practice at DTS tonight due to vending/info sessions

Thursday 2/13

9-11pm: Mandatory SAPAC workshop in CCRB 3275

No Guided Practice, these will start back up next week. Come to DTS instead!

10pm-midnight: Open practice at DTS

Friday 2/14

Sign up deadline for team karaoke social, ballroom buddies and the final Bronze American lesson!

Saturday 2/15

Valparaiso competition, good luck to everyone competing!

5-6:30pm: Newcomer lesson in CCRB 3275! Steve and Susan are back, we’ll be continuing with rumba, foxtrot and mambo from last week.

Sunday 2/16

Your ballroom team membership comes with a complimentary membership to the ballroom club! The Ballroom Dance Club meets once a week on Sundays and provides a relaxed, social environment to learn ballroom alongside the wider Ann Arbor community. You do not need to be a student to attend.

Club is in the League Ballroom this week, you can find more details on their website here.

5-6pm:	Advanced American Viennese Waltz
6-7pm:	Beginner Jive <- newcomers come to this one to learn a new dance!
7-9pm:	Open Dance

There’s a lot of people on this team, to help you get to know everyone we’ve made a handy guide to who’s on which team. First up this week, here’s Pre-C Team!

Josh and Tiffany

Joshua is a junior double majoring in Arts and Ideas in the Humanities and International Studies.

Tiffany is a sophomore double majoring in Biology, Health, and Society and Women’s Studies- Gender and Health.