Hi,

We are in the process of forming a ballroom dancing club/team at my university and it would be good to get a reference describing the various steps.

Are there any plans in the works for the Ballroomdancers.com staff to put together a complete and detailed text the describes every step in the Int'l standard and Am. smooth bronze-level syllabi, in the style of Sylvester's "Modern Ballroom Dancing" with companion video clip CD(s)? Or maybe a CD that has everything on it, so we won't use that much paper?

That would be a wonderful reference and I would pay big $$$ to get everything in one place.

Thanks,

Dave

Dave- Try using the ISTD and NDCA manuals. They cover both American and International syllabi. USABDA and NDCA comps use these for allowable steps/amalgamations. You may want to contact Kay Teague at KayTeague@aol.com.] Good luck with your collegiate team/club.

[This message has been edited by Len Diana (edited 10-12-2000).]

Hi Dave,

It's all in the works... it's just very slow to produce. This summer we filmed Donald Johnson & Katarzyna Kozak dancing the Int'l Latin basics. Sometime later this year we also plan to dance the Int'l Standard basics. We're going to put them all up on the site, although only the first 5 or so steps will be free. At the moment, we're hiring a programmer to write a membership program that will enable people to purchase more advanced steps. We will also sell them on CD-ROM and VHS video.

As for written syllabus, we're in the process of writing one for American Style. However, for Int'l Style we're using the ISTD books. No plans to write our own version of those... we're quite happy with them as they are.

Nice to hear from you again. Good luck with your team at UCI!

Sincerely,
Jonathan Atkinson

That's great! Have you thought about your price yet? If each dance isn't too expensive then everyone can buy a copy -- can we persuede them all to get viennese waltz?

Otherwise if it's a complete package perhaps our team will be able to get special project funding to buy a UCI-wide "site license" for the whole thing or just the bronze level. I've realized that a combo of standard and latin will sell better with the dancing team as well as with possible on-campus funding sources, even if it costs more. We can talk about the details privately when it gets closer to production. Some software is sold with an encryption scheme where you can read increasing amounts of the CD-ROM with help from license keys which you buy as you need them from the vendor.

No question that getting a complete and definitive reference online is the way to go, to preserve our technique for all time.

It would be wonderful to have the bronze standard dances ready by January when we start our "int'l bronze dancesport" class. Is that in reach?

So the first 5 steps will be free on the web page? "buy your natural fleckerl and get your reverse one free."

I've actually found that Victor Sylvester's "Modern Ballroom Dancing" is about as complete a reference as an eager beginner could possibly want. Every time I get confused I look in there and instantly know what to do... His coverage of the tricky and complex latin dances is even good. But I haven't read the ISTD book so can't compare -- that you have to buy a separate viennese waltz book besides the ISTD book seems pretty cheesy.

What we're probably going to do is sell each step individually for $2 per step, but also put together packages at a discounted rate. I hadn't really thought about it until you brough it up, but a special educational rate for college clubs & teams might not be a bad idea. The great thing about it is that we can set up prices in any way we want... the programmer has already accounted for this.

Viennese Waltz will be there, don't worry... I suspect that with only five steps in the entire dance, we'll probably have Naturals, Reverses, and Changes as free steps. Fleckrels and Contra Check would be part of the ppv system.

By the way, "Pay-Per-View" isn't really an accurate way of describing what I have in mind. When a step is purchased, a user will have access to that step with all associated files (overview, man's part, lady's part, video clips, diagrams, technical tips, etc) for a certain length of time such as one month or six months. Something like that. One view is obviously not enough for the purposes of learning, so we're making sure to account for that. We might even just allow indefinite ownership of a purchased step. Still toying with that one.

As far as release dates, it's hard to say. We anticipate having the PPV program done by the beginning to middle of December... maybe earlier. Like I said, I do have the first level of Int'l Cha Cha, Samba, Rumba and Jive on tape and ready to be processed. How long it takes me to process depends on how much other stuff gets in the way. Right now I'm working out some technical difficulties with hiss on the audio and shaky video on camera 2.

As far as the filming of the Standard, 2000 isn't looking so good anymore. We may be looking at Jan 2001 at this point. If so, you probably won't see it online until Feb.

Still plugging away. I've got a lot on the agenda, and I'm working as fast as I can. I'd like to be the first out there to have a complete reference of ballroom dance steps online. I know there are others out there getting ready to do the same, so I'm hustling.

By the way, I tried to respond to your email, but the email was returned as undeliverable. Did you change email addresses?

Talk to you later.

Sincerely,
Jonathan Atkinson www.ballroomdancers.com

"What we're probably going to do is sell each step individually for $2 per step, but also put together packages at a discounted rate."

You'll get some common requests like "All bronze steps" and for those releasing them on a CD-rom (do you have a CD maker? That is probably easiest) makes sense for a few $$ more.

"first level of Int'l Cha Cha, Samba, Rumba > and Jive on tape"

P.D. too?

"I'd like to be the first out there to have a complete reference of ballroom dance steps online."

I'm sure yours will be the first, best, and most complete.

As an information visualization expert, let me know if you need any help with diagrams, graphic presentation of preceed/following, etc. Normally I bill $85/hr but for this project I could do pro bono if it relates to my dissertation research (which it probably would)