Join the conversation, the movement, the future!
ISA Members, February 25, 2011
I am excited to announce our newest (#27) ISA member Bro. Darnell Brown from Phoenix area. Please reach out and congratulate him. It looks like there are more business minded people and regions who are interested in operating as a non-profit organization and benefiting from obtaining proper training and standardization techniques. Like so many of the larger cities Phoenix would see the benefits of reducing their overall cost and expenses if they collaborated as an ISA chapter. Facility space and material expenses become cheaper as an organization. This is generally the largest part of depreciation for promoters. Federal and state savings begin immediately and the community programs ultimate help the community and each Stepper who participates. We trust that they will continue towards this goal in the future.
Just a few thoughts as we count down to June 24-26, 2011; Oak Lawn Illinois. The ISA will be presenting a weekend of business meetings, scholarship and training and recognition for the hard work we have shared with the Steppers community. As we gear up and begin laying the foundation for what is to come we are asking everyone to jump in and lend a hand. We will need everyone’s participation in the coming days to shape our event and to plan for 2011-2012. This is the second time that we will be in the same place at one time and we don’t want to let the opportunity to pass us by. So lets take advantage of the collaboration during our business weekend. The attached agenda is our preliminary draft. We will be adding a few other aspects but we are pretty settled at this point.
The GSDTA forwarded a written proposal for the Steppers Intensive Training. Skippy Blair has assured us that we will have her best trainer in World Champion dancer Mary Ann Nunez. She is well respected in the dance community and brings a wealth of certification and training knowledge. Certainly our ISA members will benefit greatly from her participation. ISA member Buford Collins will be teaching in tandem for a total of 9 hours of training. For those that participate the hours will go towards your a GSDTA certification. If you do not know how to count using “critical timing” or understand the Universal Unit System this is the course for you. The system teaches instructors the universal language of dance using standard terms, definitions and techniques used by professional dance instructors world wide. Instructors will see massive improvements in their ability to teach and students ability to understand and retain more knowledge. Buford is well on his way to certification and hopefully he will become the first Stepper to reach GSDTA certification. Our goal is to obtain enough certifiers to ultimately train ourselves in the long run. I will also be taking the class along with a few guests who you will read about below. The cost for the 9 hours is $299.00. Payments need to be made prior to 1 June 2011. A late fee of $20.00 will be added after the 1st of June. Please do not delay so that the ISA will be able to pay all expenses prior to the convention. Please log on www.internationalsteppersassociation.org and go to the shopping cart.
Have you heard of the ISA Collaborative? The ISA lead program is collaborating with Urban Dances (Hand Dance, Texas Two-Step, Texas Swing Out, Philly Bop, Detroit Ballroom, Cha Cha, Hip Hop and Line Dancing) to jointly write a single curriculum and syllabus for each dance. The ISA is sharing our corporate knowledge to build this effort with the other leaders of their dance. Thus far the Presidents/representatives from each genre have agreed to collaborate on this project. We have set aside 3 hours on 26 June 2011 to discuss and complete an intensive draft. This has never been done before so we are excited. Our next phone call is on 13 March 2011. If you are interested in participating please forward an email accordingly.
Upcoming elections: Don’t forget, ISA elections are coming up in June. We are now taking nominations for the following vacant offices. Please refer to your ISA Operations Instructions for roles, responsibilities and term limits. Officers must have a members of at least 1 year before serving prior to the election. Voting will take place by electronic voting. Nominations end 1 June 2011.
- Vice-President
- Vice-President of Education
- Vice-President of Public Affairs
In an effort to ensure all ISA members are involved the following committee assignments have been developed. Each committee chairperson will be contacting you so that your groups can set committee agendas accordingly. Please contact your committee chairperson for more information. If you want to switch, please contact the committee chairperson to make an equal change.
Education and Training – Buford Collins (mistalocks@yahoo.com)
- Donna Crite
- Bonita Williams
- Darryl Wilder
- Lloyd Henderson
Scholarship and Awards – Seanta Mclendon (seanta@cfl.rr.com)
- Oswald Cooper
- Tracey Sisco
- Brenda Foster
- Patricia Alexander
- Demaris Wooten
History – Victor James (vjsolo1@sbcglobal.net)
- Darnell Brown
- Zakeeyaw Toney
Strategic Planning – Samuel Parker, Jr. (parkersam1@aol.com)
- Scott Freeman
- A.G. Dunn
Business Planning – Deborah Hunt (Deborah.l.hunt@att.net)
- Jim Berry
- Pamela Dunn
ISA Convention Planning – Sarah Teagle (mysteppersclub@gmail.com)
Website Management – Valerie Morman (Valerie_Morman@hotmail.com)
There have been a few request for ISA advocacy on behalf of Steppers. We are looking in to how much support we can provide (i.e. legal referrals, non-profit organization, union participation) to members. Our constitution does provide guidelines for a Code of Ethics however the topic of contracts and legal assistance seems to be the biggest challenge from those who are inquiring. The ISA may begin to play a great role in assisting Steppers help to avoid challenges they are facing. More to come on this topic during the meeting.
Congratulations to Sis. Deborah Hunt whose non profit organization was awarded $5000 for her upcoming non-profit work with cancer. She is a part of a large group of African-Americans women in the Norfolk, Virginia community who concentrate on building community programs for those who are less fortunate. The ISA is encouraged to stay on course to seek organizational funding for our scholarship and training programs. This is the language of philanthropy and the ISA will benefit likewise. We will certainly need volunteers to assist us as we continue to develop the scholarship and award programs.
Public Affairs and media support: We will be seeking a new Vice President of Public Affairs in June. In the meantime, we are looking for an ISA leader to volunteer and help design media packages and interviews to talk more about the ISA. We will begin to do more interviews, publicity days and press releases in 2011-2012. If you desire to participate please email info@internationalsteppersassociation.org and let us know.
The ISA Operating Instructions are available to all ISA members. The integrity of what we are accomplishing shows in our work and continued growth. Lets continue to lead the effort to expand the community by inclusion to the other 7 billion people on earth. Your commitment and purpose is more than sufficient to move this worth purpose forward.
Please call in this Sunday, 27 February 2011 at 7pm Eastern Standard Time. Please dial in by 6:45pm so that we can start on time. The dial in number is 1-218-862-1000 ACCESS CODE: 307375#. The ISA is open to anyone who is interested in moving Steppin towards a broader and more professional nature.
Signed,
T. Dweylan Wilson
President
I have one yardstick by which I test every major challenge - and that yardstick is: Is it good for Steppers internationally?
