Fort Wayne Dancesport

Members of the newly-elected chapter board of directors, whose terms began January 1, met in December to elect officers and to choose task assignments. Here are the results:

• President: Audrey Hindle
• Vice President: Cindy Mahoney
• Secretary: Jamie Lothamer
• Treasurer: Angie Keck
• Music DJ: Phil Motley
• Membership: Kyle Breedlove
• Social Dance Coordinator: Russell Hernandez

Frank Miller continues to serve on the board but without a special office or assignment. In addition, I appointed Dan Keck to the board to fill the unexpired term of a board member who resigned. He will serve as special events coordinator.

In early December, the Fort Wayne Dancesport Board of Directors held its final meeting of the year. The board thanked outgoing board members David Hans and Jessica Harkless for their service. Board members have been particularly grateful for David's wealth of knowledge about USA Dance and chapter operations.

The board discussed conducting training sessions to help chapter leaders execute their responsibilities. That training will occur early this year.

The board also decided to create a schedule of volunteers to work at the front desk during chapter dances. And it chose tentative themes for the 2012 dances.

The board normally meets monthly, on the Wednesday following the chapter dance. All chapter members are welcome to attend board meetings. If you're interested, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it to confirm the time and place.

If you're one of the many lucky people who got an iPhone, Droid or other smartphone for Christmas (or if you were lucky enough to have one already), you'll be happy to know that the Fort Wayne Dancesport chapter website now supports mobile devices. Just point your mobile Web browser to www.fwdancesport.org. The server will automatically detect that you're using a mobile device and send you a mobile-optimized version of the site. Our webmaster advises he still has some adjustments to make to improve the presentation but the new mobile version is still easier to view on a smartphone's small screen than is the normal version.

Did your membership to USA Dance expire at the end of the year? If so, please remember to renew it before the next chapter dance, so you'll continue to benefit from discounted admission prices. Although our chapter receives none of your USA Dance dues money, to keep being a chapter we must have a certain number of USA Dance members. Dues are as low as $25 per year for adults and $10 for youth. Learn more on the USA Dance national website. You can join or renew on that site or bring a check to the next dance and fill out the form there.

Photos from the December, 2011 chapter dance (including the group lesson) are available in our online photo gallery.