|
Today, I have
reached a new milestone in my life. My son, my first
born, a chip off the old block (poor kid) is celebrating
his sixteenth birthday. I remember coming home from
judging a comp a few months ago and my oldest of three
was standing at the door waiting to greet me. Actually,
he was waiting to hit me up for twenty bucks and a
ride to his friend Joe's house. It was in the middle
of my parental lecture to him about saving his money
and being respectful of his curfew that I realized
that my head was no longer held in the low tilt position
(chin down, one hand on hip, other hand resting firmly
on child's shoulder). This is the infamous posture
that Dad's use when they are scolding or instructing
their child on the house rules and regulations. I
felt like a competitor trying to find my posture in
the middle of a dance. We know how well that works!
Hell, I had trouble finding it in the beginning of
the dance! Anyway, I had to concede at that moment
that my little boy had now taken over my title of
"tallest person in the Messenger house hold".
I changed my stance. Instead of putting my hand on
his shoulder, I pointed my finger toward his chest.
I looked up at him and said with the sternest voice
possible, " Son, you may be taller than me, but
you'll never be bigger than me and don't forget it"!
He patted me on the top of my head. "Ok dad,
now can I get that twenty bucks"? For a moment,
I was a little depressed. Then it hit me! I have two
other kids to look down too. "Quick, Becky, bring
me the munchkins"! Oh well, such is life... ever
moving, ever changing. Happy birthday, son.
I just received my NDCA newsletter today. Current
president, Brian McDonald, announced that he will
run for another term. I am curious to know if there
is even anyone who is interested in running against
him. It is a huge undertaking with a lot of responsibility
and overall, with the way the current NDCA is set
up, I think Brian McDonald has done a decent job.
In his letter, he has made a couple of suggestions
on how to improve relations between the NDCA and it's
registrants. He expressed concern about the possible
communication problems between the member organizations
and their individual members. The member organizations
are the connection between the registrants (professional
competitors) and the NDCA. They are definitely, in
my opinion, the "weakest link". Now, I do
want to say that I am not a member of every member
organization, so I can not speak for all of them.
I can only go from my own experience and from what
I hear from my fellow comrades. Any reader who is
a member of an organization that does keep it's members
informed and updated on the affairs of the NDCA, feel
free to drop me a line.
Why doesn't the NDCA come down stronger
on these member organizations? Yes, it is the responsibility
of the member organizations to keep their members
informed, but, if there is a problem with any organization,
shouldn't the NDCA be responsible for fixing it? I
have stated in several issues of Dancetrends that
I feel the system needs to change so my opinion on
this subject shouldn't really surprise anybody.
Mr. McDonald states in his letter
that he has agreed with the president of USABDA to
run a joint congress on an annual basis for all NDCA
and USABDA members. It is his hope that this type
of annual project will provide an avenue for all NDCA
members to meet with officers and delegates of the
NDCA and air their views on dance and dance related
problems in America. The basis of the congress is
to provide lectures and squad training (what is squad
training?) for both amateurs and professionals. Mr.
McDonald's second idea that he would like to implement
is to hold a series of open forum discussions for
pro/amateur teachers & organizers throughout the
country. He is asking for registrants to share their
thoughts with him or any officer regarding these ideas
and I encourage you to do so. Unfortunately, I could
not find an e-mail address for Mr. McDonald in the
NDCA journal. There was an address to the public relations
department of the NDCA, chaired by Jackie Rogers.
The e-mail address is: jrdansport@ aol.com.
I do have my own opinion of these
two new projects in the works by the NDCA but I would
like to give readers a chance to share their opinions
first. I will share my views in next week's issue.
Dan
Messenger
06-04-2001
|
