If I could read and pronounce the following names to you, what would your common thought be?  Words like: volta, bohemia, courante, saraband, pavan, hornpipe, highland, gavotte, quadrille, cotillion, morris, mazaurka, polonaise, czardas, fandango, seguidilla, falamenco, strathsper, tarantella and saltarello.

Give up?  Let's try using more modern words like:  fling, jig, bolero, waltz, polka, schottische, barn dance, Virginnia reel, clogging, minuet, ballet, cakewalk, turkey trot, jazz, charleston, tango, samba, rumba, lindy hop, hip-hop, boogie woogie, two step, jitterburg, cha-cha, twist, disco, hustle, foxtrot, and east and west coast swing.  Dancing.  That's what I'm trying to bring to your attention.  Dance names!

All of the above are names of different dances.  Believe me, this is only a small percentage of all the dance names used in  the last 5000 years in  the whole world.  Why am I bringing this to your attention?  Dancing is a part of our history, even if the  names change a little every so often.  I'm trying to say that all of us that love or have loved dancing must appreciate this human experience and yes, a national and international tradition too.

We are currently going through a dry spell of dancing efforts in our city and some of us just don't understand why.  We have to remember that no matter how bad it gets it will once again flourish and grow back into the popularity it once had.  Each of us has to continue to join and support all the different venues of dancing that we have in our city.  In doing so we'll have kept in place a remnant of old dancing, to start anew.  Remember, don't just send your money, although money is so needed, but be there in person as a dancer and keep the art of dancing available to all of us now, in our future and for our future generations.