2000 Event Director’s Report
2000 Event Director’s
Report
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This is a wrap up report for the line dance event, Jamboree BC 2000. Jamboree BC is the oldest annual line dance event in the Vancouver area (in British Columbia, Canada). It is a one-day event with the bulk of the day being workshops of new dances. The format of the event is my own creation, combining the best and most fun aspects of other events and eliminating any rigid rules. Basically the only essential item is the schedule to make sure we have time for all the fun.
| Between the workshops of new dances, team competitions provide opportunity for everyone to sit and enjoy the entertainment. With the only rule being a time limit, teams can generate as much creativity and fun as possible. Audience participation is constant, whether learning the dances in the workshops or voting for their favorite teams. This format guarantees lots of variety and entertainment. It seems to work. This was its fifth year and our fourth sell-out. This is not possible to put on this event without the strong support of many instructors, both in the Vancouver area and also from Victoria, British Columbia. |
We have a large hardwood dance floor, but overcrowding will not please anyone, so we decided 220 would be a good maximum number of people. With 192 pre-registrations and 28 registrations at the door, we exactly reached this amount and luckily, we did not have to worry about turning anyone away. In the five years of this event, we have always sold out or just about reached maximum.
| The choreography competition offers eight choreographers/instructors a 35 minute workshop. The audience then scores each dance they learn on a scale of one to ten and the average score determines the favourite dances of the day. This year, we managed to squeeze an additional two workshops into the day’s schedule. This way we were able to have a "warm-up" workshop, 8 choreography competition workshops, and a non-competition workshop in the evening portion of the event. |
The day began with Bev Senft, a local instructor, who taught "Reet Petite". This was the perfect warmer-upper dance: quick, easy and fun, and Bev did a great job after a dash to get here on time! Now the crowd for the morning competition workshops. In the first set were Christy Fox from Coquitlam with her nightclub two-step inspired dance "Rock Me Gently", and Lisa Strong from Burnaby, whose dance, "Mackie’s Back" was taught by local instructor Lynda Taylor.
| Duo Team competitions were next. The three Duos were amazingly different and all very clever. The performance by Sara Raymond and Vicki McCullouch from Vancouver Island featured blazing footwork and amazing hand/arm coordination; Tracey Anderton and Ruth Hunter featured a wild and crazy comic routine, and Len And Kirsten Person did a 50’s medley of dances complete with The Stroll; Kirsten dressed in a pink poodle shirt, white blouse and pink scarf, and Len in a white T-shirt with rolled-up sleeves of course, jeans, horn-rim glasses and Elvis sideburns. |
Last year we added a new feature that worked well and we repeated this year: demos of new dances not in the competition. This allowed those who were not in the competition to have a showcase for their new dances.
| The third morning workshop featured Charlotte Skeeters of the San Francisco Bay Area with her dance (co-choreographed with Evelyn Khinoo) called "Going...Going...GONE!" |
Lunch was catered by the centre’s cafeteria staff. But of course, some dancers danced right through the lunch period. Our excellent deejays throughout the day were Ember Schira with back-up from Al Serfas.
| Two choreography competition workshops started off the afternoon: Betty Clarke from Victoria and Jenifer Reaume of Vancouver, last years’ first and second place winners. Betty’s dance was "Bouncin’ Boogie" and Jenifer’s dance was "Virtuosity". |
Small Teams competition was next and was as hotly-contested as it has ever been and had more "smiles per minute" than any other portion of the day. In fact, many people commented afterward how difficult a decision it was to just vote for one favourite.
| The sixth and seventh choreography competition dancers were "En Una Semana...El Tango" by Dee Cresdee and Ember Schira, and "Is That It?" by Tom Selzler. These were followed by another set of demo’s of new dances. The last choreography competition workshop closed the afternoon session: Mike Sliter taught us his new dance, "I Won’t Forget". |
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The 6 Small Teams were as follows: |
| The dinner break saw a rush to local restaurants, but some folks stayed in and relaxed in the hall. One group ordered 8 pizzas! During dinner, music was on for dancing, and after a while Ember Schira taught impromptu workshops of recent dances. But the official evening portion of the event started at 6:30 with general dancing. At 6:45 I (Bill Bader) taught "Maritime Mambo", a fun contra dance from Eastern Canada (Prince Edward Island to be exact) choreographed by Cindy Talbot and Bev Cornish. |
The evening dance featured all the latest hits plus some old standards. The highlight of the evening was Rick Tippe’s live performance. Rick performed "Hardwood Stomp" and four terrific new songs. The three from his latest album, "STAMPEDE STRUT - GET HOT IV". had the floor packed as they excellent dance songs and floor splits were very easy to come up with. Rick’s songs are perfectly phrased and have terrific energy to dance to.
| The other highlight of the evening was the flawless performance by Western Spirit and Friends. This Large Team comes together from all over Lower Mainland. Members are: Wendy Clarke, Dee Cresdee, Pam Dodding-Evans, Linda Kalman, Vicki Lane, Linda Lee, Janis Makuch, Kirsten Person, Len Person, Sally Saflor, and Ember Schira with assistance from Len Person and Al Serfas. In addition, Sheila Smith, although she did not perform, should be noted as part of the team. This routine showed a side (and front and back) of these women we had not seen before: they can bump and grind with the best of them - they outdid the cast of Sweet Charity! |
Besides the general dancing, the only other thing left in the day was the awards. Rick Tippe, Lynda Taylor and Grant Gadbois assisted me in this pleasurable task. The audience was anxious to see if they voted for the winners. The Duo winners were Len and Kirsten Person and the Small Team winners were Bad Girls. (The Large Team was uncontested.)
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The 3 favorite dances of the day were
announced in reverse order: |
As event director, I was thrilled by the comments we had. My thanks to everyone for coming, to the other instructors who helped promote this event, to the teams and choreographers for all their creative work, and to instructors Bev Senft and Lynda Taylor for adding their expertise, to Ember Schira and Al Serfas for deejaying duties, to Lisa Strong for being official photographer, to the registration desk staff and other volunteers, to decorating staff Liz and Jim Salikin, to Lynda Taylor for her excellent emceeing, and to Grant Gadbois for doing everything else.
| In addition to next year’s Jamboree BC in early November, I am planning an additional event to be called Summer Spectacular. That will be the weekend of July 27-29, 2001. Here’s hoping you can come for even more fun! |
- Bill Bader, Event Director, Jamboree BC
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Here are just some of the
unsolicited comments received after this year’s Jamboree BC. |
From: "Donna Verbeek" <dverbeek@home.com>
Subject: Re:
Jamboree weekend - A great event
Date: Mon, 13 Nov 2000 12:25:30 -0800
| Thank you Bill, for the great time. You put on a very good day event .Lots of fun and variety. Even though the brain is mush by day's end, I was still smiling. |
From: DQ-dance@webtv.net
To:
billbader@hotmail.com (Bill Bader)
Subject: Many Thanks
Date: Wed, 8
Nov 2000
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I want to thank you for Jamboree B.C. I really
enjoyed meeting people there and dancing with them. Lots of fun. I was very
impressed with how well-organized the event was -- everything
ran smoothly -- a good mix of lessons, open dancing, and
entertainment. |
[DQ drove in all the way from southern Oregon!]
From: "ken ivany" <kjivany@hotmail.com>
Subject:
jamboree bc
Date: Tue, 07 Nov 2000 11:13:02 PST
| had a great time bill
thanks for hosting this event. it's always so
good to see our local instrutors and out of town guests together. events like
this give us a chance to share style and teaching
techniques as well as dances. this was the first
time i met mike and bev slider, and enjoyed talking with them as well as my friends from kelowna and vancouver
island. |
From: "Cybernaut" <cybernaut@tenforward.com>
To:
"Bill Bader" <billbader@hotmail.com>
Subject:
Thank You!!
Date: Sun, 12 Nov 2000 22:41:32 -0800
|
A giant big thank you to both you and Grant. Jamboree BC was truly an outstanding experience. My friends who came with me all agreed it was well worth coming to--they had a great time. We were especially thrilled to have Rick Tippe there to sing while we danced. Your hospitality made us feel very welcome, and we appreciate the incredible amount of work it took to put on such a seamless affair. I went to Al Serfas' class on the way home on Sunday, which was also lots of fun. Al taught Mike Sliter's "I Won't Forget", Ember was there to teach (the winning dance) "En Una Semana...El Tango", and Bev Senft taught her "Stick Like Glue". Also, Sara, my teacher from here (Sequim, Washington) who attended BC Jam, taught "I Won't Forget" at our Wed. a.m. class, She has plans to teach most of the dances presented to us. |
Happy holidays!
Robbie Varney
cybernaut@tenforward.com
Jamboree BC memories...
This page was updated October, 2005. Webpage designed by Bill Bader. Special thanks to Lisa Strong for her help. © Bill Bader 2002 - 2005. Photos are not public domain. |
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