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@voteuwd-blog
Thank you!
The VOTE United We Dance team -- Yang Chen, Shawn Fisher, Michael Brocks, and Greg Warner -- thanks all the USA Dance voting members for electing us into office. We thank Lydia Scardina, Bill Rose and Esther Freeman for their years of dedication and commitment to USA Dance. We will issue a fuller statement soon but wanted to offer this short note of gratitude in the meantime.
This announcement is the official 2013 National Elections results for the Executive Officers and DanceSport Council Delegates of USA Dance Inc. for the three-year term beginning January 1, 2014 and ending December 31, 2016. These 2013 Election results have been ratified by the Executive Committee of USA Dance, Inc. The final vote count for the 2013 Election is as follows: For President: Yang Chen - 637 (Elected) Lydia Scardina - 316 For Senior Vice President: Shawn Fisher - 609 (Elected) Bill Rose - 336 For Treasurer: Michael Brocks - 587 (Elected) Esther Freeman - 361 For Secretary: Greg Warner - 856 (Elected) For Vice President of Social Dance: Jean Krupa - 515 (Elected) For Vice-President of DanceSport: Ken Richards - 296 (Elected) For DanceSport Delegate: Scott Coates - 271 (Elected) Roger Greenawalt - 266 (Elected) Inna Brayer - 258 (Elected) Taras Savitskyy - 196 (Elected) Edward Golbert - 190 For Approval of January 1, 2013 Bylaws: Yes - 734 (Passed) No - 89 On behalf of the 2013 Nominations and Elections Committee, I certify that these results are true and accurate. I also extend congratulations to those individuals who were elected or reelected. And finally, I extend heartfelt thanks and appreciation to those individuals not reelected for their years of dedicated service to this organization and wish them well as they continue to find ways to support USA Dance in the years ahead. Respectfully submitted:
Phil Sisk
National Elections Director
November 12, 2013
Schedule for Announcement of 2013 Election Results The balloting period for the National Election ends this Saturday, November 2, 2013. Only ballots received by midnight on that day will be counted. The 2013 Election Teller Committee will meet on November 9 & 10 to open, confirm eligibility, and count the ballots received by the official cut-off date. On November 11, the Elections Director will certify the results and send the final count to the Executive Committee for approval. On November 12, upon notification of the approved slate of officers from the EC, the Elections Director will send an email announcement to each of the candidates announcing the results of the election for all positions. One hour later, these results will be posted on the USA Dance, Inc. website and on the USA Dance, Inc. Facebook page. In addition, an email will be sent to all Chapter officials from the National Elections Director announcing the winning slate of officers for the 2014-2017 term. The results will also be posted in the January-February 2014 issue of American Dancer magazine. The USA Dance, Inc. 2013 Elections Forum Facebook page will no longer be active after midnight EST on November 2, 2013.
Phil Sisk National Elections Director
[posted on Facebook, USA Dance, Inc. Group page, Oct. 31]
Our first campaign flyer, from back in August. Our positions remain the same since we first distributed this flyer. Vote for the team that always stayed positive in getting out its message. Vote for the team that believes in teamwork and collaboration. Vote for the team that is not dismissive, derisive or divisive. Vote for the team with candidates from three time zones. Vote for the team that has received endorsements from all parts of the country, representing chapter leaders, regional leaders, national leaders, dancers, DanceSport athletes and professionals.
As the flyer says, "We are all excited for the opportunity to serve USA Dance as National Officers." Give us that chance by giving us your vote. Vote for Yang Chen, Shawn Fisher, Michael Brocks and Greg Warner. VOTE United We Dance.
Pres. candidate Yang Chen organized the USA Dance, Greater NY Chapter #3004 (NY USA Dance) Halloween social which took place at the Arthur Murray Manhattan Fifth Avenue on Oct. 26. You will not see him in these photos because at the party he was doing double duty as DJ and photographer. About 50 people came, with many from the NYU Ballroom Dance Club and Team. Proceeds went to the chapter's Dance Assist Fund to aid dancers in need. We have members and friends of the chapter who are facing serious health issues and the funds will go towards helping to defray their medical expenses. Thanks to everyone who came out and supported the event! Happy Halloween! (Click on the link icon in the image to see the photo album from the party or go to http://bit.ly/hween13am5ave.)
More Endorsements!
We thank the following additional endorsers:
Enrique Calle, President, Northern Alabama Chapter USA Dance #6114
Bill Davies, Former United States Professional Standard Champion, National Adjudicator, Coach, Instructor
John and Penny DeFino, three-time USA Dance National Finalists
Steven Hadley, National Adjudicator, Former Championship Finalist, Coach, Instructor
Larinda McRaven, Eastern Vice President, Professional Dancers Federation; Professional Smooth North American Champion, National Adjudicator
Kimberly Smith, Treasurer, USISTD, Championship Adjudicator, Coach, Instructor
We continue to be honored and privileged to receive the support of diverse segments of the ballroom world, including chapter leaders, DanceSport athletes and professional dancers who are renowned and well-respected in the industry. For the full list, see the "Endorsements" menu item under "Pages" in the right-hand column.
All endorsements reflect personal opinions of the endorsers. Affiliations are given for identification purposes only and are not intended to imply or state that the affiliation is making the endorsement.
Would you like to join the list? Contact us at [email protected]
The Unanswered Question: A Troubling Post-Election Concern
While the incumbents sound the alarms about a “takeover team” during this election, we have a serious post-election concern that we believe has not been addressed.
The VOTE United We Dance team has fielded questions about whether we would continue to work with the incumbents if not all members of our team get elected. We have answered this question in the affirmative, most recently in response to Arlene Yu’s direct question on this very point. See http://bit.ly/mndfncs
We reiterate our desire to work as part of a team, whether or not our entire slate is voted in, and we are concerned that while the VOTE United We Dance team has expressly stated its willingness to work with the incumbents that are re-elected, we have not seen or heard a similar expression of a cooperative spirit coming from the incumbents. If such a statement was made and we missed it, we apologize and respectfully request that anyone who has seen it to point it out to us.
We urge the voters to be sure to vote for each member of the VOTE United We Dance team so that our entire team can be voted in and do the work necessary to Take USA Dance into the Next Half Century.
Thank you, voters!
Pres. Candidate Yang Chen poses with the Cornell DanceSport Team, after the successful conclusion of the 16th annual Cornell DanceSport Classic held on the Cornell University campus at Barton Hall on October 19, in Ithaca, New York. Yang believes it might have been his 10th year there as Master of Ceremonies. He feels privileged and honored to have been part of this great event for so many years. The photos he took from the event can be found on Facebook at http://bit.ly/cdc13am and http://bit.ly/cdc13pm (Photo courtesy of Josef Kushner.)
The Fishers: A Family That Dances Together.
These photos, courtesy of Shawn Fisher, are from a recital this past May 2013 presented by the Idaho Ballroom Academy in Rexburg. Shawn's wife Janie is the Director. They have 450 children currently enrolled. The recital was so popular that they had to give two performances to accommodate everyone. Each show had 1200 people in attendance.
Shawn and his entire family took part in the recital. These photos are from a swing number danced to the song "Hip to be Square." All of the Fisher kids (and son-in-law Michael Mecham) dance and they joined in the performance. The children range in age from Michael (10) to Aimee (mid-20s).
Thanks to Shawn for sharing these great photos!
Haven't We Heard All This Before?
In calling us “the takeover team,” the incumbents chide the VOTE United We Dance team for wanting to step into the highest offices of the organization without having “paid our dues” by holding office first at the regional, then national, level.
We have heard this criticism before. It came from one of the incumbents’ most ardent supporters, Vivian Beiswenger. In response to her claim that “the VOTE United We Dance team banded together as ‘a pack, clique … or conspiracy’ to ‘take control’ of the Governing Council and to ‘split the team[,]’” we stated:
We came together as a team because we were approached by current national and regional leaders at USA Dance who expressed a strong desire for change and a new direction for the national organization. Being passionate and dedicated volunteers for USA Dance ourselves, we decided to answer the call. Read one of our first posts on why we are running: http://bit.ly/ywerun
Since coming together, we have worked collaboratively as team. ... We share the view that teamwork is what guided our success at the chapter level. If elected, we will bring that same sense of teamwork to the Governing Council. We have no intention or desire to “split the team” as Ms. Beiswenger suggests.
The incumbents criticize the VOTE United We Dance team for lacking national experience, conveniently ignoring that Greg Warner, currently serving out Stan Andrews’s term as Secretary, is running on our ticket. The incumbents ignore Shawn Fisher’s long years of service at the national level. Instead, an incumbent running in an uncontested position has posted a lengthy vilification of Shawn’s service, contrary to the anti-negative campaigning policy of the Forum. (That post now resides in the blog of the incumbent candidate for President.)
The incumbents also trivialize candidate Yang Chen’s lengthy volunteer service -- of nearly two decades -- in the Greater New York Chapter, helping to run one of the country’s biggest (if not the biggest) chapters. In that capacity, Yang Chen has served as President for nearly a decade and has helped to run the Manhattan Amateur Classic (MAC), one of the country’s biggest, longest-running and most prestigious dance competitions. MAC is entering its 24th consecutive year. No other competition -- run by professionals or volunteers -- can match its longevity in New York City. In a place well known as a tough and expensive environment in which to do business, the continuing success and vitality of the MAC has represented a major boon to USA Dance.
With regard to Michael Brocks, the incumbents continue to ignore his thirty years of experience as a CPA, which includes providing services to numerous non-profits and charities. As we wrote in response to Vivian Beiswenger:
That level of real world experience and expertise is invaluable in running a national not-for-profit organization like USA Dance which operates in the real world. Moreover, government regulation and scrutiny of 501(c)(3) organizations has been on the rise in the last decade, and USA Dance needs someone with Michael’s background and qualifications to make sure that USA Dance is complying with the wide array of rules and regulations that USA Dance is subject to. Merely having logged many years in USA Dance at the national or regional level will not be sufficient for holding the National Treasurer office; knowledge of and experience with the thicket of laws and regulations governing 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organizations would also be required.
The incumbent Treasurer’s continuing refrain is that she is willing to serve one more term and to put in forty hours a week doing it. She seems to believe that being a CPA for three decades with knowledge of the financial regulations governing not-for-profits is secondary to having put long years and hours into the organization.
We urge the voters to reject these tired arguments. The VOTE United We Dance team has the requisite combined experience, expertise, background and qualifications to run USA Dance in a professional, business-like way. We have worked for, founded or helped grow various not-for-profit organizations. As we have said many times before, we are running now to bring those talents and skills to serve USA Dance and to help it reach its potential as a national 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization.
We have the skills, the energy, the dedication and the desire to advance USA Dance. VOTE United We Dance.
In April 2012, Angela Prince, USA Dance Director of Public Relations, asked Yang Chen to represent USA Dance at Good Pitch organized by BRITDOC Foundation, a non-profit that helps fund social cause documentaries. The pitch was held at the Ford Foundation in New York City, and the pitch presenters were the producers of “Dancing in Jaffa,” a documentary about Pierre Dulaine and his Dancing Classrooms program extending its reach globally to bring together Palestinian and Israeli children — torn by hatred — through the power of dance. Yang Chen was among the panelists that reviewed the trailer and offered feedback and suggestions to the producers. In fact, his comments were tweeted by Working Films (@workingfilms), an independent media organization based in Wilmington, NC, as follows:
"I love the trailer, the message, the idea - mostly I love the heart in it"- Yang Chen from @NYUSADance @DanceJaffa #GoodPitch
BRITDOC retweeted the quote. Working Films and BRITDOC each have over 7,000 Twitter followers around the world. NY USA Dance also retweeted to its followers on Twitter (which today number over 300).
Since then, “Dancing in Jaffa” was included in the Tribeca Film Festival this April in New York City and got picked up by the distributor Sundance Selects in June. Yang has contacts with Dancing Classrooms in New York City and is contemplating a group outing for USA Dance members in New York when release dates are announced.
We are VOTE United We Dance, NOT the Takeover Team
VOTE United We Dance regrets the unfortunate negative tone that this election campaign has taken. One clear example of the negativity with which the incumbents express their disdain is in their reference to us as “the takeover team.” Let us be clear that we do not refer to ourselves that way. Our team is called “VOTE United We Dance” because we believe in teamwork, collaborating with each other and the greater dance community to help make USA Dance a great national organization.
From the beginning, the VOTE United We Dance team has acknowledged the long years of service that all the incumbents have put into USA Dance. See http://bit.ly/ywerun However, if the negative and derogatory statements and comments they have posted online are any indication, those long years may have translated into a sense of complacency. Take, for example, this statement posted by the incumbent Treasurer:
You can send a member to the bylaws but you can't make them read! Most of our members have no clue and no interest in what we are doing at the national level.
The incumbents, by arguing that they should be re-elected because they have volunteered for so many years for the organization, seem to be reflecting a sense of entitlement to their positions. By calling us “the takeover team,” they view us as upstarts trying to unseat them. If anything, we would be more accurately called “the Shake-up Team” because we are shaking up the incumbents from their position of complacency and entitlement.
USA Dance prides itself on being a democratic organization, and the VOTE United We Dance team supports and upholds these democratic values. Far from being a “takeover team,” we are offering the members a choice, an alternative. What is an election if the electorate is offered only one choice? For the votes to be meaningful, USA Dance members should have a choice of candidates to select from. Our presence in this election comports with common notions of the democratic process.
Support democracy. Support teamwork and the spirit of collaboration. You have a choice in this election. VOTE United We Dance.
Footage from Manhattan Amateur Classic (MAC) 2012 at the Manhattan Center. President Candidate Yang Chen is one of the organizers of this major event, the largest NQE presented by USA Dance. He has volunteered with the Greater New York Chapter to put on this event year after year for nearly 20 years. He danced at the very first MAC in 1991. The MAC is entering its 24th year in 2014, one of the longest-running and most prestigious dance competitions in New York and the United States.
Shawn Fisher, candidate for Senior Vice President, was interviewed for this piece and is credited here as Editor-in-Chief of the American Dancer. Shawn is a tenured professor at BYU-Idaho where he has overseen almost 20 ballroom classes per semester for the last 17 years. He has been a volunteer with USA Dance, college programs and youth groups for almost 25 years.
Both are running on the VOTE United We Dance ticket and would make excellent leaders for USA Dance. Vote for them and their running mates Michael Brocks, for Treasurer, and Greg Warner, for Secretary.
Let's take USA Dance into the Next Half Century!
A Plea for Civility
With about a month left to go in the 2013 USA Dance elections, we, the VOTE United We Dance team, have had to endure an onslaught of negative, inaccurate, unfair and improper campaigning by the incumbents. This conduct has included referring to our slate pejoratively as “the takeover team” and accusing us of unspecified illegal tactics.
As candidates, we find this behavior deplorable and inappropriate. As USA Dance members, we react to this degraded level of discourse with disappointment and embarrassment.
Phil Sisk, the National Elections Director, has the duty under the bylaws to ensure that this election is conducted in a fair and impartial manner. On multiple occasions, on the USA Dance website and in email blasts to chapter leaders, he has urged positive campaigning. For example, on the USA Dance website, he states: “Congratulations to all of you on your placement on the 2013 ballot! We look forward to seeing a proactive, positive campaign leading up to the voting by our membership this fall.” Along the same lines, in announcing the USA Dance Inc. 2013 Elections Forum on Facebook, he wrote: “The site will be closely moderated to monitor the comments and to remove any posts that are seen as being negative towards other candidates. Our goal is that this site be used to promote a candidacy or agenda and NOT as a place to vilify or slander other candidates.”
The same call for positive campaigning recently surfaced in a Nominations and Elections Policy announced by Mr. Sisk in mid-September (two months after candidates were officially placed on the ballot). It plainly stipulates that “during the course of a campaign, candidates and supporters are urged to stress the positive qualifications of the candidate and to avoid negative comments regarding others.”
We quote this December 2004 policy not to accept its current validity, because we find the circumstances of its sudden appearance to be suspicious, but to underscore the consistent and express policy of positive -- not negative -- campaigning.
The VOTE United We Dance team has rigorously abided by the strictures of this campaign to remain positive. By contrast, a review of the USA Dance Inc. 2013 Elections Forum, Chapter Facebook groups and pages and the National President’s blog will show that the incumbents have not always abided by these requirements. In some cases, their comments have a distinctively derisive and dismissive tone.
Too much vitriol and bile has been hurled in this campaign, trying to pass itself off as campaign rhetoric. We believe USA Dance can do better, we should do better and we need to do better. We urge all candidates and their supporters to maintain a higher level of discourse, to pursue civility and not engage in name-calling, false accusations and derogatory statements.
We ask the voters to demand better from the candidates and to vote on the merits rather than on unfounded allegations and harsh personal attacks.
This election is an important one for the future of the organization, its members and the dance community. In the time remaining for the members to cast their votes, we make this plea for civility and decency. We, the VOTE United We Dance team, will continue to strike a positive tone in this campaign. We respectfully request all others to do the same.
On Saturday night, September 28, the Greater New York Chapter of USA Dance (#3004) celebrated National Ballroom Dance Week by hosting a social in conjunction with Manhattan Ballroom Dance, a popular studio in the heart of New York City. Attendees enjoyed a full night of ballroom dancing with wonderful music, lots of terrific dancers and plenty of space to dance. Happy National Ballroom Dance Week! For the full album go to http://bit.ly/nbdw13mbd
National President Candidate Yang Chen visited the Ballroom Central of NJ Chapter #3059 on Sunday, September 22, to celebrate National Ballroom Dance Week with members and friends of the chapter. The event brought dancers from all over Central New Jersey as well as points as far north as Port Jervis, New York. Yang was not the only Manhattanite at the dance -- he ran into a teacher from his high school who traveled from Manhattan to attend this dance because of the friendly and welcoming atmosphere.
Music was provided by a live band, John Nobile and his Summer Swing Orchestra. The low price of admission -- $20 for USA Dance members -- included a raffle ticket for door prizes. The last ticket drawn had the number 096 -- which matched Yang's ticket. He managed to go home with a bottle of riesling from a winery in Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania. Lucky day!
Yang thanks the Ballroom Central of NJ Chapter and its Board for their gracious hospitality. Yang also thanks Jeff Volvovsky of Ballroom Dream and JADA for connecting him with the chapter.
Check out some of the photos from the event above. For the full album on Facebook, go to http://bit.ly/nbdw13cnj
Gretchen Brocks from USA Dance Pittsburgh stops by to talk about an upcoming event in Market Square this week!
Gretchen Brocks, VP of the USA Dance Chapter in Pittsburgh, PA, appeared on KDKA/CBS Morning News to promote that chapter’s kick-off event for National Ballroom Dance Week on Friday, September 20, in Market Square. Great job, Gretchen! Gretchen is wife of Michael Brocks, candidate for National Treasurer, and we are pleased to count her among our supporters. VOTE United We Dance!