Perhaps many of you, like Lennie and I, have enjoyed watching the “So You think You Can Dance” TV program over the summer. The program ended its season on August 16 and the winner was a young West Coast Swing champion from California named Benji Schwimmer. 
Lennie and I were fortunate to see Benji and his cousin, Heidi (also a finalist on the TV program), perform in person in the LA area in December, 2002 while visiting some friends in California. Although this program showcased many different forms of dance besides swing dance, we found it wonderfully entertaining and were pleased to see the tremendous interest it generated among all age groups of the TV audience. I found people talking about it every week and, of course, many of my home club LRBC members were taping it to watch later as the program was aired every week on the night of our weekly club dance. This kind of exposure helps dance of all kinds and especially is positive in encouraging young people to get into dancing. As we talked about in our last newsletter and again as a discussion topic in this issue, whatever happens and whatever we can do to encourage new blood for our dance clubs is a huge benefit to us all. Dance and the kind of lasting friendships it fosters is simply too important a part of life not to be nurtured and kept alive and strong.
Jim Watson continues to do a wonderful job as editor of our newsletter and has been creative in coming up with new topics each issue for ABA clubs to contribute their experiences to. However, while the number of contributions initially was very good, the participation seems to have fallen off over the last few issues. I think every club should make it point to contribute something to at least one of these subjects each year. If that happened, not only would it make Jim’s job easier, but also we would continue to gain a wealth of information from these shared experiences. Directors, please make it a point to get your club into the act.
Our two ABA conventions in St. Louis and Cincinnati are coming up over Labor Day and in November. I hope everyone makes a point to attend at least one of these. Also, the signups for our 2007 Cruise are over 200 and it looks like the final number will exceed the initial 2006 Cruise. There’s still plenty of time to get on board.
Finally, I want to welcome our newest members to the ABA. Northeast Social Dance Club from Scranton, PA is our newest Regular member. Two new Associate members this year are Shag Atlanta and Southeast Georgia Dance Club. Thanks for becoming part of our great dance organization
The future of our dance depends upon it.
Best Regards,
Jim Laux
President – American Bop Association