Executive Board:

Evelyn Khinoo – President

Marcie Walter – Vice President

Beth Smith – Treasurer

Helen Wooldridge – Secretary

Other Board Members:

Marlene Knecht

Randy Smith

Mike Benes

Kathy Martin

Eric Cohen

John Mighll

Our thanks to them all!

• Evelyn Khinoo
• Beth Smith
• Randy Smith
• Marlene Knecht
• Marcie Walter
• Mike Benes
• Helen Wooldridge
• Erik Cohen

Six other members have also volunteered to provide additional support:

• Rosa Chen
• Ricky Kwok
• Laura Ma
• Martie Hovancik
• Patti Leonard
• Jean Ahern

Our heartfelt thanks to them all.

And just to get things started, I want to share some thoughts I have.

Door Duty
I think door duty may be one of the things people may dread most about volunteering for the board.  It is not always a lot of fun, having to miss some of the dances (at least in the early part of the evening), because you’re taking admissions money at the door.  It hasn’t been all that burdensome in the past, because we’ve usually had about 12 board members and so each of us has had to do it only about once every three months.  But if we only get about 6 volunteers for the board next year, then each board member will have to do it more often.

I think there are several possible ways to deal with the problem.  In years past the club has paid someone to do door duty.  It didn’t cost all that much, and the person doing it might also perform other, related tasks like managing the beverages and organizing the 50/50.  The club certainly has enough money to do this again.  An alternative might be to have volunteers from the club take turns doing it, so it wouldn’t be just board members who are stuck with the job.

Non-Essential Activities
In prior years the board has spent a large part of its time on activities that were fun and certainly worthwhile, but not absolutely essential to running the club.  For example, we organized a book sale, a bake sale and several silent auctions.  In the coming year, if volunteers for the board were less able to devote a lot of time to the club, these kinds of activities could be reduced, or they might be done using volunteers from the club who are recruited for each event or task.

Board Meetings
During the past year or two, we’ve had board meetings once each month.  They started an hour before the dance and usually lasted about an hour.  In the future, if we wanted, we could hold shorter meetings.  There is no requirement they be held once each month.  The incoming board can schedule meetings wherever and whenever it wants.

Showing Up for Every Dance
Some club members say they don’t want to join the board because they think that they’ll have to show up for every Friday night dance.  That simply isn’t true.  There is nothing in the bylaws that says that.  All we really need is one person, a ‘responsible party’ to be at every dance, just to handle any difficulties or questions that might arise, and to make sure the venue is cleaned up before everyone leaves.  This ‘responsible party’ doesn’t even have to be a board member; it could be someone from the club membership who volunteers to do it on a particular night.

Dances Every Two Weeks, Rather Than Every Week
It has been suggested that we might find it easier to recruit board members if we hold dances once every two weeks rather than once each week.  This may or may not be true.  I personally don’t think it matters, because there is no requirement that board members show up for every dance.

What are your thoughts?
Please don’t hesitate to leave a comment below.

Update, December 10, 2011

At the dance last night a number of club members volunteered for the 2012 board.  We’re out of the woods. Thanks to everyone for sharing their thoughts, and special thanks to the volunteers who stepped forward.

A lot of people had been nominated for the club’s 2012 board. Almost everyone in the club had ideas about who would make a good board member, and in every case it was someone other than themselves.

So we compiled a list of all the nominations, printed out a ballot and everyone voted. And every single ‘winner’ in this election has declined to serve on the board next year. Who ‘won’ the election? Who cares. We all lost.

There is no board. And without a board, there will be no club next year.

The Christmas Dinner Dance on December 16 will be our last club function. We’ll be donating our treasury funds to a charity and filing the papers to formally dissolve the organization. The Boots ‘n’ Buckles Dance Club, which has held dances every Friday night for the last 26 years, will come to an end.

It’s a shame, because it wouldn’t take much to keep the club going. We need about 6 people to stand up. Six people willing to work about 3 hours each month. Six people who care enough about the club that they’re willing to share in the responsibility to see that things are done – simple things like making sure the chairs are stacked up and put away at the end of the dance, and depositing the admissions money in the bank.

Board members don’t have to be there at every dance. They don’t even have to be members of the club right now. If you’re not a current member, but are willing to serve on the board, you can become a member and join the board on the same day.

Nobody serves on the board because they ‘want’ to. Everyone would much rather enjoy the dances and have other people do the work. But we’ve just run out of other people willing to do the work. Everyone is busy. But they’re busy because they make choices, choosing to spend their time on this activity rather than that. And unless about six people choose to stand up for the club, the club will come to an end.

Think about it. Ask yourself if you’d prefer to see the club fold, rather than spend about three hours each month doing the work needed to keep the club going. That is the choice you have, the decision you must make.

You have until the end of the dance on December 16 to decide.  Contact Tom Garcia or any other board member if you can help out.

Update, December 10, 2011

At the dance last night a number of club members volunteered for the 2012 board.  We’re out of the woods.

It’s sure to be a load of fun. There will be a happy half-hour, starting at 6:30pm. Dinner starts at 7pm, with your choice of Steak Diane, Chicken Cordon Bleu, Salmon or Pasta Primavera. Evelyn and Denny will be our DJs for the evening, and the dancing will start at 8:30. We’ll be honoring Diana Ward that evening as well. If you can’t make it for the dinner, we hope to see you at the dance.

Note: Our first flyer said the deadline for registration was Dec. 10.  The deadline is actually the end of the Friday night dance on December 9, and the flyer has been updated to correct this.

Mike and Joyce teach line dance classes in San Jose and Cupertino (schedule) ) and also host a line dance social on fourth Saturdays at Hyde Middle School in Cupertino (Fourth Saturdays will resume in January).  They’re popular DJs at Boots ‘n’ Buckles and Quickstepper dances.   They also lead a troupe of dancers known as the Dancin’ Shamrocks and provide entertainment at healthcare facilities.

A favorite dance at BnB is Yankee Doodle Dandy, which was choreographed by the Shannons.

Mike and Joyce also choregraphed My Pickup Truck, a classic country-western dance done to the song Pickup Man by Joe Diffie.

Our election process is very simple.  From now until the end of the dance on November 11, club members can volunteer themselves or nominate other club members for the board.  All they have to do is speak to any of the current board members.  Email works too.   Or they can drop their nominations into an election box we’ve provided near the sign-in desk.   Voting will take place at the dances on November 18 and 25.

You have to have been a member for 6 months to get your name on the ballot.  But that’s not really an obstacle, because volunteers are as scarce as hen’s teeth.  If you’re a new member but are willing to put in a few hours each month, just talk with any current board member and we’ll arrange for you to be invited to join the new board as soon as it is organized.

We’ve always been delighted to count ourselves among the many friends of Amy and Friends.  They’re a wonderful group of dancers – many from the East and South Bay Areas.  Amy teaches classes almost every day of the week in Almaden and Fremont.  And it is always great fun when they come out to dance with us on Friday nights.

They also produce exceptionally good dance videos (see their YouTube channels here and here).  It seems that they’re always current on the latest dances, and these instruction/demonstration videos are a wonderful resource for the line dance community all over the world.

Amy teaches beginner dance classes, and also classes for intermediate/advanced dancers.  A while back I was able to drop in on a few of these classes and enjoyed them enormously.  I also found it a useful lesson in humility: the dancers taking Amy advanced classes are among the best in the Bay Area.

We’re establishing a tradition that the instructors being honored at our Instructor Appreciation Nights get to choose five of the dances that will be played that evening; it is a great way to see new dances and learn what is being taught by all the different instructors in the Bay Area.  At this point Amy has selected some of the dances that will be played as shown in the list below (watch Amy’s website for updates, as the selection is finalized during the next week or two):

It’s a great dance: 64 counts, 2 wall, Intermediate level; done to the song I Want You by Kelly Clarkson.  We learned it at Evelyn’s class last week and did it at the BnB dance last night; Sue & Kathy have made an instructional video; and Amy Ong has chosen it as one of the dances to be played at her Instructor’s Appreciation Night on October 28.  The stepsheet is posted on Yipee and other sites.

Below is Julia’s demo video for I Want You.  And below that are demos of two of Julia’s other dances, which are also big hits in the Bay Area: Innocent (done to No Me Enseñaste by Thalia) and Miles Between Us (done to Kilometros by Sin Bandera). See more videos at Julia’s YouTube channel.

I Want You (demo by Julia)

Innocent (demo by Julia)

Miles Between Us (demo by Julia and Amy and Friends)

Saturday, October 15 at 7:30 to 10:30pm, a Cactus Corners dance at the Danville Grange.  Cactus Corners will hosting only a few events in the next year or so.  Gary Clayton is maintaining a schedule here.  They’re planning a Christmas dance on December 17.

The Quicksteppers are holding dances at the Belmont Sports Complex nowadays.  There will be a ‘Mellow Yellow’ dance Saturday, Oct 15 from 7:30 to 10:30pm and a Halloween Party on Saturday, October 29 at the same time.  Details here.

The Country Hustlers will hold a Halloween Dance on Saturday, October 29, 7:30pm – 10:30pm in Livermore.  Read more about it here.

Sue and Kathy will be hosting a Halloween Party on Sunday, October 30 from 2:00 to 5:30pm at the Cupertino YMCA.  The event is a benefit for cancer treatment for a family member of one of their students.  A playlist has been posted on Sue & Kathy’s site.  Read more here.

Joyce and Mike Shannon will be holding a Line Dance Party on Sat, October 22, 6:45pm – 9:45pm at Hyde Middle School in Cupertino.  This will be their last dance until 2012.  Here are the details.

And of course the Boots ‘n’ Buckles Dance Club will be holding its own Halloween Party on Friday, October 29 at 8pm at Swiss Park.  That same night we’ll be honoring Amy Oyang and Friends with an Instructor Appreciation Night.  Read more about that here.