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The "Untold" Story of the Eugene/Springfield Chapter of USA DANCE
- Author:
- Meng Ouyang
- Date Published:
- November 19, 2006
This December the Eugene/Springfield Chapter of USA DANCE will turn seven years old. This seven-year anniversary presents a wonderful opportunity to relate the story of how our chapter began and came to be what it now represents. Following is the story of our chapter as I have heard from the people that were very involved at its beginning years.
Our chapter's first dance was initiated by Linda Staver in December 1999 and was held at the Downtown Athletic Club. According to people who experienced it, it was a tremendous success. However, there were difficulties. The new chapter was obviously short of money. Ben Moseley, the first chapter president, did a great job in cutting expenses by convincing a local professional DJ, Rich Ecker, to volunteer his expertise and equipment for our dances. In return, our chapter advertised his services in our newsletter. Eventually, Rich and his equipment were no longer available. Our chapter had to figure out a way to get our own music and equipment. The chapter account did not have enough money to buy all that was needed. Jim Rice, the vice president, asked people to donate at dances. Mark Baker, then a BYU dance major, was in town. He proposed the idea of collecting cans to raise money for equipment. Thus, Mark, Ben and Wu went door-to-door collecting cans for two days--an unforgettable memory for all three. I confirmed the story with Ben, who said it was "pathetic" and didn't raise much money at all. Even so, I think these three guys' efforts deserve recognition and appreciation.
Luckily, OBDC donated their old amplifier to our chapter. Wu shopped around town to find the best deal for the remaining equipment needs. With the board's approval, our chapter then bought its own equipment. The first chapter music collection came from Ben's clients. Dance Vision and David Watson (owner of Ballroom Parkrose Studio in Portland) both donated a set of CDs. Wu enriched the chapter music from his own collection, as well, and has been the DJ since Rich's departure.
Finding a decent and affordable dance floor in town has never been an easy task. After the first dance, the dances were constantly moving from one place to another until we settled temporarily at the Willamalane Adult Activity Center in Springfield. Subsequently, dances were held at the Westmoreland Community Center in Eugene, and finally at the Veterans' Club Ballroom where we currently hold our regular monthly dances. Not only did the floor have to be good and affordable, music equipment storage had to be taken in consideration. Before the Veterans' Club, the equipment was stored at Wu's house. For each dance, the equipment had to be loaded onto his truck, hauled to the dance location and unloaded. After the dance, it took an additional hour to return the equipment to his house. This had to be done no matter what the weather conditions were.
Issuing newsletters back then was also different. I recently received some old newsletters from Ben. They were issued by Michaela Chevalier, who was the Publicity Director. The newsletters were full of eye-catching graphics and well-designed layouts. I must say she did a fabulous job in creating the newsletters. Six or seven years ago our chapter did not have access to a service like Constant Contact (the one we are currently using) to create newsletters with all the ready-to-use templates. Besides the publicity work, Michaela also helped a lot with reviewing the music for dances with Wu.
There have been so many people who contributed their love of dance and love of the community to our chapter, whether or not they were on the board. Some people are still doing great work for our chapter today even though they are no longer serving on the board. Because December 1999 is a time beyond my age as a ballroom dancer, my brief story-telling only shows a tiny portion. But with all the hard effort and love from these people, I am grateful and honored to be a part of this chapter. My special thanks to Ben Moseley, Jim & Mary Rice, and my husband Yexin Wu for providing all the information.
Happy Birthday to our chapter!