Spring Ballroom Challenge

The Albany Upstate NY Chapter of USISTD will be presenting a Spring Ballroom Challenge on Saturday, March 13th. The event will be hosted by Dance Fire Studio in Niskayuna. The Ballroom challenge will have USISTD Medal testing and Proficiency Competitions for youth and adult. Our Examiner will be Michael Choi. Since this is our first in person event since the pandemic, please note that all safety protocols will be strictly enforced. Please check out our events page for all the relevant details.

If you have questions about Medal Testing and Proficiency Competition please join us for a question and answer forum at our January Learn and Practice, scheduled for January 24th at 1:00 pm. If you would like a zoom invitation, please email us at Albanychapterusistd@gmail.com

Exciting News!

Albany Upstate USISTD will be having a Spring Ballroom Competition hosted by Dance FIre Studios. We are very excited to be able to provide this opportunity for all ballroom dancers! The competition will consist of two parts a proficiency competition and USISTD medal testing. Our evaluator for the event will be Michael Choi one of eleven nationally certified USISTD evaluators. This event will be open to dancers of all levels. In the proficiency competition, you will be dancing as if in a competition, but Michael will only be focused on you. There will not be a score, but you will be given a critique of your dancing including technique, timing, and musicality.

The medal testing involves dancing a short routine to demonstrate the techniques of the particular dance and level that is being tested. The technique is outlined in the USISTD syllabus. One or both partners may be tested. Further information will be forthcoming - keep an eye on this site for details.

This event will be conducted with all the COVID safety protocols in place.

Help wanted

Are you a Facebook fiend? Our Public Relations committee is in need of someone to manage our Facebook page. we need an individual who is willing to make posts and create events. (If you would prefer, someone on the committee can compose the posts and you can make sure they are put on the site.) If you are interested please contact Sue Nelson at Albanychapterusistd@gmail.com. Thank You!

Membership Campaign

Memberships in the Albany Upstate Chapter of USISTD are currently up for renewal. If you are presently a member, you should have received an email. If not membership information is available on this site There is now an option available to use PayPal to pay your dues. The nominating committee is also accepting nominations for our Board of Directors. If you are a full or adjunct member please feel free to make nominations.

We are also reaching out to other dancers to increase our memberhips. If you know of anyone who might be interested, please send up their email address. Thank you!

Membership Meeting

In spite of the limitations of social distancing and other regulations, the board is trying to continue to provide substantive learning opportunities for the dance community. Our Learn and Practice Events have become virtual for the time being. They are still presented the fourth Sunday of each month at 1:00. Email us if you would like a zoom invitation and are not on our mailing list.

We are currently in the process of planning a proficiency competition for dancers to come and get feedback on their dancing from certified USISTD examiners. We are trying to schedule this for March of 2021, hoping the restrictions of the pandemic will be lifted. We will post more information as is becomes available.

Our annual membership meeting will be held on Saturday, October 3rd at 9:30 am on Zoom. All members should be receiving their invitation by email. If you do not receive the invitation or are not a member please email us at AlbanyNY.AIDA@gmail.com so we can include you.

Learn and Practice Workshop

We would like to take this opportunity to thank Michael Choi for conducting our September Learn and Practice event. The discussion and demonstration about timing was both thought provoking and informative. We look forward to seeing Michael in person when he comes to do evaluations for our Proficiency Competition to be scheduled in March of 2021.

Learn and Practice Events

You board of directors has been busy scheduling monthly Learn and Practice events. We would like to thank all the instructors for their time and efforts. Our next Learn and Practice will take place this Sunday, September 27th at 1:00 pm. This session will be taught by Michael Choi. Michael is highly regarded as a competitive dancer and also as a USISTD examiner. We hope you can join us.

Introducing Kelly Mandenjian

We are pleased to welcome Kelly as the next instructor for our Learn and Practice Event on August 23rd at

1 :00 PM. Kelly is a former USA Dance Senior i &!! American Rhythm and Nine dance National champion. She has served on the Board of the New London Chapter of USA Dance. She teaches fitness and dance at multiple studios and K-12 programs. Kelly co-owns Ability in Rhythm (AIR). Kelly has also taught and performed for Rhode Island USA Dance chapter, DOCMA, MASSABDA, and the Cape Cod Chapter. The topics for the Learn and Practice are ChaCha Chasses and kicks and flicks in swing. We hope you can join us!