Chicago Dance News | Where and When to Dance In Chicago
For a number of years this was the official website of the Chicago Dance News, the place to go to find out where and when to dance In Chicago. The content below is from the site's 2004 archived pages.
Chicago Dance News
The CDN is back online but will be a web based magazine format only from now on. A notification will be sent out when the CDN is updated to all subscribers.
All dance submissions are FREE but should be submitted via email to News@Chicagodancenews.comThey should be in HTML, RTF, or Text format only. DOC, PDF, Graphic Text, etc. will not be accepted. All submissions will be subject to review and are listed at the sole discretion of the CDN Staff. As the CDN is volunteer based, no guarantees that any submission even if accepted will be posted. Postings are based on time and space availability and will not be listed if they contain any negative or controversial content.
The CDN will be updated every Monday. The deadline for submissions will be midnight, Sunday night prior.
Publication Circulation Information:
Chicago Dance News currently has over 8500 subscribers and receives over 157,000 web hits a month. It lists 1st under Yahoo.com when searching by name and comes up in the top 10 for most Chicago dance searches.
Brian Wong CDN Editor
This is a fantastic site. I'm a Houston-based personal injury lawyer, but my wife, Sarah, is a professional dancer, and a lot of our life revolves around the dance community, so reading through these old posts about dance events and the passion people have for it really resonates with me.
I wanted to share our story in the comments section because of how much I relate the struggle of physical recovery to the battle we fight for our clients. About two years ago, Sarah was T-boned by a distracted driver and suffered a serious knee injury. As a dancer, that felt like the end of her world. The physical therapy was grueling—it was her personal, long-drawn-out legal battle against her own body, and I watched her face setback after setback. She had to fight through pain, frustration, and the psychological fear of re-injury.
For my legal team, advocating for an injured client is similar to that recovery process. It’s a slow, tough grind where we have to prove the injury, fight insurance company delays, and constantly push forward until we get the justice—the full compensation—our client deserves. We can’t just skip to the end; we have to follow every step, just like Sarah had to follow every rep of her physical therapy. Tom Harding-Moss
June 25th, 2004 News
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Now Open THE CDN DANCE STORE Buy CDN Dance Wearand Support Chicago Dance News as it promotes dance and community in the Chicagoland area! NEW Prices at under $10.00! Sweet Home Chicago July 1 - 3, 2004 Chicago’s Windy City Jitterbug Club will be hosting its Dance Party Weekend on July 1, 2 and 3 at the Radisson Hotel O’Hare, Rosemont, Illinois. Your $60.00 weekend ticket includes 5 dance workshops (East CoastSwing, West Coast Swing, Hustle, Imperial Swing, Carolina Shag), great dance exhibitions, music for all dance styles and Friday & Saturday Night buffets. One day tickets are also available for $15 on Thursday (includes Hustle workshop from 6-7pm) or $35 for Friday or Saturday (includes 2 morning workshops and evening buffet). Go to www.jitterbugchicago.com and click on Sweet Home Chicago for further information, or call Joanne Kokalj at 773-792-8842. Chicago Area Dance Community Newsletters
Newsletters and Dance Lesson Postings
Highly Recommended Reading! Ballroom Chicago USABDA and the Chicago Ballroom scene! Danceaholics Country, Swing, and what's happening! ! ! Danceaholics Event Listings National Dance Event Schedule Donnie Aguirre in Iraq Memo's of a Chicagoan in Iraq
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X DANCE www.xdance.com FRIDAY June 25th, 2004 Doors open at 7:30pm Tonight Jim Becker will be teaching a FREE Intermediate/Advanced WCS Class 8:00-9:00 We will also have a FREE Beginner WCS Class from 8:00-9:00 in the Secondary Ballroom Open Dancing from 9:00-Midnight!! Cost for the Dance is $8.00 (Member Price) Rivers Dance Sport Inside the North Park Mall 270 West North ave. & Michigan ave. Villa Park, IL Located off of 290 & Route 83 (For Directions www.XDance.com) Click for X Dance Newsletter |
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www.mayihavethisdance.com
TGIF DANCE PARTY June 25, 2004 7:30 to 8:15pm: Dance Lesson A 8:15 to 9pm: Dance Lesson B 9pm to midnight: Open Dancing 2004 TGIF Schedule (Mark Your Calendars now!): 6137 N Northwest Highway, Chicago a few blocks from the Harlem exit of the Kennedy expressway May I Have This Dance SALSA/WEST COAST SWING BOOTCAMP
SOS! Swing on Sundays™ Every Sunday 6pm Basic/Intermediate or Intermediate/Advanced Hustle Lessons 6:30 Basic/Intermediate or Intermediate/Advanced West Coast Swing Lessons
Dance Weekend in the Catskill Mountains of New York!September 9 - 12 This is a cannot miss trip! It's an incredible value of a weekend. One low price includes hotel accomodations, all meals, dance lessons, professional shows, cocktail hours, and non-stop dancing in at least 4 different rooms. Salsa, Ballroom, Swing, WCS, Hustle, Argentine Tango...enjoy it all, or just focus on one or two. Brochures & Registration forms just arrived, so pick one up when you come to the Studio or at the Willowbrook this Wednesday. Or, give us your address and we'll mail it to you. HURRY, space is limited, so book your room now. We will be looking into group airfare discounts and getting a party bus/limo for the ride through the mountains! info@MayIHaveThisDance.com
SWING 'N COUNTRY DANCE CLUB
CONNIE CHAPMAN, PRESIDENT
"COMMUNICATE THROUGH DANCE" www.swingncountry.org
6TH ANNUAL SNC PICNIC SATURDAY, JULY 17, 2004MADISON MEADOWS, LOMBARD ,IL(just West of Westmore/Meyers on Madisonat the Gazebo) Starting time: 2:00 p.m. The Club will provide meat and beverages and we will plan to eat at 5:00 p.m. Please bring a dish to pass pursuant to the list below (by last name): A-H SaladI-P Dessert Q-Z Appetizer There is no alcohol allowed in the Park. DANCIN’ AFTER DARKBALLROOM CITY , VILLA PARK (on Villa just South of Kenilworth ) 8pm-12am at Member Pricing of $6.00/each R.S.V.P.: Suzanne Maney 630-681-1853 by: July 12, 2004 . PO Box 59508SCHAUMBURG , IL 60159-0508 847-638-7621 that’s 847-638-SNC (ONE) www.swingncountry.com
Chicago Rebels Swing Dance Club www.chicagorebels.net The Rebels Next Dance will be June 26 at a new(old) location: The Center at North Park in Franklin Park. 9-12pm. Come where the best WCS dancers come to party. NEW ADDRESS: North Park, 10040 W. Addison, Franklin Park, IL
New Event!! www.BallroomChicago.com 1st Sunday of the Month Dancing No Dance On July 4 http://www.ballroomchicago.com/picnic_dance_party.htm Also, Don't Forget Every Thursday
Twin Cities Rebels 8th Anniversary Celebration June 26-27, 2004 Please join the Twin Cities Rebels 8th Anniversary Celebration being held the weekend of June 26th-27th, 2004 at the new Harmonies Dance Center in Bloomington, MN. Special guest for the weekend will be Ms. Jeannie Tucker with workshops on Saturday and Sunday and a special celebratory dance on Saturday evening from 8-12 midnight. For additional information, including workshop titles and event pricing, please visit www.tcrebels.com.
ATTENTION EVENT & CLUB DIRECTORS!
Michigan Classic Dance Championships will be held at the prestigious General Motors Global Center July 1st - 5th, 2004 www.michiganclassic.com
On Tuesday June 29th. Verdad Oculta @ VooDoo Nightclub. On Wednesday June 30th. Salsa on The Plaza @ 233 N. Michigan Ave.Come to dance Salsa with Lisa “La Boriqua” and DJ El Papichulo during lunch outside. No cover. For info go to Outdoor Sals On Tuesday July 6th. Damian Rivero & El 4to Elemento @ VooDooNightclub. On Friday July 16th. MELENDEZ vs. CARPACHO. Puerto Rico vs. Colombia.@ Apollo’s 2000. For info go to Battle of the bands Latin Street Dancing. 540 N. La Salle ste 500. 312 427 2572 Our WEBSITE! LatinStreetDancing.com
www.5678magazine.com Check out our new partner www.MyDanceLesson.com where you can download videos of couples dance moves and line dances. 5678 Magazine 4 full color issues per year!
The Spring 04 Issue of 5678 Dance is out! 76 pages full color - SUBSCRIBE TODAY! This issue: Country Dance World Championships, Hypno Hip Hop, Line Dance in Tokyo, Swing History, Dancing Robot, Line Dance Showdown and more! DONNIE IN IRAQRead the latest message from DONNIE AGUIRRE who's convoy came under attack this week while transporting JP8 (fuel) to US troops fighting in Fallujah. Donnie is an ex-army explosives expert working as a civilian contractor there. Donnie is a Cadillac Ranch regular dancer known for his two step as well as his love of bull riding. Some know him his as Donnie the Bullrider - Appearing at Cadillac Ranch on many occasions with busted legs and arms from yet another tough ride. . . Or when he used to bring his mechanical bull to Cadillac Ranch. Some know him as two stepping Donnie - Ready to whip a girl 'round the floor and dance the night away. You will soon know him as Donnie Aguirre, demolitions expert telling you like it is directly from Iraq working a 12 month contract. Donnie's reports and messages from Iraq will be published in the CDN until his safe return. There will also be an additional page added which will journalize his mission and his stories. And so we begin his trip, and pray for his safe passage and return: 11 December 2003 Just so you know I was advised after dinner last night that I am flying out Friday morning to Baghdad and from there do not know. But tomorrow night, I will be fitted with an issued a bullet proof vest and helmet, along with my Bio/chemical suit that also must be worn when under attack. So much to remember and so little time to do this all. So for now this may be my last email, but if anything just remember the crazy double 2 stepper who always went the wrong way. Do me a favor, next time at the ranch give my email address to Chris the D.J. I have his but cannot make it out. So for now, I must say bye and I do hope that in time you will hear from me. I do hope that the year goes by so fast. and I hope that my family will not be worried with fear everyday. So thanks for being a friend and have a very merry holiday. maybe you can request a song for me from time at the ranch. Wish I could tell you where I am headed, but cannot and you know why . . secret stuff. So later there my friend, Donnie Aguirre Encouraging messages to Donnie may be submitted to: Donnie@ChicagoDanceNews.com which will then be screened and forwarded on to Donnie in Iraq. Due to the nature of his trip and the security, he may not always be able to reply or send in reports on a regular basis. Anyone wishing to send Donnie a care package should contact Brian@chicagodancenews.com 15 December 2003 JUST SO YOU KNOW MADE IT IN O.K. AS YOU KNOW BY KNOW WHO WAS CAPTURED, AFTER THAT WE WHERE PUT ON HIGH ALERT AND ALL BASES LOCKED DOWN, IT TOOK ABOUT 23 HOURS TO FLY HERE. WE MADE ABOUT 5 STOPS BEFORE ENDING UP WHERE WE NEEDED TO BE. WEATHER O.K. COOL AT NIGHT, STILL GOING THROUGH ORIENTATION MAYBE FOR 2 MORE WEEKS. LAST NIGHT WE WHERE SHOT AT BUT NOBODY HIT OR HURT, SO WE WAIT TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS WITH HIS LOYALISTS. WILL TRY TO WRITE LATER ON AGAIN, SO MANY TROOPS HEADING HOME AND NEW ONES COMING IN. THINGS ARE A LITTLE UP IN THE AIR, BUT ALL IS O.K. RIGHT NOW. TALK AT YOU LATER (Donnie) 13 April 2004 Brian, have not heard from you in some time but I thought that I would send you an email that was sent by a friend who was in my convoy. This was the day that all hell broke loose over here. We had about 10 convoys hit and several real bad. The mail is from a driver who was just north of Baghdad and we where south of Baghdad when we received a message to seek shelter fast and that we did! We where about 30 minutes away from where they where hit and not sure what would have happened to us if we had continued on. Right now we are stranded in a small base where this a total blackout and sometimes they shoot flares over into the base to just keep us awake. If you could seen the TV coverage over here, it was not pretty. We lost a lot of trucks. One convoy lost all its trucks and as for lives we are not sure but a lot of good people where hurt. Just not sure how many are missing. We have been in this base for almost 6 days and still cannot head out and if we do we are not sure in what direction to go. If we head north we do not know what is waiting for us and if we head south also not sure there too. We do know that the military needs this fuel and I know that we must finish the mission. If we do go, just not sure how we will get there or back to our base since both sides are blowing up main bridges and over passes. We all look like refugee's. We all need a bath and also some clothes to change into. We look like hell rolled over us. But I thought that maybe you would like to read what was sent to me and how things look over here. I wish that I could send you some pic's and some voice sounds that where recorded while all this was happening to that convoy. Brian, it was not pretty. And yes, I sometimes wish that I was at home and not here but I am here and I will do what I must. I just wish that I could take away the fear my folks are going through each night by watching the news. Well, gotta go for now and I hope that you had a nice Easter. How is the Ranch doing? You take care. Donnie Message from Donnie's Friend Date: Sat, 10 Apr 2004 23:26:38 -0700 (PDT) From: ruben Subject: Re: To: donnierodeo " el vato loco " We got hit real bad! Coming down that last 5 miles before we got to the turn-off to anaconda where that little market, past the slaughter houses are on the right, where that intersection where that praying mosque is! As soon as we got up to it, people started to get up out the ditch with cherry grenades! When the first truck got stopped, then came the RPGs and machine gun fire! They all stopped like a bottle neck, and then the crowd came out! I stopped for an instant, then I heard the gunfire bullets hitting outside the tanker! Then I heard a big blast behind me. Then I realized that Reggie Lane caught an RPG in the front windshield! He's hurt bad bro. His face is all cut up, and we where pretty sure that he lost his right arm below the elbow! He kept rolling behind me but when he wouldn't answer his radio, I knew he was hurt bad! Jason Heard stopped and got him out of the truck and the MPs stayed with him. Then they medvac'd him out! But I wasn't out of the woods yet! When the bomb went off and everybody stopped, I said, "That's my cue to split!" I saw the median on my left hand side, and just shifted that damn truck, gunned it and jumped the curb! Then I stepped on the gas super fast! I was in the north-bound lane, going the wrong way! When I looked behind me, everybody was rolling behind me, stepping on it to anaconda. I was losing JP8 big-time! Then I saw another tanker coming behind me, with a giant RPG round in his tanker belly! Everybody finally started to get going, then they started to come after us throwing cherry grenades trying to light the JP8! BUT THANK GOD, we made it to the front gate! They had Reggie here, but they finally sent him to Germany to work on him after they stabilized him. Man, it was bad! 7 people quit, including Mark Longstreet, if anything happened good out of this. Check this out! A crowd was starting to pull Ramon Camacho out of his truck, when they were all stopped trying to get away when a tanker driver( I don't know who he is) saw what was happening, put his truck in gear, stepped on the gas, and ran over the whole bunch off them! He came real close to his door, and mowed down at least 7 of the bastards! Ramon calls him his guardian angel! It was that close! I will keep you informed! Oh, and did you hear about the 7 missing KBR people going to BIAP? Watch the news! See you, BLUE BANDANA! In the News
Four Unidentified Bodies Found in Iraq
By HAMZA HENDAWI, Associated Press Writer BAGHDAD, Iraq - Four bodies have been found in Iraq, possibly the remains of private contractors missing since an assault on their convoy outside Baghdad amid a wave of kidnappings of at least 22 foreigners. A State Department official on Tuesday confirmed the discovery of the bodies, but the private contractor Halliburton said it did not know whether the dead were its missing employees. Initial reports said the four bodies were mutilated, but those reports were not confirmed, the official said. NBC News reported that the four bodies were in a shallow grave between Fallujah and Abu Ghraib, scene of the convoy attack, and that U.S. officials were led to the grave by an Iraqi. Two U.S. soldiers and seven employees of Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root have been missing since their convoy was attacked Friday on the main highway west of Baghdad, between the district of Abu Ghraib and the central city of Fallujah. The roads west of Baghdad have been a site of many of the kidnappings since the bloody fighting broke out across Iraq this month. Some abductions have also occurred in the south. 25 April 2004 Just a few lines to say hi and to hope that all is well with you, family and friends at the ranch. Boy, do I miss dancing and the ranch! Things here a bit crazy after two weeks of attacks. There are now bounties on us and our trucks and fuel. We are also getting military escorts for now as well as escorts that range from small tanks to air support and anything else they can throw our way. It was bad here and now we must resupply all bases. Some are out of food and water and just about everything else needed to function even ammo. This caught us so off guard and still we catch some small arms fire and sometimes and " RPG " fired at use, but things are as they for now. Not sure when this will quite down to maybe even stop, we do know that it may happen again soon, it depends on what happens at Fallujah and if they surrender or what. We have had some small but really bad sand storms and some rain. But all in all, the country to me is still very pretty, even if there is a lot of sand but the people make the land and the kids too. Well, gotta go, may be pushing out soon, our missions what use to take about 2 to 4 days, now take double that, bridges blown out by them and us and roads also. I do hope that all is well back home. Say hi for me at the ranch and will talk at you later. Can you believe that we where almost out of food and water? It is hard for me to imagine happening, but w came so close. Also no showers for almost 3 days. We did use the heck out of the baby wipes. Talk at you later there my friend, (Donnie) 03 May 2004 Man Held Hostage in Iraq to Be Reunited With Wife By KATHARINE A. SCHMIDT, AP RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany (May 3) - Former American hostage Thomas Hamill, who escaped his Iraqi captors after three weeks in captivity, arrived Monday in Germany for a reunion with his wife and treatment at a U.S. military hospital, a spokeswoman said. Hamill of Macon, Miss., pried open the doors of the house where he was being held on Sunday and ran a half-mile to a U.S. military convoy passing by near the town of Balad, north of Baghdad. The 43-year-old civilian contractor, who suffered a gunshot wound, was to be reunited with his wife, Kellie, at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Landstuhl spokeswoman Marie Shaw said. It was not clear when she would arrive. A truck driver for a Halliburton Corp. subsidiary, Hamill was captured April 9 by gunmen who blasted the supply convoy he was driving on the outskirts of Baghdad. Hamill's captors had threatened to kill him unless the United States lifted its siege of the city of Fallujah. Hamill's escape came two days after Marines started pulling back from Fallujah under a new agreement ending their assault on the insurgent stronghold. A C-141 transport plane brought him to the Ramstein Air Base in rural western Germany, then he was taken by bus to the medical center for a checkup, Shaw said. His wife was flying in from Mississippi to meet with Hamill at the hospital, Shaw said. It was not clear how long he would stay in Germany before returning home. The U.S. military has said Hamill is in overall good health, but a gunshot wound to his left arm might be infected. Shaw said Landstuhl staff were standing by to treat him. A U.S. soldier kidnapped in the same convoy attack as Hamill, Pfc. Keith M. Maupin, was seen in separate video footage. The remains of a second military man missing in the attack, Sgt. Elmer Krause, were identified April 23. Hamill's abduction came amid a flare-up of kidnappings of foreigners during the intense violence that began in early April. Up to 40 people from a wide range of nationalities were abducted, though most were later freed. One hostage, an Italian, was executed by his captors, who filmed the slaying and sent a video to Arab television stations. Hamill's family exulted at the news of his escape. His father, Leo, said he fell asleep Saturday night while watching a television newscast and woke Sunday to a bulletin reporting his son's escape. ''I knew when I saw him on TV, I knew it was him,'' the teary-eyed father said. ''I hoped they would return him safe.'' His wife said she got a call at about 5:50 a.m. telling her that her husband was free. He later called home, ''the best wake-up call I've ever had,'' she said. 05/03/04 09:27 EDT 03 May 2004 Brian, just read your message and for now we are still stranded in Bagdad. They have blown up some more roads and bridges and we cannot get back to our camp as of yet. The roads that we will travel will be dangerous outside of our routes and I am sure we will get hit. Have been out for almost a week and not sure when we will get back. All is quite and getting boring here. We have no escorts and no platforms to protect us and we where even told that we may be used as bait to get them to shoot at us so we can find them which is fine by me. I would even volunteer for that. By now you have heard that the driver found a way to escape and is now safe and back to those whom have missed him but still we worry about the PFC who is missing. We pray for his safe return soon. Well gotta go for now and I hope that all is well back home. Sure do miss dancing but I guess for now my dancing steps consist of just maybe like break dancing; hitting the ground and just ducking when fired at . . so many different ways to bend the body when being shot at. Well be safe my friend and hope to hear back from you soon. It took me about 4 days to get to a system. Donnie
08 May 2004 Just a few lines to say hi and hope that all is well back home. As for us we are just trying to get by from day to day. We just got back from a mission which took about 6 days. . . Alot longer then we wished for but when we get back we will head right back out again. It has been quiet but we did get catch some mortar rounds about 100 yards from where we where staged for the night. They are bad shots and did not hit anything but give them time and it will happen. The route that we take back to our base camp is lined with all the trucks and tankers and military units that where destroyed several weeks ago. Not a pretty sight. if you look hard you can almost see blood on the streets and on the trucks. For about 20 miles that is all that you see. There are tanks and hum'v's all over the place now and all ready for action. They will not let this happen again or at least we hope. They now know how vulnerable we are and how to attack us and do more damage to the convoy's. We had to take a different route and it took us about 2 hours away from our regular route and yes we did get lost once. Our escorts made a wrong turn and believe it or not the locals knew and they waved at us not to go any further. They new what was ahead if we went that way. We also had to cross over on a portable bridge made up of pontoon boats. It was a bout 150 feet long and alot of the drivers had never done this before so some where a little afraid but it was fun. Just the idea of crossing on something like that and maybe sinking . . no where to go except down. While in route we where stopped when the military did find a bomb on the side of the road and the blew it. You could see where others have gone off. Holes from about 3 feet wide to about 5 feet wide and about 4 feet deep. It is a matter of time that we will get hit on this road. There is no protection on either side of the road and to be going where we have never traveled before. All hell could break loose again and it would be over in about 5 minutes. Air support would be just a bit late to help out. Well tomorrow is mothers day and yes I wish that I could be home with my family an I know that this is one wish that all mothers would make on this day but this is a 24/7 job and not sure what it would take to end this all over here. Well i must go for now and get ready for tomorrow. I was told that I would be hauling more gas tomorrow and that is not my choice of fuels to be hauling. One stray bullet or anything and it is lights out for me. No time to run or get out of my truck. I am sure that god will watch over me as he always does and for all of us over here too. So you be safe and have a nice mothers day with all mothers back home. Say hi to Chris for me and yes, I miss dancing! Donnie |
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More Background On ChicagoDanceNews.com
ChicagoDanceNews.com was an early online publication devoted to answering a practical question for dancers throughout the Chicago area: where and when can people dance?
Rather than concentrating on professional ballet, concert dance, or formal criticism, Chicago Dance News primarily served the social-dance community. Its listings brought together ballroom dancers, swing enthusiasts, country dancers, salsa communities, West Coast Swing clubs, Hustle dancers, Argentine tango participants, instructors, studios, promoters, and traveling dance-event organizers.
The website’s surviving material offers a detailed snapshot of Chicago-area social dancing in the early 2000s. It documents a period when email newsletters and independently operated websites were replacing telephone trees, printed flyers, club mailings, and word-of-mouth announcements as the principal means of finding dance lessons and events.
At its height, Chicago Dance News presented itself as both a publication and a community bulletin board. Its archived slogan—“Where and When to Dance in Chicago”—accurately summarized its purpose. The site was less concerned with presenting polished arts journalism than with helping people participate in the dance community.
Ownership and Editorial Leadership
The person most clearly associated with ChicagoDanceNews.com is Brian Wong, who was identified on the website as the editor of Chicago Dance News. Archived professional information also connects Wong with Chicago Dance News beginning around September 2000 and describes the publication as an effort dedicated to promoting couples dancing in Chicago and throughout the Midwest.
Wong’s later dance-related work provides additional context for the publication. He has been associated with Chicago Dance Factory and has remained visible within the Chicago-area swing, country, Hustle, and partner-dance communities. Event announcements from later years identify him as a dance instructor, including appearances teaching Country Two Step at Chicago Rebels events.
These connections indicate that Chicago Dance News was not created by a detached media company. It appears to have been developed by someone actively participating in the community the site covered. That insider position likely helped the publication gather information from clubs, teachers, studios, promoters, and dancers who were accustomed to circulating announcements through informal networks.
The surviving evidence does not establish that Chicago Dance News was incorporated as a separate company, nonprofit organization, or major commercial publisher. It is more accurately understood as a specialized, editor-led community publication. No dependable public evidence was found identifying a large corporate owner, outside publishing group, or institutional sponsor during its original period of operation.
Origins and Early Development
Professional information associated with Brian Wong dates Chicago Dance News to approximately September 2000. This places its development near the beginning of a major transition in local event publishing.
During the late 1990s and early 2000s, community organizations increasingly moved their calendars online. However, the information available on individual club and studio websites remained fragmented. A dancer interested in several styles might need to consult separate websites for salsa nights, swing clubs, ballroom dances, country events, workshops, competitions, and dance weekends.
Chicago Dance News attempted to consolidate that material.
By June 2004, the site described itself as having returned online in a web-based magazine format. The wording suggests that Chicago Dance News may previously have existed in another format or experienced a temporary interruption. The revived publication planned to notify subscribers whenever a new edition became available.
The editor also announced a regular publishing schedule. Updates were expected every Monday, while submissions were due by midnight on the preceding Sunday. This weekly rhythm suited the needs of dancers deciding where to go during the coming week or weekend.
What the Website Published
The archived Chicago Dance News pages functioned as a mixture of calendar, directory, newsletter, community newspaper, and promotional service.
Its content included:
- Weekly and monthly dance-party schedules
- Addresses, prices, hours, and directions
- Beginner and intermediate dance lessons
- Workshops and weekend dance packages
- Club announcements
- Dance-studio information
- Competition notices
- Travel opportunities
- Dance-publication promotions
- Links to local and national dance organizations
- Personal stories involving members of the community
The site’s surviving June 2004 material demonstrates how broad its coverage could be. It advertised West Coast Swing, East Coast Swing, Hustle, Imperial Swing, Carolina Shag, salsa, ballroom, Lindy Hop, country dancing, Argentine tango, North Carolina Two Step, Merengue, Bachata, Cumbia, and other partner-dance forms.
That range distinguished Chicago Dance News from websites devoted to only one studio or dance style. A visitor could discover a country-and-swing club picnic, a ballroom afternoon dance, a salsa nightclub event, a regional competition, or a multi-style dance weekend without leaving the publication.
The Main Menu and Content Organization
The historical material does not preserve every menu in a consistent form, but the visible organization reveals several important content categories.
One section highlighted Chicago-area dance-community newsletters and lesson postings. It referenced organizations and publications such as Ballroom Chicago, Danceaholics, Chicago Rebels, Latin Street Dancing, Swing N Country, May I Have This Dance, Milwaukee Rebels, Tangoparatodos, X Dance, and 5-6-7-8 National Dance Events.
Another portion focused on individual dance clubs and venues. Announcements often included detailed practical information rather than a brief promotional sentence. Listings could provide:
- The time the doors opened
- Lesson schedules
- The type and level of instruction
- Open-dancing hours
- Member and nonmember prices
- Street addresses
- Nearby expressways
- Parking information
- Telephone numbers
- Future event dates
The publication also separated major regional events from smaller recurring local dances. This allowed Chicago-area dancers to distinguish between an ordinary Friday-night dance and a destination weekend requiring travel, registration, or hotel accommodations.
The overall structure was utilitarian. It was designed for people preparing to attend an event, not merely browsing dance news for entertainment.
Examples of Events and Organizations Covered
One of the most prominent events in the June 2004 archive was “Sweet Home Chicago,” a dance-party weekend hosted by the Windy City Jitterbug Club at the Radisson Hotel O’Hare in Rosemont.
The weekend package included workshops in East Coast Swing, West Coast Swing, Hustle, Imperial Swing, and Carolina Shag, along with dance exhibitions, buffets, and music for multiple styles. Its location near O’Hare International Airport made it accessible to both local dancers and visitors flying into the region.
Chicago Dance News also promoted X Dance events at Rivers Dance Sport in Villa Park. A typical listing advertised free West Coast Swing lessons followed by open dancing. Villa Park’s location near Interstate 290 and Route 83 made it convenient for suburban dancers from DuPage County and western Cook County.
May I Have This Dance, located on North Northwest Highway in Chicago, received substantial coverage. Its TGIF parties featured two lessons and several hours of open dancing, with music ranging from salsa and ballroom to West Coast Swing, Lindy, tango, and Hustle. The studio also promoted Sunday lessons and dance sessions as well as destination weekends in the Catskill Mountains.
Other recurring listings came from Swing ’N Country Dance Club, Chicago Rebels Swing Dance Club, and Ballroom Chicago. Events were held in communities such as Lombard, Villa Park, Franklin Park, Schaumburg, and neighborhoods within Chicago itself.
This geographic spread is significant. Chicago Dance News was not limited to downtown cultural venues. It treated the entire metropolitan region as one interconnected dance ecosystem.
Location and Geographic Reach
Chicago Dance News was associated with Chicago, but its actual coverage extended throughout Chicagoland and occasionally into neighboring states.
The archived pages included events in Chicago proper as well as Rosemont, Franklin Park, Villa Park, Lombard, Schaumburg, and other suburban communities. It also linked to or promoted organizations in Milwaukee, Michigan, Minnesota, and elsewhere in the Midwest.
Some announcements involved national dance weekends, competitions, and travel opportunities. One listing promoted a dance weekend in New York’s Catskill Mountains. Another announced the Michigan Classic Dance Championships at the Renaissance Center in Detroit. The Twin Cities Rebels’ anniversary celebration in Bloomington, Minnesota, also appeared.
This broader scope supports the description of Chicago Dance News as promoting partner dancing throughout both Chicago and the Midwest. Chicago functioned as the publication’s center, but the site recognized that committed social dancers frequently traveled to workshops, conventions, competitions, and club anniversaries.
Audience and Community Served
The core audience consisted of active social dancers rather than passive spectators.
These readers wanted information they could use immediately: which club was holding a dance, whether a lesson was included, what styles of music would be played, how much admission cost, and whether parking was available.
The audience likely included:
- Beginners seeking introductory lessons
- Experienced dancers looking for advanced workshops
- Club members following regular schedules
- Studio students wanting additional practice
- Instructors promoting classes
- Event organizers seeking attendance
- Competitive dancers
- Traveling dancers
- People searching for new social activities
- Couples interested in ballroom or partner dancing
The publication’s language assumed that many readers already understood abbreviations and community terminology. “WCS,” for example, referred to West Coast Swing, while “NC2S” meant Nightclub Two Step. This informal vocabulary demonstrates that Chicago Dance News was written from within the social-dance world.
At the same time, many listings included beginner classes, making the site useful to newcomers. The combination of specialized terminology and introductory opportunities allowed the publication to serve both experienced participants and people entering the scene.
Popularity and Reported Circulation
Chicago Dance News reported that it had more than 8,500 subscribers and received more than 157,000 web hits per month. It also claimed to rank first in Yahoo searches for its own name and within the top ten for many searches related to Chicago dancing.
These numbers are historically valuable because they show how the publication represented its reach to advertisers, promoters, and contributors. However, they should be treated as self-reported figures. No independent analytics service or audited circulation report was found that verifies them.
The term “web hits” must also be interpreted carefully. During the early 2000s, websites often reported total server hits rather than unique visitors or individual browsing sessions. One page view could generate multiple hits by loading images and other files. Therefore, 157,000 monthly hits should not automatically be understood as 157,000 separate readers.
Even with those qualifications, an email list of more than 8,500 subscribers would have represented a meaningful audience for a locally focused dance publication. Specialized event websites did not require millions of visitors to influence attendance. Reaching several thousand highly interested dancers could make the site valuable to studios, clubs, instructors, and weekend-event organizers.
Independent dance directories also linked to ChicagoDanceNews.com as a source for Chicago country and social-dance information. Such links indicate that the site was recognized outside its immediate subscriber list as a useful regional resource.
Submission Policy and Volunteer Structure
Chicago Dance News invited free event submissions by email. The publication accepted HTML, Rich Text Format, and plain-text material but rejected Microsoft Word documents, PDFs, and graphical text.
These rules reflected the technical limitations of a volunteer-managed website in 2004. Text-based submissions were easier to copy, edit, and place online, while PDFs and image-based flyers required more processing.
All submissions were reviewed, and publication remained at the discretion of the Chicago Dance News staff. The site explicitly stated that acceptance did not guarantee posting because available time and space were limited.
It also avoided negative or controversial content. This policy positioned Chicago Dance News as a promotional and informational platform rather than an investigative publication or open discussion forum. The goal was to publicize dancing and strengthen participation, not to report internal disputes or publish critical commentary about clubs and instructors.
The volunteer structure helps explain the publication’s tone. Chicago Dance News appears to have relied on community contributions and editorial labor rather than a large paid newsroom.
Business Model and the Chicago Dance News Store
The site did not charge organizations to submit ordinary dance announcements. That free-submission policy lowered the barrier for small clubs and volunteer groups that might not have had advertising budgets.
Chicago Dance News also operated an online dance store selling branded dancewear. A 2004 announcement stated that purchases supported the publication’s efforts to promote dance and community throughout Chicagoland. Items were advertised at prices below $10.
This store suggests a modest support model rather than a major retail operation. Merchandise could generate limited revenue while also increasing the publication’s visibility at dances and events.
The site additionally promoted subscriptions, commercial dance magazines, lesson videos, destination weekends, and other dance-related services. The surviving pages do not clearly distinguish paid advertising from unpaid community announcements, so it would be inappropriate to assume that every commercial listing generated revenue.
The Donnie Aguirre Letters from Iraq
One of the most unusual features of Chicago Dance News was its publication of messages from Donnie Aguirre, a Chicago-area dancer working as a civilian contractor in Iraq.
Aguirre was described as a regular at Cadillac Ranch, known for country two-step dancing, bull riding, and bringing a mechanical bull to the venue. His reports described transporting fuel, traveling in military convoys, experiencing attacks, sheltering during periods of violence, and missing Chicago’s dance community.
Chicago Dance News provided an email address through which readers could send him screened messages. It also offered to connect community members interested in sending care packages.
This material dramatically expanded the publication’s role. The site was no longer merely telling readers where to dance. It was helping a community remain connected to one of its absent members during wartime.
The letters reveal how social-dance clubs can function as extended communities. Participants may initially meet through lessons and parties, but those relationships can develop into friendship, mutual support, and concern extending far beyond the dance floor.
Reviews, Awards, and Press Recognition
No reliable evidence was found showing that ChicagoDanceNews.com won formal journalism, publishing, arts, or web-design awards.
Likewise, the surviving site was not primarily organized around critical reviews. Its editorial policy against negative or controversial submissions suggests that it was not attempting to compete with newspaper dance critics or professional performing-arts publications.
Its value instead came from usefulness, breadth, and community access.
Independent directories listed Chicago Dance News among dance-information resources, and social-media groups continued using the Chicago Dance News name in later years. Brian Wong’s ongoing visibility in dance instruction and Chicago-area events also demonstrates continuity between the original publication and the broader partner-dance network.
There is little evidence of substantial mainstream press coverage devoted specifically to the website. That absence should not be mistaken for lack of local influence. Community publications often operate below the radar of metropolitan newspapers while remaining important to the people who depend on them.
Chicago’s Broader Dance Environment
Chicago Dance News emerged during a particularly active period in the city’s dance history. A retrospective published by Newcity described dance in Chicago as expanding significantly during the 2000s, with major companies, new venues, and independent artists contributing to a growing cultural environment.
However, Chicago Dance News occupied a different part of that environment from organizations such as Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Giordano Dance Chicago, Luna Negra Dance Theater, or Chicago Dance Crash.
Those companies focused on staged performance, choreography, touring, arts education, and professional dance. Chicago Dance News focused more heavily on participatory dance—the clubs, studios, lessons, and weekend parties where members of the public danced themselves.
This distinction is culturally important. Dance history is often written around choreographers, companies, and major performances. Social dancing can be harder to document because it takes place in hotel ballrooms, studios, restaurants, nightclubs, community centers, and rented halls. Event schedules disappear, venues close, clubs dissolve, and paper flyers are discarded.
The archived Chicago Dance News pages preserve details that might otherwise have been lost.
Cultural and Social Significance
ChicagoDanceNews.com is valuable as a record of early internet-based community building.
Before Facebook events, Meetup, Instagram, and other centralized platforms became dominant, local communities created their own digital infrastructure. Chicago Dance News gathered event information, distributed announcements, maintained links, and helped separate organizations reach overlapping audiences.
The site also demonstrates the diversity of Chicago’s social-dance culture. Ballroom, country, swing, salsa, tango, Hustle, and Latin nightclub events appeared alongside one another. Different generations, ethnic communities, suburban clubs, city studios, and traveling competitors shared space within the publication.
The listings reveal a metropolitan culture built around recurring participation. People did not simply attend a one-time performance. They returned every Thursday, Friday, Sunday, or first weekend of the month. They took lessons, practiced, traveled together, attended picnics, joined clubs, and formed friendships.
Chicago Dance News helped sustain that repetition. Its influence lay in making the community legible: dancers could see what was happening, where it was happening, and how they could join.
The Website Today
The current ChicagoDanceNews.com is best understood as a historical presentation rather than a continuously updated modern dance calendar. It identifies itself as the former official website of Chicago Dance News and displays content drawn from archived 2004 pages.
Visitors should therefore avoid treating the old phone numbers, schedules, addresses, admission prices, and event links as current information. Many organizations have changed, moved, closed, or reorganized since those listings were published.
For researchers, the greatest value of the current domain is its preservation of original names, venues, schedules, and announcements. The material offers a starting point for reconstructing Chicago’s social-dance networks at the beginning of the 21st century.
Legacy of ChicagoDanceNews.com
ChicagoDanceNews.com was not a conventional newspaper, an elite dance journal, or a comprehensive record of every form of Chicago dance. Its surviving material is heavily weighted toward partner dancing, recurring club events, studios, and social gatherings.
Within that field, however, it performed an important service.
It brought scattered announcements into one place. It gave small organizations access to a substantial specialized audience. It helped beginners find lessons and experienced dancers find workshops. It connected city and suburban communities. It promoted regional travel and supported relationships that existed beyond individual events.
Most importantly, the site documented dance as a lived social practice. Its archives preserve not only the names of dance styles but also prices, addresses, lesson times, parking information, club officers, picnic arrangements, hotel weekends, and personal messages from members of the community.
Those details make Chicago Dance News a useful piece of local digital history. It captures an era when independent websites helped communities organize themselves before social media became the default platform for local events.
The site’s original promise was simple: tell people where and when to dance in Chicago. For a diverse and geographically dispersed community, fulfilling that promise made ChicagoDanceNews.com much more than an online calendar. It became a shared noticeboard, promotional network, historical record, and meeting point for Chicago-area dancers.
