Hello Dancers,

Wow, it is July already and the past couple of months have flown by. To say that I am honored to be elected as the President of NORTEX is an understatement. It is amazing how life can take the least likely person and lead them into a leadership position. The shy unspoken child of my youth has truly grown up and overcame that to be here. Thank You!

If you have not already seen the number 525 floating around NORTEX, you will. 525 is the number of active dancers in NORTEX this year after all the clubs turned in their rosters. This is an increase of 17 dancers over last year. Membership has been on a decline for several years and this year is the first in many years we have seen an increase. I challenge each and every club in NORTEX to help increase this number over the next year. I have some new and exciting ideas to share as time goes on. Alan Clements had a report he presented at the Quarterly Meeting in April that gave some ideas and suggestions. This is GREAT but we need to look at and build on it. It isn’t any good to do the work if we don’t act and use it. If you have ideas that you think could help us grow, please let me know. I will create or reactivate a Growth and Retention Committee to help get this going. If you are interested in this, let me know. I need some people who are willing and excited about growing NORTEX. It takes a village!

According to the NORTEX webpage for lessons, we have a couple of clubs beginning lessons real soon or who have already started. These clubs are the Swinging Stars and Fort Worth Squares. (mainstream). The Log Cabin Swingers and Pioneers will be starting Plus lessons. Carpe Diem!

The demo dances have been going strong. I am always looking for new ideas and locations to do a demo. If you have any ideas on when or where we could do one, let me know.

I look forward to serving as your President in the year ahead. Thank you to the dancers who made this possible.

Let’s Grow NORTEX,