ads3: Dance Symposium - Thank You!

[Edvard Gayer]

Scheduled as we were against the first mega fighting event of the season 
(Ymir) and unfortunately against a neighboring Barony's birthday (Bright 
Hills), this past weekend's Dance Symposium was a resounding success, and as 
a first-time Autocrat I would like to extend my gratitude to all those who 
worked so hard to make this happen.

There's no way that an event that touches on so many different dance and 
music disciplines can rely on the talents of any one person to successfully 
pull it off.  My heartfelt thanks go out to all of the Gentles listed below 
who gladly threw themselves at our little endeavor.  Without their help, 
dedication, and patience, this event could never have happened.

In no particular order....

(1) To our wonderful instructors!  This was the largest-ever Dance Symposium 
held in Atlantia, with sixteen hours of classroom instruction offered spread 
out over three tracks, including an expansive 6-hour track of Middle Eastern 
instruction.  You shared your expertise, your patience, and your love of 
dance with an eager audience.  My thanks go out to Adele Desfontaines, Asim 
at Talib, Bryan Morgan, Istvan Dragosani, Judith de Northumbria, Katherine 
Mercer, Stefan of Cambion, Tahira bint Ibraham al-Ishbiliyya (I hope I 
spelled it right this time!), and Veda Sereem.  I want to single out Asim 
and Adele for particular praise -- Asim taught 3 hours of classes 
back-to-back-to-back, more than any other instructor this weekend, and Adele 
traveled some 14 hours from the Barony of Cynnabar in Michigan to come to 
teach.  Thank you both!

(2) To my incredible staff!!!  You had all sorts of little annoyances to 
deal with... from finding out that we had to share the site with a BINGO 
game and a day-long birthday party, to handling the site's double-booking of 
one of our class rooms with a tap and jazz class, to dealing with a rookie 
Autocrat... and you dealt with these with grace and professionalism.  You 
did your jobs, and did them exceedingly well.  I could not have asked for 
better.  My thanks go out to Amalia Künne (Troll), Anne of Carthew (Band 
Coordinator), Bryan Morgan (Website), Constanza de Tallavera (Class 
Coordinator), Da'irine ingen Ciarigian (Decorations), Izdihara al Hakima 
bint Durr (Middle Eastern Coordinator), Judith de Northumbria (Dance 
Mistress, Grand Ball), Katerina von Breslau (Refreshments), and Reinhardt 
von Glückstadt (Chirurgeon and Gopher).  Special thanks go to Judith, 
Katerina and Da'irine -- Judith stepped-in on extremely short notice to 
handle the Dance Mistress duties and came through for us with beauty and 
grace.  Katerina promised that we wouldn't go home hungry, and she didn't 
lie, because she provided us an ENORMOUS dessert board!  Most importantly of 
all, Da'irine single-handedly transformed our frumpy and ugly Community 
Center class rooms into a breathtakingly beautiful dance hall.  Many of our 
arriving guests stood and gaped in amazement when they saw how picturesque 
our hall had become, and literally dozens of compliments were paid to the 
staff on behalf of her decorations.  (And this was only her first event as a 
staff member!)  Thank you, thank you, thank you!

(3) To our talented musicians, Ponte Alto's Harp & Drum Corps, you once 
again have my thanks.  Seems like we're in a rut... I beg you to come, you 
come, I become indebted to you, I beg you again, you come again, I go even 
deeper in debt, etc.  :)  You've always been there for me, and this weekend 
was no exception.  I'm quickly running out of clever ways to express my 
gratitude for your continued support of our dancing events.  You guys rock!

(4) I also thank the entire Middle-Eastern comminuty, who so 
enthusiastically involved themselves with this event.  You responded to our 
call for instructors with more classes than I could schedule -- so we 
expanded the track!  You handled the class and Hafla details with little 
involvement from me, and whenever I tried to thank you for all your work, 
you beat me to it and thanked _me_ for involving you.  :)  You were patient 
with me, included me in your planning, and re-introduced me to a world of 
dance that I know very little about.  I can't begin to express my gratitude.

(5) I would also like to extend a personal thank you to Lady Pavla 
Dmitrovna, Registrar of the University of Atlantia, and Lady Beatrix Faw.  
Through Pavla's hard work, all of our attending students will receive 
University credit for the classes they took this last Saturday.  Although 
only about 1/3 of our students tracked their classes, we had over 80 
person-hours of credit reported, enough for three full Bachelor's degrees 
from the U of A!  And if it hadn't been for Beatrix, quite frankly, there 
would have been no Hafla.  Ladies, you both have my sincere thanks!

(6) My thanks also go out to the Barony of Dun Carraig for their 
enthusiastic support of this event.  With as few dancers as our Barony 
normally sports, and with Kingdom Twelfth Night just _barely_ behind us, our 
Sea Dogs came through with flying colors!  As usual.

(7) And lastly, I would be remiss if I didn't thank our students.  Without 
you, none of this would have been possible.  I hope you enjoyed your day 
half as much as I did, and I hope you will return to Dun Carraig's shores 
again soon!

With deep, heartfelt gratitude, I remain,
// Vard //

Lord Edvard Gayer, Autocrat
Atlantian Dance Symposium III
http://isenfir.org/academie/symposium

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