The Truth About Joe Dancer

Years ago, I learned in Military Public Affairs 101, that a statement could come from an anonymous source. 

According to AP, you can use an anonymous source when: “Transparency is critical to our credibility with the public and our subscribers. Whenever possible, we pursue information on the record. When a newsmaker insists on background or off-the-record ground rules, we must adhere to a strict set of guidelines, enforced by AP news managers.”  

Enter Joe Dancer.  Who is this mysterious person and why is he anonymous?  Let’s consider first some “Joes” that we know.  (Note:  Sadly, some of the photos were not attainable due to copyright laws and the lack of a budget):

1. Joe DiMaggio – “Joltin” Joe DiMaggio is a legendary baseball player who played for the New York Yankees. He is best known for his 56-game hitting streak.  While he was in Yankee stripes, the team won 10 American League Pennants and nine World Series championships.  Some remember him for his Mr. Coffee commercials and others remember him for his marriage with the beautiful Marilyn Monroe.

   

2. Joe Biden (Official White House Photo) – Joseph R. Biden Jr. is the 46th and current president of the United States of America. He previously served as the 47th vice president under President Barack Obama and represented Delaware in the United States Senate from 1973 to 2009.
3. Joe Namath – Football player Joe Namath was the quarterback for the New York Jets and the Los Angeles Rams. Before that, he played for the Alabama Crimson Tide.  As famous as he was, he had a short career and only played in one Super Bowl, which the Jets won against the Baltimore Colts.  Joe made a few interesting television appearances in his life but is probably best remembered for his Legs pantyhose commercial.

   

4. Joe(y) Fatone – Singer and Actor Joey Fatone is best known for his earlier days with boy band NSYNC, but later became an actor in movies like “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”. We, dancers, remember him for his stint on Dancing with the Stars.  He didn’t win, but he sure knew how to perform.
5. Joe Montana – Football great Joe Montana was the quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs. He played for Notre Dame’s Fighting Irish before that.  Montana played 16 seasons and won four Super Bowls.  Some say that he was the greatest Quarterback of all time.  

6. 

   Joe(y) Tribbiani – By hutchinsphoto54913 – Joey!!! Joey isn’t a real person.  He is a character in the NBC hit series   Joey, played by Matt LeBlanc, was the really good-looking actor who coined the phrase, “How you doing?”  Everyone loved Joey.
7. Joe Pesci – Joe Pesci is a movie actor best known for his tough, gangster-type movies, like Goodfellows and Casino. He also had a funny side though, and some of us still pull out My Cousin Vinny once a year and laugh hysterically for two hours.
8. JoJo Siwa – JoJo Siwa is and singer, dancer, actress, and YouTuber. She was on Dance Moms for two seasons and made the finals, with her professional Jenna Johnson, on Dancing with the Stars Season 30.
9. Billy Joe(l) – OK, Billy Joe(l) is a stretch, but you all know who he is, so I don’t need to explain it to you. The Piano Man has 33 self-penned Top-40 hits, and he is still awesome.  I wish he would play the Super Bowl halftime show.

   

10. Joe Huesmann – We can’t forget Joe Huesmann! He’s one of USA Dance’s past great Standard Championship-level dancers with Amateur partners Stacey Friedman and Rebecca Yeamans.  Now-a-day, we find Joe up on the podium as one of our Scrutineers.  We miss seeing him in a tail suit, but we’re glad he is still around.  Thanks Joe!!!
11. G.I. Joe – G.I. Joe is a line of Hasbro action figures, originally created to represent the four military services – Army, Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force. The line was first produced in the 1960s and represented the generic United States military man.  In 2003, the first G. I. Joe movie came out, and the series appears to be going strong.

OK, you get the idea.  There are some famous Joes out there.  So, who is Joe Dancer? 

When I first read something put out by Joe Dancer, I thought he was some dancing guy or gal who did not want their identity known.  I figured that Joe was a good Samaritan who was grabbing bits and pieces of available information and putting it out for all dancers to benefit from.  Right?  I figured he didn’t want to be bothered, so he didn’t use his real name.  This is the caped-crusader approach to helping people. 

I never in a million years thought that Joe Dancer was official.  Did You?  In fact, one time, I remember that Joe got something wrong.  So, I wrote back to his post and corrected whatever fact he put out.  I received no answer and felt that was OK because Joe wasn’t official, he was just a good guy.  Wrong again!!!

By the way, I should add that there is a Charlie Dancer, Lisa Dancer, Jim Dancer, Kate Dancer, Katerina Dancer, Bob Dancer, and many other Joe Dancers, but they are not related to this one Joe Dancer.

So, who is Joe Dancer and why do I bring him up?  Well, as the Managing Editor for American Dancer, I am on the Marketing Committee.  Our job is to keep all of you informed, which is not such an easy thing to do.  Years ago, American Dancer put out a print magazine, which was sent to all your homes.  You all admired the beautiful cover and glossy pages and read it from front to back.  Then you put it someplace special, as a keepsake or where others might pick it up and read it.  Many of us still treasure our copies.  American Dancer was an outstanding publication, and the Editor Angela Prince was a very special lady.  We miss her and we miss the hard-copy publication.

Those days are sadly gone and in this information age, we find ourselves up against a great problem.  There are too many ways to communicate.  The older generation likes emails and websites, the next generation looks for Facebook Posts, and younger ones look for Instagram.  Then there are Podcasts, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube, and who knows what else is out there.  With all the great tools, including the phone, television, Zoom, letters, etc., we have a heck of a time putting out the word.  Stop the madness!!!!!

Enter the Marketing Team, led by the fearless, handsome, and very busy Ruslan Wilder.  Ruslan is a professional dancer who is a multiple-time 10-Dance World Professional Finalist, as well as a top 24 finisher in the Open Professional Ballroom Blackpool Festival.  He has a Bachelor of Science in Communication (Television and Radio Broadcasting) and a Bachelor of Science in Journalism and Emerging Media, all from Kennesaw State University.  He knows what he is doing. 

Ruslan is joined by:

• Daniel O’Connell (IT Guru): Daniel holds a Master’s in Financial Mathematics from the University of Minnesota and a Bachelor’s in Mathematics from Carleton College. He runs his own business, where he uses data to do optimization for places like chemical plants and oil refineries.  He’s super smart!

• Myra Coffield (Website Genius): A Management Analyst with the Department of Veterans Affairs with an extensive background in web operations, content management, and information technology.  She has a Master of Arts in Communication Arts and Theatre, Production and Stage Management from the University of Maryland College Park and a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre and Psychology from Brown University.  USA Dance would be lost without her.

• Rose-Ann Lynch (Managing Editor American Dancer) — A 22-year retired Marine public affairs officer with a Master of Arts in Public Communication from American University and a Bachelor of Science in English from the United States Naval Academy (Go Navy, Go ’84). I do a lot of the writing, but I’m the old one in the group and therefore technologically challenged.  Myra works overtime to compensate for my flaws.

Between the four of us, there is a lot of education and experience in marketing, public relations, website design, video, broadcast, data management, and IT.  We also have plenty of knowledge of the happenings of USA Dance.

This team compiles information, researches, writes stories, puts out social posts, makes announcements, manages websites, markets, publicizes, puts out fires, monitors WDSF accomplishments, corrals organizers, begs for information, begs for photos, makes videos, edits videos, reads a lot of emails and texts, laughs, and cries.  I’m sure I left off a few things. 

So, you are still wondering who is Joe Dancer and why am I telling you all of this?  Well, we work with a system called HooteSuite.  It is supposed to make our lives easier by putting out multiple releases through different venues: USA Dance Inc, USA Dance Member Forum, etc.  Hootsuite is a pain in the neck and is very limiting.  In some cases, it decided that we can only put out information from a person, not an organization. 

Recently Ruslan noticed that all the announcements on Facebook were tied to his name, whether they were being put out by American Dancer (me) or from Daniel.  We tried to correct this by taking out Ruslan’s name and writing in American Dancer, but Hootsuite insisted on a name — Enter Joe Dancer.

So now the question comes up, why call him Joe Dancer?  He wasn’t meant to be an anonymous source.  He was meant to be the official source.  Perhaps Joe represents the common “Joe”, like G.I. Joe.  Ahhhhhh, you see, I did have a reason for all that nonsense at the beginning of this article.  But is there a better way to represent our official word to all of you?  For that matter, what is the best way to get information to all of you?  Whose name should appear?  Will readers outside of our organization understand that Joe Dancer is the official word?  Would “Amer Dancer” be better?  It could be President Ken Richards.  Should it be Ruslan?  Should it be me — Rose-Ann Lynch?  Is “Joe” the correct name?  Perhaps “John” Dancer or maybe “Jane”, as we are trying to get the equality thing going?  Maybe “Leader Follower”? 

Perhaps getting rid of Hootesuite and asking all of you to go to one source of information would be the best idea?  For that to happen, we need to know:

1. What do you think?
2. Where do you get your information?
3. How can we best communicate with you?
4. Which Facebook link do you follow?
5. How often do you want information?
6. What interests you?
7. What don’t you care about?

For now, Joe Dancer’s name is currently the name present on the official word of our organization.  At least you know why.  If you have suggestions, we would love to hear them.  If you want to volunteer, we would love to have you.  In the meantime, please keep reading the information when it comes your way, help when you can, and thank those who are working so hard to make it all happen for you.

Thank you and see you on the dance floor!

Love,

Joe