Celebrating a revival, USA Dance’s NorCal Chapter #4004 in California ignited its activities with a dance party and showcase aimed at honoring the contributions of past officers and local professionals while sharing the board’s future projects.
Chapter #4004 has historically focused on hosting competitions and their national qualifier, typically in the fourth quarter of the year. Since the pandemic, the chapter has lost its ability to operate and fulfill its role of enriching the community through ballroom dance. It wasn’t until a new generation of dancers and competitors began to emerge that a new group of volunteers stepped up to revive the chapter and resume its activities.
This celebration on March 7, 2025, hosted by Chapter # 4004, served as their version of a Homecoming dance. It was inspired by a classic yet contemporary pop culture reference: The Wizard of Oz and the newly released movie adaptation of Wicked. The board adorned themselves in a green motif with accents of pink and poppy flowers to honor the theme. Guests followed the yellow brick road to party on one of the finest floors in the Bay Area: Premier Ballroom in Fremont, California.
Led by newly appointed chapter president Christopher Li and Vice-President Karlis Trejis, an immense effort was made to invite local dance professionals, studio owners, and contributing USA dance members to celebrate the Chapter’s past accomplishments. This showed the new board’s enthusiasm to serve their dance community. The two gave a speech to thank special guests in the audience, including former board members Bruce Spicer and David Getchel and former President James Kleinrath. There was also a special commemoration for the role of Herb McGurk, District Director and President of the USA Dance LA Chapter, and his contributions to guiding the new chapter back to active status.
“We are delighted to see this new, young, fresh board with new ideas and new energy,” said David Getchell, former Nor-Cal Officer. “We are in awe of you and support you.”
This party was also a celebration of the dance community that had to recover from the 2020 Pandemic. With contributions from local studio owners, industry businesses, and professionals, the chapter was rebuilt, inspiring a new board to take on the mantle.
“With the help of the ballroom community, ballroom dance in the Bay Area has recovered and is steadily growing,” noted Christopher Li. “This event was conceived with the thought of not only celebrating our chapter’s return, but to acknowledge the efforts of our leaders in the dance community that have put us in this state.”
Among these professionals was local professional and adjudicator, Andrei Polivka, who ignited the first spark of resurgence for USA Dance in the Bay Area with his inaugural competition, The California Grand Prix, held in November 2024 at the Just Dance Studio in Oakland, California. The board was excited to announce their collaboration with Polivka in hosting the next California Grand Prix and other events in the vicinity.
Other long-term plans for the board included bringing more competitions to the Bay Area to provide more accessibility to West Coast dancers so that they may qualify for the USA Dance National Championships, collaborating with collegiate teams to provide resources for budding dancers, and creating competition experiences for the younger generation of Bay Area dancers. Some of the younger dancers in attendance and assisting as volunteers for the event were members of the San Jose State University Team.
The audience attending the March event was treated to a showcase from the 2024 Professional Show Dance Vice-Champions, Denis Filinenko & Anna Segrecko. The couple debuted an early preview of their 2025 competitive number “Diary of Memories”.
In theme with the show, the guests all participated in a Waltz waterfall mixer, led by Christopher Li and his competitive partner and treasurer on the board, Tammy Cheng. It was a great way to break the ice and allow dancers of all levels to share a Waltz on the ballroom floor before finding another partner. The event continued with further social dancing and refreshments. Many community members were able to reconnect and network with those they didn’t often come across and interact with. It was a stunning party to kick off the board’s activities and show a glittering example of future events to come to the Bay Area.
“Myself and the rest of the USA Dance Board are looking forward to serving this community in the pursuit of our new Mission: To provide accessible events, instruction, and resources that promote the benefits and value of social and competitive ballroom dancing to our local Bay Area dance community.” noted Karlis Treijs.
