Web Site Changes

Greetings! More and more visitors have been clicking on my web site. Thanks! However, I have been monitoring the site statistics and have decided to delete several of the pages that had very few visits and concentrate on those frequently visited, including the ballroom and folk pages, the studios page, the events and competition pages. In the coming weeks, I'll be adding listings from other states as time allows.

Thanks for your interest.

Mid-Summer Update

Hi. Things have really been hopping. As you have probably noticed, my site features a lot more dance event listings and an interview page. There's more to come, including more listings and more interviews. Great news: over 1,875 people have visited my site since late April. WOW and THANKS!

Plus, there are other exciting things happening on the dance front for me. You will soon see information regarding upcoming dance cruises and dance vacations at all-inclusive resorts. WHAT A GREAT IDEA-DANCE VACATIONS AT A RESORT WHERE YOU DON'T HAVE TO PAY A THING!!! It's all coming any day now.

Talk to you soon.

New Interview Page

I've updated the site with a number of new features, including more extensive dancing event listings, reduced advertising rates and a page featuring interviews. I will continue to expand the listings and look forward to getting the opportunity to feature your business or organization as an advertiser or sponsor.

I hope you will find the WYGD Interview Page interesting. It will feature Q&As with people in the dance community about dance-related topics, events and organizations.

Yes, I am interested in any suggestions you might have for an interview. Just e-mail me your suggestions.

Thanks to all who are visiting my web site and linking it on your web sites. The average number of unique visitors per day is growing.

God Bless and Keep Dancing

END OF MAY UPDATE

It's been about 6 weeks since I launched WHENYOUGOTTADANCE.COM. The awareness on the web and in the dance community is growing.

What's new?

The dance listings on the EVENTS page have been greatly expanded and will continue to be expanded with more ballroom, Latin, country western and folk dance listings.

On the SHOPPING page, you can find dozens of dance videos and books. Check it out.

And you now have a MESSAGE BOARD available to you.

Have a great day. God bless and keep on dancing.

Lots more to come.

AMAZON AND OTHER ADS ADDED

I just wanted to let everyone know that I've inserted a number of links on my site to dance-related merchants and services, including Dancepartner.com, Dancevision, Dancespots and others. Plus, I just associated my site with Amazon.com to make available to you thousands of products, some of which are dance-related, including videos and books. The exciting part about Amazon is that I will be frequently changing the product selections shown in the carousels. And there will still be plenty of room for dance studios, groups and venues to also advertise. After all, this is a dance web site.

With that in mind, I have a lot more coming that's dance related, including expanded listings, and interviews with interesting people and organizations in the dance community.

Once again, thanks to everyone who has visited my site and those who have given me their input.

YOU TUBE AND MORE

Hi! I wanted to mention a couple things.

First, thanks to all those e-mailing me with new listings and several corrections. A special thanks to Diane at Moving to Music in Philadelphia. She brought me up to speed on a couple of items.

I also wanted to mention that I just removed a number of listings from my site because I discovered during my routine maintenance process that their sites were not live. Until I can contact them, I'll keep them on the sidelines. It's just part of my effort to keep my site current.

Did you notice a few YOU TUBE embeds? I will be adding a lot more to encourage us all to view all the various dance styles out there.

More good things coming too.

Finally, I added a link on my Home Page by which you can donate to the Burma Cyclone victims. Nothing political. Just needed help.

Thanks.

GOODBYE JAMAICA-HELLO PITTSBURGH

Wow! What a time I had in Jamaica last week. Lots of sun, dancing, swimming, reading, eating (pretty healthy though) and "occasional" visits to the swim-up bars. Plus I spent a lot of time watching Margaret, her daughters and their young boys enjoy their vacation. We stayed at the RIU in Ochos Rios. All-inclusive and a great place to vacation.

It's amazing to see the way the northern part of the country is growing with resorts, especially around the northern tier highway that is almost like an interstate at this point. Of course, there are still many areas --- and even along that highway --- that illustrate the hardships the people experience on a day-to-day basis.

By the way, I was told that the highway, which was recently completed, was paid for by the international community with the stipulation that tolls would eventually help pay back the contributing nations. That's what one of our drivers told me. Who knows for sure.

When I got back, I checked my e-mails and saw more complimentary comments regarding my web site and some additional listings. Some listings were from beyond PA and OH, but I assured the senders that I would be expanding the coverage of my listings to other states as time goes on. But as one sender noted, I'm "off to a good start".

I will soon be embedding YOU TUBE samples of various dances and dance styles to give you (and me) the opportunity to expand our dancing horizons. I also have some other ideas up my sleeve and will soon be implementing them.

Don't forget to send me photos for the photo gallery and PLEASE contact me or refer people to me regarding sponsoring or running ads on my site. I know many of you out there in the dance community maintain sites in your spare time and do not rely on generating revenue. That's great! For me, this is pretty much a full-time endeavor and one that I plan to consistently maintain and constantly upgrade.

KEEP ON DANCING AND WHY NOT TRY OUT A NEW DANCE STYLE?

Great Response

I'm getting a lot of positive e-mails regarding WHENYOUGOTTADANCE.COM. I hope the enthusiasm is contagious and you encourage your members, friends and associates to visit the site on a regular basis. I added some new listings over the weekend and will continue to add more as I discover them or learn about them through e-mails.

And don't forget, I am also interested in hearing constructive criticism regarding any aspect of the web site. I worked for several years as a CRM and was told by my boss at the outset that he was more interested in hearing complaints from his customers than the positive comments.

Positive comments are welcome, but comments regarding things that need tweaked are also welcome.

I heard from the folks at Rock-N-Tot in Cleveland last week thanking me for listing them. Check out their listing on my "Nightclubs" page. It looks like a fun time for both tots and parents.

Blogging off now. Got lots of work to do before flying off to Jamaica on Saturday.

Unexpected Zumba Workout

I was at the club working on some foxtrot patterns and styling when in walked a Zumba instructor and her two friends. She was choreographing for some upcoming lessons.

What a coincidence! Last night I was on You Tube checking out Zumba videos. It was something I had been hearing about and wanted to try. Here was my opportunity to experience Zumba, and boy did I. About 45 minutes later I was Zumba'd out. But what a great workout.

It's got everything---Latin, Brazilian, African moves and more---you name it.

Between the Zumba and foxtrot, it was sweaty fun.

Zumba. It's Zomething you gotta try!

New Dancing Web Site Launched

Hi! My name is Gary Goerk.

As you can see, I've just launched a web site for the dancing community in Pennsylvania and Ohio. It will soon be available on plenty of search engines. In the meantime, you can access the site by searching on Yahoo.

The URL is http://www.whenyougottadance.com/. Type in the URL.

I've created this blog so we can get to know each other and keep in touch in the coming months as the web site grows in popularity. I plan on expanding it in a number of ways, including adding many more listings with the help of the dancing community and adding more features.

I wanted the site to be comprehensive, covering the many dance styles out there, and easy to navigate. The site will have advertisers and sponsors (I hope), but advertisements will never overwhelm the listings and useful information on the site. And I will work hard to make sure the listings and links are up to date.

My web site even has listings of nightclubs, pubs and restaurants in Ohio and Pennsylvania that feature dancing.

It's my hope that you will all "dance outside your box". If you are a ballroom dancer, try out some square dancing or contra dancing. If you only line dance or freestyle, why not take a ballroom lesson. Then there is the long list of ethnic and folk dances. Haven't you been mesmerized by the fascinating footwork of Celtic dancers, the sizzling movements of Flamenco, or the flowing gestures of dancers from India.

In fact, I've made a personal commitment that, despite my love of ballroom and Latin dancing, I will stick my toe in the waters of as many dance styles as I can over the coming years.

If you are a "wanna be" dancer, you will probably find a lesson near you if you live in Pennsylvania or Ohio, and you will also find online instructional resources.

I welcome your dance-related photos for the photo gallery and will soon have You Tube embedded on the site so you can view dance videos.

Finally, I welcome corrections, suggestions and submissions, as well as your comments regarding the site. I will keep you posted. Please do the same.

Good luck. God bless. And keep dancing.

Gary