Dance Around the Bay
1979-1980
While continuing to run my first business – the San Francisco Roommate Referral Service – and preceding the opening of the centralization of my dances and classes at the bricks-and-mortar Avenue Ballroom in 1980, I published a small monthly dance magazine, called Kicks – Dance Around the Bay.
My experience in swing and other ballroom dances had given me a new appreciation for jazz and ballet – once one has had the opportunity to attempt double spins on the ground, one gains new respect for those who can jump up in the air doing a similar move, and come back to earth with grace and style!
I thought that there might be an opportunity to open that window of appreciation to others and merge, in some way, the two arms of the dance community – participation and performance.
This was a time at the height of disco dancing, and folk dancing was still a thing in the Bay Area, as were a burgeoning swing and ballroom dance scene, as well as contra, and, of course the enduring “higher” art forms of jazz and ballet. Niche groups of Contact/Improvisation, Flamenco, tango, and others also flourished quietly, for those in the know.
In this pre-internet age, Kicks was a monthly calendar of dance events – four-page “tabloid” on newsprint (one large sheet, folded into four 8-1/2 x ll”, double-sided pages. Each issue included the schedule of both performance and participatory dances and classes in the Bay Area, listed by date and by type. There was a photo on the front page, and an article about a local dancer or dance group inside. We printed 20,000 copies a month, and they were distributed free in San Francisco, and by subscription in the East Bay. The publication was supported by advertising. I wrote the articles and sold the ads; I had a partner who designed the ’zine and the ads.
As was my style, I didn’t do any advance research as to whether the existing jazz and ballet companies shared my enthusiasm for cross-breeding of audiences, so was left having to convince them to advertise with us once publication had started.
I have a habit of being so enthralled with my great ideas that I think everyone else will immediately see the innate value of them and come on board; Usually, I have been right – but not always!
In this case, the performance arm of the dance community was not so quick to embrace the idea of expanding their audience in this manner. (Non-profit organizations are not known for their innovative marketing savvy.)
At any rate, I was left spending my days selling advertising over the phone – an activity that, to say the least, is not among my strong suits.
We published twelve issues over the course of a year, and (without paying me a salary) broke even – which is actually a pretty good accomplishment in the publishing world.
During our run, I ran some advertisements for my dances and classes in random ad space we were unable to sell, and so got some good publicity out of it, and, at the end of 1979, the opportunity to open what became the Avenue Ballroom presented itself, so the December ’79 edition of Kicks was our last.
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