Rhapsody Ballroom's 20th Anniversary Party
On November 14, Rhapsody Ballroom was blessed
to celebrate its 20th anniversary! Richard and I were so delighted that about
150 new and old dancing friends joined us on this special occasion. Rhapsody teachers Jason Bundy, Sergey and Yulia Kopylov,
Kathryn Schaffer, Chris Skates, and Frank Sliwa created special dance team numbers with their students to the theme of “Classic
Memories.”
Richard
and I also performed our Theatre Arts piece, “Transformed,” in honor of remembering how Stan’s Gym was transformed
into Rhapsody Ballroom; thanking God for transforming our lives; and wishing all our dance family the joy and peace of that
transformation.
To
commemorate the 20 years of Rhapsody Ballroom’s history,
its cast of characters, and regularly scheduled and special events, we designed a slide show which ran continuously throughout
the evening. Our hope is to be able to post this online in the near future,
as well as video and photos from the event as they become available.
A special highlight of the evening was a beautiful plaque presented
to Richard and me by the SouthernStar Chapter of USA Dance. We are truly blessed not only by this gift that we will always
cherish, but by all of you who honored us with your presence at the celebration; by the kind words and comments you shared
with us; and by the memories we will treasure always.
We are so uplifted and inspired by all of the essays written for our contest on “What
Rhapsody Ballroom Means to Me.” The Grand Prize winner of 1 year’s free admission to Wednesday evening dances
was Egland L Alfaro Roman, and her essay will be posted on this blog shortly, to be followed by Honorable Mention winners.
Through God's grace, the Rhapsody Ballroom community
has given us a wonderful environment to grow not only in our dancing, but also emotionally and spiritually, and it is our
prayer that it has offered the same opportunity to all those in our dance family. We are so very blessed to be surrounded
by such warm, inspiring and caring people who share our love and passion for dance. We pray that the years ahead bring as
much joy, happiness and fellowship as the past 20 years.
Thank you all so much!
Richard & Laurie Collett
