Monthly e-Newsletter | September 2021
ABC News reports that JoJo Siwa will appear on 'Dancing With Stars' partnering with a same-sex dance partner.
Pop star JoJo Siwa will represent the first same-sex pairing on “Dancing With the Stars” for the show’s upcoming 30th season. 
For more read here
NASSPDA's Board welcomes this development and wishes JoJo Siwa and her dance partner the best. It was indeed overdue for the DWTS Franchise to include a same-sex couple in their popular show. Eight same-sex couples around the world have already competed in their country's version of DWTS. "JoJo Siwa isn't the only one making 'Dancing With the Stars' history!" says the LGBTQ media http://www.OUT.com. 
See those couples here"


2021 North American Same-Sex Championship will be hosted at the New England Open - Ballroom Dance Championship, October 9th Dedham, MA.




*NASSPDA members use $5 discount when register for the Championship.

See you October 9th, 2021 for the New England Open!
Scholarships for 2021 Events
Six Scholarships are available to anyone that is planning to attend a NASSPDA sanctioned competition taking place in 2021, in support of covering expenses related to participating. 
Each one is in the amount of $400 plus a one-year NASSPDA Individual Membership.
Ambassador Program

As many North American DanceSport organizations have changed their definition of a dance couple, we are witnessing interest and participation of newly formed same-sex, reverse role, and gender-neutral couples at their events. Many of those couples haven't been introduced or exposed to NASSPDA as an organization; hence, they also do not know the benefits of being a member of NASSPDA.
Membership Directory

Have you checked out the NASSPDA Membership Directory? 
This is a resource to allow NASSPDA members to connect with others in the community. 
Please contact Horace Luong (hluong@nasspda.org) if you'd like to be added to the directory (being added is a privilege available to NASSPDA members only).
Kat & Mel
Dancer Partner Connections
We understand how hard it can be to find a dance partner. Therefore we'd like to help by offering this connection service where individuals in our community interested in searching for a partner can proactively post an ad and/or passively review ads. 
If you'd like to post an ad, please complete this form. It does not cost anything AND you can share as much or little information as you want. This page is maintained by Horace (hluong@nasspda.org) so please contact him if you want your ad removed or edited.
Here is the Dance Partner Connections webpage: nasspda.org/dance-partner-connections
Donation
A Big Thank You!
The Board of Directors would like to sincerely thank all the individuals and businesses who have donated to NASSPDA in our recent fundraising drive. Through the generosity of our community, we’ve exceeded the match offered by NASSPDA Vice-President Debbie Esparza and have raised a total of over $4,200 ! 
The funds will be used to support programming, scholarships, maintaining our presence in the dance community and beyond and to help further our mission to expand.
Competition Calendar
Competition Committee


NASSPDA sanctioned competitions

New England Open, hosting
2021 North American Same-Sex Championship
300 West St., Dedham, Massachusetts
October 9, 2021

 
April Follies
April, 2022 - Canceled
Oakland, CA




NON sanctioned same-sex competitions in USA

Dance Fiesta
New Mexico, Albuquerque
September 24-27, 2021






ESSDA sanctioned competitions

International Open German Championships
October 30 & 31, 2021
Darmstadt, Germany





Eurogames 2022
July 27-30, 2022
Nijmegen, Netherlands





IFSSDA sanctioned competitions

The XI Gay Games - Postponed until 2023

The Gay Games 11 Hong Kong 2022 (GGHK) organising team announced today that the Games, originally slated to be held in November 2022, will be postponed to November 2023. An exact date for the event in 2023 will be announced shortly after consultation with the Federation of Gay Games (FGG), the international governing body for the Games, which has already endorsed the decision to postpone.
You can read more here.
Connecting with Our Community
Under Construction
Our Website Committee will be refreshing the content on the NASSPDA website over the next couple of months. If our community has any ideas or content to improve our NASSPDA website, please feel free to share them with Horace , Website Committee Chair (hluong@nasspda.org)