BETWEEN TIPS
"BETWEEN TIPS" is the official bulletin of the
SQUARE & ROUND DANCE FEDERATION OF NOVA SCOTIA
Alex Ritchie, Editor, 58 Oakdale Crescent, Dartmouth, NS B3A 2L8
phone (902) 469-1492 email: alexandgaylan@email.msn.com
DECEMBER 2001
(Back Issues) (Return to Home Index)
Have you registered yet to "Come on Down" to Saint John, NB, next July? National Conventionsare very special events and come to the East Coast only once in about ten years. Don't miss thisopportunity. Dancing in a huge hall full of enthusiastic dancers from around the world is a uniqueexperience that epitomizes the friendship of square dancing.
All of the halls will have enough wood floor for the average expected number of dancers. At peaktimes, some squares will be dancing on carpet, but the extra cushioning should be viewed as a boon to tiredfeet. Current plans have round dancers spread out in 3 venues in order to provide all wood floors. We havean impressive lineup of well-known leaders registered to call, cue, and prompt. There will be professionalsound in the large halls with sound enhancement equipment available. City Bus Passes for all three dayscan be obtained for just $2.50 per person -- what a super deal!
If you have been hesitating, please register now. We need to know numbers of dancers to budgetproperly and we need preferred dance program information in order to plan appropriate sized halls. Hotelrooms are still available through the convention housing committee; however, to assist us in maximizingthe space available, please consider doubling up, taking your RV, or staying with friends or relatives.
Nova Scotians who were involved in one or both of our National Conventions know that organizingsuch an event is a huge undertaking. New Brunswick needs additional volunteers to help. Even if you areonly willing or able to volunteer an hour of your time, remember that "many hands make light work". Suchchores include passing out registration kits or helping to decorate on Wednesday, assisting with the BannerParade, acting as a room monitor, or helping in the Operations Centre during the convention, or assistingwith cleanup on Sunday. If you want to help, please contact Scott & Carol MacDonald at 506-847-0604 ormacdosc@nbnet.nb.ca.
Also, Nova Scotians are welcome to make the Covered Bridge outfit and to participate in theOpening Ceremony2002 Dances demonstration. Contact Dottie Welch at 902-435-4544 ordwelch@orion.stmarys.ca if you are interested.
Your Federation Presidents have a proposal regarding CONVENTION 2002 in Saint John, NB, toput before the Federation members.
All reports from the Convention organizers indicate that they are very pleased with the number ofregistrations they have received so far. Of course they are working hard to encourage more dancers to pre-register at the reduced rate, rather than wait until arriving at the door.
Considering the events of the past few months and the resultant uncertainty regarding both foreignand domestic travel, we have some concern whether the number of registered dancers will either hold at thecurrent total or reach the total expected. Here is where your Presidents' proposal fits in.
The Nova Scotia Federation dancers are the largest and closest group in the Maritimes who have theopportunity to attend this National Convention. It provides a unique opportunity to dance to Callers andCuers from several different Provinces and Countries. This will be the nearest National Convention in thenext 4 years and probably the least expensive. Therefore, Nova Scotia dancers should make a serious effortto attend for these reasons, but most of all - to have a good time!
We propose that all NS Club Leaders and/or Convention 2002 Club Contacts try to provide each oneof their club members with encouragement and most importantly Convention 2002 Registration Forms, toconsider attending this special event. Are there any Clubs prepared for a challenge to determine which onehas the highest percentage of their membership registered for Convention 2002? If so, the Presidents wouldbe pleased to hear from you!
Back in 1994, there was tremendous support from New Brunswick dancers for the Nova Scotiahosted Convention. Here is a chance for us to return the favour at Convention 2002 - "The Place for you in2002".
Bob & Inge Ruohoniemi, Presidents SRDFNS
Many years ago the Canadian Square & Round Dance Society instituted Canadian Dancers News (CD N) as the Official publication of the Society, its purpose was to be a means of communication within theCSRDS dance membership. In spite of many attempts to increase readership and, perhaps because of thecost factor, less than 2% of the CSRDS population were subscribers. As such it was unable to attractadvertisers to help defray the publication cost.
Over the years the Society subsidized the cost to maintain the publication. As long as it waspublished on time and reaching as many dancers as possible, the CSRDS board of directors was willing tocontinue publication.
The current editors and publishers (John and Faye Thomson) have put more than a decade of timeand energy into what has become one of the finest dance publications in print and respected around theworld as a top notch magazine.
A few years ago the editors expressed their desire to retire, and the search for a new editor waslaunched. There were a few people interested but declined in the end. The Board decided to make theeditorship a paid position, and while some applicants showed interest, the task was found to be to timeconsuming, once again leaving us no further ahead.
With the advent of the electronic media and the majority of Canadian households either owning orhaving access to a computer, much thought and deliberation has gone into the idea of using the CSRDSWEB SITE as the OFFICIAL MEDIA OF THE SOCIETY.
At the Board of Directors meeting held in Saskatoon (05-07 Oct 01) it was the unanimous decisionof the Board to discontinue publication of Canadian Dancers News. Please be assured that this was one ofthe hardest but necessary decisions ever undertaken by the Board.
Society Information for the Canadian dance community (much of which was in CDN) will bepublished as soon as possible on The CSRDS WEB SITE. The Society's financial statement may beobtained by written requests to your Provincial Director or the Treasurer.
All Federations-Associations-Clubs and Dancers are encouraged to use the WEB SITE the same asCDN was utilized. Instructions on how to have your information on the WEB SITE shall be availableshortly. To Access the WEB SITE use http://www.csrds.ca this site has links to manyother square dance related sites.
Subscribers and Advertisers with outstanding credits shall be reimbursed as soon as possible (some600 cheques to be issued.)
To all past Editors-Subscribers-Advertisers-Contributors-CDN advisors the Society thanks you foryour years of devotion and dedication, and ask that one and all use our web site to its fullest.
The final edition of CDN will be in the mail by 15 Nov 01.
The Canadian Square & Round Dance Society Web Site ( www.csrds.ca) continues to be expanded. Additionalinformation can and will be added to the site as we leave the printed world of CDN. Your input and suggestionsare welcomed.
In recent months the following pages have been added/expanded to the Society's web site:
The site will expand to include the Society Board of Director meeting minutes, Annual Meeting minutes,Committee Meetings & Reports, and regular President's Reports.Complete update of the Caller/Leader page
Equipment For Sale & Wanted
CSRDS Dance Calendar as part of the page on Conventions and Special Dances
Round Dances and Line Dances Written by Canadians
Boutiques
CONTRIBUTIONS
Preferred formats are: WordPerfect (up to version 8.0), MSWord (up to version 7.0) and, of course, DOSTEXT (ASCII is also OK) on 3 1/2 DD or HD.
Please be sure to let Editor know the format of the contribution and the file names to look for!
Send them by E-mail or Post to:
John & Marilyn SellersMany thanks to all that have sent in changes/updates.
29 Julian St., Carleton Place, ON K7C 3W7
Tel: (613) 257-7188 Fax: (613) 257-7188 (phone first)nbsp; E-mail: csrds@cyberus.ca
John & Marilyn Sellers
Ontario's Directors & Chair, Web Site Committee
October 16, 2001
OFFICES | REPRESENTATIVES |
Apple Valley Dancers | Highland Capers | Riverview Dancers |
On Friday, November 2, 2001, at the opening ceremonies of the Maritime Square & Round DanceConvention, Dottie Welch was honoured with the "DANS AWARD", Dance Nova Scotia's highest honour,presented "as merited, not necessary annually, to an individual who has given exceptional service to danceat the provincial, national and/or international level."
Square Dancing has always been a part of Dottie's life. Her parents danced together before theywere married and continued until her dad was in his eighties. Her mother continues to dance simple danceseven today at 90 years of age. Dottie and her husband Gary began dancing in 1973 in Belmont,Massachusetts, to Roger Whynot, formerly of Nova Scotia and founder of the Jolly Rogers. The followingsummer they moved to Nova Scotia where Gary began teaching at St. Mary's University.
Because of all the many aspects of Square Dancing that Dottie has influenced and helped makesuccessful, she will be featured in the nest issue of "Between Tips".
The following article is copied from the November 2001 issue of "American Square Dance". Although thisarticle is intended for dancers learning at the Advanced and Challenge levels, it also applies to all dancers atany level of Square or Round dancing. Beware of attempting things before you are physically and mentallyready, it can lead to bad compensation habits that are very difficult to change.
by Ed Foote
Many people in Advanced and Challenge subscribe to the following theory: that the way to improveyour ability at your present level is to workshop one level higher.
The advocates of this theory say that workshopping the next level helps one understand the previouslevel better, which therefore leads to more success on the dance floor. In addition, it builds dancers'confidence at the preceding level, because the dancers know they have already surpassed that level by doingthe subsequent workshop.
This theory sounds fine on paper, but it is flawed by what is seen on the dance floor. Dancers whoare workshopping the next level are not any better at the preceding level than those who are not doing thisworkshopping.
We are not talking here about dancers who are ready to move on because they are totally competent. We are talking about dancers who are not competent at their level moving on to the next higher level in thehope that this will help them. In reality all that happens is that dancers break down in their current levelwith more confidence. Actually,the next level workshoppers often do not even realize that a breakdown is their fault, because theyautomatically blame those who are not workshopping ahead. "I'm workshopping C-2, so it had to be a C-1dancer that caused this square to break down, not me."
Why do dancers moving on too quickly break down at their current level? Because all their mentalenergy is being put into the next level, so they are not thinking about calls at the preceding level.
Let's take a C-1 dancer that is only barely competent at C-1 who moves on to C-2 to try and becomemore comfortable at C-1. This dancer should be dancing C-1 material and concentrating on these calls. Instead, this dancer is concentrating on C-2 calls. So is this dancer's mind being trained to handle C-1? Ofcourse not. The majority of calls being heard and thought about are C-2, not C-1.
I see it all the time - dancers proudly saying they are workshopping a level and they can not do thepreceding level. Just ridiculous! In fact, whenever someone tells me at a dance that they are workshoppingthe nexmt level, I watch them. About 85% are no better than anyone else, and some are worse. The 15%who are better are usually those who were already competent at their level and ready to move on.
The best dancers I have seen over the years are the ones that totally learn one level before thinkingabout the next level. Unfortunately, in our rush to mediocrity, these dancers are in the minority today.
One final observation. Once people start workshopping the next level, then they start going todances at that level, so now they do not even get dance time at the level where they belong. This is calledbeing "top-heavy", knowing a lot of names in the mind, but having no solid foundation of the precedingcalls on which to build.
To those who only move on when they are ready I say "congratulations, I'm proud of you." to thosewho move on too fast, be aware that your weaknesses at the preceding level are readily apparent on thedance floor.