Committee Reports - Canadian Square and Round Dance Society (CSRDS)

First, we thank our Newfoundland and Labrador dancers for nominating us to the Society, and thanks to them for our election in 1990, and to the Board for entrusting us as Treasurer, 1991-2001; subsequently as President, 2002-2006.

During our time, two valuable members of our Board have joined the “Great Square”. They remain in our thoughts.

The CSRDS By-Laws are constantly under review. At this time, there are no changes required to the By-Laws.

We are delighted to be with you here in Montreal. It has been a long time since we made a previous visit to Montreal. Actually, my aunt and uncle lived in the Pierrefonds region of Montreal. We are enjoying ourselves at this convention and we convey our THANKS to the organizing committee for the splendid job that they have done in preparing this fantastic convention for us.

We are finally able to say that we have completed this document on our computer. For those members who are unfamiliar with our situation regarding this 150-page document, we just wish to say that we were unable to obtain the electronic file from our previous Director who left us all so suddenly. With the help of a friend with an OCR program, we managed to scan the paper document and fix up the errors that occurred in the translation process. What a chore this was! So we are extremely happy that this has now been completed. As soon as this Annual General Meeting is over, we can update a few areas within our Manual and forward the updating to all of the Board Members. We will also try to burn this document on to a CD so that this whole document is in one place. The CDs that we purchased are not the ones where you can make revisions, so before any burning takes place the appropriate CDs will have be purchased.

The Canadian Square & Round Dance Society Web Site enjoys a large number of “hits” per week. This can be somewhat determined by the number of emails sent from that web site. The email messages also help with knowing what our readers are interested in. Most requests come from people wanting info on

These are listed in random order. We also receive request for information on clothing, shoes, music, insurance, are singles welcomed. Most out of country email messages ask about location for dancing while they are in Canada. It would be very helpful if club information offered the place name rather than just hall street name. For example, xxx Queen St., Kitchener, rather than just xxx Queen St.

The website is being maintained in a timely manner and every effort is being made to keep information updated and accurate.

Dancer News Pages welcome any club, association or Federation Information that you would like promoted on the Canadian Society Web Pages.

The Convention/Festival Letter of Agreement covering the Halifax, NS 2010 Convention has now been finalized with all signatories retaining copy.

This year being a convention year, the nominations for our Award of Excellence & Long Service Awards have increased, reaching nine, six AWE & three L.S. To Date only five (5) recipients are registered for the convention. In their absence, the awards will be presented to the Provincial Director, of the recipient, who will then arrange for a local presentation.

The names and short profiles are included; other than this report they are not for publication elsewhere until after the AGM,

On receipt of the nomination forms, we found, we were receiving different formatted documents, on checking the web site; we discovered four (4) versions of the application forms

This has been rectified, and only nomination forms with a revised date of 2006 will be accepted.

The nomination submission has also been modified, there are six pages in the nomination package. All must be returned, this we hope will ensure that those supporting the nomination have read the guidelines and criteria. Thus reducing the number of unqualified submissions.

(A) Return to the Nominee & Federation President improperly completed applications

(B). Those not meeting the Society Guidelines and Criteria. will be returned to the Federation President and Nominee with the Accompanying Non Acceptance Award Letter.

An idea was proposed that we present Honours & Award Certificates in (A) Frame (B) Laminated, rather that the plasticization as is the current practices... Following discussion, it was decided to retain the current practise, due to the high risk of damage during shipping and added cost of postage.

Ralph & Barbara, have decided to retire from the Board of Director’s; we thank them for their efforts and assistance as members of this committee for the past 4 years,

Guy & Darleen began dancing in Moose Jaw, SK. in 1956. During the past 50 years, they have been dedicated & devoted to the Saskatchewan square dance community, having filled various positions on many committees. It was during their term as presidents of The SS&RD Federation (They served two, six-year terms) they were responsible for the grant structure that exists in Saskatchewan. (Providing $30,000 to $35,000) each year to our Federation thru the lotto funds. Their clear thinking and leadership has been a great asset to the dancers of Saskatchewan. In 1990, the Belliveau’s were presented a plaque of special recognition for their contribution to the Saskatchewan S & R dance Federation. Congratulation on your Award of Excellence and thank you for your contributions to the Square dance community.

Russell began his square dancing career in 1988 with Brome Squares. He became a very active member working to promote and encourage Square dancing in the eastern townships of Quebec & Vermont.

Earleen Began Square dancing with Seaway Swingers in 1992 and has been actively supporting square dancing ever since.

In 1998 being solo dancers they decided to become Mr & Mrs Biggs and continue to promote our activity in everyway possible.

With a major weekend dance venue on the verge of closing, they decided to assume responsibility for its operation and its success continues to grow.

They have served as Club executives, Members of the Border Boosters Sq & Rd Association and Convention 2006 Registration Chair.

Russell & Earleen initiated a new dancer coupon where all new dancers were given a booklet to visit all clubs within BBSRDA to promote inter - club visits. Their commitment to our new dancers is unsurpassed...

Hard work, devotion, and dedication to the square dance community have earned them this award. Thank you for you past endeavours and may all future undertaking be as rewarding

Laurence & Alice have been active dancers since graduation from The Cumberland Twirlers in 1976. They have been active supporters of the club and all square dancing activities within their community for the past 30 years, They served as members of the

Sq & RD Federation of Nova Scotia and as Board of Directors of CSRDS. They revised the Criteria for Bursary selection and developed application forms in the belief that better callers led to a stronger activity. The Harrison’s were also the driving force behind the increase in Bursary Awards.

Laurence & Alice have attended every Maritime Convention and 13 of 15 National Conventions. They have been true ambassadors of Square Dancing

For more than 40 year’s Ruby & Perry have been part of the western square dance community. They have cued and taught round dancing at various National, Provincial, and local conventions and festivals. Internationally they have travelled and danced with their Dancers in many Countries

Ruby was Canadian representative and Round Dance co-ordinator for the World Square & Round for several years,

Ruby was also an active choreographer over the years, writing hundreds of dances, mostly to teach in her own clubs and classes. Several were published including Edelweiss, Austrian Polka, and Merry Widow Waltz. Edelweiss was voted into the Classics in 1989 and in 2003 was chosen by Roundalab as a Golden Classic,

Perry decided not to teach anymore in 1995, but Ruby has continued to cue for the past 11 years

The Kullman devotation and dedication to the dance community have earned them this reward, Congratulations

In January 1956 the Albert Susie Q’s Square Dance Club was formed. (Albert was later dropped) A new young caller, Martin Mallard and his wife Terry were asked to call for this group of 25 dancers,

In January 2006 Martin & Terry completed 50 years (A Canadian Record) calling for the same club.

The Mallard story is just too much to list in this short brief, we shall list some of the major accomplishments. Club Dances 7,469 - Special Dances 512 Caller Clinics 64.Estimated number of dancers 420,244.

Canada 125: Outstanding volunteer service March 1993, Signed Roy Romanow, Premier of Sask.

Century Saskatoon: Dec 1982, Demonstrating good citizenship and outstanding service in the community, Signed Cliff Wright, Mayor.

Martin & Terry have been Members of the Saskatchewan Sq Dance Federation, CALLERLAB (Charter Member) CSRDS (25 years +).

In 1994, CALLERLAB presented Martin with its Milestone award and recently have presented him with the CALLERLAB Gold Card thought to be one of only 11 in the world.

Congratulations and happy retirement Martin and Terry, we thank you for the tremendous amount of devotion and dedication to the square dance community

Since coming to Nova Scotia in 1974, from New England, Dottie & Gary have been a positive force in all aspects of the square dancing community. The one constant that describes their efforts for over 30 years is that everything they undertook was well done and practically every major effort undertaken in Nova Scotia did involve them and usually in a leadership role In 2001 Dance Nova Scotia, presented Dottie with the “DANS AWARD” . It is presented to an individual who has given exceptional service at the Provincial National and /or International level. In 2005, Gary & Dottie received the S&RD Federation of NS Mayflower award for their outstanding contribution.

They have been active in all square dance related originations through out the Maritimes and Callerlab. Having served on the committees of the National Convention’s of 1982- 1994 & 2002, they again are part of Convention 2010.

This is certainly an abbreviated brief of all Gary & Dottie have given to our square dance community; we thank them and congratulate them for their many years of devoted & dedicated service, and wish them all the success possible in their future endeavours .

Jack & Delores began their square dancing career in 1967, and began calling in 1972, they were also supporters of square dancing in Labrador, making tapes and sending them, to assist dancers to learn to square dance, and making personal trips when able. Jack & Delores were always excellent role models for everyone in the dancing activity. For 10 years, they were on the staff of Dance Nova Scotia sponsored callers school, in 2005 Jack was the head instructor for the Alguire Memorial Caller School.

For nearly 40 years, they were involved one way or another with the Nova Scotia square dance community, and strong supporters of all Maritime square dance activities. Although health does not allow them to be as active as in the past, they still maintain a keen interest in all aspects of the square dance movement. Congratulations on a long and successful career, Thank you for all the years of dedication & devotion.

Alex Ritchie’s leadership in the square dance movement began when he and his dance partner and co-instructor Bernice Thatcher started their first class in 1981.Since that time Alex has been involved with the Square Dance activity in Nova Scotia working to improve the activity by sharing his time and talents. Besides leading his Round Dance clubs, his square dance club for seniors, introduces the activity, exercise, fun and fellowship twice a week. Alex has served on many of the NS Federation and Halifax Metro Association, Committee’s. In addition, served on the Board of The Dance NS, the Association of NS, S& R Dance teachers, & Maritime Callers & Cuers Association.

Alex was responsible for the Federation LOGO, The Calendar of Events, Between Tips and the NS web Page beside bringing them into creation he also works tirelessly maintaining these quality resources.

In 1999, Alex was presented the DANS Award by Dance Nova Scotia and in 2004 was presented with the Mayflower Award by the SR&D Federation of NS.

Congratulations and we wish you many more years of devotion & dedication to the Nova Scotia square dance community, you have served so well.

Randy & Irene began dancing in 1972/73 and have been active members of the Circles & Squares club since 1973; now well into their 80’s they continue to dance on a regular basis. The West’s were a very active part of the Quebec & Eastern Ontario square dance community in its formative year’s. When a class needed help, they were there to provide it. They have served on the executive of QC & ON associations as well as members of CALLERLAB (timing committee) for nine years.

Planning, for Halifax National Festival 2010 is proceeding on schedule. Regular Executive meetings have been held where some of the issues that could be put in place, at this time, have been finalized.

All Director’s positions have been filled with the exception of one and some committees have been established.

Thanks to the Society, we were immediately able to promote and advertise within the Atlantic Provinces and also New England. We have been promoting the Festival at all clubs in Nova Scotia and various clubs within the rest of the Atlantic Provinces. Thanks to Bob & Inge Ruohoniemi, Festival 2010 was advertised and promoted at the resent New England Convention. To date our promotion has resulted in thirteen couples registered for 2010.

Thanks again to the Society and to the London Festival 2008 committee, we have been granted permission to advertise and promote at the Montreal Convention. In preparation for this our Registration Form has been revised, a more up-to-date Hotel/Motel/Campground listing has been developed, using Visa as a payment method has been put in place and material for advertising is being collected.

A slogan and logo contest was held where all Nova Scotia dancers were invited to submit their ideas. The contest winner would receive $50.00 credit towards their registration. The contest closed and a slogan and logo was selected. ( see web site ).

The first fund raiser was held on St. Patrick’s Day with caller Brent Mawdsley from Vancouver.

The Web Site has been established and is updated regularly. This site is accessible through either the Nova Scotia Federation or the London Festival 2008 Web Sites.

We are very fortunate that our venue ( World Trade & Convention Centre and the Metro Centre) was used in the 1994 Convention. This has made it easier in the planning process because we are familiar with the facility. We do have a floor issue which we are currently looking at various types of flooring that might suite our needs and budget.

The toll free number, along with our website is one of the most frequently used communications tools that we have. As you will see, we receive calls from both the U.S. and Canada - exciting really, when you think about it.

This also means I rely heavily on provincial web site information. The easier it is accessed, the less time it takes to provide the requested information and less cost to the Society.

One of the things that web masters could do to help would be to add the name of the community, town or city to the address. Local dancers would know where their dance location is but 100 Queen St., would not be of help to someone living in Germany as an example.

Some calls, are sent on, by email, to local representatives who are willing to respond and add further information. I thank those people for their prompt response.

We received telephone calls from – U.S, Australia, Yukon, England, Germany as well Ontario (28), Quebec (15), British Columbia (11) Sask. (6) Alberta, Manitoba, Branches of Government, and TV Stations’. The most frequently asked question is “where can we dance”. This can be asked by someone planning on visiting Canada, someone who would like to learn to dance or someone driving through and would like to dance that evening. Many calls are from school teachers wanting to offer the physical benefits of square dancing to their students. Other calls were requests for information about Montreal National Convention.

An E-Mail Newsletter will be published again this fall. Any Federations or Associations that has information or news they would like included, please send by email to david@golden.net . This Newsletter will be circulated to all Federations.

The Canadian Square & Round Dance Toll free number, 1-866-206-6696 has been renewed for the years 2005/06, 2006/07. It is proving to be one of our most successful tools in promoting square dancing.

Approval was given for two more ads in 50Plus magazine, a glossy production with a readership of over 750,000. All readers are within our target age for new square dancing friends. The classified ads, will be placed in June 2006 issue and August, 2006 issue. The cost of these ads also include two months of ads on 50 Plus Magazine Website, posted in classified pages. www.50Plus.com , click on classified, found on upper left home page. Our ad can be found under Arts & Entertainment. It is there in June and will be in July then in August and September. The ad includes a link to a free night of dancing coupon found on first page of our web site.

Our TV commercial will be running on Cable TV during July through to October this year. The specialty channels involved are A&E, CNN, CNN Headline News, TLC, WTBS, The Super Station, CNBC, Spike TV, The Golf Channel and Speed.

Eastlink Rogers, Cogeco , and Shaw Cable cable systems are the Canadian Cable Companies that will be running the the ad while showing the above TV programs. They represent a cross section of Canada - Eastlink in the Maritimes, Rogers covers a wide area in Ontario and into Nfld., Cogeco along Lake Ontario and Shaw in Western Canada. ,

Society’s toll free number, 1-866-206-6606 - Please help to promote this toll free number by using it on all of your flyers and other publicity material.

Attached is the Membership statistics file 1996 - 2006. As you can see we have had a drop in total membership 1122 membership. This figure is for all types of membership. The clubs have dropped by 45. This approximately is the same ratio of 10% as in previous years.

Again must say that the returns have been very slow. I have had some come in June. Some have claimed they sent them in direct, however they never sent in updates or the membership fee to me. These are minor figures however if I do not receive the data I cannot list them for the Insurance Company. Therefore they cannot get a named insurance certificate.

However due to the low membership figure the insurance company issued a refund of $1,943.00. This has been forwarded to Ralph McDonald.

I would like to express my thanks to all the board members and their helpers who have helped in the gathering of all the data required in the administration of this service.

PROV	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
YK	57	52	46	44	45	42	40	37	0	0	0	0	0
BC	6122	6190	5759	6198	6254	5953	5256	3998	5068	3675	4278	3570	3538
AB	4918	4389	4462	4654	4388	4270	3959	3786	3398	3993	3112	2873	2979
SK	2052	1971	1864	1939	1895	1628	1584	1468	1310	1578	1438	1229	1179
MB	1631	1513	1415	1527	1544	1580	1477	1553	1225	1292	1229	918	1297
ON	30	7791	7967	7841	6885	6425	7072	6460	5161	5087	5362	4675	3448
QC	2159	1906	1544	1429	1274	1117	1114	1071	852	949	861	799	559
NB	12	1003	1012	1036	962	920	855	872	661	716	700	640	683
NS	1605	1509	1556	1664	1693	1636	1424	1321	1094	1232	1062	970	921
PEI	165	153	165	155	136	146	141	129	135	147	158	169	156
NL	90	185	189	74	73	81	74	40	90	117	99	88	49
TOTALS	18841	26662	25979	26561	25149	23798	22996	20735	18994	18786	17237	17936	14809