Alberta

              Alberta Square & Round Dance Federation (AS&RDF)

Alberta report to Canadian Square & Round Dance Society (CSRDS) Annual General Meeting

Penfield Building Room P-204, John Abbott CollegeSte-Anne-de-Bellevue, PQ

9:30 a.m. Friday July 14, 2006

The Alberta 2005/2006 CSRDS membership statistics are as follows:

89 Callers/Cuers/Leaders,  87 Clubs, 12 Associations, 2869 Dancers, 1 Federation

These numbers show a decrease of 57 Dancers, 1 Caller & 3 Clubs. The Associations remain unchanged at 12. Federation remains unchanged at 1. Membership continues to decline slightly. The recruitment and retention of Dancers remains unresolved. A marketing seminar hosted by AS&RDF was held in Red Deer, AB Saturday April 29, 2006. Many new ideas and strategies were discussed resulting in a Province wide recruitment plan for the start of the fall 2006 Square Dance Season. We are ever hopeful that this plan will bring in many new Dancers and reverse our declining membership trend.

Five Alberta Rose Awards have been approved by the AS&RDF and will be awarded to the recipients in the near future.

The Alberta 2006 38th annual AS&RDF Convention will be held In Rocky Mountain House, AB September 2, 3, &.4, 2006.

The Alberta 2007 39th annual AS&RDF Convention will be held in Strathmore, AB September 1, 2, & 3, 2007. 

A Caller's School conducted by Lorne Smith will be held August 14th to 18th, 2006 at Lone Ridge Hall (located 13 miles west of Wetaskiwin, AB)

Submitted by Norman & Loretta Demeule - CSRDS Alberta Directors 

BRITISH COLUMBIA SQUARE AND ROUND DANCE FEDERATION

2006 REPORT  TO THE CANADIAN SOCIETY

Recognition Certificates and Crests

Members of the Executive have been pleased to attend several events marking important club, caller and cuer Milestones and have presented certificates from both the Federation and Society.

The  Federation awarded two grants this year:

Region 5 received a Leadership Grant of $500.00  towards expenses for hosting a Cuers' Conference in Lac La Hache

This conference was well attended by cuers from all parts of the province.  All were extremely pleased with the weekend and congratulations go to Mary Anne Turner for the planning and organization.

Cuers are often unrecognized and stand (unwillingly but traditionally) in the shadow of the callers.  It was wonderful to see them take the initiative and organize an event. Let's pay them more attention at our dances!

A New Dancer Class grant of $250.00 was awarded to caller Willie Giesbrecht - also in Region 5

Promotional DVD

Lloyd Juhala's DVD is in the final stages of production and it will be shown at the  Society AGM in Montreal and at the Federation AGM in August.

At the annual Federation  Board of Directors' meeting  it was decided to increase the funding for this project from $4,500.00 to $12,000.00 plus taxes

We are sure that it will be a tremendously useful tool in persuading people to come and try Square Dancing.  There will be a pamphlet accompanying the DVD suggesting ways in which it can best  be used.

The Federation will make a copy available, free, to every club in B.C. and clubs will be able to reproduce it for their members.

We hope the Society will make this DVD available to the rest of Canada

Fitness Evaluation

A Fitness Evaluation was commissioned and was carried out by Chris Collins of Okanagan Peak Performance with the cooperation of the Westsyde Squares.  His report is on the website (www.squaredance.bc.ca) and is an official document that we can take to our doctors and health givers. The Federation is urging all its members to make copies of this report and ask for permission to place it in doctors' and hospital waiting rooms, fitness centers and anywhere where health is a priority such a the local Cancer Center, Diabetes Center or Heart Foundation Center.

Square Dance Awareness Week

Region 1 (Lower Vancouver Island) followed through on the idea - put forward by Jocelyn Perry of the Promenaders Square Dance Club - for Square Dance Awareness Week  and a Proclamation has been issued by the Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia declaring  September 10 to 16, 2006, inclusive, to be this special week.

The official document can be seen on our website

The Federation is encouraging all clubs in B.C. to take the idea and the Proclamation to local Mayors and get it before  city or town council.   The B.C. government has pledged to get British Columbians 20% more active by the year 2010 and there is considerable alarm about the amount of obesity in our population.  Square Dancing is poised to take advantage of this and the Square Dance Awareness Week is a super opportunity. It will take a bit of work - but the Federation is hoping its members will get motivated and join Region 1 in their effort.

ABC Dance  Seminar

The BCS&RD Federation is sponsoring a  SQUARE DANCE ABC SEMINAR  on Saturday August 26th at Abbotsford Seniors Association Hall,  33889 Essendene Avenue, Abbotsford, BC. Presenter: Nasser Shukayr

The seminar is free to the Square Dance community - paid for by the Federation.

School Dance Program - Moving and Grooving

The School Dance Program, Moving and Grooving, sponsored by the Federation, is into its second printing of 200 copies.

This program is being extremely well received by the teachers of British Columbia.

Nick and Mary Anne Turner have given  M & G workshops at School District Professional Days and also at the UBC Kelowna campus for student teachers.

By-Law Amendment

The Federation made changes to its Constitution and By-Laws to reflect the fact that the Province may have two Delegates to the Society.

The By-Laws now read:

3.5  DELEGATE TO THE CS & RD SOCIETY

3.5(i) The Federation shall elect, from the members of the Board of Directors, by a majority vote of Directors attending the Annual Board of Directors' Meeting, two (2) Delegates to the Canadian Square and Round Dance Society.

3.5(ii) These two (2) Delegates shall act as liaison officers between the Federation and the Society.

3.5(iii)  These delegates shall each be elected on alternate years for a two year term, but may serve successive terms for as long and as often as elected by the Federation Board of Directors.

3.5(iv)  In accordance with the CS&RD Society's By-Law 4.7, these two Delegates must be willing to serve on the Society's Board of Directors if elected to do so at the Society AGM held at the Canadian National Convention.

3.4(v) If either one of these Delegates is unable to carry out his or her duties, the President shall appoint an Alternate as needed in accordance with Federation By-Law 4.1(5)

The Society should note that the Federation makes no reference to "couples."

The Federation hopes that you have a successful Convention in Montreal.

Nick Turner  - President BCS&RDF

June 25th, 2006

Nick and Mary Anne Turner, 942 Soda Creek Road, Williams Lake, B.C. Canada, V2G 5E4

FEDERATION OF DANCE CLUBS OF NB

ANNUAL REPORT TO CSRDS

DANCE YEAR 2005-06

Dancing in New Brunswick is alive and well, although it is a continuous struggle for most clubs to maintain and increase their membership. We were successful in recruiting 71 new dancers in the province last year. This was mostly in the larger centers, while other clubs are having a problem keeping their numbers up.  Square Dancing is doing relatively well but we could use new Round Dancers.

The Federation of Dance Clubs is working on a Marketing program.  We are targeting people in the 40 to 60 age group (empty nesters) and we hope to get it off the ground this summer. We plan on using local papers, posters, coffee shop

newspapers etc. Last year we had a booth in an expo 50 plus at the Moncton agrena complex. It was decorated with banners and dancers talked to people and passed out small posters.  We were successful in getting four couples for square dancing and some people gave us their names and asked to be called this fall when we start classes.   It was interesting to note that  at least 80% of the people we talked to did not know  we had square and round dance clubs in the area. Another thing of interest was that many of the people who came to our booth had some knowledge of square dancing but had never heard of round dancing.

This told us that we are on the right track with marketing.  The problem is to get a good program going that will tell people, not those who are already dancing, but people out in the community that dancing is alive and well and it is fun, good exercise and a chance to make new friends

The Federation of New Brunswick Dance Clubs gives out two “Distinguished Service Awards” to dancers each year. We have a special dance on the last weekend of May.  This year it was on May 27, 2006 and we had approximately 130 dancers present.  It was a great dance and was hosted by Hampton Hoedowners dance club. Chris Ayers and his dance partner Edie Hoar from Moncton and Sony and Erma Black from Sackville were the recipients. More information will be on the web page.

 Most clubs are closed now for the summer, except for a few special dances.  We hope everyone has a great summer and a good dance year in 2006-07.

Yours in Dancing

 Cyril and Glendine Webster - President Couple

Federation of Dance Clubs of NB

THE ONTARIO SQUARE AND ROUND DANCE FEDERATION INC

2006 Provincial Report to Canadian Square & Round Dance Society 

Ontario has 9 Associations registered for 2006. This includes: 145 Clubs(154), with 4611(4870) dancers, new dancers are up this year), also 200 Callers & Leaders (206), this makes a total membership of 4967(5241). Aging several Clubs are tardy in sending in numbers and also joining in, in the insurance programme. Therefore we cannot give an exact number of Clubs, Callers/Leaders or Dancers. 

The 800 number is really busy with new dancers questions and people looking for dances and Callers.

 Our web site is busy as we receive daily queries for dancing (where to, when to, and how to get there). Each query is either answered directly or passed on to the Clubs, Callers/Leaders.

 The two above reports show that it is financially favourable to run both an 800 and a web site programme.

 Our Caller/Bursary programmes are both being used. We have allowed two Caller/Leader assists and two Bursaries’ for recruitment.

 Our Trillium Awards Programme, which recognizes special contributions by our members, is progressing and this year we are pleased to announce the following have received awards;

Bob & Betty Beck – T&D -Trillium Merit Award

Dave Williamson – T&D - Trillium Merit Award

Rita & Les Buckrell – SWOSDA – Trillium Merit Award

Art Ferris & Shirley Craib – SWOSDA – Trillium Merit Award

Jo-Ann & Tom Edwards – EOSARDA – Trillium Merit Award

Mary Carter & the late Clarence Carter – SWOSDA – Long Service Award

 Again this year our Congratulations and our thanks go out to Three Clubs that held “Heart & Stroke” and “Children’s Wish Programme, dances. Well done and congratulations on a job well done.

 Our PR Couple are still hard at it and have done a wonderful job in keeping our information out in the public eye, and in organizing a network of PR people around our Province. We have adds and news in Magazines, Papers & TV.

We have lost 9 Dancers this year. It is always hard to replace these smiling faces, yes, they are gone, but, never forgotten.

 We are still stressing the New Dancer Programme, offering incentives to Clubs, (to assist them in their programme), and placing Adds in Magazines, News Papers & TV. Also asking Clubs to tell us how they are trying to attract new dancers and if it is working.

 It is with pleasure that we submit this annual report, as it shows that our Federation & Associations is working together to further dancing in Ontario.

Al & Renia Calhoun
Co-Presidents   OS&RDF