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   Border City Squares  

President's Corner                                                      March 2001

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43^rd NESRDC Notes

The New England Square & Round Dance Convention is just around the corner on April 27^th and 28^th. As with last year’s convention, this year’s will be held at the Center of New Hampshire in Manchester. The Convention Committee promises that all the sound problems we had last year have been resolved, and this will be a great weekend. For the real enthusiasts, there will be the usual trail in dance on Thursday evening.

If you haven’t sent in your registration, there is still time, and you can pick up registration forms at any of the Club functions. For those who can’t dance on both Friday and Saturday, the Convention Committee is again offering one-day tickets at the door for $15 per person per day.

Since the New Hampshire square dance clubs are hosting the convention, Border City Squares has again been asked to help staff one of the hospitality tables and the communications room. Sign-up sheets for these duties will be at all Club functions.

The table shown below for the communications room lists the hours available on Friday. We are not required to fill all of these hours, but the Communications Committee would appreciate any help we can give them.

We will be sharing a hospitality table with two other clubs, and we are asked to provide two hosts/hostesses for the times between 12 noon and 11 PM on Saturday. Thanks to those who have already signed up, we only have 3½ more time slots to fill. Please help us out if you can.

Submitted by Chris Howard
Acting BCS Convention Delegate

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Vice Presidents' Report

Planned 2001-2002 Dance Season Schedule

Contracting callers and cuers for our monthly dances is a task completed two year in advance of the planned dance season and performed by the Vice President(s) of our club. Our 1999-2000 Vice President, Debbie Coit, contracted the following callers and cuers for our 2001-2002 dance season. In preparation for this year’s annual meeting, we want to ensure all members have a chance to review this information. The contracts for these dates, callers and cuers have all been signed but it may be possible to change the level of a dance depending on the caller. If any member(s) would like to suggest changing the level of any dances, please tell us. We could print any suggested changes in the April newsletter so this item of business will not require a lot of time at our annual meeting.

Wayne and Priscilla Griffin
Vice Presidents

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Club Chair Report

Beautiful decorations, unusual calling, and smooth cueing made for an excellent mainstream dance at our "Famous Lovers" dance on February 10^th. Norm Poisson is undoubtedly one of the most creative callers around at just about any level. The dancers were a spirited bunch that kept up pretty well; however, lest any of us became over confident, Norm would occasionally throw us a curve "just to let us know who was in charge!" Marilyn Rivenburg also gave us a great time with plenty of phase two dances for our many members who have only begun learning rounds as well as a few higher level dances for the more experienced.

Thanks to all who helped Cheryl Palucchi and Mary Raymond, the hostesses, set up for the dance including: Mike and Joyce Peterson, Bill and Viv Thompson, Penny Guild, Debbie Coit, Wayne and Priscilla Griffin, Steve Wurtzler, Dave Raymond, Margery Shank, Norma and Chris Howard. We also had a great food table thanks to the efforts of all who attended. We also want to thank the clean up crew who had the extra duty of resetting up tables and chairs for a church event held the next day.

The only real disappointment at the February dance was the very poor attendance both from other clubs and from our own. February is normally one of our best attended dances, but at this dance there were only 48 paying dancers – 19 from BCS, 14 from the Turkey Town Trotters (retrieving), 8 from Litchfield (retrieving), and 7 guests from other clubs. What was especially disappointing was how few of our mainstream dancers took advantage of this dance. Most of our recent raids and retrievals have been at the plus level due to other clubs’ schedules, and we felt sure many of our dancers would enjoy getting out to a mainstream dance. Where were all of you?

Our next dance, on March 10^th will be a class dance, which will include nearly all of the mainstream calls. Although small in numbers, our phase 2 square dance class has some very good dancers, and this will be a great opportunity for all our club members to meet and dance with them. Patty Greene will be calling, and Bev Boudreau will be cueing. Pelham Partners is expected to raid this dance. The theme will be "Leaping Leprechauns," and the class will be hosts. As usual, we will be setting up the church hall at 12:30 on Saturday, and we would greatly appreciate your help.

Chris and Norma Howard
Club Chairpersons
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Class Chair Report

We would like to introduce the new class members who joined Border City Squares in January. Please welcome Anne-Marie Boucher, Muriel Credle, Dan Kelly, Cecilia Kendig, Jim McClarin, Anna Mullen, and Annie Newcomb. They have attended 5 class workshops and learned 24 calls. The current planned Graduation date for the January Class is July 30^th.

The September class has nearly completed the Mainstream calls with only 8 calls left out of a total of 71. Graduation for the September class is just around the corner and will be April 23. Family and friends are welcome to join our new members and help them celebrate the completion of the Mainstream program and their becoming official members of Border City Squares. They will have their official badges just in time for the New England Square and Round Dance Convention in Manchester the following weekend.

Bill & Susan Leuci and Diane Troyer attended the Firesiders class dance on February 10^th in Atkinson, NH. Jim Mayo was the caller. Jim is a veteran caller having called the circuit for 51 years. Jim helped found the Border City Squares and was the first club caller.

On February 17^th - Amy, Katherine, Jim McClarin, Diane, Susan & Bill attended the Concord Coach dance. George McGibbon was their caller.

On February 18^th - The Monadnock Squares in Keene sponsored "The Freshman Frolic": This was a dance with many callers. Bill & Susan ventured out to this dance on their own and were welcomed by everyone. Clubs are noticing that we have a class to be proud of.

Bill and Susan were surprised to learn that they had earned the "Purple Heart". This dangle is earned by dancing in a square with 3 callers. They were privileged to dance with Dan Guin, Ted Cromack and a guest caller from Florida at the Freshman Frolic.

On February 24^th - Bill and Susan, Lori Forrence, Rita Lamache, and Jim Hawkins attended the Mason Wolf Rockers Dance in Mason, NH. Their caller was yodeling Charlie McLeod.

The September class will be hosting our next dance at Infant Jesus Church Hall on March 10^th. The theme will reflect the St. Patrick’s Day Holiday.

Club Skirts

We will be placing an order for club skirts the last week of February. If anyone interested, we will be at the workshop on Monday, February 26^th or call us at 889-0080.

Guidelines for Angels

It has been brought to our attention by several members of both classes that we need to review with everyone the roles of Angels.

What are Angels? They are the wonderful people who volunteer their time to ensure that a class of new dancers has the best possible learning experience. Angels provide the new class members with their first real look at the club.

Angels are also role models. No matter what the caller and club try to communicate to the students concerning etiquette, attitudes, or styling, class members inevitably take their cues from what they see the angels doing. So it is important that angels be extra careful to be good role models.

End Conversations: End conversations promptly when the teacher begins a tip. If you are not dancing, keep your conversations far away from the dance area.

Let the Caller do the Verbal Teaching: It is always tempting to explain something your square is not getting, and the students will often ask you to do this—but you must resist. It diverts the students’ attention from the teacher and one of the most important things to learn in beginner class is to listen to the teacher/caller. Sometimes you can clarify a simple point for students between tips; this is fine, but not while the caller is at the microphone.

Teach by Example: Angels’ primary teaching function is to teach by example—to be in the right place at the right time.

Do the Calls as Defined: Club styling is always a third major source of contention. It is important that beginners learn the calls with standard Caller Lab styling, that is, without the flourishes we like so much. The teacher will introduce the club styling at appropriate times after the calls are mastered. Angels must use only the styling, which has been taught to the class. This is not always easy, but it really is very important.

Viv and Bill Thompson
Class Chairpersons

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Banner Chair Report

The energy was high from the opening tip and never let up as caller Mike Petitbon thrilled us with some jazzed up calls that he put together in intriguing combinations. But you had to like the method of Mike’s madness: If he threw you off at first, you’d probably see the same combination about six times before the tip was over. This Hawaiian Luau with the Litchfield Swingers on February 2^nd was a dance not to be passed up. And Border City certainly didn’t pass this one up as 21 dancers swarmed the Griffin Memorial School to feast on this dancing extravaganza! Can you believe we almost had 3 squares? The satisfied gang from BCS included Roberta Blais, Mike Peterson, Hal Kelley, Mary & Dave Raymond, Jonas Green & Tammy Dorris, Debbie Coit, Margery Shank, Chris Howard, Wayne & Priscilla Griffin, Bruce Williams, Skip & Penny Guild, Steve & Lorri Wurtzler, Steve O’Neil, Cheryl Pecor, Bob Baker, and Preston Walsh.

Have you ever seen a square-dancer with that "deer in the headlight look on their face?’ I must admit that happened to me while dancing to Norm Poisson at our February 10^th club dance. At this mainstream dance, Norm sure did an outstanding job mixing up the calls, making familiar calls from unfamiliar positions. He had me concentrating on the calls so much that I basically forgot about the slim dancer turnout on this evening! The two retrieving clubs were Litchfield Swingers with 8 dancers, and Turkey Town Trotters with 14 dancers.

Heel & Toe put on one heck of a dance on February 17^th! About 12 squares of dancers flocked to Manchester to dance to Jerry Maurice and Bernie Porter. It was delightful dancing to Jerry, our new club caller! This sure felt like a festive occasion with several of the local clubs on board this evening. The entourage from Border City included Mike & Joyce Peterson, Bruce Williams, Tammy Dorris, Hal Kelley, Roberta Blais, Chris Howard, Margery Shank, Steve & Lorri Wurtzler, Preston Walsh, Dave & Mary Raymond, Bob Baker, and Cheryl Pecor.

Once the final caravan of Border City dancers arrived for the raid on the Turkey Town Trotters, the dance just exploded into a night of thrills for all. Caller Dave Hass had us half-sashaying all over the place. To top it all off, Dave treated us to some Progressive Squares. Now that was EXCITING! Not bad for a drunken’ caller (you had to be there)! Those in on the action from Border City Squares were Steve & Lorri Wurtzler, Cheryl Pecor, Bob Baker, Chris Howard, Wayne & Priscilla Griffin, Skip & Penny Guild, Mike & Joyce Peterson, Cheryl Palucchi, Della Crawford, Roberta Blais, Preston Walsh, Hal Kelley, and Debbie Coit. Make sure that you don’t miss this caller at our June dance!

Make sure that you don’t pass up our March 10^th club dance. This class dance will be called by Patty Greene and the cueing will be done by Bev Boudreau. Pelham Partners are raiding this dance. We’re looking forward to seeing you there!

March and Early April Raids/Retrievals:

Last Month's Raids and Retrievals:

Clubs Raiding / Retrieving at Our February Dance:

Club Banners We Have: Clubs With Our Banners:

Lorri and Steve Wurtzler
Banner Chairs

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