BCS Newsletter December 2003

[The Board thought you might like to know what discussions are conducted and decisions are made at our monthly board meeting. There is an alleged extract from the minutes of the last Board Meeting. The meeting was conducted without adult supervision as our President was not present to control the unruly board members]

Border City Squares – Minutes of Board Meeting – November 20, 2003
2003-2004 Board Members Present

PRESIDENT: Debbie Coit (absent)
VICE PRESIDENT: Bruce Roberts
TREASURERS: Anne-Marie Boucher (absent)
SECRETARIES: Kathi Butt
CLUB CHAIR: Chris Howard (absent)
CLASS CHAIR: Steve White (absent)
PUBLICITY CHAIR: Skip Guild
BANNER CHAIR: Harli Thoene Webb

Vice President Bruce Roberts called the meeting to order at 7:22pm
There were only 4 in attendance, so we chose to re-convene at Margarita’s Restaurant.
…

Publicity Report
Newsletter articles must be submitted to Skip by 11/28/03. Newsletters will be distributed on Dec 1.

To attract new membership, Skip will add risqué icons to the flyers and semiclad dancers to the BCS website. He is interviewing models.
…

Club Chair News:
Bruce Roberts offered to host the May dance. The theme will be "A Day at the Beach". Suntan lotion will be rubbed on all dancers. Clothing is optional. Caller Suptei Rogers has agreed to dress appropriately.
…

Old and New Business

…
22. Effective immediately, renewing members and graduates must pass a test before acceptance to BCS membership. Testing will include an agility test (stand, turn and walk to the beat of the music) and a memory test (must know your right from your left). (Closed)
…

36. Motion made and approved: No two BCS members may marry without first obtaining unanimous approval of the Board. Petition for marriage consent not received yet from Steve and Debbie (Closed)

Next Board Meeting will be December 18, 2003 at 7:00 PM at:

Bruce Robert’s home

Meeting was adjourned at 8:07PM

Submitted by: Secretary Kathi Butt (and official Club Satirist)

November 1, 2003: BCS raided Concord Coach. This was a Plus dance with Lenny Stratton calling and Vera Prudhomme cueing. This raid was supported by Chris Howard, Anne-Marie Boucher, Cheryl Palucchi, Vivian and Bill Thompson, Tammy Dorris, Debbie Coit, Steve White, Penny and Skip Guild, Steve and Patty Greene and Harli Webb.

November 15, 2003: BCS raided Heel & Toe, Manchester, NH. This Mainstream/Plus dance with Skip and Betty Ann Brown calling and cueing was supported by Tammy Dorris, Kathi Butt, Roberta Blais, Diane DesRochers, Cecilia Kendig, Hal Kelley, Vivian and Bill Thompson, Harli and Rhiannon Webb, Chris Howard, Cheryl Palucchi, Paula Finamore, and Bob Baker.

November 15, 2003: The BCS Class members Brendan Dorr, Deb Mentch, Deane Clark and Leo Gravel were joined by Susan Current, Gene Dorr and Bob and Pauline O’Connor at the Bradford Country Squares class dance. Because we brought 8 dancers, Bradford Squares kindly gave us our banner back as a retrieval! What a surprise to all who attended (and those of us who didn’t!)

November 30, 2003: BCS will have retrieved our banner from Pepperell Squares at their Mainstream dance by the time you get this newsletter. Joe Casey was cueing and Phil Gatchell was cueing. At this time we expect the following members to support this retrieval: Anne-Marie Boucher, Tammy Dorris, Steve White, Debbie Coit, Harli Webb, Valerie and John Lamb, Skip and Penny Guild and Diane DesRochers. Any corrections will be made in the next newsletter.

Future Raids and Retrievals:

December 12, 2003: BCS will be retrieving our banner from Single Squares, St Anthony’s Hall, Route 38 (1020 Main Street), Woburn, MA with Matt Auger calling and Phil Gatchell cueing. This is a Mainstream dance with 2 Plus tips.

PLEASE NOTE: the carpool meeting location has changed due to construction at the Nashua Mall. We will still meet at the Nashua Mall but when you enter the Mall parking lot turn right toward Kohl’s instead of left toward the Kiosk. Park along the outer edge of the parking lot near Broad Street. The carpool will leave at the usual time – 7:00.

December 13, 2003: BCS will host Heel and Toe to retrieve their banner.

December 20, 2003: BCS will be raiding Heel and Toe, Manchester, NH. Ed and Corrine Renauld will be caller and cuer for this dance. Since this is their Christmas dinner dance, you can make reservations with Rose at any dance or call her at 603-224-7150 for the dinner portion of the evening ($17.50 per person dinner & dance). The dance alone is the usual $6.00 per person. The dinner and dance are at the Bishop O’Neil Community Center. Take Exit 4 off F.E. Everett Hwy (Queen City Bridge). Take right on Elm Street one block.

January 17, 2004 BCS will be raiding Bradford Country Squares, Bradford, NH. This is a CLASS level dance with Lenny Stratton and Vera Prudhomme calling and cueing.

PLEASE NOTE REGARDING CARPOOLING!!! The location of the meeting spot has changed due to construction at the Nashua Mall. When you pull into the Mall, turn right toward Kohl’s rather than left toward the Kiosk. Park in the outer spaces along Broad Street near the entrance.

Border City Raids & Retrievals

Date	Club	Raid/ Retrieval	Caller/Cuer	Theme	Level	Location
12-Dec-03	Single Squares	Retreive	Matt Auger/ Phil Gatchell		M/2P	Saint Anthony's Hall, Route 38 (1020 Main Street) Woburn, MA
20-Dec-03	Heel & Toe	Raid	Ed Renauld/ Corrine Renauld	Christmas DINNER & Dance	M/P	Bishop O'Neil Community Center, Manchester, NH
17-Jan-04	Bradford Squares	?	Lenny Stratton/ Vera Prudhomme	Turn Thru Twirl	C	Bradford Town Hall, Main Street, Bradford, NH
7-Feb-04	Concord Coach	?	Skip Brown/ Betty Ann Brown	Hearts-A-Fire	P*	Howard Recreation Center (off Route 202), Concord, NH
21-Feb-04	Tech Squares	Raid	Don Beck/ Phil Gatchell		P	MIT Student Center (building W20), 84 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA
28-Feb-04	Turkey Town	Raid	Joe Casey/ Marilyn Rivenburg		P	Franklin School, North Andover, MA
6-Mar-04	Concord Coach	?	Dona Prudhomme/ Birgit Maguire	Green Dance	M	Howard Recreation Center (off Route 202), Concord, NH
19-Mar-04	Single Squares	Raid	Chris Pinkham/ Birgit Maquire		M/2P	Saint Anthony's Hall, Route 38 (1020 Main Street) Woburn, MA
20-Mar-04	Heel & Toe	Raid	Shawn Cuddy/ Bernie Porter		M/P	Bishop O'Neil Community Center, Manchester, NH
3-Apr-04	Concord Coach	?	Kip & Linda Moulton	Spring Fling	P	Howard Recreation Center (off Route 202), Concord, NH
17-Apr-04	Bradford Squares	?	Don Bachelder/ Phil Gatchell	Graduates Grand Square	M/P	Bradford Town Hall, Main Street, Bradford, NH
1-May-04	Concord Coach	?	Shawn Cuddy/ Bernie Porter	40th Anniversary Dance	M/P	Howard Recreation Center (off Route 202), Concord, NH
15-May-04	Heel & Toe	Retreive	Rich & Lynne Sbardella/ Phil Gatchell		M/P	Bishop O'Neil Community Center, Manchester, NH
22-May-03	Bradford Squares	?	Mike Pettibo/ Matt Auger	Step 'n Slide with Double Trouble	M/P*	Bradford Town Hall, Main Street, Bradford, NH
5-Jun-04	Concord Coach	?	Ed Renauld/ Corrine Renauld	Come As You Are	M/P	Howard Recreation Center (off Route 202), Concord, NH
M = Mainstream P = Plus C=Class
* = 7-8 dancing at one level above dance level
** = Early Rounds 1:30
? = depends on visits to BCS in between visits to neighboring club

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!!! By now our class dancers should have attended their first class level dance. I hope they all enjoyed themselves. Below you will find a list of upcoming class level dances that our class and club members might be interested in attending. Please see me if you have any questions.

As you will notice, there is a class level dance on January 10th at Border City. Our class will be hosting this dance, so we will all need to get together some Monday night in December and talk about what is required to host this dance. I will let you know more info soon.

Class Level Dances for this dance season (Class, please note that by the end of April you will all be able to attend any Mainstream level dance):

Date	Club	Location	Caller	Cuer	Notes
05 Dec 03	Square Wheelers	Acton, MA	Don Batchelder	Sandi Simmons
13-Dec-03	Concord Coach	Concord NH	Patty Greene	Bernie Porter	Christmas Class Ball (Patty is our club caller; we should attend to support her.)
13-Dec-03	Monadnock Squares	Keene NH	Don Bachelder	Carole Landry	Christmas Dance
19-Dec-03	Swingles SDC	West Springfield MA	Cindy Hawley	Gene King	Holiday Celebration, Early Rounds 7:30PM
20-Dec-03	Chic-Mates	Northampton MA	Lenny Stratton	Carole Landry	Christmas Dance
28-Dec-03	Cloverleaf Squares	Northampton MA	Paul Roy	Carole Landry	Christmas Dance
31 Dec 03	Mountain Valley Square Dance Association's	Keene (Recreation Center, 312 Washington Street) NH	Don Bachelder & Lenny Stratton	Laura Knight	New Year's Celebration **
10-Jan-04	Border City Squares	Nashua NH	Noah Nutting	Barbara Nutting	Pajama Party (Our Club Hosting)
17-Jan-04	Bradford Country Squares	Bradford NH	Lenny Stratton	Vera Prudhomme	Turn Thru Twirl
28 Feb 04	Wolf Rockers	Mason, NH	Charlie McLeod	None
13 Mar 04	Border City Squares	Nashua, NH	Dave Perrault	None	Our class hosting
19 Mar 04	Square Riggers	Westwood, MA	Everett Mackin	Marge Headen
20 Mar 04	Riverside Squares	Danvers, MA	Chris Pinkham	None

** Two Halls (one for just Class Program), $6 pp includes Pot Luck Supper at 6:30 PM, paper plates, plastic utensils, and celebration beverage & party favors. Dancing 8 - 11 PM with Celebration at 10PM so everyone can be off the road by midnight

Although square dancing can be traced as far back as 17^th century England, the square dancing that you and I know really began in the 1950’s. A big step for square dancing was in 1971 when the international organization of callers named Callerlab was founded. This organization helped facilitate the exchange of square dancing information and standardize square dance steps. Through time, the levels of square dancing (i.e. Mainstream, Plus) that we know of today went through many changes. Did you know that there was once an Extended Basic Program with 54 calls? Or a Mainstream Plus 1 level with 69 calls. Experimental calls were defined as suggested calls for use during workshops and Mainstream dances and some became part of the present levels we know of today.

What’s In a Name?

With all these changes some moves have been added, changed or even renamed. Do any of these seem calls familiar? Now for a challenge - can you match the definition with the term?

A) Turn Unders & Twirls		___ To bump hips or rears with one another
B) Wagon Wheel Spin		___Two people take designated hands and either or both, according to the requirements of the movement, turn under a raised hand and both end facing in a new direction
C) Split Your Corner		____The active persons move forward and turn to pass between the couple formed by their corner and their corner’s partner
D) Boomps - a - Daisy		___Partners join left hands and the lady makes a right face turn under the man’s raised left arm as the man walks forward and does a half left face turn. They finish facing each other. Used to reverse direction and exchange places.
E) Swap the Flea (Box the Flea)		____Following an allemande turn partner by the right full around. Men give lady a start (gently) so lady can twirl or turn once and a half times alone.
F) Four Couples Suzy Q		____Two active couples meet and passing right shoulders Pass Thru. The lady (or person on the right) crosses in front of her partner to the left, while the man (or person on the left) crosses behind or to the right
G) Twist the Line		____In a square, men start moving clockwise and the ladies start counter-clockwise. Pass corner, men on the outside. Meet opposites and turn half way around with a right forearm. Now, with the men moving clockwise retrace steps, men on the outside, pass the same girl and turn partner with a left forearm. Repeat, ending by turning partner with a Courtesy Turn.
H) Cross Trail (Trail Thru)		____From any two facing couples. Right hand person walks across (straight ahead). Left Hand person turns right to face, taking the spot vacated by partner. Couples end up facing out with new partner.
I) Swap Around		_____Starting from a line of four, the center two steps forward and California Twirl, while the ends face in and Star Thru
Bonus Questions
California Twirl was once called a ______?
The Foot Couple is the same as the _______?
(Answers will appear in next month’s newsletter)

December 2003
Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
	1 MS Class 7-8:30 / Plus Teach 8:30-10	2	3	4	5 Class Dance Square Wheelers	6
7	8 MS Class 7-8:30 / Plus Teach 8:30-10	9	10	11	12 Retrieval Single Squares (MS/Plus)	13 BCS Dance (Plus) Class Dance (Monadnock Squares)
14	15 Holiday Party 7-10	16	17	18 BCS Board Meeting – Bruce Robert’s	19 Class Dance (Swingles SDC)	20 Raid Heel & Toe (MS/PLUS Dinner/Dance) Class Dance (Chic-Mates)
21	22	23	24	25	26	27
28 Class Dance (Cloverleaf Squares)	29	30	31 New Years Dance (Keene)