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
APRIL    2001
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"NEW" CANADIAN CALLER ARRIVES IN NS!

       Nova Scotia has acquired a new Canadian Caller andspouse with the recent awarding of Canadian citizenships inHalifax. At a very colourful and moving ceremony, Mr. DonTremaine, presented Canadian citizenship certificates to:

Dottie and Gary Welch
of Lawrencetown, NS.

       The ceremony included participation by a scarlet coated Mountieand numerous friends and relatives of the new Canadians. Therewere over 50 new citizens from 17 different countries whodecided to officially join our Canadian society.
       Dottie has been calling for many years throughout theMaritimes, and is busy with four different clubs in the Halifaxarea. Her support also goes to the METRO Association,ANSSRDT, MCCA, and National Conventions.
       It's an honour to be able to congratulate Dottie and Garyon this special event and welcome them to the Canadian family.


Ken Atkinson

       Ken Atkinson passed away on February 27, 2001. Square and Round Dancing lost another of our mostrespected leaders with the passing of Ken Atkinson of New Minas. Although he had retired from active calling andcueing, his legacy of well-taught dancers continues to benefit our activity. Ken was always the friendliest and mostgracious teacher when conducting classes. The expression he used most often when a square had found a newformation was, "I don't believe this!" His calling for the Hightide Twirlers and Annapolis Valley Promenaders wasalways a pleasant experience. He also taught many new round dancers at the K&M Valley Rounds. Ken's presenceamongst us will indeed be missed. Our sympathies are extended to Marion and her family.


50 Plus EXPO

       The Federation is looking for enthusiastic dancers who like to meet the public, receive many words of praiseand admiration, and can get to the Halifax Trade & Convention Centre on either Friday, July 6 or Saturday, July 7.
       The Federation Booth will be providing information to the public and dancers will be demonstrating howmuch fun we have. Your admission is covered by wearing Traditional Dance Attire. You can participate any timebetween 10:00 am and 5:00 pm on either or both days. When not dancing, you're free to enjoy the EXPO. Mark yourJuly calendar for the 6th and 7th of July for the 50Plus EXPO. Your Federation Regional Representatives and ClubFederation Representatives are ready to note your name and when you are available. Let them know ASAP!
       It would be nice if your club could send two couples to the demonstrations to be held at the Halifax Trade andConvention Center on July 6 and 7 , 2001. These demonstrations are for the betterment of square and round dancingin general, and it affords us a chance get our activity in the public's eye and hence in their minds as an active, fun,and healthy activity that they might do at some future time.
       If we derive any new dancers from these demonstrations, it is a plus, but it is not the main purpose of thesedemonstrations. The main purpose is to place Square and Round Dancing in front of as many people as we can usingthe least amount of funds to do so. This 50 Plus Expo has generated some positive results in that most of the 2500 visitors have seen dancers having fun.
       As this is a Federation sponsored event , mainly looked after by the Central region, we would hope that allclubs would help by sending dancers, callers, and cuers to take part. Those that come will get free entrance to theevent by showing up in Traditional Square Dance Dress and wearing your club badge. You will not have to dance allday as the demonstrations are spaced out to allow you to enjoy other displays. As this is a two day event the moredancers that come the better the demonstration will look. Please add your name to the list of those planning to attendand state the time of day you are available to dance.
Contact: Don and Carol Scott
                52 Sami Drive, Lower Sackville   NS    B4C 3S7
                e-mail: dwscott@accesscable.net        fax:  902-864-5571

       Once again, the Federation is offering a draw prize , a $100.00 certificate for dance lessons at any of theFederation's member clubs. Last year over 70 couples, representing every region, entered this free draw. Theirnames were passed on to the various region representatives for distribution to the clubs in their region. While therehas not been a direct result from this event, it does get our great activity in the public's eye and mind.

Don and Carol Scott, Central Region Representatives


A Bird's Eye View by Robin Young
2000 Crystal Ball Predictions:

  1. Dancing will enjoy a greatly elevated status as the healthiest and most fun form of physical skills while socializing withfriends and be the most-watched sport in future Olympics.

  2. Baby Boomers will take dance lessons with the same "Attack Mode" attitude they used in investing in the Stock Market. Someshrewd investors will find they get more "Bang for their Buck" by taking Square and Round Dance Lessons.

  3. Clothing worn to dances will include everything and anything from the previous Century...until a New Fashion Fabricappears in the year 2005, which will have the properties of self-cleaning, mood-colour changeable, mouldable to the body of thewearer, with a gumby elasticity allowing the wearer to create ruffles, flares and swingy skirts with ease. Men will wear the sameold thing, preferring to be comfortable rather than fashionable.

  4. Music will be taken right off the Internet sources and pre-programmed dances can be e-mailed between Callers and Cuers torecord on their own CD ROM. The total "Equipment" for calling/cuing a weekend will fit under your seat in the air plane andweigh no more that 10 lbs.

  5. Loaded into the Caller's/Cuer's Laptop (10 oz. wt.) and automatically amplified to suit thespace and crowd, the music will be perfectly clear and balanced to the voice of the Caller/Cuer enhanced by the 6" Boze (8 oz.each) speakers to create surround sound.

  6. Hearing enhancement for those dancers who spent too much time with Acid Rock music and other deafening causes willeasily fit into one ear and be essentially invisible.

  7. Cues and Calls will appear on the well-lit laptop screen as the music plays, eliminating the problem of losing your place onthe old paper cue sheets or caller's lyric sheets.

  8. Dancers will find a dance whereever they may travel in the world by merely consulting the World Wide Web and find theirway with Map-Blast, Map Quest or the Auto-navigator installed in cars.

  9. Dance Halls will continue to be alcohol free and become multi- use facilities for combined Pre-School (children's) & Elder(surrogate grandparents) Day Care facilities.

  10. Subscriptions to any and all magazines will no longer be necessary, as all will be easily available on the Net, down-loaded inthe Font size of your choice with advertising appearing subliminally within the pages. Writers will still Write. Editors will stillEdit. And Readers will still Read. Clutter will be diminished and Trees will be saved. To quote Martha, the present grandmotherof our country: "It's a good thing - A very GOOD Thing."

    Received via e-mail from CDN and Chuck Jordan, Coquitlam, BC


NEW & UNUSUAL GRADUATION

       Square Dance Clubs have many different traditions when they celebrate thegraduation of new dancers. Some have very solemn and serious ceremonies,emphasising the traditional rules of etiquette involved in Square Dancing.

       One club in Nova Scotia has found a way to emphasize the fun we all enjoy somuch. Mary Dunlop, the Caller and teacher for Hightide Twirlers who dance inHantsport, produced an addendum to the traditional graduation rite with a crowd pleasingritual.

       The Graduates were asked to kneel on thefloor, facing away from the club members, andsolemnly repeat a "special" pledge.

The "new" pledge was:
"With all my heart, With all my mind,
   I know that I, Stick out behind!"

The more traditional version is illustrated in this second photo:


HILTON MACINTOSH - 80th BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION

December 2, 2001

       Hilton MacIntosh started calling for the Sunrise Swingers of Tatamagouche in1976. He called until February of 1980 when due to various reasons the Club had todisband.

       In the spring of 1980 Vern Carmichael retired as caller for the CobequidTwirlers Square Dance Club in Truro. Hilton was given the opportunity of calling forthis Club. He started calling for this Club in the fall of 1980. He called for the Clubuntil the Spring of 1991 when he felt he should retire from Club calling.

       Hilton and Violet met so many nice people in their Square Dance travels,including National Conventions as far west as Alberta, which included a few days inBritish Columbia as a special package of the Alberta Convention in Edmonton,Alberta. This was the first chance to see thousands of dancers at one dance.

       In 1984 some of our New Annan friends asked Hilton to start a Group in NewAnnan. We met and for two years from September of 1982 until May of 1984 we enjoyedour small group of dancers, then due to various health reasons we had to close this Clubwhich was called the New Annan Squares of Nova Scotia.

       Hilton has been in great demand around the Maritime provinces. Hilton and Viwere members of Association of Square and Round Dance Teachers of Nova Scotia as wellas the Maritime Callers and Cuers Association. They are Life Members in bothorganizations now. He has called for the MCCA Convention for a number of years as wellas Nova Scotia Dance Federation specials. They are one of the Directors of the AlguireMemorial Fund and have participated in the Memorial dance held in October each year inthe Margaree Valley of Cape Breton. They are also staff members for the annual"Camperee" and "Hub Trackers' New Years Ball".

       Hilton and Violet Macintosh stated, "Thirty years as Square Dancers has given usso many wonderful friends and memories."

Submitted by Earle and Marjorie Murray, Fundy Region


INTERNATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF "TRUSTEES" OF THE SQUARE DANCE ACTIVITY
LEGACY TO Conduct its Tenth SUMMIT MEETING

       LEGACY was founded as an International Assembly of Trustees of the Square Dance Activity in 1973. Itsmembership is composed of representatives from these many facets within the Square Dance activity.

       One of LEGACY's most ambitious undertakings has been to bring together chairmen and representativesof all the national organizations together for an informal sharing session. This was initiated in 1986 as a "CoffeeGathering" and progressed to an informal dinner meeting held at the National Square Dance Convention.

       In 1992, LEGACY expanded the meeting in time and content in order that the organizations might striveto work more closely together and complement each other rather than work as fragmented entities. Realizingmost national organizations were represented at the US National Square Dance Convention, arrangements weremade by the LEGACY Chairman with the NEC and the NSDC to secure a room for such an expanded gathering,to be called the "Summit Meeting of the Square Dance Activity". LEGACY is pleased to see that otherorganizations and areas have realized that communication is vital to conducting successful programs and haveduplicated the idea of Summit meetings.

       The Summit Meeting has become a gathering where attendees interface with each other, become betteracquainted with each other's goals and opinions, and try to develop programs at which several organizationsmight work cooperatively and more efficiently for the betterment and advancement of our activity. Forexample, in 1996 eight common goals were adopted as common concerns to be addressed by the attendingorganizations.

       This year's annual Summit Meeting will take place on Thursday afternoon, June 28, from 1 PM to 3 PM atthe 50th National Square Dance Convention in Anaheim, CA. Invitations have been extended to over twentyNational Organizations and Foundations to send at least one representative. For more information on this TenthSummit Meeting, contact the LEGACY office at P0 Box 37, Lower Waterford, VT 05848-0037 or phone802-748-8538.


INTERNATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF "TRUSTEES" OF THE SQUARE DANCE ACTIVITY
LEGACY and "A Potpourri of Observations"

       LEGACY, the International "Assembly" of Trustees of the Square Dance Activity, through its LEGACYLOG, Mini-Legacies and Seminars at various State & National Conventions and Festivals, Surveys, PressReleases and Summit Meetings as well as in Past Chairman Bernie Coulthurst's Club Leadership Journal, hasbeen communicating with the Square Dance world for the past twenty-eight years. Although much has beenwritten about it, the lack of communication has often been deemed a cause for the demise of many organizationsand clubs.

       In an effort to rectify this problem, LEGACY has tasked itself with a project that will see communicationof its Leadership and Educational materials distributed to as many Square Dance Publications as can bemanaged. A special thanks to the generosity of Editors Ed & Pat Juaire of "AMERICAN SQUARE DANCE' - theonly International Magazine that serves our Square Dance Activity - who have agreed that a series of articles byvarious LEGACY Trustees will soon be appearing bi-monthly. These articles covering a wide range of topics inEducation and Leadership will be appearing under the LEGACY logo, each article accompanied by its own titleand authors' name(s). In this way further communication can be established between readers and authors.

       Watch for the following articles which have been already submitted: "Is Your Attitude Helping orHindering Your Club" and "Showmanship" by Larry Cole, "Is Leadership Killing the Local Square Dance Club?"by Wendy VanderMeulen, "What Do You Expect from Your Club Officers?" by Ted & Betty Vaile, "How Do YouTreat Your New Dancers?" by John Charman, and "Demo's" by John & Freddie Kaltenthaler.

       If there is a particular subject readers would like to see covered, please contact Wendy VanderMeulen at1225 Millburn Crescent, Cumberland, ON K4C 1C9, Canada who is coordinating this project for LEGACY.


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