Belles N Beaus Graduate Four New Dancers

Our beginner square dance class graduated on Monday, April 29, with a the graduates being led into the room, under a bridge of two facing lines of club members with raised arms to form the bridge. A candle lighting ceremony highlighted the main elements of square dancing (Friendliness, Duty, Democracy, Fun). Diplomas were presented to each of the graduates. We celebrated with an Ice Cream social and ‘graduate cupcakes’ following the ceremony.

I am attaching a few pictures for the PROMENADER.

Our four graduates are:

Rosie Holley

Don Felice

Laurie Felice

Carol Mesolella

Submitted by Alice Hager

At its April 4th meeting, the Rochester Area Federation of Round and Square Dance Clubs (RAF) elected its officers for the coming season:

President—(continuing) Jim Gotta

Vice Presidents—(continuing) Debbie Bllood and Jeff Blood

Secretaries—(continuing) Gary Granath and Lorraine Granathh

Treasurers—Rick LaDonna and Donna LaDonna

Communications Liaison*—Amy Aeckerlle and Kris Aeckerle

*In addition to serving as RAF VPs, Jeff and Debbie Blood occupied the Communications Liaison position for the past several months. During that time, they reconstituted the Promotions Committee, and lined up Amy and Kris Aeckerle to assume the Communications Liaison role in June and oversee the newly re-formed Promotions Committee. Jeff and Debbie will remain active members of the Promotions Committee under Amy and Kris.

This re-development of the RAF’s role in promoting square dancing and fostering collaboration among all clubs in our area is an extremely important initiative. Therefore, the RAF board agreed it would be better to leave the presidency and vice presidency “as is” for another year—to let Jeff and Debbie continuue to focus on facilitating these activities without the distractions of advancement to the presidency.

The attached photo shows the RAF Board at its May 14 meeting, taking a break to smile for the camera before returning to planning next year’s activities. If your club is not represented at these meetings, please consider volunteering to become your club’s RAF representative.

Gathered around this table roughly every month are the wonderful folks who bring you Dance O Rama, The Fall Friendship Ball and other multi-club events, as well as financial support (grants and reimbursements) for your club’s dancer recruiting and retention efforts, dancer insurance for every member club, the RAF website (schedules and listings) and the Promenader (news, photos and articles). They are all dancers, just like you.

Submitted by Peter Emmel

On May 11, the Cayuga Cut-Ups put on a feast to celebrate their 58th Anniversary in style. The fare included steak, corn, potato, salad and yummy desserts—and of course anniversary cake. The Hip Boot Boys—joined by an unexpected trio of “Doo-Ahh” girls—put on a wonderful show.

On a beautiful day for the drive to Auburn, the event drew many couples from Rochester. Included were six couples from the Village Squares on a banner retrieval raid. (The photo is missing Jeff and Debbie Blood.)

Many thanks to the Cayuga Cut-Ups for such a memorable evening, and kudos on your 58 years of dancing!

Submitted by Peter Emmel, with photos from Linda English

Here are the DOR 2019 survey results: 31 responses were received

Printed copies of survey for dancers to complete were available at DOR in the main hall. There was also a link on the RAF website and on the RAF Facebook page: Square Dancing Rochester.

• 1. How often do you come to Dance-O-Rama?
  • Annually 74% Frequently 7% First Time 19%
• 2. Levels of dancing preferred:
  • Combinations of Plus & Mainstream 87%
  • Other 13%
• 3. Venue—Perinton Rec Center
  • Favorable—Good to Excellent 87%
  • Neutral 6.5%
  • Unfavorable 6.5%
• 4. Anything we should change for next year:
  • Nothing or no response 58%
  • Location* *26%
  • More mainstream 3%
  • Want callers outside local area 10%
  • Wooden floor for rounds 3%
  • *This past year, Jeff and Debbie Blood have looked at 20 alternative locations for DOR. All of them have been eliminated due to at least one of the following:
    • a. Date availability (RAF bylaws restrict to 1st Saturday in May)
    • b. Inability to lock in date in advance
    • c. Organization’s first preference for use of space
    • d. Dance floor issues—need special flooring, can’t dance on their floors or carpeting (Renting dance flooring is cost-prohibitive.)
    • e. Room acoustics for large halls not suitable for square or round dance calling
    • f. Rental cost too high
    • g. Long distance from Rochester Area
  • Locations we have checked out and found are not available for DOR are listed below:
    Town of Greece Senior Center
    • Greece Central Schools
    • Pittsford Recreation Center
    • Henrietta Recreation Center
    • RMSC
    • RIT Inn Conference Center
    • Monroe Community College
    • Riversedge Party House
    • Charter School (formerly Greece Odyssey)
    • YMCA
    • Good Shepard—Henrietta
    • Arch Angel—Henrietta
    • St Judes—Spencerport
    • Father’s House—Paul Rd
    • Gates Chili High School
    • Quality Inn—Gates—near airport
    • RIT Campus
    • Most Holy Trinity Church
    • Perinton Presbyterian Church
  • We found one location that could meet our needs: Sweden Walker Rd Rec Center in Brockport. However, it is no longer available for DOR on May 2, 2020. Major concern with this location is the distance and route access for the majority of our membership. The majority of our clubs dance on the East side of Rochester and in the Finger Lakes Area.
    
    If anyone has suggestions for locations, please contact us at dfbjvbhome@aol.com and we will provide you the facilities requirements for DOR.
• 5. Dinner Feedback—From those that ate the dinner:
  • Favorable 79%
  • Neutral %
  • Unfavorable 7%
  • From those that did not eat the dinner:
    • 11 people responded
    • 9 responses were neutral
    • 2 were unfavorable on the dinner: (1) cost and (1) food choice
  • Do you want dinner offered at future Dance-O-Ramas?
    • 74% responded Yes
• 6. Parking
  • 1–2 Passengers in car 64%
  • 3–4 Passengers in car 13%
  • No response 23%

Written Comments from Survey:

• 1. We love the people, nicest on the planet
• 2. Publish videos; get signoffs (DOR meeting interprets this to mean to get permission to make videos)
• 3. We had a great time, thank you
• 4. Shorter Daphne-Norma Award program
• 5. Didn’t like type of food
• 6. Our callers are great, liked schedules handed out by greeters & raffle ticket with # on it
• 7. Chicken was dry
• 8. Had a great time; line dance caller not mentioned on flyer
• 9. Coats and boots taken. Would be better if just DOR, not community
• 10. Dinner was late, form buffet line immediately not serve salad Dinner Hour calling very thin—may be think about it Dinner being late might have had something to do with this
• 11. Great. Lots of fun
• 12. All Great
• 13. teach hex dancing—6 couple per square
• 14. too much thru traffic with rec center, crowded. Dinner: need salt/pepper, serve own salad didn’t care for pasta sauce
• 15. Great job, fun day. Dinner: what your served was great!
• 16. Any way to use gym to eliminate the sound problem. 2 lines with 2 tables (add additional serving line with 2 tables)
• 17. Don’t like location, gym or larger rooms would be better.
• Too crowded for graduation and awards, think people don’t come too crowded
• In previous years not enough food, didn’t seem like food was a good value.
• 18. No credit given for line dancer on flyers or announcements
• 19. Anyone bending raffle tickets should be told their tickets will be pulled … unfair to rest of ticket holders
• 20. Dinner: back to Otto Tomato, prompt and better quality /selection of foods.
• Great job with dance
• 21. Thanks for another great DOR
• 22. New comers didn’t know what to expect, [put] info in FAQ on RAF website.
• Verbal feedback on the sound and temperature in the Plus Hall B was very positive.
• Extra speakers and more fans were added to the room this year.

Additional feedback received at 5/14/19 RAF meeting:

• Bring DOR closer to Genesee and Erie Counties
• Half Day Tickets. If you come for the second half of the dance, it consists of dinner hour, parade, announcements, a little dancing and clean up.
• Only the caller and one dancer in dance hall during supper hour.
• She wanted to dance but there wasn’t anyone to dance with.
• Square were consistently breaking down in both rooms.
• Are the new dancers graduating before they are ready?
• Members from another club were not informed of the schedule by their club.
• It wasn’t until they arrived at the dance did they see a schedule.
• They invited guests to watch them dance and it was the dinner hour.
• I told them they need to talk to their club president. (FYI The dance schedule was available on Facebook [Square Dancing Rochester] prior to DOR)

The DOR 2020 Committee will review the survey results and discuss the topic of evening tickets/ half day tickets at next DOR meeting in Sept.

Square Dancing Rochester Facebook Page:

We are encouraging our members who use Facebook to join the RAF Facebook page: Square Dancing Rochester. Instructions for joining the RAF Facebook page are included in the RAF website guide that was sent to all recent graduates and club presidents. The RAF website includes a link to the RAF Facebook page as an additional way to keep members informed.

For announcements, photos and “late-breaking” news, you can … follow us on Facebook: Square Dancing Rochester and/or visit the RAF website: http://www.squaredancingrochester.org

We hope everyone had a great time at DOR 2019 and hope to see you next year at DOR 2020 on May 2.

Survey

Debbie & Jeff Blood

DOR 2019 & 2020 Co-Chairs

RAF Vice Presidents

Email: dfbjvbhome@aol.com

The Parade of Graduates was more than twice as long as last year’s, with 65 new dancers at Dance-O-Rama 2019. Nine area square dance clubs introduced their Mainstream class graduates at this year’s festival in Fairport on May 4.

The June Promenader issue is our opportunity to congratulate and welcome all 65 of this year’s graduates by name. We encourage you all to continue dancing throughout the summer and return in the fall to expand your circle of dancing friends. In particular we look forward to seeing you at the Fall Friendship Ball on September 28th at the Penfield Baptist Church.

2019 Square Dance Graduates:

Batavia Silver Stars:
Lindsay Perry
Belles N Beaus
Don Felice
Laurie Felice
Rosie Holley
Carol Mesolella

Cayuga Cut-Ups:
Katie Brock
Aubrey Davis
Paul Green
Betty Green

Cloverleaf Squares:
Kathy Buechel
Christopher Ferra
Debbie Monson-Mercado
Katherine Cuyler
Victor Harter
Simone Harter
Darlene Traughber
Thayton Traughber

Copy Cats:
Madeline Azoulay
Mitch Berner
Deb Bower
Jeff Vincent
Elizabeth Burgwardt
Barb Crawford
Kathleen Hoesterey
Justin Hoesterey
Donna Indovina
Bob Indovina
Larry Kilbury
Betty Ann Manganello
Joan Manganello
Ginny Mills
Pete Mills
Betty Morley
Michelle Orr
Brian Orr
Jolene Overhauser
John Overhauser
Pietra Santacroce

Fulton Shirts ’N’ Skirts:
Janet Wiehle-Amond
John Klimachefsky
Margie Klimachefsky
Chris Coufal
Naomi Coufal
Stef Mueller
Karen Lynch
Fun Bunch
John Roden
Bonnie Gloskey
Brooke McCarthy
Vince Klock

Silver Squares:
Kathy Bader
Mary Hunt
Lea-Marie Inserra
Hal Julius
Mary Julius
Jim Mc Atee
Gayle Pyke
Joe Scanlon
Mary Scanlon
Alice Sission
Gae Zanche

Waterwheel Squares:
Linnette Ramey
Guy Ramey
Alicyn Ringler
Jim Simmons
Karen Sterman

Submitted by: Jim Gotta & Peter Emmel

The 2019 Fall Friendship Ball is scheduled for Saturday afternoon, September 28, at the First Baptist in Penfield Church (same venue as the Copy Cats regular dances). This will be an afternoon dance, followed by a pot luck supper.

This dance was conceived as an opportunity for new dancers and established dancers to get together and kick off another season of dancing. However, in its first three tries, there have been very few recent grads in attendance. So, a few changes are planned for 2019.

Details are yet to be worked out, but in the interest of improving attendance by recent graduates, instead of making the event free-of-charge for all, there will be a “sliding scale” cost for dancers. All 2019 graduates will be admitted free of charge, but the cost for all others will be $5 per person, reduced to $3 if you bring a dish to pass, and free-of-charge if you “bring” a graduate.

It sounds complicated, but the idea is to encourage established dancers to take the initiative and connect with recent graduates and ensure that they join us for this dance.

Each club should work out how they want to make these connections. One idea would be to come as a group, or at least coordinate your arrival, so you can check in dancers and grads at the same time. Another approach might be to put out a sign-up list at your September dances, for grads and dancers to pair up in advance on paper, and agree to check in together at the Friendship Ball. Perhaps clubs with a large number of graduates could reach out to other clubs to find “sponsors” for some of their grads.

At DOR, graduates received a copy of the Fall Friendship Ball flyer in their “welcome” packet, so they are all aware of this special dance, but that’s never been enough. We are reminded time and again over the years that it’s the personal touch—the direct person-to-person invitation from an established dancer—that makes new dancers feel welcome and brings them out to dance and socialize.

Please do your part and “bring a graduate” to the Fall Friendship Ball!

Submitted by Peter Emmel

The Rochester area’s 2019 Dance-O-Rama was a delightful afternoon and evening of dancing and socializing that brought together 255 dancers from the Greater Rochester and Finger Lakes area.

This annual festival is also the official welcome for graduates from the mainstream program of square dance instruction. Festival organizers, Jeff and Debbie Blood, noted that “there were a total of 65 graduates from 9 of our clubs that sponsored mainstream classes.” (2019 graduates are listed in a separate article on this page.)

Dance-O-Rama not only introduces new dancers to the wider dancing community, it also provides an opportunity to publicly recognize and acknowledge the outstanding contributions that certain dancers make to keeping this wonderful activity alive and well in our area.

We do this through two awards. The Daphne-Norma Leadership Award is a Rochester Area Federation award established in 1977 by John Fink and Frank Salvaggio, in honor of their wives, Daphne and Norma, to express appreciation for extensive and sustained leadership in square dancing. The Circle of Service Award was established at the national square dance convention in 1985 to recognize dancers who have made significant contributions to square dancing. (The 2019 recipients are covered in separate articles on this page, and previous recipients are listed in the Awards section of this website.)

D-O-R is also the principal fund-raising opportunity of the year for the Rochester Area Federation of Round and Square Dance Clubs (RAF), primarily through the club basket raffle and 50/50 ticket sales. This year the event raised $1,692.

Most of this will be put to use in two RAF programs. One of those is the Dancer Recruitment and Retention Fund, which supports the efforts of individual clubs through reimbursements and grants. The other is the RAF’s Promotion & Communications committee program, spreading the word about square dancing to prospective new dancers throughout our area and sponsoring dances and other events aimed at encouraging graduates to keep dancing. (For more on these activities, click the green “Federation” button at the top of this page.)

Thanks to all of the many folks who made this year’s Dance-O-Rama such a success. As you can see from the accompanying photos, it was a lot of fun!

(Note: Dancer feedback collected via questionnaires at the festival is summarized in a separate article on this page)

Submitted by Peter Emmel, with photos from Tom Powers and Jeff & Debbie Blood

Every year our clubs work hard recruiting new prospective dancers to join beginner classes and learn Mainstream dancing. Recruits who stay with the program through the first season are the new dancers we welcome at DOR in the Parade of Graduates.

Many of those graduates will continue dancing through the summer, encouraged by club members to learn an additional set of calls—the Plus calls—so they can come back and dance with the club—since most (with the laudable exception of the Belles N Beaus) dance at the “Plus” level. But, sadly, many graduates do not come back to become long-term dancers. Why is this?

One reason is that the one-year class cycle is too short to build a strong foundation of dancing skills, even at the Mainstream level. Most can learn the basics in that time, but it takes more than one season to become confident enough—both skill-wise and in terms of social comfort—to dance through the embarrassment of broken-down squares.

The best remedy for this is painless … and, actually, a lot of fun: MORE DANCING!

So, to help graduates—and the rest of the dancing community—to do more dancing over the summer, the RAF Promotions Committee, as well as the leaders of many clubs, are going out of their way to organize dances and social events that are built around Mainstream dancing.

These events should be supported and attended by new—and not-so-new—dancers, to help build social connections as well as exercise dancing skills.

To find these events, look for them in the Calendar of Special Events on the Promenader page of the RAF website (Click HERE). In this listing, and in the website’s schedule pages, the code letters at the right-hand end of each listing indicate the “format” of the event. (Click HERE to look up what the codes mean.)

Unfortunately, I’ve noticed that not all clubs are using the codes in a way that’s helpful to dancers who want to know how much dancing they will be able to do at a given event. For example, it would be useful if an “M” code on an event listing meant that a Mainstream dancer would be able to dance at least half the tips. In that case “MP” would mean that Mainstream and Plus tips would split approximately 50/50.

But I think that’s not what clubs mean when they include both code letters. I see both letters in the listings for events that I know would leave a Mainstream dancer on the sidelines most of the time.

So, my recommendation is to look up the club’s contact person in the “CLUBS” page of the RAF website (click HERE), tell them which dance(s) you are interested in and ask how a Mainstream dancer would enjoy it. For dances sponsored by the Federation, you can contact the RAF Promotions Committee chairpersons, Kris or Amy Aeckerle (aaeckerle@yahoo.com).

Another way to find details on the format of a dance is to look up the flyer. For each event that has a flyer, there is a link to the flyer in all schedule listings for that event—click the word “flyer” in the listing.

All posted flyers are in chronological order on a browsable page of thumbnail flyer images. Find that page by clicking the yellow “Ads and Flyers” button on the Promenader page (Click HERE), and then scroll through the entire current flyer library. When you find a flyer you are interested in, click anywhere in the image of the flyer. This will open a full-page PDF version of the flyer that you can download and/or print.

In addition to individual event flyers, some clubs create a special flyer that lists all their special dances and events for the whole season. These flyers tend to be at the top of the browsable “Ads & Flyers” page, so it’s a good idea to look there first.

If you have ANY trouble finding these items on the website, please do not hesitate to contact me (pemmel@frontiernet.net) or any established dancer who is familiar with the site. It is accessible by any device with a web browser—i.e. by computer, by tablet or by smart phone.

Note to club presidents and sign-in table greeters:

Each graduate received a “welcome” packet at DOR. One of the items in the packet was a special Free Dance Card that entitles each new graduate to one free dance at eighteen of the RAF clubs.

New graduates have been advised to use the RAF website codes as a guide when checking the clubs dance program level. It was indicated to them that most callers will call a mainstream tip upon request.

So, please prepare your club to welcome our 2019 graduates when they present their ticket, and please alert your caller that they are expecting to be able to dance at least a few tips.

This is one way we can all participate in the process of welcoming new dancers into this wonderful activity.

Submitted by Peter Emmel

At Dance-O-Rama, 2019, the Daphne-Norma Leadership award was presented to Jim and Lurine Gotta. Following is the citation read by Jane Jones at the presentation:

“This year’s recipients of the Daphne-Norma Leadership Award are a very special couple—always ready, always willing. They are quite unique in that one partner works more behind the scenes while the other is very visible.

With encouragement and support from his better half—this person has become a prominent caller aand cuer. He is very involved in promoting square dancing and is especially willing to be a guest caller. His easy ways with new dancers have helped him become a very effective teacher. He organized open square dancing at the Greece Town Hall Senior Center. where he has demonstrated excellent teaching skills. He can get people who have never danced before—up dancing in a very short time.

He has become the caller for Champagne Whirl-A-Ways and has stepped in to call for Happy Squares at the Pittsford Community Center. He is also a prominent member of the Caller’s Co-Op. He willingly assumes a leadership role whenever one is needed. He calls for any clubs when asked, if he is available.

This person was Vice-President for two years and President for two years of the Rochester Area Federation and was Chairperson and acting Chairperson of Dance-O-Rama for two years. He will continue as President of the RAF for another year.

This couple have been members of Copy Cats and Cloverleafs since 2011 and of Shamrock Squares since 2014. They also dance with Boo Bull Squares and DBD.

This person’s wife is not only encouraging and supportive—she also does her part helping out whenever she is needed. One of her specialties is dancing the male role whenever it is needed.

We all know that behind every good man who has significant achievements—there is a wonderfully strong aand supportive woman.

So—on behalf of the Daphne-Norma Selection Committee, it gives us grreat pleasure to introduce you to the recipients of the 2019 Daphne-Norma Leadership Award—Jim and Lurine Gotta”

Submitted by Stu and Jane Jones, with photos from Peter Emmel and Tom Powers

It happens way too often. Special dances end up scheduled on the same night, so attendance at both events is less than what it could have been.

At best, this means dancers miss out on interesting events because they can’t be in both places at once. At worst, it turns what could have been two profitable events into drains on the treasury of two clubs.

This has been a perennial challenge over the years, and various efforts have been made to avoid these clashes. Dance calendars published in the paper Promenader were helpful, but in the paper version they only covered three months out.

For many years Ken Georger (Country Twirlers) maintained (by hand) a “Master Calendar.” But he could only list events that clubs notified him about and to avoid a conflict a club had to call Ken and ask if the date(s) they wanted were free. Ken did what he could to remind clubs with regular “big” dances to schedule them early, but it was inconvenient and not enough clubs used it to make it completely reliable.

The paper Promenader included a Calendar of Special Events on its front inside cover, based on Ken’s Master Calendar, but it had similar limitations—you had to have a copy of the magazine to read it, and of course it couldn’t list events that hadn’t been submitted yet.

Now, in the Age of Information, we should be able to solve this problem. For $5 per event, the electronic Promenader’s “Calendar of Special Events” can be instantly accessed from anywhere in the world on devices that you can carry in your pocket. It lists dances and other events as far out as they are known. (Click HERE.)

However, it still can’t list events that haven’t been submitted. This is where you come in.

Every club with scheduled special events should take advantage of this listing to secure their date(s), especially if they expect to draw dancers from outside their club. And they should do it as soon as the date is known. That is the best way of avoiding conflict over dates.

Clubs planning such events should consult the same Special Events Calendar to find open dates. And when they settle on a date, they should send $5 ($10 for non-RAF member organizations) to the RAF Treasurer (Rick LaDonna, 67 Grandview Drive, Fairport, NY 14450) and send an email (to Promenader@rochester.rr.com) giving whatever basic event information is settled—even if it’s just the date, organization and name of dance.

If you are a board member of your club, or are part of the team organizing an event, when the date is being discussed, speak up and ask if anyone has consulted the online Events Calendar to see which dates are free—in fact, you can do it yourself, right there at the meeting!

And when the date is settled, speak up and make sure that the action items include contacting the Promenader to post the event and sending the check to the RAF Treasurer.

Also, if you are the club’s reporter, sending quarterly schedules and news to the Promenader, we encourage you to send in your dance schedule for as far out as you have it settled. Even if a few dates have aspects that are still unsettled, those can be added later. The important thing is to make your dates visible to planners from other clubs. To increase your turnout from outside your club, think outside your club!

All other clubs thank you!

Submitted by Peter Emmel

At Dance-O-Rama, 2019, the Circle Of Service award was presented to Warren and Doreen Olson. Following is the citation read by Peter Emmel at the presentation:

“I’ll start with a description of the Circle of Service award …

This circle is the symbol of service to square & round dancing. It is designed to be worn with pride by dancers who have received it in recognition of their significant contribution to the square and round dance movement.

The award itself is a pattern of interlocking squares and circles that symbolize the importance of each such individual to the total picture, and the strong bond between the two “sister” dance activities, square dancing and round dancing.

This award can be worn as a pin or as a dangle. It is a “dancers-only” award, as in “I’m just a dancer” and it is always presented by a previous recipient—a member of the Circle of Service.

This year, it is Sally’s and my great pleasure to welcome Warren and Doreen Olson to the Circle of Service. They have been dancers for I don’t know how many years. I believe they started at Swingin’ Singles, with Jerry Carmen calling. Then, after some years off to raise a family, they resumed dancing with the Village Squares and the Copy Cats.

More than “just dancers” Warren and Doreen have served in leadership roles at the Copy Cats and at the Federation … that’s not the Death Star, it’s the Rochester Area Federation of Round and Square Dance Clubs … or RAF, as Warren calls iit.

Square dancing is a group activity, and many people contribute to make things happen, but I think anyone who knows Warren and Doreen will agree that, over the years, their imagination and energy has been key to numerous successful Copy Cats and RAF initiatives.

Rather than list them all, let’s welcome our good friends Warren and Doreen to come up and receive their well-deserved award.”

Submitted by Peter & Sally Emmel, with photo from Tom Powers

On May 15, the Village Squares held their biennial Amateur Caller Talent Night, with five amateurs calling for six squares of dancers. We all had a great time, and when the ballots were counted, Judi Schoonmaker ended up taking home the notorious frog.

The amateurs and their tunes were (in order of performance):

Peter Emmel—Sally is a Good Ol’ Girl

Judi Schoonmaker—Purple People Eater

Evan DeSmitt—Marry You

Carl Webster—Save Your Heart For Me

Henry Capron—Calendar Girl

We hope that all, and more, will return next year when it will be the Cloverleafs turn in the alternation of amateur nights.

Submitted by Peter Emmel, with photos by Tom Powers and Chuck Meyer

On April 23, following a season of lessons from Ron Brown, the Copy Cats put 21 Kittens through the formalities of completing their Mainstream square dance education. The tests were evaluated and the ceremony went forward, welcoming all to the ranks of square dance graduates.

Congratulations to you all! We hope to see you on the dance floor over the summer and throughout the coming years!

Submitted by Peter Emmel, with photos from Jet Thomas