President’s Corner

Welcome back square dancers from a great HOT summer. We have had many opportunities to dance this summer. Gil Porter and Jerry Carmen did a great series at Perinton Rec., Copy Cats had their summer Beach Party, Johnny Preston was here, Betsy and Roy Gotta called for Cloverleafs, Ken Ritucci and Jerry Carmen at Cayuga Cut-Ups, all in all it’s been a dance-filled summer with lots of opportunity to dance and have fun.

But, the fun doesn’t end here. We have a jam-packed fall and winter coming right along. We have Trail-In Dinners, and Rusty Hinge dances for those of us who took the summer off. Then we get right into it with the NEW Fall Friendship Ball on September 24. This dance is replacing the Promenader Dance and is designed to rekindle old friendship and make new ones. We welcome our new graduates from last spring with an alternating Mainstream and Plus dance, so everyone can dance. This dance also has a new format. We dance from 2:00 until 5:15 p.m. Take a break while dinner gets set up and then we break bread together. The cost of the dance is FREE and dinner reservations are required, at $12.00 per person. Please make checks payable to Peter Emmel and mail to 24 High Hill Dr., Pittsford, NY 14534. You can also sign up with your RAF representative.

The square dance community is sponsoring a team for the Walk to Defeat ALS. Our team is “Promenading for Jerry.” This is an important outing, so please sign up to walk, and bring your check book as well. You can google the site Rochester Walk—Walk to Defeat ALS—Upstate New York. Please make sure you get to the Rochester New York site. Please note as of 8/23/16 we have raised $1291.00. We are short or our goal, but I am confident we will exceed the goal.

Finally, as we start our dance year, don’t forget to invite friends, acquaintances, and people you don’t know to check out our Open Houses. The Open Houses and classes that follow are the life blood of our square dance community. Think back to all the friendships that have evolved from this wonderful pastime. We all started at one time or another, went through classes, whether they were 30 weeks long or a new concept coming along that will teach 50 calls in 12 weeks, and then start a new class. I personally think this is a great concept. It teaches the basics, and gets people in a dancing mode much faster. It also allows us to start classes in the middle of the year for people interested now. This concept has been successfully implemented on a national level, and I am looking forward to see the results in our local dance community.

So welcome back and let’s meet in a square soon.

Warren Olson, Federation President