FESTIVAL '99 OPENING CEREMONIES -OR- GRAND FINALE ?

          Opening ceremonies at Festival '99, "A Step in Time 99" on August 6, at Mt. St. Vincent University was indeeda memorable one. The performance by my dancers, Mary's Islanders Dance Troupe, was, for us, one of the Hottestfinales of all time. After I experienced problems with my equipment, Barry Bendle graciously allowed us to use histurntable so that the show could go on. When toes tapped and tartans twirled things really got heated up, not only onthe floor but also with the equipment. While the audience's attention was on the dancers, Barry's machine smoked,smelled and shuddered to a stop.       HOW ABOUT THAT FOR A GRAND FINALE!
           Sorry Barry- Your equipment is now at Hilton in California where the head technician has informed me thatsupply power fluctuations were indeed the cause of the problem. Hopefully by the time this gets to print you'll beenjoying your newly serviced machine.
           I would like to thank Gib Bradley for the wonderful introduction of the dancers and everyone in attendance fortheir standing ovation. The children were thrilled.

DANS AWARD GOES TO ALEX RITCHIE

           Dance Nova Scotia is a non-profit organization embracing all forms of dance. DANS is devoted to thepromotion of dance activities in Nova Scotia, serving the amateur, recreational, and promotional dance communities. Itoffers a wide variety of resources and assistance to dancers, teachers, and administrators, and works to promote theexcellence and availability of dance classes, clubs, performers, and competition throughout the province.
           The DANS Award is Dance Nova Scotia's highest award. It is presented as merited, not necessarily annually, toan individual who has made an "Outstanding Contribution to the Development of Dance in Nova Scotia". On Saturdayevening, August 7, at the Square & Round Dance Federation of Nova Scotia's Festival '99, this prestigious award waspresented to Alex Ritchie by DANS Executive Director, Dianne Milligan, and Laurene Hanley, President.

POSTER CONTEST

           As a start of plans for activities in the year 2000, the Square and Round Dance Federation of Nova Scotia haslaunched a Contest among our dancers to come up with a Poster Design to be used to advertise and promote theactivity here in Nova Scotia. Send or bring your poster design for display at the AGM in October. The winner will bedetermined by those attending the Annual General Meeting in October. See the May issue of "Between Tips" fordetails.

AGM '99

           Plane to attend the Annual General Meeting of your Federation on October 23,1999 in the Brookfield Fire Hall. Each club is asked to bring along their club banner in order to have a banner display at the meeting. Also planned is apicture session of representatives of each region with banners etc. These will be published in "Between Tips".

The Border Rounder's "Spring Into Summer Dance"

           Although we are all on Summer break, we haven't forgotten the great dance we all attended at the E.B. ChandlerSchool that second Saturday in June. Approximately 50 couples came out to have fun and dance to the cues of clubcuers John & Beth Dickinson as well as Alex Ritchie, John Pinks, Larry Clark, Brian Galbraith, Bryan Spires, FrankO'Blenis, and Laurie Bishop. The evening was capped with a delicious lunch provided by the club ladies and a fun gameof "Indian Pow Wow" that was played throughout the lunch time. Our club may be small but when it comes toentertaining, lunch, and decorating, we don't take a back seat to anyone. At this time John and Beth would like to thankthe club for their hard work on putting on this dance as they, themselves, were tied up with the MCCA workshop andwere unavailable most of the time. Other round dances attended by some of our club members this Spring were: "RagRounds Shindig" in Dartmouth, "Parade of Rounds" in Halifax, and Charlie's Angels' closing dinner dance in Moncton.

           Of course we are all looking forward to the fall and the Charlie's Angels' round dance weekend in Septemberfeaturing Gil and Judy Martin of Chicago and Larry and Margie Clark of Halifax. In October, there will be a rounddance weekend in Fredericton with Glen and Audrey Eliasson of Edmonton, Alberta, and of course, the MCCAconvention in Charlottetown. All in all, lots of dancing to look forward to.

30th ANNUAL TEE PEE CAMPEREE

           The year 1999 was the 30th anniversary for the annual Tee Pee Camperee held each year at the Bay GardensCampground in beautiful Five Islands, Colchester County. 50 couples were registered for the event. Staff callers wereJack & Dolores MacArthur and Hilton & Vi MacIntosh with Alex Ritchie & Bernice Thurber cueing the rounds. TheFriday night dance was followed by an afterparty with skits and much laughter. One of the highlights was aperformance by the Valley Chicks .           On Saturday during the day there were workshops for both Square and Round dancers. A potluck supper washeld for all dancers and their families. The Camperee Ball was held on Saturday night. The callers and cuers for thisevent were the Staff aided by all visiting callers and cuers who were: Tom & Gwen Gardner, Sydney Mines; Laurie &Elizabeth Hutchcroft, Bridgewater; Laurie & Wilma Illsley, Lawrencetown; Ralph & Barb MacDonald, Goshen; BruceSavage, Dartmouth; Murray & Pat Workman, Antigonish. Their help was greatly appreciated by all the Staff and theother dancers. An anniversary cake was served by Alex, Jack and Hilton to celebrate the 30th anniversary. Followingthe ball an after party was held with more skits being performed. A special presentation was made by our Cape Bretondancers and was enjoyed by all.           On Sunday morning a pancake breakfast was served by the Chiefs. This was followed with dancing until theclosing around lunch time. Everyone had a real fun weekend with many couples pre-registering for the year 2000Camperee. The Staff look forward to seeing all of you again next year along with many new couples to help make theCamperee weekend a fun filled and happy time for all.

NEW DANCERS' BILL OF RIGHTS

The New Dancers Bill of Rights was developed by the CALLERLAB Education Committee and adopted by the generalmembership at the 1988 CALLERLAB Convention in Reno.
A new square dancer has the right:

1. To a class experience that is both educationally and socially enjoyable.
2. To patient and dignified treatment by the class instructor(s) and sponsors.
3. To gain experience dancing to other callers and, if possible, with dancers from other classes, prior to graduation.
4. To receive advice and assistance in acquiring appropriate clothing for square dancing.
5. To instruction and practice using the approved definitions, timing and styling for each listed call. (Basic, Mainstream, Etc.)
6. To information about the history and heritage of our present square dance program.

As stated above, this "Bill of Rights" was approved by our entire membership. We encourage ALL callers and squaredancers alike to help put the FUN and FRIENDLINESS back into Square Dancing!Happy Dancing! Keep `em smiling! Remember, Friendship is Square Dancing's Greatest Reward.