Federation Presidents Message For December 2020
December is a month for celebrations and Holiday Parties. With the pandemic that we are in, my wish is that each of you can find a way with family and friends to be joyous and celebrate the Christmas Season. The dances we would have had this time of the year will just have to wait until next year, but don’t lose the spirit. I would have loved to visit your clubs festivities this time of year, but it will have to wait. We will be dancing again!!!
As the Federation would like to see things back to normal, there are some things that couples and singles can do during this time. Following the Governor’s guidelines along with the posted Federation’s guidelines, investigate some round dancing that is going on, or a class. With a safe venue and masks that could be a fun activity. Why doesn’t someone start up some line dancing? That should be fun while practicing safe distance. If any of these appeals to you, check it out for fun and exercise. There are positive outcomes with being active again.
Some callers are getting together on Zoom to discuss how square dancing will get started again. Social Square Dancing will take off with lessons as soon as the Governor’s rules change to allow it. These callers are looking to be unified in lessons so these new club members can visit other clubs and dance with calls they have all learned. There will be more info on this. Clubs, talk to your callers to be prepared with a plan once square dancing opens up.
As we look forward to 2021 with a positive outlook that dancing will start again, let’s keep in touch with the rest of your club members and plan some activity within the guidelines to allow everyone the opportunity and the chance to socialize. It might be fun to guess who’s behind a creative mask. Make it a fun event for young and old alike.
Stay positive and we will get through this.
Swing Your Partner………….MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR
Gary Clark
Federation President
Here in the middle of the holiday season, I do want to give thanks to all of you who keep submitting news and articles. In my opinion, the more we can keep on doing things like usual, the quicker we will be able to return to normal once restrictions are limited.
I wish you all a Merry Christmas, a Happy Hannukah, and a Joyous New Year.
Click here to find out how to get your information into the OFN, including dances, lessons, photos, flyers, advertisements, and caller/cuer information.
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You may find the text of this article by Federation 2nd Vice President Tim Keck, and useful pages from the State of Oregon and from USDA, https://ofn.club/content/2020-12/Covid%20Guidelines%20(201201).pdf .
Inevitably, as soon as the state directory is published, corrections have to be made. Here is the current list.
The next Federation meeting will be a Zoom teleconference on January 24, 2021, at 9:00 AM. The Randall Award winner will be announced at that time.
We are sad to report that we are going to have to officially cancel Mid Winter Festival 2021. We are unable to guarantee that Linn county will be in stage 3 by January. So, we will miss everyone but looking forward to seeing you in January, 2022.
As of now, no Summer Festival is planned for 2021. Washington's Summer Festival is scheduled for June 17-19, 2021, in Everett, WA.
The 70th National Square Dance Convention® will be held in Jackson, Mississippi, June 23-26, 2021.
The 71st National Square Dance Convention® will be held in Evansville, Indiana, June 22-25, 2022.
The 72nd National Square Dance Convention® will be held in Mobile, Alabama, June 21-24, 2023.
The 73rd National Square Dance Convention® has just been awarded to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for June of 2024.
All clubs in the Oregon Federation are required to maintain their status as non-profit corporations with the State of Oregon. The Secretary of State's office mails out a renewal notice about a month before your registration expires every year. The following clubs expire this month:
December 1 -- Charlie Brown Squares
December 1 -- Wolf Pack
December 5 -- Red Rock Squares
December 17 -- Sunset Promenaders
December 27 -- Silver City Squares
December 28 -- Buckeroo
Download a complete list of the Federation club dances this month, all sorted by date and city.
Everything in the When & Where is extracted from the state directory information. If you find that your club information is wrong, you can fix that by going to the directory information area and fixing your data.
Elaine Carol Smith (nee Chandler) was born December 10, 1956 in Downey, California, to David Paul Chandler and Alice Audrey Strawl. She died suddenly August 14, 2020 at home in Beaverton, Oregon.
Elaine graduated from Downey High School in 1975 and then attended Cerritos College earning an Associate Degree in Marketing.
Shortly after her daughter was born, she moved to Apple Valley, California, to help her oldest brother run a goat dairy. She raised her daughter and two of her nephews there for about ten years. She and her daughter moved to Ridgefield, Washington in the early 1990s. She claimed that she held most of the part-time jobs available in town, including driving school bus.
Elaine started round dancing (also known as choreographed ballroom) shortly after moving to Washington. Elaine started dating Dennis Smith, a teacher of choreographed ballroom dance, in mid-1997. They were married November 7, 1997 in Vancouver, Washington.
Elaine had completed massage therapy school in 1997 and was licensed as a Licensed Massage Practitioner in Washington. After her marriage she moved to Hillsboro, Oregon to be with Dennis and his five children from a previous marriage. She drove school bus while waiting for available test dates to be licensed as a Licensed Massage Therapist in Oregon.
When Elaine and Dennis married, they agreed to take in any child in need that crossed their threshold. This resulted in their adoption of two brothers in 2002. In 2004, Elaine felt led to open a healing arts center that included many forms of natural healing. The result was the opening of RoseSprings Center for the Healing Arts in Hillsboro. She was involved with RoseSprings until 2015 when she sold her share of the company.
At the same time, Elaine’s private practice was evolving towards energy healing modalities. She became a Reiki Master and Teacher. She also used cranio sacral therapy with many of her clients. She was highly respected as a gifted energy healer. She encountered stone grids and subsequently developed her own product line of Sacred Stone Grids selling the products from her new company, Spirit Whisperings, starting in 2009. One line of the products that she developed was awarded the COVR Best Manifestation Product of 2014 at INATS 2015.
Elaine enjoyed being with family. She also loved animals of all sorts. She had quite a variety of pets including rats, mice, a ferret, a dove, and several dogs and cats. Elaine is survived by her husband Dennis Smith; daughter Audrey Cannon; step daughter Rebecca Bennett; step sons Aaron Smith, Nathan Smith, Tim Smith, and Walter Smith; adopted sons Brian Smith and Johnthan Smith; brothers Tim Chandler, Paul Chandler, and Alan Chandler; nephews Adam Chandler and Andrew Chandler; niece Rachel Hoffman; five grandchildren; nine step-grandchildren; and four honorary grandchildren (any offspring of children’s significant others who ever called her grandma).
Elaine was preceded in death by her parents and a nephew Scott Chandler. No public services are planned.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Oregon Humane Society.
You can download this list of callers and cuers who are available and ready to call or cue a dance for you.
Callers:
Cuers:
The Mid-Willamette Council has chosen the December Round of the Month: "You're Like an Angel To Me", Phase II+1 Two-Step (interrupted box), choreographed by Connie Ritchie, music by Bouke Scholten.
[Download your cue sheet here] (https://www.roundalab.org/CuesheetsDL2/You%27re%20Like%20An%20Angel%20To%20Me%2C%20Ritchie%2C%20Connie_Waltz_2%2B1.pdf).
For more information on the Round of the Month, please contact .
Click a thumbnail to download the flyer.
Click a thumbnail to see the full-sized picture.
Click a council name to go directly to that section.
Stay healthy, everyone, and continue being safe!
Christina Corelli, Secretary
Our elected officers all agreed to stay in place for the coming dance year.
We don’t have any news to report. As far as we know all are well and hunkering down in place.
Stay safe,
Gaynor Hintz, Club Reporter
Stay safe and watch some square dance videos to keep those calls fresh in your mind. We will get back to dancing!
Gaynor Hintz, Club Reporter
We learned that one of our local square and round dancers, Sue Nelson, recently passed away from cancer. She was a cancer survivor too and had participated in the Relay for Life a number of times. We are so sorry. We keep her husband, Terry, in our thoughts. They came to dance with us, supported us, and were much appreciated. Sue and Terry supported all of the clubs in our area and enjoyed going to festivals too. They especially enjoyed going to the coast for festivals and to Diamond Lake. Sue's parents, Jim and Fern Rundall danced for many years up to the C-2 level. Sue leaves behind two daughters, their husbands and a granddaughter, Pearl. Their dog, Kona, was trained by Sue. They were able to compete in dog trials. Our condolences go out to the family.
Tim Matteson's mom is hanging in there and has a caregiver during the week when Tim is working at the chocolate factory. She is slowly regaining strength.
Stay safe and healthy,
Christina Corelli, Member-At-Large
If you visit Lebanon during the holidays, you will see the beautifully decorated Ralston Park (thousands of lights). It is our club tradition to decorate the corner of this park and we are planning to do this again. The Lebanon Square Circlers have participated in this community event for over 10 years. Our club members remain safe and look forward to seeing everyone in a square again. Marilyn York
We have lost a few dancers because of the mask requirement and they won’t return until the requirement is eased by the dance center board. Hopefully that is soon. They had a board meeting in November and don’t know the result yet.
We had a special Saturday afternoon dance on November 7, with a small attendance but had fun anyway. We are scheduled for a New Year’s Eve dance, but no plans are in cement yet. That will be worked on in the next couple weeks.
2020 has been an exasperating year for many. We are grateful to be dancing and so far no one has gotten sick. We take care of the hall and get it disinfected each time we are there. Let’s hope we continue to stay well in 2021. Marilyn Schmit
Petrina Buchheit
Past President Keith Miles, along with caller K.C. Curtis are recovering from COVID-19. Caller Jim Hattrick has been in the hospital for gall bladder problems.
Mary Theirl has accepted an appointment as the new Sunshine person.
There was a discussion about what clubs are doing to keep member’s interested in dancing and reestablish membership. Frankly, many clubs don’t know how many will return to dancing once it is permitted. Some of our clubs have had Zoom meetings (to keep the interest). The Rosetown Ramblers have had city walks. The Hoppers have done some virtual line dance lessons.
A short discussion was about in person round dance lessons, which are still happening. Round dancing is somewhat problematical because, ideally, the round dancers would be living together, but some of the round dancers aren’t living together. Everyone dances at their own risk, however.
Later on, we’ll need to address restarting square lessons. The thinking is that we all could use refresher lessons, and the PAC would be in the best position to have those lessons for the clubs. We’ll need to get a slate of guest callers to give the lessons.
We will not be having a Christmas dinner this year.
Jim Schira
Jim
Our dance hall at Maplewood Grange became a staging area - a place to store furniture, wall hangings and other furnishings while the foyer, stairwells, hallways, air ducts (etc.) were revamped or made new. The volunteers for these renovations were the Chaps and Petticoats members, also your community grange members. On a happy note, we are proud and can hardly wait to show off Maplewood Grange’s new face lift.
September is normally a month to renew our Club memberships - though we’ve had no dancing, and only occasional get-togethers - participation has been waning, and so are membership renewals. We remain a group of interested dancers, enthusiastic neighbors - though the unknown keeps us and finances close at home.
Speaking of home, our hearts go out to those who lost their homes, possessions, animals and even loved ones to this years’ wildfires. The greatest blessing is we have each other...
May you end this year with renewed hope, find yourselves blessed, and have the merriest of Holidays!
In 2021, put on your shoes and let’s go dancing .. soon!
Betty Chipps
Ron Rasmussen
If there is anyone out there who would like to be on the email list for "Let's Keep Hoppin" you can reach out to Tom and Liza. Tom is the secretary of our club and his contact info is in the new directory. In the meantime, stay healthy and active. We'll see you on the other side:-)
Janet Linebarger
We at River City Dancers want to take this opportunity to wish you a very happy holiday season. , and express our best wishes for the New year. We hold on to the hope that will be dancing again soon.
A final word to you all “Stay positive and test negative”. Hopefully this shall pass and we will once again be together.
Carol Mendenhall
At this time we still have no plans to start dancing or holding classes until January, or possibly later if the current restrictions stay in place and numbers keep rising. We certainly miss dancing and visiting with fellow friends and dancers, but do not want to take any risks.
We want to wish everyone a safe, healthy, and happy holiday seasons.
D&S
Last month I included a "blast from the past", an excerpt of a past TVC report. I was surprised to receive several favorable comments so here is another, this time from December 2015:
"On October 31st, Halloween night, the annual Tri Council Dance was held at the Clark County Square Dance Center in Vancouver. As you may recall, that day, and night, was a rain filled adventure for any of those who decided to brave the elements. One would expect the Portland Area Council (PAC) to have the best attendance since the PAC was the host Council this year. If not the PAC then surely the Evergreen Council would have a bunch since the venue is in their back yard. But, it turns out the TVC had the greatest number of dancers in attendance at this fun packed evening called by Darrell Kalmbach and cued by Molly Combs.
The next Council event will be our annual New Year’s Eve dance on December 31st, held at the IOOF Hall, 267 East Main Street, Hillsboro, OR 97123. Doug Davis is the featured caller with Randy Lewis cueing. This is a ticket sale dance. They can be purchased in advance through TVC officers, or club delegates at each of the TVC clubs. Ticket sales are going well so you need to get yours soon. The evening will begin with a lasagna dinner at 7:30 with dancing from 8:30PM until about 12:15AM. Every 3rd tip will be Plus followed by intermediate rounds. One tip will be called after midnight. Ticket costs: $13 per person or $25 when two are purchased at the same time."
Ferrous Steinka
Aren’t you thankful the election mess is over? All that money spent could be better used to improve healthcare, education, and battle climate change. These are serious problems that are killing us. It is stressful to wait for results but that comes with the territory if you want a fair election. In a dictatorship the outcome is known.
OK, I know, I am supposed to writing about the Eager Beavers and their dance plans. However, we are all hunkered down in our own little circle with masks and outdoor seating 6 feet apart, passing cookies using tongs. I think you could make a song with that.
Please show your appreciation for everyone who is doing their part by wearing masks, washing hands, and keeping six feet apart. They keep themselves and others from getting sick from Covid19. It is a constant effort but these efforts can also protect us from the flu. You are caring for others as you hope they care for you. Thank you again. We will be dancing again! Keep the faith and keep checking for our start date at www.EagerBeavers.info.
Rachel Nettleton
December 21 (3rd Mon)In my voluminous spare time, I decided to make a list of the movies featuring square dancing. Anyone heard of Square Dance Jubilee? It was a 1949 release: a bit of romance with murder, cattle rustling, and music mixed in. Its tagline? “Come on everybody! For the time of your life—get set to enjoy the grandest array pf hoedown entertainment ever assembled in one big happy hit!” Recommended for a glimpse of typical 1950’s idea of western wear. Available on YouTube.
Of course, there’s 1955’s Oklahoma, a magical movie translation of Rogers and Hammerstein Broadway hit; choreography by Agnes de Mille. On a summer’s morning it’s hard not to at least hum “Oh, What a Beautiful Morning” It has romance, dastardly deeds, a floozy, a hunk, farmers vs ranchers and Aunt Eller, everyone needs an Aunt Eller. Available on multiple platforms and even occasionally on the big screen.
Oh, there is Square Dance from 1987. A coming of age story with Winona Ryder as the ingénue and Rob Lowe as the fiddle player. The actors are both still going strong 33 years later. I am not so sure about the film. The DVD is available from online retailers.
And finally, the big shocker, The Stepford Wives from 2004. The connection is just one scene where the couples are square dancing and Glenn Close is the caller. I have never seen what happens in real life but who knows. The movie is available on many platforms, but you can see just the square dance scene on YouTube.
Square dance clubs have posted a multitude of square dance videos so you can dance at home with just a little imagination and avoid six-guns, conflict, teenage angst and Glen Close.
Hope your Halloween was great, full of pumpkin spice and chocolate treats.
Krystal Laas
We will keep you updated on calendar changes thru this OFN report as well as our website: www.mixandminglesquares.org
Lindie Noonan
Most sincerely,
Annie Tietze
Wishing all a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
Judy Zimmerman
Carolene Siebert