National Capital Area Square Dance Leaders Association

 Dance Leadership since 1951


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A Word From The NCASDLA President


Tom Sellner is the president of NCASDLA.

NCASDLA President’s Message
May, 2017
Tom Sellner

This message was originally published in the May, 2017 issue of Calls n' Cues.

 

It's May, time for May flowers. On the Memorial Weekend there is a nice little festival near Gettysburg. In July, there is the Baltimore Festival. I attended the first Baltimore Festival in 1964. I left Wheaton high school at 3:30 and arrived just in time to dance the last tip before dinner. We heard the call "Spin the Top" for the first time. Les Gotcher had work-shopped this new figure that morning while I was at high school. Warren Jaquith and I went out in the hall at the end of the tip and figured out how to do "Spin the Top". Gloria Roth, Jack Jackson and Dave Taylor were also calling at this Festival.

In 1965 I graduated my first square dance student, Lou Popowsky, After he went to college, Lou joined the Airforce and became a caller for Ma and Pa's Square Dance club in Bitburg, Germany. In 1984 Gloria Roth asked me to help teach caller school with her in Nova Scotia.

When I was a teen caller, there were many teens calling. We had a teen festival in Wheaton with callers from about 10 states. This festival lasted about three years. Now we have only a limited number of teens calling across the nation and this is our major problem. There are not enough callers calling for teens, so very few teens have a chance to square dance. The result is that too few young become callers. Parents have to be willing to help run a teen club or there will not be any teen square dance clubs. Parents drove us teens to open dances and to festivals so in 1963 I was driven on a Saturday morning in March to my first WASCA Festival.

Delaware Valley, January Jubilee and the Richmond Festival have all died because the numbers attending became too small. The Singles Convention will die after next year unless a lot of people go to it. You do not have to be single to attend! It's up to all of us to attend and save all our festivals. If you don't support all festivals and clubs, square dancing will almost cease to exist. Only you can save square dancing.

Tom Sellner

President of NCASDLA
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Upcoming Events
June Jamboree
Sunday, Jun 4, 2017 2:00-4:30
Holiday Park Senior Center
3950 Ferrara Drive
Wheaton, Maryland 20906


This page last updated Jul 16, 2017