Thursday, July 11th.
Personlize your Souvenirs
Thursday, July 11th
SALMON ARM, BC
BC FESTIVAL 2019
* Trail-In Dance, July 10th * Trail-Out Dance, July 14th *
Welcome!
Whether a dancer or an interested member of the public—this info is for you!
To dancers pre-registered or planning to register at the door, B.C. Festival 2019 welcomes you. The registration table will be open Wednesday July 10 and info packets for pre-registrants can be picked up there. Enter the Shaw Centre by the north doors.
Free Admission for the General Public
As a non-dancing member of the general public, you’re invited to come see hundreds of dancers and instructors from within the province and beyond enjoying B.C. Festival 2019! It’s not competitive… just for fun and learning.
In various dedicated dance halls around the complex, they’ll be enjoying one or more dance forms, being square dancing, round dancing, clogging or contra dancing.
It all takes place at the Shaw Centre Complex in Salmon Arm, Thursday July 11 to Saturday July 13 inclusive. Address – 2600 10th Avenue NE, Salmon Arm.
Furthermore, for extra fun, a Trail In Dance, when all the dancers first assemble, will take place Wednesday evening July 10 from 7:30 to 9:30 and a Trail Out dance the morning of Sunday July 14 from 9:00 to 11:00, both at the Shaw Centre.
Special moments when you might especially want to attend for free include:
- Wednesday July 10 – 7:30 to 9:30 pm – Shaw Centre, main arena – It’s a party atmosphere as square and round dancers assemble in one venue for the first time to reacquaint with dance friends and make new ones. The Trail In Dance is sort of a “welcome dance” to a panel of many different square dance callers and round dance cuers.
- Thursday July 11 – 2:30 to 4:00 pm – Shaw Centre, main arena – “It’s an Elvis Thing” – Square and round dancing strictly to tunes made popular by Elvis Presley, featuring an introduction and closing by Elvis Tribute Artist Tyler Wagner. Various callers and cuers will carry the bulk of the afternoon dance program, all doing songs made famous by The King. Also note that a small Classic Car Show will take place during the Elvis dance program with the vintage cars parked just outside the Shaw Centre.
- Thursday July 11 – 6:00 pm – Shaw Centre, main arena – OPENING CEREMONY – Includes a “Grand Parade” of dance clubs attending the Festival and features a very lively display by a Métis dance group.
- Thursday July 11th to Saturday July 13 – 7:00 to 10:00 – During these three hours each night, square dancing at the “Mainstream” program and the “Plus” program will take place along with round dancing and clog dancing, all in separate halls.
- Saturday July 13 – 9:00 to 10:00 pm – During the final 60 minutes of B.C. Festival 2019, all dance halls but the main arena will close in order to present one fun hour of fabulous square dance fun! Every 5 minutes a different square dance caller will entertain a huge floor of dancers.
About the dance forms at B.C. Festival 2019:
Today’s style of square dancing:
Involves four pairs of dancers who make a square formation and interact to live “calls” under the direction of a “caller.” In today’s style you can’t anticipate what direction you’ll move because the caller presents the instruction with no set pattern. You have to listen carefully. It’s loads of fun with lots of laughs!
Round dancing:
Choreographed ballroom dancing set to live cues from a “cuer.” You learn individual ballroom-style moves such as the waltz step then just listen for each move and proceed along with other pairs, in unison in a large circle.
Clog dancing:
In the contemporary style, involves solo dancers doing a rocking-type shuffle in precision with the others. A live caller directs you through each step. Cloggers have stainless steel taps at the toe and heel of their shoes, resulting in a wonderfully rhythmic sound to the beat of the music.
Contra dancing:
Lines of facing dancers in pairs who interact across & up and down the line. It’s increasingly popular because you basically learn easy moves on the spot. A typical rhythm for contra is 8 beats of music. Just count to 8 on each move!
Line dancing:
Line dance is exactly what it sounds like, there are lines of dancers all doing the same steps. A little known bit of info about line dancing is that the dances are again, lead by a line dance caller.
Spectators are free throughout the Festival and the best time to see the most dancers is afternoons from 1:00 to 5:00 and, especially, evenings from 7:00 to 10:00.
Also free are Introductory Workshops on the mornings of Friday July 12 & Saturday July 13 where you can learn some moves in one or more dance forms of interest to you.
A complete schedule may be found here.
We have made the following arrangements with Club Shuswap for a Golf Event on Thursday July 11, 2019.
The 18 Hole Golf Event will take place on Lakeview Greens starting at 8:00 am. We have agreed to a discounted rate of $38.00 including Cart per participant. The Lakeview Greens is a scenic, challenging and hilly Executive length course (short). Being an Executive Course, a round of golf should be concluded in well under 4 hours. Because the course is so hilly we recommend all golfers take a cart.
We will offer the option of a Nine Hole event on Coyote Ridge. The rate for 9 holes is a discounted rate of $12.00 walking or $16.00 with cart. Again the event will start at 8:00 am.
There is also a very interesting 18 hole putting course with holes averaging 100 feet. This is available at a discounted rate of $6.00. We have no plan for an event here but it is available for those interested.
An All Day Breakfast is available from 7:00 am for $7.95 at the Restaurant on site.
The above special rates are available to all Registered Participants throughout the Festival.
For the enthusiastic golfer we have reserved times at 2:00 om on Wednesday the 10th and at 8:00 am on Friday the 12th at the Salmon Arm Golf Club. Festival Participants can make up their own groups and submit the names to me or indicate their interest and we will make up golf pairings.
Contact Gordon: 2019festivalgolf@gmail.com
Wine Tour
Thursday, July 11 from 10 am to 2pm.
The tour starts at the Shaw Centre where you will be picked up by the DiVine Tours bus. From there, you will go on to visit three local wineries ( Sunnybrae, Recline Ridge and Larch Hills). After an antipasto picnic lunch, you will return to the Shaw Centre in time to catch Elvis before he leaves the building.
* $95 plus GST per person.
** Reserve your seat by contacting Terri Axani, 250-572-0008 or info@DivineTours.ca before July 2, 2019
*Transportation, tasting fees, antipasto picnic lunch, bottled water, photos and 100% chance of fun, wine and memories are all included.
** Subject to cancellation should a minimum number of reservations not be met.
Should you become interested in one or more of the dance forms presented at the Festival, various dance clubs in the different styles of dance usually present lessons in the fall and some in the winter months. The most comprehensive province-wide listing can be found at www.SquareDanceFun.info. Navigate to the list of new dancer sessions arranged by region and city. Note that the contact information should be helpful but the list is pending revision to reflect the upcoming fall sessions. Monitor the web page for updates.
Questions can be directed to our toll-free Dance INFOLINE (BC only) at: 1-800-335-9433 – e-mail: dancinglikethestars@gmail.com.
Should you be from outside the province, contact the Canadian Square & Round Dance Society via e-mail at: info@squaredance.ca
Go have loads of fun learning square, round or clog dancing in British Columbia… or anywhere!