President’s Corner

Open House season is now over and classes are in full swing. It is shaping up to be a good year. We are certainly excited about our upcoming dance season culminating in Dance-O-Rama next May. We have been doing our homework and expect another great dance which will again be held at Perinton Recreation Center on Turk Hill Road in Fairport.

Part of the reason our federation exists is “to provide information and promote interest in Western Style Round and Square Dancing.” With that idea in mind, the federation is now offering TWO programs to aid our clubs in this endeavor.

• We have an advertising stipend of $60.00. This is available to every club one time each calendar year. It is very simple. Just send in receipts for your advertising program along with the ad and RAF will send up to $60.00 to help with your program.
• New dancer recruitment and dancer retention grant program. Again any club can take advantage of this opportunity one time per calendar year. The club should fill out a simple business plan (found on the RAF website) at least six weeks prior to the event. The plan should outline your marketing plan, and how you will measure your success. This business plan should be sent to the federation president by email: raf_pres@squaredancingrochester.org. This grant is good for up to $125.00, and again your receipts are required to start the payment process.

RAF is very excited to be able to offer these programs to aid our clubs in attracting, teaching and keeping dancers.

Also you will notice we now have email addresses for the RAF officers:

President (Warren Olson): raf_pres@squaredancingrochester.org

Vice President (Jim Gotta): raf_vp@squaredancingrochester.org

If you need to contact us, please start using them.

As the holiday season will soon be upon us, the clubs are gearing for a lot of great dances. I see in looking over the flyers that we will certainly have several opportunities to break bread with our fellow dancers and then dance the evening away. Many are class/club dances and, with that in mind, it will be our first opportunity to mingle with our new class people. Please try to get around and visit the different clubs this holiday season. What better way to say THANK YOU than to be with your fellow square dancers.

Happy Holidays

Warren Olson, Federation President