The past few months have been wonderful seeing the clubs starting up their Fall dances. It is good to see so many dancers back on the dance floor. Many great pictures of our club’s special themed dances: Western, Disney, Halloween, etc. are being shared via our WNYF Facebook page and on this website. It is so much fun to see how happy and creative our dancers are in their attire and costumes.

Several of our clubs are working hard with their classes. Classes are smaller this year but still require much club support and dedicated angels. Thank you to all the dancers who are helping angel our current WNYF clubs’ classes.

We are happy to say the Federation will be co-sponsoring a New Years Eve Afternoon Dance with the Copy Cats again on December 31, 2025, from 3-5 pm at the Penfield Baptist Church. Jim Gotta will be calling and cueing. Hope you can join us. Dancing with your friends is a wonderful way to welcome 2026!

Our DOR committee is busy preparing for our 66th Annual Dance-O-Rama on Saturday, May 2, 2026. It is Rochester’s annual dance festival. There will be mainstream, plus, advanced and rounds. The event will be at the Perinton Community Center on Turk Hill Rd. from 1-5 pm. Our guest caller is Jack Pladdys, a national square dance caller from Indian Springs, Ohio. We will also enjoy dancing to local caller Gary Bubel and local cuer Alice Bubel. During the DOR program we will honor our graduates who just started lessons in Sept. and Oct. with a graduate parade. The Daphne Norma Leadership Award, awarded annually at DOR, is the highest honor given to our dancers. It honors a couple or individual who has demonstrated leadership furthering the cause of square and round dancing for extended period of time. Each year the recipient(s) are chosen from the nominations from our dancing members. A committee of previously awarded Daphne Norma Leadership Award recipients vote on the person(s) to receive the honor at DOR. Their decision is based on all the nominations received both currently and in prior years. The award nominations are due by the end of February. Please look around and take the time to recognize couples or individuals who deserve this honor and recognition for their leadership, dedication, and service to our square and round dancing community. Nomination forms are available on the Federation Awards page of this website.

The Federation will be sponsoring another Amateur Calling Free Dance to be held in June 2026. This year’s amateur calling event was a tremendous success. We had six of our dancers try their skills at calling. They all did a wonderful job. Based on audience vote, George Bauerschmidt was awarded the Roaring Tiger Award for 2025. We hope additional dancers will participate in the amateur calling event this year. We welcome any individuals interested in trying their talent in square dance calling or cueing. Please reach out to one of our wonderful callers or cuers to help you prepare for this event. We anticipate there is much hidden talent in our dancing members.

Earlier this year the Federation established a new grant to assist potential callers from our club membership, a monetary grant to help them with calling school expenses. (Details on the WNYF Forms and Documents Tab: WNYF Caller Grant Program)

We are looking forward to hearing about all the upcoming holiday festivities and hope to see you on the dance floor.

Debbie and Jeff Blood