Cane Country Squares

Our first theme night of 2021, since coming back to dance under Covid safe rules, was our annual Heart Dance on the 7th of May. 

The hall was decorated and members dressed in red for the heart theme.

For this special night we had two raffles to raise funds for a heart health treatment or support group.

We also introduced a simple supper for the night. Kitchen attendants made tea or coffee in disposable cups and supplied pre packed single portion biscuits.

Tuesday learners group numbers are still fairly low, but this meant everyone got to come to the special Friday night dance, and stay within the maximum number allowed in our hall.

We had 16 dancers, 2 spectators and our caller, Matt. 

One square danced most of the night with two squares on the floor for a basic level dance. 

AusDance with QLD Health have addressed the issue of social dancing with a new category which our activity falls under, Recreational structured partner dancing. 

Under our Covid Safe Plan :

• Those feeling unwell to stay home.
• Hand sanitiser to be used regularly.
• Seats to be spaced 1.5mtr between dancers, unless you are living in the same house hold.
• Dancers to clean their chairs down and put them away at the end of the night.
• No shared supper for a while.
• Dancers to bring their own drink containers.
• If you are not fond of touching money, bring correct change.
• Limited dancer number of 22 in our hall.

As we are now in Stage 2 restrictions, we can see a step towards Australian life returning to normal. Unfortunately we are still not in circumstances that allow us to return to square dancing safely or legally. Gatherings of up to 20 people are now allowed but only if social distancing is maintained.

To keep everyone safe, we continue to find other methods to be active in mind and body. To this end I have added a new sewing project to our website. I hope some of you find it useful.

This sewing project is a shoe bag. A simple and more decorative approach is covered.

Shoe bags can be used for storage at home, taking less space than shoe boxes.
They are also a good way to protect your good dance shoes by carrying them to a dance rather than wearing them outside.

Large dance events are often held on sport stadium floors. Many sport stadiums have rules in place to protect playing surfaces. Most only allow shoe types that will not mark the floors. Some do not allow any shoes used on the street to be worn on the playing surface. At these locations you must carry in clean shoes to change into before walking on the court areas.

If you want to see the full instructions follow the link. https://canecountrysquares.blogspot.com/p/shoe-storage-bag.html
Happy Sewing.

This week Rob and I had a first go at virtual square dancing via the Zoom meeting app. This one was hosted by Swan Valley Squares in Western Australia. They are running these events on Friday nights at 7:30 pm WA time (GMT +8) but this means the time here is 9:30 pm QLD time (GMT +10)

The 9:30 pm start here is a bit late for some of us Queenslanders but we will be back to try more.
Most of the participants were from WA but there were some joining from the USA and Sweden.
The callers featured Greg Fawell, Bruce Gillett and Jim Buckingham.

For the session on the 15th, we mostly joined just to see how it is done but tried a bit of the dancing. We had the laptop hooked to the TV for easier viewing but this is not necessary.
It is tricky dancing with 6 or 7 phantoms but it gets you moving and makes you think. Nice to know I have not forgotten everything.

With everyone having their camera and mic on you can see and chat with everyone all at the same time. The person currently speaking will have a green line around their image but with everyone speaking it will jump from person to person based on volume.
Initially it seems a bit chaotic with everyone joining the meeting with their mics on. Some are talking to others in the virtual meeting while others are talking to people in their own homes, still figuring out what the are doing.
You have the ability to mute your own mic at anytime. We choose to have our camera and mic off for the whole session.

You don’t actually need a camera or mic to join but it does add to the feel of being part of the group.
Once the calling is about to start the host, Greg Fawell, remotely mutes everyone’s mics. This stops other people talking over the caller and music, allowing you to hear the call but still see everyone.
Between dances the host would at times turn the mics back on so people could chat again.

On the night, Swan Valley Squares had a few different callers, alternating between Mainstream Square Dances, Round Dancing and some Line Dances. I don’t round or line dance so I sat those out.

To see the line dance instructor more clearly, the host put Jan’s video feed in a larger view. Individually you can select anyone’s video to see them better by clicking on them and selecting ‘Pin to screen’. This will not change the way everyone else sees the feed and you can ‘Unpin’ to return to the normal ‘Gallery View’. You can also select a larger window to appear based on who is speaking rather than the green line appearing around them.

The session is recorded live to Facebook so you can watch it there without connecting to the meeting.
If the 9:30 pm start doesn’t work for you, you can always watch the recording at a time that suits you better. Follow the link to view Swan Valley Squares Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/456272654473495/

If you want to interact with the group, join by clicking on the meeting link at the time everyone else is scheduled to join in.
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/246408126
Meeting ID: 246 408 126

It will prompt you to download and run the free Zoom app. By running the Zoom app you are less likely to experience delays in the sound and video feed.

If you can’t download the app or choose not to, you can opt out by selecting ‘cancel’. The other method available is to sign in with your web browser.
This will just ask you to type in your name so the other participants can see your name when you join in.

If you find all this a bit daunting or if full mainstream with phantoms is beyond you at this point, you may enjoy another video collection on Facebook.

https://www.facebook.com/bob.simpson.75054/videos
Bob Simpson, a caller in Canada has recorded sessions in his garage, aimed at dancing with two people in isolation. This would also be easier to follow as a single dancer.

He calls Mainstream but also teaches a couple of simple Plus movements to make his formations flow easier. The advantage is you can start at the first video and watch over and over again to learn the movements. It is just two people dancing without the distraction of watching a bunch of people doing what they can of a normal square dance call.
He now has a very large collection. Scroll down to the bottom of his video page to find the first one to start.

As we are all spending more time at home it has been good to hear from some of our dancers and how they are remotely staying in contact with friends and family by phone, emails, text or various meeting apps.

We are all looking for activities to keep our minds and bodies active in isolation. Some have bought new jigsaw puzzles, puzzle or colouring books. It has also been a good time for garden and home renovation projects.

I have been busy in the garden and bought a pile of fabric to make lots of new skirts for myself and other dancers. I look forward to the time when we can wear them again together.
My latest project has been to make a petticoat bag.

The following instructions are for the petticoat bag I have just made.
You may find it a useful storage solution and use up some left over fabric after making skirts.
https://canecountrysquares.blogspot.com/p/petticoat.html

Hello Dancers,

I hope over the last two weeks you have been keeping well. With the latest Government regulations and legislation to help slow the spread of the Covid-19 virus in Australia, this makes coming back to dancing this week not viable.

Unfortunately lots of sporting and social groups are affected by these measures. We just have to ride it out and hopefully we will be back dancing soon.

At this stage, it’s too early to announce a future return date until the Government sees the outcomes of their measures in trying to contain the Covid-19 virus and then loosen the current laws to allow groups like ours to start up again.

So in the interim, we hope everyone will stay safe and try to keep in contact with each other.

To help any boredom you may have being at home, here is some word search puzzles that I have put together for the learner classes and learn plus group so you don’t forget what you have learnt.

I would also like to encourage everyone to check out our club website and facebook page of the amazing work Jo and Rob has done to promote our club.

Website – https://canecountrysquares.blogspot.com/

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/canecountrysquares/

I have also attached a Square Dance isolation poem Sandy has written while sitting at home. I hope you enjoy it.

If you have any stories that you would like me to share with everyone, please email them through so we can see what you have been up to.

Stay safe and we will talk soon.

Regards

Matthew

Poem – Square Dancing In Recess

Word Search – Class 1

Word Search – Class 2

Word Search – Class 3

Word Search – Learner Plus

Cane Country Squares started our first sewing bee session, Saturday 29th of February. Twelve ladies and two guys met to look at skirt designs or a bit of socialising. We traced patterns, discussed fabric types and costs along with dress codes, changes in traditional outfits, current trends and expectations of what is worn to different events.

A few of us met at John and Sandy’s home again on the 21st to look at more patterns and cut out fabric.

Jo brought along some examples of panel skirts, with and without ruffles. We also had a few second hand skirts available for those that wanted them.

We shared patterns for multi panel skirts and some more challenging styles collected from past conventions. These included a ‘banana’ skirt and a ‘swirl’ skirt.

To finish our projects, we will no longer all meet at Fran’s Sewing Solutions, to access her sewing machines.

Some ladies are now confident to complete their skirts on their own machines at home.
A few more have chosen to pair off with someone with a machine at their home.
One or two will meet with Fran at different times.

Thanks to all involved, particularly Sandy, John and Fran for access to your locations, equipment and time.

While dancing has been postponed, the sewing bee this Saturday will still go ahead at Sandy’s place.
Bring along fabric of your choice and we will help with the pattern layout and cutting.

If you don’t have a pattern made yet we will help you make one on the day.

Latter we can arrange times for access to Fran’s Sewing Solutions and help you sew your fabric together to create your skirts.

Greetings all Cane Country Squares members and friends,

It is with great sadness that we have decided to suspend all square dancing after Tuesday 17th March for two weeks with a proposed recommencement of Tuesday 31st March.

With the new developments announced Sunday regarding restrictions for international visitors, mass gatherings and “social distancing” we feel we should take this action until we can get more information and clarity.
The last thing we want to appear to be doing is creating panic so this is just a temporary measure until we can get more information.
Like many of you, I would like life to go on as normal but while things are uncertain we believe we must be seen to be putting the well-being of our members and dancers first and taking no chances.

One reason the government is taking this action is because other countries admit they did not take action quickly enough so for the present time we must take their word for it.
We have been sent information from The Australian Government Department of Health explaining guidelines and things to consider when organising public gatherings and we feel that we need time to look at and understand this information.
It does appear though that under present conditions, we should be able to continue activities after we take some necessary precautions. We will take this time off to look into this then discuss what we must do to be able to continue club activities if possible.

Over the last few days, we have also seen many square dance clubs go into temporary recess to navigate these waters. Their shutdown times have been from a week, to a month to who knows when. This is new territory for everyone and the decision is something the Cane Country Squares committee has not taken lightly.

This temporary closure would mean many things will be postponed like our March discussion night and last year learners completing mainstream by August 2020.

For our learners, we hope that you have enjoyed your time dancing with us and when we are able to start back, we hope you will all feel safe to return.

We will be monitoring the situation closely and we will keep you all updated.
The proposed return date will depend on the current situation and the advice given by the Government. As much as we don’t want to increase this time off, we have to be realistic and understand this could be possible.

Due to the well-being of the dancers, the National Convention and Caller Conference I was going to attend in the Blue Mountains has also been cancelled. This means I will not be holidaying in April so if we are in a position to recommence by then, I will be here ready to go.

If you have any further suggestions or feedback on how we could still operate safely in the future, we would like to hear from you.

Please stay safe and keep calm and keep us up to date with any illness you or someone you know may be experiencing.

Thank you for your understanding at this difficult time.

Regards
Matthew, Pam, Jo K, Jo L, Jo R & Marilyn

Friday 13th of March 2020 was our 37th Birthday celebration with a shared buffet meal and a black & green theme dance. Our club banner was on display and the hall decorated in the theme colours. Old photo albums also came out to show some of our history.

The meal was a great success with lots of options for our main and dessert courses. Thanks to all.

Dancing started at 7pm with Matthew calling to suit different levels from brand new beginners up to Plus learners. It was fantastic to see everyone dressed up to match our colour theme. Some had made their outfits especially for this night.

Black came from the date being a Friday the 13th with Green added as a colour from or Cane Country Squares logo. It was lovely to see the entire Mills family dressed in matching outfits. ‘Dolly’, last seen at our Christmas dance, also made an appearance dressed in black and green.

There was a few extra treats for a quick supper break to go with our club birthday cake. Thanks go to Sandy and John for this special presentation with mini cup cakes forming the interlocking square dance symbol.

The cake was cut by two of our new Mainstream Learners, Barbara and Fran.