June 29, 2011
Report of the 60th National square Dance Convention
Eleven Happy Time Squares traveled to the 60th National Square Dance convention in Detroit, Michigan last week. Those who attended were: Marshal Aumiller, Don & Ivey Harris, Arliss Douglass, Carl & Mary K Bahnmaier, Ace & Lareeda Hickey, and Wade, Laura & Lydia Morrow.
Ace and I arrived on Tuesday and headed straight to the Motown Museum. Our tour guide was great, telling us how Detroit became known as the home of Motown. A bit of trivia - Did you know that Mary Wells, Marvin Gaye, The Temptations and many other Motown musicians recorded their albums in a tiny converted garage/recording studio? That until they appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show and became "accepted", their photos did not appear on the album covers in fear that people would not buy an album sung by a "Negro". We all got to sing into the same microphone that a young Michael Jackson used.
Next we headed to our room at the Greektown Casino Hotel. It was on the 29th of 30 floors. One wall was completely glass, overlooking a beautiful view of Lake Michigan and Canada. We each took our free $10.00 that the hotel gave us and headed for the slots. We won $31.00 on our free money, cashed in and treated ourselves to lunch in a great little Greek cafe in our block. Never went back to use our money. Figured we should quit while ahead. We also found a great Greek Pastry Shop. It quickly became a daily stop. (I believe Mary K found it after she arrived.) We changed and headed off to the Trail In Dance at COBO Center. We danced the first of five great nights to Tony Oxedine, Jerry Story, Ken Bower and Gary Shoemake.
Wednesday we went to the Arab American Museum. More trivia - Did you know that they were the first to use anesthesia? Did you know that Paul Anka, Teri Hatcher, Doug Flutie, Ralph Nader, Danny & Marlo Thomas, and Joseph Haggar (Haggar Slacks) were all Arab Americans? And Elvis? We then had a Lebanese lunch (not my thing) then headed back to our hotel. Mary K & Carl were just pulling in. Their room was just across the hall. Everyone changed quickly and headed down to the Motown production. After that, the first official square dance of the convention. If you're new and never danced to callers backed up by the Ghost Riders Band, what a treat! They play every evening session at Nationals. Oh, they are also going to be playing for the Iowa State Square Dance in April, 2012. Would make a fun weekend outing.
Thursday was the first full day of dancing. Ace was off to clogging. I headed down to get info on the cruise to Alaska that is being offered after Nationals in Spokane next year. There's dancing on the boat and then a big dance July 4th in Juneau. The Morrows and Hickeys have signed up. (Anyone wanting info about it, contact us.) Every time we went by the youth hall, we'd peek in and see Lydia dancing. Must have been fun for her dancing with so many kids in her own age group. We seemed to see Arliss in every hall dancing up a storm. A lot of Kansas dancers met to dance to Dana Schirmer and Wade. Wade did an excellent job, singing his Elvis medley. We all caught the People Mover and headed to the Detroit Beer Company, the restaurant where the Kansas dancers were meeting for dinner. Thanks went out to Forest & Pat Haskins for arranging reservations. The men were happy with huge helpings of food and Michigan brewed beer. The women were happy with the scrumptious desserts like strawberry shortcake. Then, back to the dance. Trivia fact - Did you know that square dancers have raised over $65,000 to help Japanese square dancers after their earthquake?
Friday, Mary K & Carl headed out to the Ford Museum. Ace and I returned to COBO for a little clogging, dance by definition, plus, rounds and cha cha. Toni and Vern, we tried to do you proud. We got to dance to several international callers today. Some from Japan, Germany and Canada. Trivia time - Did you know that square dancing is called in English in every country? Many dancers went down to a square dance exhibition at the Detroit River Days. They were trying to get 1,000 dancers there for a demonstration. Met Carl & Mary K for dinner at our hotel. There was an International Buffet that we all four took advantage of. We had to dance as fast as possible that night to burn the calories.
Saturday morning they announced the winner of the bid for the 64th National Convention. Springfield, MA won out over Kansas City, MO. Sounds like that will be a fun trip. Back to dancing. Ace clogged and I checked out the vendors. (Be watching for Mary K & Carl in their new matching shirts.) Saw Ivey and Marshal and danced a tip with them. Tried some A1 today, along with a lot of high energy plus and more rounds. Saw a lot of Kansans in their sunflower attire heading for the fashion show and then closing ceremonies.
Then came the last evening session. Ace and I maintained our record of not sitting out a dance during the evening sessions. Boy, my feet were tired but we had such a great time. We hope that everyone that has never attended a National will get the opportunity at some point. It's so fun meeting and dancing with people from all parts of the world.
