From Vivienne Scott

It is always with eager anticipation that I get ready to head off to Wasaga for ‘Dancin’ For Miracles’. It is that time of the year to catch up with dancing friends from all over Ontario. It is our Line dance reunion. This year there were even more participants than last year (over 200) and the hall was packed for the Friday night dance. Our fearless leader, Valarie Keller, with Cathy Montgomery in tow and their dedicated volunteers, had driven up on the Thursday and worked tirelessly to prepare the hall for us.

The theme this year was Disney and decorations all around the hall reflected that choice. Our dance list was ready (prepared by Cathy M). This is a time consuming job. First reminding dancers to send in their top 5 dances and then sorting them into an order that would allow all levels of dancers to strut their stuff. A tip by the way for next year ….. if you have a favourite dance that you would like to request encourage your friends to learn it! If there are only a handful of dancers on the floor, DJ Dan will understandably move onto the next dance on the list. Thanks also to Dan for keeping the music flowing so we could all keep dancin! PS Tammy Wyatt was unable to stay for a Saturday teach so she taught her fun dance ‘Never Drinkin’ Again’ (with her finger crossed behind her back!) Friday evening.

Saturday morning brought dancers in for Jenny’s energetic zumba session and then the well known trio of Cathy, Dan and Valarie conducted a very serious teach of ‘You Got A Friend In Us’. (Note: Check out the photo!) Followed by our Instructors as follows:

Dan Morrison with his very well received: ‘Problematic’

A new face to the D4M stage, lots of smiles with Yovana Russell’s teach of ‘El Verano’ and her own choreography: ‘Boots & Twirls’

Kate Henry brought us a talented Canadian singer with her own choreography: ‘Good Girl Bad Place’

SPECIAL TEACH: ‘Mucara Walk’ in Memory of Steve Healy (former editor of Linedancer magazine)

Sherry Daniels brought us a new Maddison Glover dance that as usual had an interesting twist but by the end of the teach we’d got it, thanks Sherry! ‘Glass Half Empty’

Another new face, Shelley McLaren, capably taught us her own dance ‘Drink Around’.

Jeff McQuarrie is a well known face now and as always had a good dance to teach, this time one from unknown (over here in Canada) choreographers from Australia and well received by the dancers: ‘Worst Way’

It was terrific seeing Cathy Montgomery on the dance floor again. She has some way to go still after her last knee replacement but she is definitely getting there! ‘Started Stopping Loving You’, her own choreography.

Everyone was delighted to see Kathy K back on the stage and she finished our afternoon of instruction with ‘Wings To Fly’.

The evening brought a huge array of Disney characters to our dance! At one point during the evening they paraded around so all could be admired!! Lots of laughter and smiles as they danced their way around the hall.

There were also two demos. First ‘Just Dance LD Community’ performed an excellent demo of a terrific dance, ‘I Want You’, written by two of their own group, newcomer choreographers to be watched, Rene Duguay & Patrick Lisi.

We were then treated to a terrific line dance routine that won first place in a LD competition in Indiana and we could certainly see why they won. It was Yovana Russell’s group ‘Groovation’. Note: One of their members injured herself during the performance, stepped aside for a while and then gamely joined back in. Get well soon. You can’t keep us line dancers down!

I was unable to be there on the Sunday but I am sure everyone had a great time as usual and it gave the dancers the opportunity to review and practise the dances they learnt on Saturday.

But D4M is more than dancing and instruction, as you will see from the photos there were more prizes to be won than ever both with the penny sale and the raffle. All the ‘newbies’ were called up to the front (and there were many) and they all received a gift from Valarie. She and her sister Carol start collecting gifts immediately they get home from the weekend. Their dedication and commitment is unbelievable and we are the fortunate recipients. I so appreciate the enormous amount of effort and time that Valarie, Cathy, Dan and all the volunteers and instructors put into raising money for such a worthy cause and to ensure that we dancers have a wonderful time. If you agree please do let them know.

Valarie told us that she was being asked to retire, like the rest of us she is not getting any younger and the event is an enormous amount of work. In 3 years time it will be the 25th Anniversary of ‘Dancin’ For Miracles’ and she reckons she will retire then. So everyone ….. make the most of the next 3 years.