Motivators Challenge Square Dance Club
We "Scoot and Ramble and Tally Ho"
The Motivators dance the Challenge One and Two lists of Modern Square Dancing
Currently there is a year round C-1 Class meeting periodically.
The time and day is flexible so please contact Dottie.
Caller and Contact: Dottie Welch
415 Conrad Road, Lawrencetown, NS, Canada, B2Z 1S3
902-435-4544
dwelch@eastlink.ca
Motivators Club History
The Motivators formed out of a basement tape group that learned to dance Advanced from Ed Foote's reel-to-reel teaching tapes.
It began to meet regularly in the September of 1981. It took two years of year-round dancing once a week, often for three
hours at a time, to master the 80 moves on the A-2 list. At that time A-1 was just beginning to be a recognized program and very few
tapes were available for that list.
In the spring of 1983 we held the first Advanced Weekend in Nova Scotia with Anne Redden (now Anne Uebelacker) calling.
The need for a live caller was becoming more obvious as we faced the transition period from new class graduates to accomplished Advanced dancers.
With encouragement from Anne Redden and the rest of the Motivators, one member of the group, Dottie Welch, decided to learn to call.
For the next four years we danced A-2 nearly every week year round, migrating between school classrooms and basements as the seasons changed.
Gradually we made the transition from tapes to live calling as Dottie gained ability. Our favourite tape caller was Dave Hodson from Ohio.
It was a special treat when the whole group had a chance to dance live to Dave at the 10th Montreal Convention in August of 1985.
During this time three new couples joined the group and were taught the A-2 list.
However, we also lost three couples to illness and death so our numbers were stable at about two squares.
By the spring of 1987, we had nearly exhausted the possibilities for new and interesting ways to use the A-2 list.
It was time to move on to C-1 (Basic Challenge). Some members of the group had already learned most of the C-1 list as "snowbirds" in Florida.
Dottie and Gary had learned to dance C-1 by reading the definitions and dancing tapes with the Florida dancers.
Starting in May of 1987 when all the "snowbirds" returned from the south, the rest began the adventure into C-1.
Challenge is well named. There are about 100 moves on the C-1 list when you count variations that must be taught separately.
In addition, dancers are expected to "dance by definition" dealing equally well with any of the four possible positions for each move.
Of course, any move from the rest of the preceding lists is fair game from any valid position.
It took more than a year just to explore all the moves on the C-1 list.
By the end of 1989 we were beginning to feel confident in our ability to dance C-1 outside of the basement.
The original group continued to dance on a regular basis until the end of 2000.
At that time our numbers were down to less than a square.
However, two couples began learning C-2 in 1993 and we continued to dance two-couple C-2 until 2005.
As the youngest, and last remaining couple still able to dance, Gary and Dottie continued to practice C-1 and C-2
by dancing with six phantoms and the aid of a computer generated graphic of the square.
This was augmented by creating new choreography as well as calling and dancing outside the Maritimes whenever possible.
In the winter of 2017, some members of the Sail Sets decided they wanted to do more than just dabble in C-1 at various Intro workshops.
So they began meeting on Wednesday afternoons.