European Newsletter

NVSD

Hi Everybody,

Another year has (almost) gone by. Here in the Netherlands, not so much
“new” is going on within our Square- and Rounddance community. We lost a couple of dancers but the recruiting of new dancers has done its work; we have some new dancers. Let’s hope we can keep them within our beautiful activity.

There is some good news to report: a youth club, called Hip 2 B square, has started recently. If you want to visit them, please look for the dance venue and dates on our website, www.squaredance.nl. It is intended for dancers in the ages between 15 and 30 who like to dance in a more active fashion than usual.

This year, Barbara Reinhartz and I could not make it to the European Convention in Karlstad. What I have heard is that we have missed a great dance weekend with lots of enthusiastic dancers. This brings me to the following question... Does the European Convention have a Future?

For the year 2012, there is no organizing country at this moment (November 14th, 2010). I know that Tomas “Doug” Machalik, president of the CSCTA, is exploring the possibilities to organise a EC in the Czech Republic and we are doing the same here in the Netherlands. We have found a suitable venue for organizing a European Convention but we are struggling with a serious problem that is called “money”. This venue that we have found is south of Amsterdam but it’s too expensive to rent. We need a generous sponsor.

Otherwise we cannot rent the place and Doug is facing the same problem.

Besides this; there is no guarantee that Amsterdam will attract more than 1.500 dancers that weekend and this is what we need to break even. If we don’t find a sponsor, we cannot organize a European Convention. If somebody is willing to sponsor the European Convention in the future, or knows one or two large companies that would be interested to do so, please contact Doug and me... Besides this, we are facing another problem.

We need to plan this convention 2 or 3 years ahead but we don’t know what the future will bring. Will the state of the economy still the same? What will the situation concerning travelling be in 2012? etc. etc. Everything is getting more expensive today. To save money, we might need to change the setup of the European Convention. Not so many halls anymore, less cuers and callers, maybe a 2 day event, and so on... But are the dancers willing to travel to the Czech Republic or the Netherlands in that case? In an area like Hamburg or Frankfurt, there are more dancers than we have within the whole of the Netherlands. Our organisation cannot carry any serious loss of money. This Dutch European Convention must break even and this is not possible due to the high prices of the halls and everything around it...

The next meeting of the European associations is set for July 2011 in Barmstedt, Germany. I hope to meet the representatives of all associations there. Meanwhile I wish you all the best for the upcoming holidays and the new year.

With kind regards,

Maarten Weijers

President NVSD, the Netherlands president(at)squaredance.nlwww.squaredance.nl