WESTBANK / KELOWNA / PEACHLAND, BRITISH COLUMBIA

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LATEST NEWS FOR WINTER, 2008...

There's loads of dance fun and fitness for kids 8 and over this Winter when we start dancing again on Tuesday January 8th!  Newcomers are very welcome, both boys and girls, and parents are invited to step onto the dance floor and learn too. It's family-style dance fun -- and fitness too. No previous dance experience is necessary. There will be 10 weekly Tuesday sessions from 5:30 to 7:15 p.m. in Room #13 at the Mount Boucherie Hall in the new District of Westside.

Our economical fee is only $80 for the 10 lessons. That includes a membership and liability insurance fee. We offer a family discount of 50 per cent for additional family members beyond the first two.  That means, for example, that four members in the same family can dance for the price of three.  Pre-register by phone (768-2694) or e-mail (access the address below) and simply pay at the door at the first session.

The Westside Youth Team Dance Club is a non-profit youth group that was formed in February, 2003.  Our club is all about helping pre-teens and teens discover Team Dancing! Team Dancing involves working in teams of two or more. It's social dancing that features a high energy form of modern square dancing which needs a team of eight.

We also feature basic choreographed ballroom dancing which is called round dancing. In that kind of team dancing, the direction you'll move and the steps you'll take has been planned ahead to a particular piece of music. It’s similar to what you see on the tv show "Dancing With the Stars." We enjoy circle mixers as well, where everybody dances at once in a big circle and changes partners. We also learn some special dances, like the Salty Dog Rag.

It's awesome laughs, cool music and new friends that make our dance club great. We've added special effects lights that include a disco-style show with coloured beams that move to the music.  We even introduced our light show on special days in our school program.

The suggested starting age is 8 years and that's because we go for almost two hours and that requires a good attention span. Just come as you are in comfortable clothing and shoes that will not leave marks on the floor.  The dancing that we do requires that you listen carefully to the instructions.

At our club, our dancers enjoy special cool parties! Our fall session included a Halloween party with scary decorations complete with a toy bat that flies down from the ceiling. We closed the dance with cake and ice cream. At our Christmas party we all danced in Santa hats, all registered dancers got a gift and treats included Christmas punch, Christmas cookies and Christmas Ice Cream Floats topped with red and green candies and whipped cream. Our first party in the Winter season will be a Valentines Party on Tuesday February 12th, complete with a ring toss and prizes.

2007 was an exciting year for us because, for the first time ever, the 58th Annual Pacific Northwest Teen Square Dance Festival was held at the Mount Boucherie Complex in late April! It was an international dance competition that attracted hundreds of pre-teen and teen competitors from Washington and B.C. We're proud of one of our club's biggest supporters, 13 year old Desiree, for winning trophies in several categories.  Congratulations also to students who competed in the Schools Category from several Central Okanagan schools:  Peachland Elementary, Shannon Lake Elementary, Chief Tomat Elementary and Ellison Elementary.

Our club is operated by volunteers from the adult square dance community in the District of Westside. These volunteers give their time to support the young dancers because they believe this type of dancing is a valuable social recreation for kids. The volunteers have assisted with dance instruction in local schools and all passed the required criminal record checks.

This web site has a link to a map that shows where we are. From Westbank its hardly a 10 minute drive. From downtown Kelowna it's a 10 to 15 minute drive on Highway 97 South and the hall is not far off the highway via Ross Road and Cameron Road.

Our club operates an extensive program of dance instruction at elementary schools around the Central Okanagan. Our school program is underway with many, many bookings and we invite all students aged 8 and up, who enjoyed dancing in class, to continue the fun with us every Tuesday afternoon!  We encourage you to car pool with your friends to make it fun to travel to the dance and economical too.

We thank our caller-teacher Glen for volunteering to conduct the school instruction. He has taught literally thousands of Central Okanagan students to dance. At most schools we'll teach every student, including the Kindergarten kids.  See our "School Program" category on this web site for more information.

Kids like this kind of dancing just for the fun of it but parents like how it benefits a child's physical and mental health and social interactivity. The instruction improves listening skills, cognitive skills, laterality and general socialization in young people. Also of benefit is the aerobic fitness element where a couple hours of team dancing can equal a walk of several kilometres. Mental health benefits exist too by the fact that the fun experienced by moving to music and concentrating on the calls helps relieve stress, tension and the worries of the day. Success on the dance floor contributes to a young person's self-esteem and builds a positive outlook.

Today's kind of square dancing fits perfectly under the "Team Dancing" title because you have to co-operate with seven other dancers in order to be successful--it's teamwork!  Of interest to parents is that team dancing is ideal to introduce young people to social graces and the values that go along with them including courtesy, respect and tolerance. It's particularly good to develop wholesome boy/girl relationships.

The dance program that we offer serves an ever increasing need for active living among children.  It's a problem that the majority of kids remain sedentary during the after-school hours. The research reveals "a troubling association between sedentary behaviours and increased reports of anxiety, depression and low self-esteem among adolescents."  This information was released in a 2007 report card on physical activity for children and youth.  It was published by the non-profit group Active Healthy Kids Canada.

We'd be interested in establishing a dance session just for teens and could consider extending our Tuesday lessons to include such a session, perhaps from 7:30 to 9:00 p.m.  We'd also consider a move to Friday nights if the majority of dancers prefer that night.

The Dance Club is a safe, well-supervised environment for children where they can have fun and learn an excellent dance form at the same time. Please support your child in their interest in our group and their discovery of the fun, fitness and friendship found in team dancing.

We look forward to meeting you on the dance floor!

For more information about our club, contact Brian and Rosalyn at

: (250) 768-2694

Or e-mail our club's inbox at: Click Here

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