Country Dance & Song Society’s Centennial Tour
Owen Sound is one of only two Canadian stops on the CDSS Centennial Tour!
Join us for a celebration of the CDSS Centennial Celebration April 28 – May 3, 2015
Fiddlefern Country Dancers is one of seven groups across North America awarded a community residency as part of the CDSS Centennial Tour. CDSS is a national leader in promoting participatory dance, music and song with roots in English and North American culture. We are excited to have the CDSS Centennial Tour come to our community to ensure dance, music and song will be strengthened.
Come and take part in workshops for callers, musicians and dancers, as well as evening dances. CDSS Touring musicians include Sam Bartlett (Notorious, former member of Wild Asparagus and The Clayfoot Strutters), Ben Smith (The Mean Lids), and Eric Schedler (The Cosmic Otters, Cocks o’ the North), and caller, Louie Cromartie.
Sam, Eric and Ben are exceptional musicians and performers, patient and skilled teachers, and tradition-bearers, with an ability and willingness to respond to new ideas with creativity, enthusiasm and respect. Louie brings decades of experience to the caller’s role, with a dance repertoire to meet any crowd, and the teaching skill to bring everyone on the dance floor together in a supportive and successful experience. All these individuals are skilled teachers and performers, and possess a natural ability to nurture and support. As they collaborate with local musicians, magic will happen!
Owen Sound is on beautiful Georgian Bay nestled into the Niagara Escarpment with hiking trails, cycling, art galleries, many artisan studios, and warm, welcoming people. See our Links Page for links to local attractions.
Plan your visit now! For more information, call Frank or Sally at 519-372-9151.
Click on the poster to download registration form
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD REGISTRATION FORM
Please print out this form and mail with a cheque, or fill out the form, scan and email to registration@fiddlefern.ca and request to do an email transfer.
Check out our photos and videos of past events and links to past performers.
For more information about CDSS watch this video.
Why come to a dance weekend in Owen Sound?
Here is what people have said about joining us at our annual dance weekend…
Let me tell you why we want to come back to Owen Sound and Spring Fling next year. Nice people. Friendly people. Laughing people. Beautiful scenery, a nice trip. Great food. Glad to see there were apres-dance parties, even though we were too tired and staying too far out of town to attend. Billeting, with wonderful hosts. No show-offs. No dangerous dancers. Lots of fun. Lots of healthy community activity.
I know that when the time comes, I will “talk up” Spring Fling as a wonderfully friendly and fun weekend for the dancers interested in a friendly, non-intensive dance weekend. I’ll talk it up to others too, but they may consider themselves too sophisticated. Their loss.
– Joe KwiatkowskiAlthough it was our first visit to the Spring Fling in Owen Sound, it felt was like old home week. We knew few people the first evening and were a little nervous as we are relatively new contra dancers. We had been invited to attend by an alumni of the Fling, an experienced dancer who told us we would love participating in one of the workshops, revel in the brilliant music and meet wonderful people. We were not disappointed!
The organizers and dancers were welcoming, kind, sociable, outgoing and helpful! In fact we were billeted by very kind owners of a nearby B&B and appreciated the atmosphere of their home and the delightful companionship of other dancers.
– Joyce BoothWe look forward to going every year, wonderful bands and callers, fabulous food and very friendly people. It’s especially fun when some of them come back to our dance community!
– Brenda and John Butler