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A History of the
Toronto Country Dancers |
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Please follow this link for
"History
from a Music Perspective".
Long before the Toronto Country Dancers were conceived, the first country dance workshop was held at Fiddler's Green Coffee House. Cathy Schmidt writes,
 Kathy Reid-Naiman Photo Steven Nagy |
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I think it was on a Sunday afternoon (probably in the fall of 1975), and it was organized by Kathy Reid and myself. Kathy and I both taught/called some contra and English dances, with Tam Kearney teaching a few Scottish dances and Stan Dueck doing some squares. I don't remember who was playing in the band, but I'm sure we had live music. There was such a good turnout for that first dance that we decided to try a regular series. I believe it was monthly, and we met at First Unitarian Church. Kathy Reid, Stan Dueck, Tam Kearney, Margot Kearney and I taught and called the dances. That was the winter of 1976. |
Shortly after that, the dances moved to St. George the Martyr Anglican Church where they remained until 1981. At that time the church closed the hall for renovations. Kathy Reid tried a couple of other venues but was unable to get out the numbers needed to sustain the dance, and it folded.
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Shelly, Lorraine, Judy Photo Steven Nagy |
In 1982, The Mariposa Folk Foundation held the first ever Mariposa in the Woods - now The Woods Music and Dance Camp. Three of the 100 or so people that attended were Judy Greenhill, Lorraine Sutton and Shelly Romalis. They had such a wonderful time dancing that week that they decided to start their own series, holding the first “Mariposa Country Dance” in January 1983. The dance was held at the newly renovated St. George the Martyr, where it continued until January 2002.
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In 1993, as connections with the Mariposa Folk Foundation changed, the group renamed itself "Toronto Country Dancers.
In the summer of 2001, we were informed that we would need to leave St. George the Martyr, as the church needed the space for a full time group. In January 2002, TCD moved to The Holy Trinity Anglican Church by the Eaton Centre, then in 2004, moved to its present home, St. Barnabas Anglican Church Hall on Hampton Avenue.
This makes our January 2008 dance the 25th Anniversary of the “reorganized” Toronto Country Dancers.
Coordinators/Presidents
1983-1986 |
Judy Greenhill, Shelly Romalis, Lorraine Sutton |
1986-1988 |
Lorraine Sutton |
1988-1991 |
John Patcai, Anne Grant |
1991-1993 |
Mona Paris |
1993-1994 |
Trisha Willis |
1994-1999 |
Tom Calwell |
1999-2000 |
Les Francey |
2000-2001 |
Alison Neilson, Archie Dagg |
2001-2003 |
Bev Bernbaum |
2003-2004 |
Susan Craig, Riça Night |
2004-2005 |
Susan Craig, Sandy Cameron |
2005- 2008 |
Sandy Cameron, Cathy Campbell |
2008-2009 |
Cathy Campbell, Steven Nagy |