Welcome to Fairsham Dancers!

Origin
On 17 August 2003, 8 of us got together to do dances with a little bit more "zap" & not-so-dated.  We wanted to add Latin to our repertoire of Modern Ballroom, Old Time/Classical Sequence Dancing.

In 2003, we called ourselves 1&3 group because we were meeting on 1^st & 3^rd Sunday in Caversham Bowling Club.  As we were only meeting fortnightly Sunday & sometimes 3-weekly Sunday, we only managed 8 sessions in the 4 months, but we learned 6 dances.  By the new year, some of us thought 2 sessions a month was not enough to get good.  So, in Jan 2004, we started to meet on Fridays in Fairfield Hall, as well as continuing 1^st & 3^rd Sundays in Caversham Bowling Club (for those who can't make Fridays).  Hence our new name : Fairsham Dancers.

By our 1^st birthday, we have a repertoire of 16 dances & a membership of 17.

By our 2^nd Birthday, we have a repertoire of 31 dances & a membership of 17.  4 new members replaced 4 who left.  And, 5 of the “pioneer 8” are still at the club.
Most important of all, we are still open to trying new style of dancing.  We continue to expand our repertoire.  We continue to enjoy our dancing, whether we do it elegantly or not.  (I am demanding “stately” in the Gavotte.)  We continue to persevere with the difficult dances.

During our 3^rd year, 8 of us demonstrated Redforde Rumba in the QB workshop, Ashburton, June 2006.  Grasmere Waltz was voted most popular.
By our 3^rd Birthday, we have a repertoire of 47 dances & a membership of 20.  6 new members replaced 3 who left.  And, 4 of the “pioneer 8” are still at the club.

In our 4^th year, 12 of us demonstrated Halkadiki Cha Cha in LD workshop, Invercargill, November 2006.  Our Cha Cha was voted most popular.  Cypress Swing was a close 2nd.
During our 4^th year, 14 of us demonstrated Lancastrian Gavotte in QB workshop, Dunedin, June 2007.  Tango Armadillo was voted most popular.
By our 4^th Birthday, we have a repertoire of 61 dances & a membership of 14.  6 members left.  And, 4 of the “pioneer 8” are still at the club.  We have archived 10 dances cos 50 dances is a manageable number to work with.  At our parties & tea dances, the archived dances are requested.

In our 5^th year, 8 of us demonstrated Abi's Jive in LD workshop, Christchurch, November 2007.  White Heather Waltz was voted most popular.  Birmingham Blues was a close 2nd.
During our 5th year, 8 of us demonstrated Mahonia Foxtrot in QB workshop, Ashburton, June 2008.  Bamboo Blues was voted most popular.
By our 5^th Birthday, we have a repertoire of 70 dances & a membership of 12.  2 members left.  4 of the “pioneer 8” are still at the club.  We no longer dance on Fridays in Fairfield Hall.  Although we now only dance on Sundays in Caversham Bowling Club, we retain the name "Fairsham Dancers".

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Philosophy

TOTAL ENJOYMENT

Motto:    It matters not if you are a Fred Astaire or a Taieri Hopper.  We are here to enjoy our dancing.

How we operate
We have a “catch-up” hour – it only happens when there is a need, i.e. when we have new members who want to “catch up” on our established dances.  To walk new members through the established dances during the regular slot (7pm-9pm) would not be fair to the current members.
Because a new dance is introduced every 6 weeks, new members would soon "catch up" and dancing as well as the older members.

Dance Styles
The dances we enjoy at the club are of the following STYLES :

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This site was updated on Wednesday September 16, 2009