CHAIRMAN’S AWARD
Presented by Barry Clasper
We have among us unsung heroes: people who just quietly go about getting the job done; people who do the necessary, often thankless, work that makes our world go around; people who don’t make a big fuss over what they do. They don’t look for accolades or awards. The are the reliable ones. We all know who they are, because when we need something done, we invariably turn to them. And they almost never turn us down. And because they are reliable, and almost never refuse a request, we too often take them for granted.
One of the perks of being Chairman is being able to give a Chairman’s Award. Tonight I am going to use that opportunity to recognize someone I regard as an unsung hero. It is my hope that by so doing, I may inspire all of you to look around you and take a moment to thank the unsung heroes in your life.
It is the usual Convention with award speeches to try and keep people guessing as long as possible about who the recipient is. I’m not expecting to be too successful with that tonight. Once you start to hear the list of accomplishments and positions, it won’t be hard to guess. As I said, we know who these people are, we just take them for granted.
This person is a member of a number of CALLERLAB committees, including the Challenge Committee, which I used to Chair. She was always one of my go to people when I wanted a logical and objective analysis of something. I know I was not the only committee Chair who did so.
But in addition to making contributions to Challenge programs, this person also is an annual contributor to the Beginner Dance Party Leader Seminar (now called the Community Dance Leaders Seminar). She is consistently enthusiastic about sharing a wealth of knowledge about teaching beginners, doing party nights, and prompting Contras. She further contributes by editing the Community Dance Journal.
Many of you now know who she is. She certainly knows who I’m talking about now.
She also Chairs her own Committee, which last year produced one of the most valuable books CALLERLAB has ever published – Sight and Module Resolution Systems. She was the editor of the document and it is hard to overstate how much of a feat it was to wrangle all the large egos and strong opinions into a consistent format.
She was recently elected to the BOG, and is making her usual strong contribution there
But, her contributions to CALLERLAB are dwarfed by her contributions to the larger square dance community, particularly in Canada.
She has been on the committees for four Canadian National Conventions, and has been Programming Chair for three of them. She is the Secretary of the Square and Round Dance Federation of Nova Scotia (for which she is also a Past President) and also the Halifax Metro Association. She edits the newsletter for the Association of Nova Scotia Square and Round Dance Teachers (ANSSRDT), as well as the Metro Matters newsletter for the Metro Association. She has been awarded a Life Membership in DANS (Dance Nova Scotia). She was instrumental in producing a series of teaching DVDs and written materials to support the DANS Dancing In The Schools initiative. She is the organizer and host coach for the Alguire Callers School held biannually in Nova Scotia. Oh yes, and she is also the current Secretary of Contralab.
There is actually more, but this is only a three-day convention. It is with great pride that I award a Chairman’s Award to my friend, Dottie Welch.