The remaining social dates for this year are as follows:

The Address is: West Croydon and Kilkenny RSL, 19 Rosetta St, West Croydon.
Dancing starts at 1.30pm and concludes at 5pm at a cost of $15 (cash only). The program is run by request, and everyone gets a request form when they enter, to nominate 5 dances they would like to do. We try to ensure that you get at least one of those, but we only do about 5 Intermediate dances during the session, so don't just ask for really hard ones (or lots of unusual ones), or you could miss out altogether.
We have decided not to offer meals beforehand this year, as they were not being well supported and it was not economical for the caterers. Instead, we will return to the format we were using long before Covid-19, with a break about half way through, where we share a combined afternoon tea/supper for 20 minutes. Please bring a small plate of food to share with your fellow dancers. We will have minimal fridge space, and a pie warmer, but no oven, so please don’t bring food that needs cooking or defrosting. We feel this is a better way to assist people to mix and chat. Doors will open 30 minutes before the starting time.

The following classes are being changed:

Our 2027 offering for a Mediterranean Cruise is still available. We do have a single lady in need of a cabin mate, should you be interested in joining us without a partner.
We are very comfortable with choosing Viking as our cruise provider again. Having experienced cruising with P&O, Hurtigruten, Royal Caribbean and Viking, we are convinced the quality of staff, tours and food is second to none of the others. All meals (even specialist), and non spirits drinks with meals are included, as is internet access, tours, gratuities and on board activities. We are also being given special on board credit as part of our group package that can go towards optional tours (Pompeii maybe) or spirits.
Our opinion is that if you are going to take the time and money to travel so far away, it is worth maximising the experience. To that end we are offering additional "bolt ons" both before and after the cruise to explore Greece, Rome and Malta. These are optional, and you can just pay for and go on the cruise and return home if you wish.
You can be assured that we are very experienced travellers, and can take the hassle out of organising all the component parts that make up a dream holiday without issues that you have to deal with. We understand it is not a cheap holiday, but the inclusions and assurances of quality make it very good value for money.
2027 - Greece, the Adriatic Sea, Italy and Malta (August)
After optionally spending 5 days touring Greece, we will embark on a Viking Coastal Cruise (not Mid Ocean) in Athens on the 7th August. The cruise will conclude in Rome 15 days later. After a couple of days in Rome we will optionally fly to the island of Malta for 7 days before returning home. Full itineraries and application forms are available from your instructors if you ask them, or email Peter and he will send you one via email.

Barbara has completed her first set of classes with the WEA this month, and a second set is already sold out for July. Initial feedback has been excellent, and a number of the graduates have moved into some of our regular classes. Some were so keen that they re-registered for a second dose through the WEA. It looks like this will be an ongoing relationship into the future. Congratulations Barbara.

As you may have seen in the Sunday mail a couple of weeks ago, and many media releases of late, line dancing is having a resurgence with the young adults at the moment, and Country music has become fashionable again. We have been monitoring these developments with much fascination.

Much of what happened in the 1990's, when we started, is being replicated, with lots of enthusiasm and energy. There are crowded classes, with everyone dressed in their cowboy gear, short skirts and boots, all chugging down their beers and cocktails and having a good time. There are already "line dance events" run by a recent addition to the Adelaide scene who as far as I know hasn't been in touch with the existing established line dance community. The dances being done are often old easy standards with a lot of styling with arms, jumps, kicks and yells.

It will be interesting to see how long this fad will last, and whether it will have any impact into our network. The majority of our existing customers are of the senior end of the spectrum, and we have adjusted over the years to accommodate their needs and tastes. I do not think that these new enthusiasts would fit in to what we offer, and I don't believe it is worth us adjusting what we do well to attract them.

They want their current flavour of Country Music, Night time classes and alcohol. We use more diverse music selections, mostly daytime classes and bottles of water. The younger generations are also short lived in their attachments to individual trends, and will shortly find the next trendy thing to experiment with.

Liz and I could morph our network and lifestyle to take advantage of this opportunity to make money, but it would mean abandoning the loyal customers, that have supported us over the decades we have been operating. We don't have the bandwidth or instructors to do both.

We have decided that we will leave the cultivating of this opportunity to the enthusiastic young entrepreneurs, and we will benefit from the advertising it creates to maybe re-enthuse some of the older customers that don't fit the newer offerings, but want to give the more relaxed and traditional approach a try.