Surrey International Folk Dancing Society – Feb. 14, 2017

report submitted to the Arts Council of Surrey by Marie Bremner

Surrey International Folk Dancers (SIFD) meet every Thursday evening at Walnut Road Elementary School in Fleetwood to dance for fun and exercise. The selection of dances comes from countries around the world, and ranges from very easy to challenging.

Recent events: Our instructor, Dale Adamson, with assistance from a couple of our members, spent 4 days In January teaching folk dances to the early grades at Surrey Christian School. We also had groups dancing to entertain residents at Weatherby Pavilion in White Rock on Jan. 20 and at the Elim Harrison Home on Jan. 21.

Feb. 11, we were represented at the International Mother Language celebration at Bear Creek Pavilion. Annie Kaps attended in costume and handed out rack cards and wallet cards.

Upcoming events: More dance demonstrations are planned. Tomorrow we’ll be at Yale Care Centre and February 25 we’ll be at Kinsmen Place, in costume with selection of dances from around the world. In June, we’ll entertain at Fleetwood Villa.

We are looking forward to April 20 when we will host two guest teachers from 7 to 10 pm at our regular Thursday night location. Yves Moreau is widely recognized as one of North America’s finest instructors of Bulgarian dance and folklore and will teach Bulgarian and other Balkan dances. His wife France Bourque Moreau teaches French Canadian dances and folk dances for children. The cost for this is only $10. Yves and France are in our area as instructors at the 3-day annual folk dance extravaganza, Lyrids Folk Dance Festival – a highlight of the year for Surrey International Folk Dancers.

This month, our directors and volunteer committee members are getting to work planning for a folk dance retreat and birthday celebration – 40 years of Surrey Folk Dancing, 150 years for Canada! This will be held Oct. 13 – 15 at the Alexandra Retreat and Events Centre in Crescent Beach. We have been supported by a generous grant from the City of Surrey for this venture.

So…the dancing never stops! We welcome newcomers at any time. For information about our group, please visit our website at www.surreyfolkdance.org or see our notice under Performing Arts in the Spotlight.