Mark's Notebook

Bound for Portland

The 54th National Square Dance Convention takes place this week in Portland. It starts Wednesday, June 22, 2005 and runs through Saturday, June 25. Dancing is at the Oregon Convention Center, 777 NE Martin Luther King Jr Blvd., Portland, Oregon.

The National Square Dance Convention® is the largest single gathering of square dancers anywhere in the world. The most recent convention, the 53nd NSDC in Denver, Colorado, gathered more than 8,500 dancers from every state and more than 20 countries. The first National Square Dance Convention was held in 1952 in Riverside, California.

Portland last hosted the National Square Dance Convention® in 1994. At 21,700 attendees, it remains the second largest convention ever held in the Rose City.

The convention boasts separate halls for Mainstream, Plus with Rounds, Plus (without Rounds), A1, A2, Challenge (C1-C3), Youth, and Handicapable. In addition, there will be three separate halls for Round Dancing (combined for dance parties), two halls for Clogging, and two halls for Contra Dancing.

The bulk of pre-registered attendees hail from Oregon, Washington, California, Colorado, and Texas. There are also sizeable groups traveling from as far away as Denmark, Germany, and Taiwan.

Callers include our local Bay Area favorites Bob Elling, Keith Ferguson, Eric Henerlau, Jay Klassen, Andy Shore, and Roger Smith. Round dance cuers include locals Sue Harris, Sharon Parker, and Kenji Shibata, and favorites Kristine Nelson and Ron Noble.

You can find out everything you need to know about convention here:
http://www.54nsdc.com

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Last updated Tuesday 13 May 2008