square and round dance in eastern ontario

What Do I Get for My EOSARDA Dues?

The membership dues are split in three ways.


Canadian Square and Round Dance Society (CSRDS)

Your Society is our national body which coordinates the activities of each provincial federation/association.
Every two years, the Society supports national conventions to which thousands of dancers from around the world are attracted (see sidebar). The next National Convention will be held in Ottawa in 2014.
The Society provides funds for training new Callers and Round Dance Leaders, developing training tapes to teach square dancing in schools and communities without Callers. A video has been developed to recruit new dancers.
Some of the funds provide third-party liability insurance for members dancing in Canada. The cost for this insurance is a fraction of what other organizations have to pay for protection.

Ontario Square and Round Dance Federation (OSRDF)

Your Federation coordinates activities within the province. All Clubs and dancers are members of the Federation.
Some of the membership fee goes toward the on-going administrative costs. Other funds are allocated to bursaries for training new Callers and Leaders, similar to the Society. A small part of the dues goes toward liability insurance coverage for all Club executives, Callers and Leaders. Publicity is directed at recruiting new dancers, and promoting square and round dancing.
The Federation grants annual Trillium Awards for outstanding service and long service to the dancing community.

Both the Federation and Society maintain web sites to provide information on dancing activities in Ontario and in Canada. These web sites are linked from EOSARDA's web site.

Eastern Ontario Square & Round Dance Association (EOSARDA)

Locally, your Association uses your membership fees for a variety of activities. A number if open dances, primarily Fall Fest and Frosty Fling are sponsored each year. Additional dances may be encouraged to support other organizations such as Heart and Stroke, Alzheimer, etc.

Some of your membership dues may be used to underwrite these dances should there not be sufficient dancer attendance to generate a profit.  Administrative expenses are on-going to replace worn out equipment, to produce Square Time publication, to pay reasonable out-of-pocket expenses for representatives to attend quarterly Federation meetings which are held across the Province, rental of halls for training new Callers and Leaders. There are publicity expenses to recruit new dancers and keep a positive public image of the square dance activity.

No one on the EOSARDA Board of Directors is paid for any of their time, only for reasonable out-of-pocket expenses to attend Federation meetings and conducting EOSARDA business. Most of the Directors voluntarily spend several hours per week on various square and round activities in addition to dancing.