Monthly Archives: April 2018

Message from the President

Ohio State’s Honor Couple/Person Program

An Ohio State Square Dance Convention is held every year on the first Friday and Saturday of May (unless otherwise arranged). This year the convention is being sponsored by the Ohio State Corporation of Square Dancers (State Corp) and is being held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Columbus.

Preceding each annual convention, each local federation or council chooses an honor couple or person who is honored at the convention and at dances throughout the following year. And in Cincinnati, our Federation’s honorees are also honored at a special dance hosted by the Federation (along with all the past years’ honor couples or persons.) This year the Greater Cincinnati Dance Federation has chosen Kathy Skinner to receive this honor. Kathy has demonstrated her commitment to dancing for more than 25 years with participation in numerous banner raids, demonstrations, and special dances, serving as president of Venus & Mars for 5 years and even becoming a skilled cuer a few years ago, cueing for many of the club dances in Cincinnati and Dayton.

The State’s Honor Program was begun in 1974 at the state convention hosted by Cleveland. The initial guidelines stated that the selection was to be a couple “who had contributed the most to the square dance activity in their area.” Ken & Paula Shelton were chosen as the Greater Cincinnati Dance Federation’s Honor Couple. (Then named the Southwestern Ohio Square Dancers Federation). Over the years, the program has evolved to allow the selection of individual dancers as well as couples, and each state federation has been allowed to make their own guidelines for the selection.

Please see the “About Us” tab for a listing of all the Cincinnati Federation’s Honorees along with pictures of many of them.

We invite all the Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky dancers to attend the Ohio State Convention on May 4 & 5 to honor all the state’s honorees and to also attend our own Cincinnati Federation’s Honor Dance on May 20. It will be held at the Hayloft Barn from 3:30 to 5:30 with several callers & cuers to lead the dancing.

Jane Jones
Greater Cincinnati Dance Federation