By Mark Dreger
Youâre never too old to dance.
West Âé¶čAVâs Westsyde Squares celebrated their 60th anniversary as a club Saturday with a party for current and former members at the Westbank Seniors Activity Centre.
âSquare dancing is awesome entertainment,â said Lynda Bjalek, Westsyde Squares president and 30-year member. âItâs good for the brain, itâs good for your physical fitness, itâs good for everything. When the music turns on you can be in a real sour mood or had a real bad day, you come to the dance and I guarantee within five minutes youâre a totally changed person.â
Initiated in 1957, the Lakeview Recreation Commission were planning how to celebrate the British Columbia centennial the following year until someone suggested square dancing as part of the Old West heritage.
âAnd basically the dancers decided, âthis has been so much fun, thatâs not going to be it,ââ said Brian Elmer, whoâs been a part of Westsyde Squares for 46 years. âWe want to establish a regular dance club and continue to enjoy this activity beyond the centenary year.ââ
It was Ray Fredrickson from Summerland that met with the group at the Lakeview Elementary School cafeteria and that began the Westsyde Square Dance Club. Theyâve been dancing from fall to spring ever since.
âI think the fact that weâve been going for 60 years is testament to the longevity of the recreation as a social recreation,â Elmer said. âPeople can gather together, learn this dance form, meet at least weekly, and apart from the time spent on the dance floor there is a lot of time on the sidelines socializing. And over the yearsâin fact pretty well right awayâyou begin to solidify friendships with people who were strangers not too long ago, and that lasts a lifetime for many of us.â
Over the years, the club jumped from location to location, moving to the old Westbank Community Hall until the Mount Boucherie Community Center was built; and then once the City of West Âé¶čAV moved into the Community Center, they moved to the Westbank United Church for their Wednesday night dances.
âWhen I joined the club in 1971, we danced in what is now the Westbank Lions Community Hall,â Elmer said. âThe hall was in its original state back then and the floorboards had collected dust and wax particles over the years and when we danced there in the early â70sâas a man often wearing dark pantsâIâd come off the dance floor after a couple hours with a white coating up to about my knees because we moved on the floor and worked that dust out of the cracks and it had come up onto our clothing.â
With most of the members in their senior years, Westsyde Squares hopes to attract younger members. Their dance callerâDustin McGiffordâis currently only 26-years-old, showing that all ages are welcome to join.
âRight now weâre hoping that it will be younger,â Bjalek said. âWe range right now from 50 toâwell we got people right up into 90. Itâs very good for everybody.â
With 60 years spent in the community, it has become a second home for its members.
âItâs my family,â Bjalek said. âIf I have a conflict of something, two or three different things going on, if thereâs a square dance Iâm here. Itâs my priority.â
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