History of Our Club
Following the first Round-O-Rama, the Montana instructors and dancers felt it would be beneficial for all the dance groups in Western Montana to meet once a month for a workshop. At that time, dances from the annual weekend would be reviewed, and new dances would be taught by local instructors on a rotating basis. Thus, in 1962, the Western Montana Workshop was established for this purpose. The group continues to meet on a regular basis—usually on the 1st and 3rd Sundays of the month in Missoula, Montana.
At one time, early on, there were as many as 32 member couples. They came from Missoula, Great Falls, Helena, Butte, Anaconda, Kalispell, Lewistown, Valier, and Sunburst, Montana to attend the monthly Workshops. Some couples also attended the Workshop from Lethbridge, Canada when the Workshops were held in Great Falls or Helena, Montana.
The Western Montana Round-O-Rama was initiated by Faye and Dale Thornburg of Missoula, and Buzz and Datus Herzog of Butte. They, along with Sherman Lessley of Bozeman, John Wynn of Great Falls, Dick Mauzey of Kalispell, and Don McKee of Kevin provided the additional information about the 1st Round-O-Rama.
1st Round-O-Rama
Our 1st Round-O-Rama was held in Butte, Montana at the beautiful on August 12th and 13th, 1961. Bob & Helen Smithwick of San Diego, California were our instructors. The pay was poor and not much could be guaranteed, but they were happy to help get something started in Montana. At that time we also had Square Dancing on Saturday night to help with the weekend expenses. Dale was very happy on Sunday night when the first weekend event was over and the first Round-O-Rama was found to be a "success" at a 25-cent profit.
Over the years, we have had the pleasure of hosting dancers from many States, and our Canadian friends have been strong supporters. We thank them all!
Our events are broken into to emphasize the two phases of our club's development:
- Round-O-Rama weekend events, when dancers memorized the dance routines so they could dance without cues.
- Round-a-Vous weekend events, which signalled the beginning of events where all programmed dances were cued.
Round-O-Rama—1961 thru 1990
| Event Sequence | Instructors | Year | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Round-O-Rama | Bob & Helen Smithwick | 1961 | Smithwicks were from San Diego, California. The event was held in Butte, Montana, at the beautiful Columbia Gardens. |
| 2nd Round-O-Rama | Manning & Nita Smith | 1962 | Manning also called the Square Dance this weekend.
One of the dances taught was Alice
Blue Gown, which is now a classic. Manning & Nita were the 1st recipients of the Silver Halo award, which is the highest honor given by ROUNDALAB to recognize those who have made outstanding contributions to the overall Round Dance Movement.1 |
| 3rd Round-O-Rama | Bill & Mary Lynn | 1963 | Lynns were from Brentwood, Missouri. We were exposed to 10 dances—No, we didn't learn them very well, but at this time you picked out what you liked best, and worked on them at home. |
| 4th Round-O-Rama | Bob & Helen Smithwick | 1964 | Smithwicks from San Diego, California were invited back, at a better salary, along with Johnny LeClair as Square Dance caller, and a young children's exhibition. This event was almost a disaster. As the evening wore on, the Round Dancers didn't get enough round dancing, the square dancers were unhappy, and the exhibitions were too long. But we survived. |
| 5th Round-O-Rama | Turners | 1965 | By this time we had established special committees for pre-rounds, hosts for guests, and potlucks. We took over the Rainbow Hotel. A good time was had by all. |
| 6th Round-O-Rama | Penny & Ross Crispino | 1966 | The Crispinos were from Nampa, Idaho. Penny was also a Square Dance Caller, and once called a dance at Jimmy Carter's inauguration.3 She is famous for her Penny Waltz, released in 1956, followed by the Two Penny Waltz, Three Penny Waltz, Four Penny Waltz, and Five Penny Waltz. She has also written a book on dancing entitled Penny's Pointers on Teaching Rounds. Round Dance Basics, which resides in the Win Tilley Collection of the New Hampshire Library of Traditional Music & Dance. |
| 7th Round-O-Rama | Chambers | 1967 | The Chambers were from San Diego, California. |
| 8th Round-O-Rama | Arnfields | 1968 | |
| 9th Round-O-Rama | Peterman | 1969 | Petermans were from Fort Worth, Texas. The Square Dance program was dropped this year. |
| 10th Round-O-Rama | Sterkers | 1970 | |
| 11th Round-O-Rama | Wayne & Norma Wylie | 1971 | Wylies were from St. Louis, Missouri. Wayne was elected the 1st Chairperson of ROUNDALAB, the International Association of Round Dance Leaders that was formed in 1977 when 63 teaching units gathered in Memphis, Tennessee.2 |
| 12th Round-O-Rama | Don & Pete Hickman | 1972 | Hickmans were from Texas. Don was elected the 4th Chairperson of ROUNDALAB, the International Association of Round Dance Leaders that was formed in 1977 when 63 teaching units gathered in Memphis, Tennessee. 2 |
| 13th Round-O-Rama | Robinsons | 1973 | Robinsons were from Portland, Oregon. This was the last year our event was held at Columbia Gardens in Butte, Montana. The last few years involved a lot more preparation work, since a picnic or barbeque was often held at the Gardens prior to the Round-O-Rama. The Paulsens and Strongs hauled out 50-gallon barrels of garbage, and Jim Hanson crawled on his hands and knees to scrape gum off the dance floor. |
| 14th Round-O-Rama | Starks | 1974 | Some of our dancers were now "snowbirds" in Arizona, and they recommended the Starks. After Columbia Gardens was demolished, Dick Mauzey found the Elks Rest on Flathead Lake near Kalispell, Montana. This was a beautiful, perfect spot,except that the cleaning preparation now involved the use of shovels to clear out birds nests and other "droppings." but by evening the building "sparkled." |
| 15th Round-O-Rama | Starks | 1975 | We featured the Starks again, and this was the first time we had the same instructors 2 years in a row. Our crowd was now larger, so we moved our event to Lincoln, Montana. |
| 16th, 17th & 18th Round-O-Ramas | Jack & Darlene Chaffee | 1976 | We were still on a tight budget, but the Chaffees from Mesa, Arizona, agreed to be the instructors at our event. They returned as Round-O-Rama instructors for 15 consecutive years. |
| 19th thru 27th Round-O-Ramas |
Jack & Darlene Chaffee | 1977-1985 | In our 19th year we moved to Lolo, and continued to host the event there for 9 years. 1985 was a special event, and the ladies all wore silver blouses. There was a beautiful cake and champagne. Buzz and Datus did an exhibition dance—Old Fashioned Girl. Jack was elected the 2nd Chairperson of ROUNDALAB, the International Association of Round Dance Leaders that was formed in 1977 when 63 teaching units gathered in Memphis, Tennessee. 2 |
| 28th, 29th & 30th Round-O-Ramas |
Jack & Darlene Chaffee | 1986-1990 | For the last few years the weekend event was held at the Marsda Hall, located at the Fairgrounds in Missoula, Montana. |
Round-a-Vous—1991 thru Present
| Event Sequence | Instructors | Year | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Round-a-Vous | Jack & Darlene Chaffee | 1991 | Chaffees were from Mesa, Arizona. Held at Marsda Hall in Missoula, Montana. |
| 2nd Round-a-Vous | Jack & Darlene Chaffee | 1992 | Chaffees were from Mesa, Arizona. Held at Marsda Hall in Missoula, Montana. |
| 3rs Round-a-Vous | Jack & Darlene Chaffee | 1993 | |
| 4th Round-a-Vous | Jack & Darlene Chaffee | 1994 | Chaffees were from Mesa, Arizona. Held at Marsda Hall in Missoula, Montana. |
| 5th Round-a-Vous | Jack & Darlene Chaffee | 1995 | Chaffees were from Mesa, Arizona. Held at the Lolo Dance Center in Lolo, Montana. |
| 6th Round-a-Vous | Peter & Beryl Barton | 1996 | Bartons were from Scarborough, Ontario, Canada Held at the Lolo Dance Center in Lolo, Montana. |
| 7th Round-a-Vous | Peter & Beryl Barton | 1997 | Bartons were from Scarborough, Ontario, Canada Held at the Lolo Dance Center in Lolo, Montana. |
| 8th Round-a-Vous | Bill & Martha Buck | 1998 | Bucks were from Shreveport, Louisiana. Held at the Lolo Dance Center in Lolo, Montana. |
| 9th Round-a-Vous | 1999 | ||
| 10th Round-a-Vous | Bill & Martha Buck | 2000 | Bucks were from Shreveport, Louisiana. Held at the Lolo Dance Center in Lolo, Montana. |
| 11th Round-a-Vous | Ron & Mary Noble | 2001 | Nobles were from Dallas, Oregon and Yuman, Arizona. Held at the Lolo Dance Center in Lolo, Montana. |
| 12th Round-a-Vous | Dwain & Judy Sechrist | 2002 | Sechrists were from Santa Rosa, California. Held at the Lolo Dance Center in Lolo, Montana. |
| 13th Round-a-Vous | Bill & Carol Goss | 2003 | Goss's were from San Diego, California. Held at the Lolo Dance Center in Lolo, Montana. |
| 14th Round-a-Vous | Ken & Irene Slater | 2004 | Slaters were from Birmingham, Alabama. Held at the Lolo Dance Center in Lolo, Montana. |
| 15th Round-a-Vous | Bill & Martha Buck | 2005 | Bucks were from Shreveport, Louisiana. Held at the Lolo Dance Center in Lolo, Montana. |
| 16th Round-a-Vous | Wayne & Barbara Blackford | 2006 | Blackfords were from Jacksonville, Florida and Mesa, Arizona. |
References:
1 ROUNDALAB Journal, Summer, 2004
2ROUNDALAB Journal, Spring, 2005; Winter 2004-2005
3Personal communication from Bud Hornstein.