The 18th Annual Hot August Nights Square and Round Dance Festival is over for another year and I saw collaboration at its best.
First,
The Hot August Nights event, from its inception, has been a collaboration of dancers who love to promote square and round dancing. The present-day committee for this event spans multi-states: New Mexico, Arizona, Virginia, Utah and Idaho. As the committee morphed and changed, we added this multi-state dimension and it has worked.
Second,
We have hired top-notch staff each year and have collaborated with them on a variety of aspects about the event, including them when their schedule allows to attend our Follow-up meeting on Sunday at the close of the festival. Listening to advice from national callers and cuers, we have changed our schedule, honed in on specific details of a successful festival and even changed the location of the logo on the front of our 10th annual t-shirt.
Third,
This year, we collaborated with a local square dance club, Duke City Square Dance Club, to provide a Recycle Shop for our event. We have done it ourselves for many years but gave it up after last year because it became too much of a time-consumer for the committee. When Duke City’s president asked if they could do a Recycle Shop, we agreed and it worked out smoothly.
Fourth,
Our staff this year (like so many other years) collaborated with us in a variety of ways. I had made a mistake on the schedule so Mitchell Thompson, our cuer, reminded me of some time changes we needed to do, and it worked out fine.
Friday night we made a schedule change for the Saturday afternoon square dance program, moving the “High Energy” from last event of the afternoon to start it. I didn’t change it on the website and we had local dancers who missed this fun activity because of the time change. Tony Oxendine graciously added another “High Energy” tip so those dancers had a test of that energetic dancing.
True collaboration works!
Last but not list,
The Hot August Nights committee is one of the best committees I’ve ever worked with, and this year I saw it in full action. Because of the dog attack wound I had, I couldn’t do my usual duties, so each one of the committee members took extra care to cover my duties, especially my husband, Lin. The event in my estimation hummed like a well-oiled machine.
Finally,
Because of the many facets of collaboration, our dancers had a great time at this Hot August Nights. What a joy it was to see all the smiles, hear all the laughter and listen to Tony’s beautiful renditions of so many beloved songs and enjoy Mitchell’s cuing and Chelsea’s helpful spirit and beautiful dancing!
Update on My Dog Attack:
I went to the Wound Clinic on Thursday. The nurse specialist took off the scab and cleaned the wound thoroughly—OUCH!!!! Then he put on a compression bandage from my toes to my knee. The good news is—NO SKIN GRAFT!
I tried to elevate my leg during the weekend festival as much as possible, but my ankle and foot kept swelling up—probably too much activity.
On Saturday night after listening to all the dances I wanted to jump up and do, with Lin on my left side and my cane on my right side, I did do a 30 second small-step version of a cha cha of “Irish Washer Woman” and cried because I couldn’t do very much!
The Wound Clinic nurse said I will see him weekly for five weeks, so I’ll see what I have ahead of me!
Podcasts & My Interviews
- Listen to an interview released Wednesday, August 7, 2024 on Hump Days Calls podcast
- Check out my written out interview at Southwest Writers
- Enjoy my interview on the podcast, The Writing Table
Audiobooks Sale – August 15 – 31 – 25% Off:
This Tumbleweed Landed
Let Me Tell You a Story
Hair on Fire: A Heartwarming & Humorous Memoir Audiobook
- Chirp
- Amazon
- Kobo, Walmart
- Libro.FM
- NOOK
- Storytel
- Bounty from ACX United States
- United Kingdom
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