SVSRDA History
To fully understand the role of the
Seaway Valley Square and Round Dance Association
(SVSRDA) in the support of Square & Round dancing, you need to look
at its history & background and talk to those who’ve been involved
since it’s inception on July 14, 1982.
The SVSRDA was founded on July 14, 1982 by this group of clubs:
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These initial eleven Founding Clubs were located in
the USA & Canada and the coverage area of the SVSRDA was, at that
time, established with Potsdam, New York as its center with a 50-mile
radius for member clubs. Why Potsdam, NY you ask? Simply
because most of the clubs were in the USA with only one from Canada,
with all clubs straddling the St. Lawrence River (the Seaway Valley) - hence the name.
You'll readily see from the founding clubs list that the hometown
of most of the clubs were in New York State; in fact, the Seaway
Squares (now in Morrisburg) were originally based in Massena, NY, moving
to Morrisburg in 1988. Over the years, 9 of the original 10
US clubs have folded with only one club ... the Skirts ‘N Flirts from
Canton, NY remaining. So, of the initial 11 founding clubs, only
the Skirts 'N' Flirts & the Harbour Lites remain in existence today,
although the Seaway Squares did move north!
As the decline of Square & Round dancing has progressed
over the years, the membership in SVSRDA has also declined to where we
are today. Currently there are now 11 member clubs in SVSRDA, one single
club in the USA (Skirts ‘N Flirts) and 10 clubs from Canada.