Central Germany celebrate 20th anniversary

What a great weekend it was - already over three weeks ago!
 

With a grand weekend in September 20-22 at Sport- und Bildungsstätte Wetzlar and a fantastic team of Teachers (Antoine Rosseau, Joana Stausberg, Anselm Lingnau) and Musicians (Susan MacFadyen, Andrew Lyon, Matthias Rank) Central Germany Branch celebrated their 20th Jubilee, full of energy through all generations. 

 The weather was beautiful and very tempting to stay outside the halls, but only nearly....  Friday night we started off with a relaxed welcome dance, led on by Andrew on piano and Matthias with his fiddle. The afterparty took place at the bar of the venue, totally ours as we had the place on our own - fully booked. 

Saturday night brought up the formal ball, with a Grand march, led on by Andrew Timmins on the pipes. Susan, Andrew and Matthias formed up a fabulous band and kept us on our toes, no mercy given. In-between there was a break with champagne and a speech from Martin, our chairman. He welcomed some of the founding members of the branch and reminded us to spread the joy of social dancing and friendship. A huge thank you to Martina Müller-Franz for the financial support of this fantastic evening. 

In the afternoon the formal annual Meeting of the Branch took place at the bar (more than 30 attended!), while the dance classes ran parallel. The board was re-elected, except for Liane Schürfeld, secretary (whom we thanked for her 4 years contribution). Gisela Koehne takes her place from now on. For the coffee we received a delicious chocolate cake for the anniversary, yummy. 

Saturday morning came on with three parallel classes, Antoine taught the advanced class (Dance list) in his unique charming way, with accents on the small, but important details like "look up", "phrase neatly" and "straighten your legs".

Joane was in charge of the intermediate class (Dance list) and introduced some of the evening dances with more complex formations to a mix of old and young dancers, always an open ear and eye for everyone’s needs. Anselm led an intensive teaching skills class (Dance list Saturday Sunday) with a highly motivated group of dancers, in his very expertise way. 

Saturday night brought up the formal ball, with a Grand march, led on by Andrew Timmins on the pipes. Susan, Andrew and Matthias formed up a fabulous band and kept us on our toes, no mercy given. In-between there was a break with champagne and a speech from Martin, our chairman. He welcomed some of the founding members of the branch and reminded us to spread the joy of social dancing and friendship. A huge thank you to Martina Müller-Franz for the financial support of this fantastic evening. 

After a long night at the bar Sunday morning all were back again on the dance floor. Still some energy (and brain) left, everyone had a good time in those classes. A last dance - the Highland Rambler - was for all classes together - huge fun to see all the smiling faces and cheers. 

After lunch it was time to say goodbye, but it was more a "see you next year!"

Eva-Maria Beckmann