Reach for the Stars - British callers
This singing call was made for promotional purposes by the British Association of American Square Dancing Clubs (BAASDC) in 2001. It features seven top British callers calling to two squares. The Association counts American Mildred Buhler as its "original patron," back in the early 1950s.
Further information about the British Association is here and Mildred Buhler is featured in this video.
Linda Gill: The release of the Reach for the Stars record formed part of a national campaign to recruit new square dancers. The group was an off-shoot of the main committee and was named The 2001 Committee and it was led by myself as I was the President of BAASDC at that time. Please bear in mind that we did not have the benefit of all the delights of the modern-day internet.
Our first task was to raise the money to finance a national advertising campaign. We did this by licensing and launching an inter-group lottery. The money raised was used to produce booklets on Recruitment and Retention of Square Dancers, How to Gain Publicity and various articles for Clubs to use for local advertising.
There was great Committee deliberation over the choice of the tune to be chosen. Once Reach for the Stars was agreed International Caller Paul Bristow took charge of all the licensing required. Our Callers were chosen from different areas of Britain and the choice of music was introduced to them during a weekend spent at my home. Solos were agreed and rehearsed. Paul had arranged a professional recording studio for us. The Callers gave their time and talent free of charge. The finished record had an accompanying dance choreographed by Paul. Talented, smiling square- dancers, also gave their time free so that we had a dance DVD to accompany the record. This was produced and financed by a company owned by two of our square dancers. Copies of both the Record and DVD were sent to all recruiting Square Dance Clubs.
By the middle of August 2001 all Square Dance Clubs looking to recruit were geared up to publicise their events and the 2001 Committee had arranged for extensive national coverage. The date chosen for the launch was Monday 10th September 2001. By the following day the world was in mourning and, understandable, all our publicity was pulled by the media.
A few remnants of our efforts still remain including the performance of Reach for the Stars which is on You Tube. This did give me a little bit of “street-cred” when I showed it to my grandchildren with my name in the credits.
Subjects: Modern Western / Mainstream
Tags: Cliff Anderton, Dave Whittington, England, Great Britain, Ian McConnell, James Wyatt, Margaret Nash, Mildred Buhler, MWSD, Neil Whitson, Paul Bristow, Reach for the Stars
Item Relations
| This Item | is related to | Item: Let's Square Dance (England) |
| Item: Mildred Buhler - biography | is related to | This Item |
| Item: Jimmy Morris and Tommy Cavanagh interview | is related to | This Item |
| Item: Kindle Wakes - English square dance scene | is related to | This Item |
Citation
Dublin Core
Title
Subject
Description
Further information about the British Association is here and Mildred Buhler is featured in this video.
Linda Gill: The release of the Reach for the Stars record formed part of a national campaign to recruit new square dancers. The group was an off-shoot of the main committee and was named The 2001 Committee and it was led by myself as I was the President of BAASDC at that time. Please bear in mind that we did not have the benefit of all the delights of the modern-day internet.
Our first task was to raise the money to finance a national advertising campaign. We did this by licensing and launching an inter-group lottery. The money raised was used to produce booklets on Recruitment and Retention of Square Dancers, How to Gain Publicity and various articles for Clubs to use for local advertising.
There was great Committee deliberation over the choice of the tune to be chosen. Once Reach for the Stars was agreed International Caller Paul Bristow took charge of all the licensing required. Our Callers were chosen from different areas of Britain and the choice of music was introduced to them during a weekend spent at my home. Solos were agreed and rehearsed. Paul had arranged a professional recording studio for us. The Callers gave their time and talent free of charge. The finished record had an accompanying dance choreographed by Paul. Talented, smiling square- dancers, also gave their time free so that we had a dance DVD to accompany the record. This was produced and financed by a company owned by two of our square dancers. Copies of both the Record and DVD were sent to all recruiting Square Dance Clubs.
By the middle of August 2001 all Square Dance Clubs looking to recruit were geared up to publicise their events and the 2001 Committee had arranged for extensive national coverage. The date chosen for the launch was Monday 10th September 2001. By the following day the world was in mourning and, understandable, all our publicity was pulled by the media.
A few remnants of our efforts still remain including the performance of Reach for the Stars which is on You Tube. This did give me a little bit of “street-cred” when I showed it to my grandchildren with my name in the credits.