FLAC

Finger Lakes Area Council of Dance Clubs

Memories

These pages include, IN COLOR, the photo-memories published in The Coordinator. They start by the most recent photo-memories and go back to older ones within the last year. Thanks to Richard Halstead for sharing so many of his pictures with us.

The article remembering Dr. Bill Newman will remain in these pages for a few more months.

Remembering Good Times: FLAC Presidents’ Ball

October 30, 2011 St. Charles Borromeo Church in Elmira Heights, with the
Hip Boot Boys:

15 squares!

We were happy to honor Jean Alve for her many years of service as a caller for FLAC dancers.

- Poster honoring former FLAC Clubs -
their banners hung at each FLAC dance

Can you provide information concerning any of the clubs mentioned in the poster above? When was the club founded? When did it become inactive? What was the name(s) of its caller(s)? of its cuer(s) if the club also round danced? Where did the club dance? Do you recall a special dance or event organized by that club?
Call or e-mail the editor, we are trying to remember more that just names!

Remembering Dr. Bill Newman, surgeon, singer, dancer, cuer and RD teacher

Dr. Bill Newman, affectionately nicknamed the “Singing Surgeon,” was a beloved cuer and round dance teacher in Geneva, NY. His round dancing club, the Seneca Silhouettes, and his weekly round dance classes attracted many from all around the Finger Lakes area. He died this past February 14, 2011. We hope all round dancers will fondly remember him by dancing “May I have this Dance for the rest of my Life” on Valentine Day, next year and every year! The following article was written by Claire-Lise and Richard Rosenfield, who are members of the Penn Yan Friendship Squares and of the Seneca Silhouettes.

Article published in Finger Lakes Times on February 18, 2011

Geneva has lost its singing, dancing surgeon

groups and was a soloist at numerous weddings and community functions.

Bill had many talents. He loved golf, music, opera and theater. But dance was his true passion, and he shared that passion with his wife, Joan. Together they were founding members of the “Geneva Friendship Squares,” and Bill became the Club’s round dance cuer. He enjoyed teaching round dancing (cued ballroom dancing) and offered classes at the Geneva Recreation Center, the Canandaigua FLCC and the Seneca County Senior Center in Waterloo. At the same time, he held his own weekly classes at the American Legion and, in later years, in Trinity Hall. Connie Williams remembers seeing Bill come in for a 4:30 p.m. lesson, dragging, having been on his feet in the operating room since 6 a.m.; after 5 minutes of music, he looked like it was 6 a.m. again! There was also the Newman “dance studio,” the garage on Snell Road, where dances were learned and worked out so that they could be taught to others. In 2000, Bill and Joan Newman received the Daphne-Norma Leadership Award, recognizing “extensive and sustained leadership over an extended period of years in round, square, or contra dancing.”

In his youth, Bill Newman had been struck by lightning while fishing. He attributed to that boating accident the loss of motion he experienced in later years in one shoulder and in one hip. Despite his physical handicap, he wanted to stay active in a health-related profession and was working part time at the Geneva Wegmans pharmacy. Once, in the parking lot, someone asked us “Who is that elderly gentleman who can hardly walk?” and we were proud to say “That is Dr. Bill Newman. Can you believe it, he can hardly walk, but he still can dance! That is our Bill, mind-over-matter!”

We will miss Bill Newman’s excellent dance instruction, both precise and patient. We will miss his sense of humor, his gentle ways, and his sparkling blue eyes. We will miss this generous and talented man.

The Rosenfields, formerly of Geneva, now live in Ithaca. They thank fellow dancers Greg Lavin, Faye and Larry McDowell, Carol and Karl Schantz, and Connie Williams for materials used in this article.

The loss of Dr. Bill Newman, better known to his dancers as “Bill” or “Dr. Bill,” will leave a huge void in the Finger Lakes dance community. This short tribute tries to tell how he touched so many lives, in so many ways.

After interning at the Boston City Hospital, William H. Newman did military service as a surgeon in the Washington, D.C., area, then came to Geneva in 1963 with his wife, Joan, a former Boston nurse. As a vascular surgeon at Geneva General Hospital, he would run down from Surgery to Emergency, and was particularly effective in critical vascular trauma and hemorrhage cases. In 1971, he was principal trauma advisor to the Emergency Medical Technician course when it began at the hospital.

At Geneva General Hospital, Bill Newman was known as the Singing Surgeon, because he was singing in the operating room as well as in local theatrical productions. During a “Hospital Follies” at the Smith Opera House, his golden baritone voice filled the hall with “If I Were a RichMan” from “Fiddler on the Roof.” He also sang in choral

From left to right:

Geoffrey Newman and
two of his daughters,
Lauren and Kristen
Caller Gary Shoemake
Joan Newman
Cuer Brian Adams, and

Cindy Adams
Caller Ken Bower
Gary and Alice Bubel
Lise Rosenfield

The 2011 weekend is now a beautiful memory,
mark your calenders for next year:

June 8, 9, and 10, 2012,

with the same callers and cuer.

Remembering Good Times: June Jamboree 2011, in Watkins Glen

From Rochester, Brian and Cindy Adams, and Gary and Alice Bubel, will coordinate the 2012 weekend.
Lise Rosenfield will handle all reservations, and the advertising in the Finger Lakes area.