Sophie Kuijper Dickson, LJI Reporter

Two-steppers and square dancers, and even a group of line dancers all the way from Chapeau returned Bristol’s Coronation Hall to its former dance hall glory on Saturday evening, filling the venue for a few hours of good old-fashioned boot-stomping, toe-tapping, do-si-do fun.
To the tune of live music from the Dennis Harrington & Heritage Country band, dancers of all ages took turns prancing across the cleared space in front of the stage.
When the young peewee square dancers from the Shawville 4-H Club took the floor, in traditional square dancing outfits and with 11-year-old member Eloise Thompson calling the steps from the stage, the seasoned dancers admired the younger talent from the tables that lined the perimeter of the room.
And when it was the older generation’s turn up on the dance floor again, the 4-H dancers flooded the hall’s front lawn, taking the opportunity to practice their steps, twirl their skirts, and offer themselves as dinner to the teams of mosquitos that had also shown up for the unofficial season launch party of Coronation Hall.
“This hall, that’s what it should be for,” said Norma Graham, mother to the hall’s owner Greg Graham, and the visionary behind the event. “Never mind anything else, it should host country dances.”
Norma said the Grahams had put on a similar dance night to celebrate Coronation Hall’s 15th anniversary last October, which was the first time the Dennis Harrington & Heritage Country band played at the venue.
She said Harrington was keen to do it again, and that she, who loves the enthusiasm and energy that a square dancing event almost guarantees, did not need convincing.
Greg Graham said the dance hall, built in the 1930s, used to host community dances every Friday night.
“All the young, and young at heart, would come here to dance. And they’d dance dances like this. Every little village and town had a dance hall.”
“The era of the dance halls wrapped up in the 1960s,” Greg said, explaining that the introduction of better cars and better roads meant people discarded their loyalties to the dancehall in their own small village once it became more feasible to attend dances in the region’s bigger towns.
This Bristol dance hall shut down in the 1960s, and remained more or less abandoned until the Graham family reopened it in 2008.

“It feels amazing, it’s got real life to it,” Graham said, describing the thrill of seeing his hall vibrate with the energy of the people who seemed so happy to be there.
4-H dancers celebrate
successful season
Fifteen members of the Shawville 4-H Club’s three square dancing teams had a little extra pep in their step on Saturday evening, thanks to confidence gained after wrapping up another competition season.
Gillian MacDougall, one of the club’s two square dancing coaches, said the members had been practicing once a week since February.
In April, those keen on competing showed off their best moves at the Ormstown Square Dance competition and the Vankleek Hill Fiddle and Dance competition, where many members took home prizes.
“But we’re not just doing it to compete, we’re doing it for social skills. Learning how to dance and adapt to other people, that’s also a skill,” MacDougall emphasized.
For two of the club’s younger members, the prizes were indeed a big part of the fun.
“Me and Elly won first place,” Braylie Bullis told THE EQUITY, taking a break from dancing.
“Twice!” Bullis’ dancing partner Elly Ingalls chimed in, smiling. “It felt good to win.”
Bullis and Ingalls won best peewee couple at the Ormstown competition, where the club’s peewee team, made up of members Elly Ingalls, Braylie Bullis, Beth McCann, Rebecca Stephens, James Stephens, Laurel Sally, Reid Thompson and Eleanor Lafromboise, also placed first in its division.
Eloise Thompson, 11, figured she was likely the youngest caller competing in the junior category at the Ormstown competition, and she, in what was her first year calling, won first place in her division.
“It’s a lot more work than I thought it would be, because you have to memorize the call without the paper,” Thompson said. “And there’s a lot of pressure on the caller before you go up on stage.”
After more than a decade of square dancing with the club, twenty-year-old Amy Sheppard decided she would also try her hand at calling this year, and won best junior caller at the Vankleek Hill competition.
“When I’m talking to the older community they talk about how squaredancers used to dance in high school and I’ve always found that so cool,” Sheppard said, describing part of what has inspired her to stick with dancing all of these years.
“I just thought, ‘Yeah let’s keep it alive.’”