Why should you be a member of the H.D.A of Ontario?
We hold 3 Indoor competitions that are for members only. They are held in November, February and March.
We host the Ontario Closed Championships, which is the selection meet to determine the Ontario reps who will represent our provice at the Canadian Championships. It is held the 1st Saturday in June each year.
You will also get the entry forms for the summer games the H.D.A. organizes mailed directly to you 2 weeks before they are available to the general public.
Membership also entitles you to a voice and a vote at the Annual General Meeting in September. This is the meeting that the executive for the next season is elected. It is held the 2nd Thursday of September.
There are two other general meetings at which members are most welcome to give their suggestions and critiques. One is the 2nd Thursday of October, the other is the 2nd Thursday of April.
Each year we strive to create positive and exciting ways to encourage and promote our highland competitions and more importantly recognize the hard work and dedication of all dancers. With this in mind here are some of the featured changes you will see this season…
• Prize Money for all Premier Groups at the three HDAO indoor competitions, November, February & March
• Bursaries to be awarded in the beginner, novice and intermediate categories (draw)
In addition to these new features, we also hope to continue with the Ontario Rep Fund which helps defray costs for Ontario reps attending the Interprov championships* (see further criteria for Ontario rep fund outlined in this newsletter), provide trophies for winners and runner ups, award medals, provide prizes for primary dancers and, for some indoor competitions we will look to bring in out of town judges.
For all of the above and more we have introduced changes to the fee structure for joining the HDAO.
This year membership fees include an “in lieu of fundraising fee”. Many of the executives on the HDAO committee are parents or grandparents of dancers and we know how difficult it is for people to find time to volunteer to raise funds whether it is for highland dancing or other activities. Yet at the same time we are encouraged by the fact dancers and families want to support our organization and highland dancers to participate in competitions.
It pays to be a member of our association!