There is a session today, and also the Santa Claus parade.
As you may remember, this runs on Bloor, just north of the Tranzac.
If you are coming by TTC, the Museum station I’d the closest on that that you out on the south side of Bloor. Alternatively, we theorise, you can go to Spadina and take the streetcar one stop south and walk west to Brunswick from there.
Good luck. See you soon, we hope, and sorry to have left it so late!
Rob and Donna
As mentioned in the previous post, this blog is no longer maintained after January 1, 2014.
Please go to the new blog at toquetrad.com, which features a much-improved event calendar and updated posts, as well as all the posts that have appeared on this blog.
A new post has already appeared there.
Thanks,
Rob and Donna
Our last session brought 2013 out with a BANG! We had a giant session and we even had Christmas cookies.
This year we hosted a joint session, with the usual suspects plus a very large number of Anne Lederman‘s students, who played a variety of traditional styles. It was so much fun, it might become an annual tradition.
We were thrilled to welcome so many new players, and hope that some of them might come back for our regular French Canadian sessions.
This is the last post of the year, and for this website. We will transition to the new website on January 1st, 2014.
On the right-hand side of the new website, click the Subscribe button, to sign up for an e-mail when the blog gets updated. For example, if you want a session reminder sent to your e-mail address, subscribe to the new blog. If you prefer, you can add an RSS feed to your feed reader.
At the top of the screen, the new events calendar lists the session dates, as well as dates and information about folk festivals, concerts, dances and other French Canadian events that 
we hear about. If you use an online calendar, click the Subscribe button at the bottom of the event listings to add all the events to your personal calendar (they auto-update). Or, you can add a single event to your calendar by clicking on the event itself and then clicking the Add to calendar button that appears under the map.
And of course, we have moved Rob’s tune list to the new site, as well as the Resources section of this site.
As always, if you have any questions or problems, you can e-mail us at toquetrad(at)gmail.com.
We wish you a safe and a prosperous new year! The next session is confirmed for January 19, 2014.
Rob and Donna
Wow, that was some dance, eh? Thanks go out to our great caller, Jacynthe Guimond, and to the band: Richard Forest, Peter Jellard, Rob Rohr and Kate Murphy.
At one point, I counted NINE SETS! That’s a lot of people. Especially when they are shouting with the joy and enthusiasm that this particular crowd was exuding.
If you wanted to attend and missed it, or if you want to come again, we are holding another one on Saturday, April 19th in the same place.
The session the next morning was also well attended. We are delighted to welcome Conny, who has never been before, as well as David P. (it’s been a while!) and Jasmine — both of whom had been out all night dancing the night before!
Happy times.
Oh, P.S.: The new site is up, but we are still fiddling with the mail server. Once that’s fixed — so you can get automatic e-mail notifications — we’ll pop over there (and give you complete instructions on how to use it). If you want RSS, you can go there now… I especially like the new format calendar.
So we’ve been busy working on a new website. It will look very similar to this one, but it will move toquetrad.com (instead of hosted on WordPress.com).
We’ll let you know when we have finished and provide simple instructions on how to sign up for the blog, e-mail updates and the events calendar.
We are doing it for a few reasons (mostly ’cause it’s fun to set up a web server and a stand-alone implementation), one of which is a much-improved calendar of events.
Currently, we have a Gmail iCal calendar to which you can subscribe with your favourite calendaring software or app. When we cut over to the new server, you will be able to add items directly from the site to your calendar, either as a single event (like the dance) or as a series (like the sessions for 2014). We will send events from the site to the Gmail calendar.
You can still get RSS feed updates or sign up for an e-mail digest to automatically see new posts.
Just a quick note to confirm that we are hosting the session at the Tranzac Club (292 Brunswick Ave) tomorrow from noon until 3 p.m.
WARNING: SANTA CLAUSE PARADE and HOLLY JOLLY 5K RUN!
The Santa Clause Parade starts at 12:30PM, but the Holly Jolly 5K Run starts at noon just east of Bathurst, and follows the parade route. Some of you may recall needing to take drastic steps to cross Bloor St. due to the Santa Clause parade (which has also been known to wreak havoc with parking, drivers).
Warning: Parade route!
Suggestions
When you do make it, there’ll be tunes and pints (or coffee).
These streets will be closed at the following times:
The parade starts at Bloor Street West and Christie Street and can be tracked on the following route:
See you all tomorrow — or for the dance tonight!
Square sets, from one of our previous Québécois dances.
Edith is organising another Québecois square dance to raise funds for the Centre d’inspiration jeunesse in Haiti, which offers development initiatives for rural an remote youth in the Verrettes area of Haiti. This is the third one she is putting on, so if you’ve missed this rollicking good time, now’s your chance!
This time out, we are inviting a new caller, Jacynthe Guimond. We are keeping our fabulous house band: Richard Forest (fiddle), Rob Rohr (fiddle), Peter Jellard (accordion), Kate Murphy (piano).
Jacynthe will be calling mostly squares from Quebec, although she may also call some round or contra-style dances. Similar to Irish and other types of square dance, Quebec squares have some very distinctive figures.
Caller Jacynth Guimond
To give you an idea of her calling style, we found a video with Jacynthe calling in Montreal. She calls in French on this video but, don’t worry: she is a bilingual caller. Jacynthe practices a wide range of traditional dancing, including step-dancing and calls regularly at the Wheel Club in Montreal.
As usual, there will also be a silent auction. You can call Edith at 416-796-6379 for more information or to donate items for the silent auction. Invite your friends using Edith’s Facebook event for the dance.
Round dance at a an earlier Quebecois dance.
Date: Saturday, November 16, 2013
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Venue: Dovercourt House, 805 Dovercourt Avenue just north of Bloor near Ossington (map)
Cost: $10 per person, though additional donations would be appreciated
We recommend that you bring a reusable cup or water bottle. You might just dance up a thirst!
We are certainly looking forward to this event, but if you can’t make it, you can still support this worthwhile cause online.
Laura Risk
As almost always when we get together with this dynamic group of people for a session, we have some things to mention:
Pascal Gemme & Yann Falquet
That’s a lot of stuff in the next little while! We will post more details about the workshops next weekend, but if you want information sooner than that, please e-mail us at toqetrad@gmail.com.
Thanks,
Rob and Donna
Courtesy: Flickr Commons
Origina: Edvard Grieg Archives at Bergen Public Library, Norway (EGM0282)
Just a quick reminder about this week’s session, at the Tranzac Club (noon to 3 p.m.).
See you all there — it’s been a while!
Rob and Donna
I would like to remind everyone that the normal session schedule resumes at noon on Sunday with our June session at the Tranzac.
Next Session:
When:
Sunday, Jun 16th, 12:00 – 2:45PM
Where:
Tranzac Club, 292 Brunswick Ave, Toronto (map)
We look forward to seeing you there!
TOqueTrad 