65th Australian National Square Dance Convention 2025

Fourteen members of Cane Country Squares attended the 65th National Convention at Morayfield Qld, from July 7th - 11th 2025. Eleven of those where registered dancers with three attending a National for the first time.

It was a fantastic turn out with over 600 registered for the event. Plenty of fun and challenging dancing was on offer. The evening sessions included Rounds and Mainstream. Wednesday and Thursday morning and afternoon sessions covered Clogging, Round Dancing, Plus and Advanced level Square Dancing with different level workshops and intros. The Mainstream Styling Workshop on Wednesday was very well received with requests for this to be included in future events.

This year, first timers met up to be welcomed to the Convention and receive a blue button badge to indicate this was their first National. 

The new dancers I spoke to had a wonderful time and were welcomed into many squares of experienced dancers they had never met. The Round Ups were a new experience for many and a great way to get them mixing into new squares.

Tuesday night was the Dress Set Parade and Opening Ceremony. Laura assisted the Heart Mascot to lead the dress sets around the floor.

Nev McLachlan jumped off the stage to join Matt and the rest of his Heart themed Dress Set.

The Dress Sets always look amazing with a great deal of work going in to making all the matching outfits. 

At the end of the evening session at 10:30pm some stayed on for a Hi Energy session, programmed to finish at 11:45pm. This was called faster than normal, for as long as the dancers could keep up.

Wednesday was the Listen To Your Heart theme night with lots of heart patterned fabrics, outfits with Queen of Hearts themes, fitness exercise and medical outfits (some with working stethoscopes).

Thursday night was the Closing Ceremony with presentations and the hand over of the banner to next years 66th ANSDC Convenor. This one will be held in Hobart, Tasmania and they already have over 300 registered. On the last dance of the night I spotted Matt getting one of his rare opportunities to dance before running back onto the stage.

The Farewell Function dancing wrapped up at 7pm and we moved into the hall behind the stage for socialising and entertainment from some of our Cane Country Squares club members. Musical duo, Adrian and Laura and poetry from Sandy.

We had options of drinks and meals from the Morayfield Sports & Event Centre Café and the back of the hall was opened to access a choice of food vans outside. 

The convention was a fantastic week of dance and socialising and I would like to thank the 65th ANSDC committee and volunteers, Callers, Cuers and all who worked to run this event for us. 

See you on the dance floor back home in Bundaberg on Tuesday and Friday nights, with a couple of Saturday or weekend dances being planned.