March 2025: The past two years have seen VECDS regrouping—hard on the heels of the exigencies imposed by Covid19 and, not long after, the loss of our driving force, Rosemary Lach. Her leadership saw us through a time when social dance came to halt nearly everywhere. She kept us going through that time, devising dances that could be danced by way of her far-reaching Zoom initiative (in living rooms across the continent), and later outside in a local park, and eventually inside, 8 feet apart, alone but together. And then she left us just before our 2023 Ball —at a time when dance was just starting to gather momentum again. This sudden loss left our community scrambling to pull things together in two short weeks. And we did it! With thanks to many people, especially to Laura Mé Smith who not only made herself available (from Seattle), but put in a monumental effort to learn Rosemary’s somewhat challenging program and to call it with aplomb (and in very short order). And so, we continue to thrive—in large part due to our capable cadre of callers (mentored along the way by Rosemary). Their ability to rise to the challenge has not only kept us going, but has allowed us to grow, as a community, as dancers, and not least, as dance leaders and callers. Through it, our Dancehall Players have played on, lifting our spirits and keeping our feet moving. Our hall is full on Thursday evenings these days; new dancers, old faces, much music, lively tunes, and an enviable tea-time to sweeten the evenings. In the meantime, we’ve hosted two successful Hands Across the Water weekends, and we’re about to welcome a raft of visitors to our upcoming 2025 Ball. The beat goes on.
29 March 2023—The Victoria English Country Dance Society mourns the unexpected and sudden loss of its founder, Rosemary Lach. We’re heartbroken and sad beyond measure. Rosemary was the instigator, the rock, and the anchor of our dance community for these past 23 years. We will remember her as a dear friend, a lively dancer, a gifted teacher, a mentor to our community of callers, and an adept delegator of the many tasks needed to bring dance to all of us. She was the driving force behind our annual “Hands Across the Water,” our biennial balls, and our weekly dance sessions. She kept our widely dispersed dance community alive through the pandemic years, mastering Zoom technology and adapting dances accordingly.
In the time to come, we expect to have many opportunities to remember Rosemary and make good use of the legacy and leadership she gave so freely and generously. We’re all the better for her having danced among us. We’d hoped to dance with her to the end of our days.
Learn about Rosemary’s story with VECDS: 23 years