Ella and Ron Whyte started teaching rounds in their square dance club and formed a Round Dance Club in 1957 on the 1st & 3rd Sundays monthly. Beginners, Intermediate and Advanced levels were run from 1.00pm to 9.00pm. This Sunday club is now an Intermediate level club.
Thursday night rounds commenced in 1992 and remains as the night for the Advanced level dancers.
Ella started cueing and teaching in the 80’s on her own and cues and teaches at both clubs to this day.
Ella has been teaching and mentoring cuers for the past 20 years. Over the years Ella has been involved in the programming of rounds at State and National Conventions and is still involved in all aspects of the Round Dance Association of Victoria.
Ella has been on the RDAV committee in various capacities since its inception in the year 2000.
In 1983 the Australian Round Dance Association was instigated by Ron & Ella.
ARDA continues today as round dancing’s National Association.
In the early days there were many dance demonstrations at club level as well as State, National and International Conventions. Ella wrote dance choreography and did the training of the dancers.
Showcase rounds were introduced to the National Convention in the late 1970’s by Ron & Ella and still continue today.
Ella currently runs her club from her private residence in Heatherton. Her venue is a fully equipped dance room. The venue is used almost every night and weekend for many hours of dancing of both Rounds & Squares as well as meetings.
Click here to see the Sunnyside Round Dance Club page on the Round Dance Association Victoria website.