The next square dance club I start (there’ve been two, so far, and they’re still going) will be need a name.
In a post I saw today on the square dance callers email list, they were talking about dance “sponsorships.” This was one of the names that someone came up with for a dance but, I think it would make a fun club name:
Dancing with the Thars
On Saturday, October 1st, I took a trip down to Portland to visit my friends at the Rosetown Ramblers.
It was a slightly extended trip as I wanted to take a slight detour to Powell’s Books. (If you’ve not been there, and you enjoy reading, you owe it to yourself to undertake a pilgrimage to this holy land. 68,000 square feet of books. There’s a separate building alone for math/science/engineering books. It was hard for me to leave.) I will say that I really love downtown Portland. I wish Seattle’s planners would go visit to see how they could build a vibrant community with lots of small/local businesses next to national chains. There may be a “dark side” to Portland, but I’ve never seen it.
Heads to the Center is an Advanced group, so I called an Advanced dance from 4:30-6 p.m. We had two squares, which is the norm. Some new faces in the mix which was nice. I’m not calling Advanced regularly, so most of my material was read. It isn’t my favorite calling method because I prefer to watch the floor and be able to work things that might falter. When I was calling Advanced weekly, most of the calls were floating in the flotsam and jetsam of my brain cells. Today, not so much. So, I read. It guarantees variety if nothing else.
Afterwards, we went to dinner. There’s an “American style” diner not far from the hall. If you visit the Ramblers and decide to eat at Libby’s, my advice is to add plenty of extra time. You’re going to need it. 
The Ramblers dance was from 7-9:30 and it included tips for Student Level, Mainstream, and Plus dancers. I tried to theme it, and I had mixed success with it. Since I’d been at Walt Disney World in Florida the month before, I thought I’d pull out music from and inspired by Disney movies and shows. It was a great idea in theory, but, in practice, the overall energy level did not match what I wanted to provide. It was a good dance, but was a little uneven at times.
For the new dancers, I tried to keep it simple and consistent. Variety, for new dancers, can be death because they’re still working on developing muscle memory to go with the commands. So, I worked (and worked, and reworked) Stars.
The dance was great, I think, overall and it was fabulous to see so many friends. My birthday was the Wednesday before, so they included me in their birthday celebrations and gave me a wonderful card. Thanks!
Until next time, keep dancing!
If you don’t know Nasser Shukayr, you should either meet him or subscribe to his emails. He’s a fun and funny guy. I’ve been thinking that I need to get back into writing about my life in SD Land, so, after his latest email, I’d thought I’d share it with any one that might still look at my blog.
You can subscribe to his email by visiting his website… http://nshukayr.com
From Nasser:
Airlines provide perks to frequent flyers. One such perk is the use of “club rooms” in major airports. Airline clubs are peaceful respites from the noise and hubbub of the main terminal.
A few months ago in an airline club, an older gentlemen was talking VERY loudly on his cell phone. Nasser, who is certainly not shy, stood directly in front of the loud talker, took out his own cell phone, and pretended to have his own loud conversation. “WHAT?? I can’t HEAR you! Someone in the QUIET ZONE is talking VERY LOUDLY which VIOLATES CLUB RULES but the STAFF won’t tell him to STOP. We’ll have to WAIT until he either FINISHES TALKING TOO LOUD, or LEARNS some MANNERS, whichever comes FIRST!”.
The loud talker noticed Nasser’s demonstration and left in a huff. An airline employee then dropped the surprising news: “You just told off legendary blues artist B.B. King”.
Let’s go back 10 years earlier. Nasser’s flight was canceled. The airline put him on another flight. Just before the flight departed, an airline agent approached Nasser and asked, “Can you swap seats with someone important? His flight was also canceled but there are no seats left because you got the last one.”
Alas, Nasser had to call a dance that same night and thus needed to be on the flight. Later, a flight attendant dropped the surprising news, “You just prevented legendary blues artist B. B. King from getting to his concert on time”.
Nasser has never properly met B.B. King but has already been a thorn in his side, twice.
–
It’s good to be the king, but not if you’re B.B. and near Nasser.
Until next time, keep dancing!
Stephen
Thursday, I was back in Kirkland doing a workshop for the Samena Squares’ new graduates.
The big focus for the day was, from a 2-Faced Line, Half Tag blending into a Scoot Back.
As we learn to dance, we tend to take each call one at a time. However, some sequences, like Half Tag – Scoot Back, the formation (parallel ocean waves) exists only for an instant. One call blends into another.
We spent much of the evening working on this blending.
Also, After Half Tag, commands such as Left and Right are valid but rare. So, I worked on them as well. (Some flow was sacrificed in the process, but don’t tell.)
It was a fun workshop and great to see everyone.
Until next time, keep dancing!
It’s Monday, and that means a trip from Renton to Marysville for the Happy Hoppers’ Plus lessons.
It was a fun night. We had 3 squares (with one woman dancing as a man) and did a lot of review because we were dark last week for Spring Break.
We have a lot of ground to cover, so it is hard to review everything *and* teach new things, but I felt it important to cover everything we’d done to date. We had a few bobbles. Most notably, Peel Off and the call <anything> and Roll.
Roll is a hard one because it depends on your individual motion at the end of the call to do. So your partner may be going in one direction, but you’ll be headed in another.
The other big teach for the night was Relay the Deucy. We had to walk it several times, and I only did it from one formation, Parallel Right-Handed Ocean Waves with the Boys on the Ends. We got through it, but it wasn’t strong enough to move to another arrangement. This time. Soon though.
The best part of the night was a visit by Susan and Larry Morris. It was great to see them. (As always.) Everyone enjoyed getting an update and seeing that she’s as healthy as we say she is.
That’s my update for now.
Until next time, keep dancing!
For the record. I don’t enjoy meetings.
I used to joke that I became a caller so I didn’t have to ever become a club president. (There may still be some truth to this.)
However, meetings, even caller meetings, serve a purpose. One of the lessons of Freemasonry that I’ve learned is that to get ahead in this world, you can’t do it alone. You need the help of a brother (or sister) to get through your days. This is very true in Square Dance Land.
I could call the best dance ever, but alone, there is little I can do to make the activity grow and thrive. It meetings, such as the MBTC&C, we can work together to (at the very least) plot a course for growth and success.
We had seven at our meeting. Susan Morris (horray! she’s getting better), Oren Gaskil, Shirley and Bernie Cook, Cindy Gallagher, Doug Coleman, and myself.
We talked about the usually stuff. It was dry. When I get my minutes, if anyone wants to read them, I’ll share.
We’re planning on a “Newbies Dance.” If you’re a new caller or cuer in the Washington Area, we’re going to have a dance next month where you can come call to live dancers. (As opposed to doing it in the shower. However, shower singing is really just karaoke.) I don’t have my notes as to when it is, but I’ll dig out my calendar tomorrow and post it by itself.
It was hard to review choreography with only seven people. Maybe next time. Doug Coleman tried to go over one sequence, and it didn’t work, but I think that it was a semantic problem. It reference Centers twice, but where he saw Centers the second time, he thought VERY Centers, and I think it meant simply Centers of each group of four. Not sure. I need to get my hands on the sequence again.
We did listen to some new music, and I’ve ordered the following new tunes:
Zieh Die Schuh Aus – GPCD-821
Bop – RR-274
Boogie Shoes – RR-275
The first one is a German song that I’m going to have to translate if I’m going to use it. My German is passable but it’s been a long time since I’ve used it. (25 years or so.) I think it has the makings of an interesting hoedown. Once I hear the whole thing, I’ll know for sure. It might be a dud, but, from what I heard, I really liked it.
That was the meeting for another month.
Until next time, keep dancing!
On Saturday night, Martha, Elijah, and I found ourselves in Tacoma taking care of some errands. Since we were in the neighborhood, we thought it was a good time to visit with our friends at the South Sound Singles.
Before we left on our sojourn to Arizona, I spent about 3 years as their club caller and was overdue for a visit.
It was great seeing everyone and we’re sorry it’s taken us so long to get to a dance.
Thank you, Kenny Freeman, for letting me call a tip. It felt like old times. Sorry we missed Patty, but we hope she feels better.
The hall has a new paint job and a new fence. It looks great!
Until next time, keep dancing!
On Friday, April 8th, I headed back to the Samena Squares to call for their regular club dance. I was tempted to leave my gear in the hall as I’d been there the night before. However, I knew the cuer for the dance has a certain way she likes the sound and would be happier using her gear, so I thought better of it.
It really wasn’t my dance. This was one of Susan Morris’ dances that I’m doing until she is fully recovered. There was a good turnout. We had, I think, four squares at one point. Three danced most of the night and I had two at the very end.
The theme was “Kites are fun” and the decorating committee went all out filling the hall and the kitchen area with kites and kite decorations. It was amazingly clever and fun.
I didn’t have any kite music. The only kite song I know is from Mary Poppins, “Let’s go fly a kite.” Trouble is, it’s a waltz. Not going to work in a square dance.
So, at the suggestion of Susan Morris and Debbie Ceder, I chose songs with the term “fly” or “sky” in the title or simply fun/silly songs that reflect being outside.
Come Fly With Me
I’ll Fly Away
Fly me to the Moon
Cheeseburger in Paradise
Orange Colored Sky
Were some of my choices.
It was a fun dance and I tried to keep it a fairly high energy. (People can rest on the ride home.)
I got lots of compliments, which was nice. It was fun seeing everyone.
Until next time, keep dancing!
Since Susan is still recovering, I’m covering her workshops for the Samena Squares. It’s not an official club workshop, but there there is always a disconnect after lessons are over. I remember when I graduated from lessons and I went from dancing every Friday night to dancing every other Saturday.
It was a huge letdown.
Susan has taken it upon herself to keep the atmosphere of the dances going by reviewing and renewing the calls in the Mainstream program for the dancers. It really helps with the transition into Square Dance Land.
We even had a quick visit by Susan and she did a couple of Contras.
Last week, we reviewed Scoot Back extensively. This week, we worked Half Tag followed by a Scoot Back. We did other things too, but these were the biggies.
Next week, I think I’m going to do some work on facing Left/Right/In/Out. It can cause much confusion. (At this workshop, I tried a simple Face Right and it didn’t end well. So, it provides material for future weeks.)
Susan is hopeful she’ll be back by the first week in May. Keep your fingers crossed for her.
It was a great night.
Until next time, keep dancing!
The short version is that I didn’t get the gig.
The longer version is that they offered it to Don Wood. So, please get out and support the Boots and Laces as they try to increase their membership and grow square dancing.
Congratulations Don!
Until next time, keep dancing!
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