Stephen’s Square Dance Blog

News from Square Dance Land…

On the 25th of February, I taught my last session for the Mainstreamers. It was fun while it lasted.

There was food before the dance. By food, I mean a HUGE spread of things to eat. No wonder I’m not getting thinner.

Also, we had lots of visitors! (Where we these people when we needed Angels? For non-square dancers, Angels are those people that know how to square dance that come help fill out squares.) There were some dancers there that could have used the refresher. (Oops, was that my outside voice/typing?)

Among the visitors were two other callers, Jim Logan and Don Spurgin. This was planned because they wanted dancers to have a chance to get a Purple Heart badge. (This is where you dance in a square with 3 callers.) To do the 3 caller thing, I had to use a headset which is not my favorite thing. My headset is very prone to feedback. It squeals, loudly, when it gets close to my speakers. Yuck.

I also had my first equipment failure, ever. When I plugged in my turntable, it made a loud buzzing noise. To call it a hum is an understatement. Egads. Thankfully, Jim had his turntable in his car, and I was able to use it.  (When I got home, I plugged in my turntable to check it and the hum was still there.  I took it apart, foolishly, to see if I could find a problem, but there were too many things that I didn’t understand so I put it back together. Miraculously, the buzzing stopped.)

It was a fun dance. Don asked me, when we danced in the Purple Heart tip, if he had to dance it straight. I didn’t really understand the question, but what he meant was “can I clown around?” I told him he could do whatever he wanted as he was a grownup. (I’m not one for horseplay when I’m dancing.)

Rather than call one Purple Heart tip for everyone, we just rotated people in and out of the square after we got to our home positions. This worked out very well as, I think, nearly everyone had a chance to dance with the three of us.

Since this was a “graduation” dance, I didn’t teach anything. I barely reviewed anything. (With visitors/guests, I like to let people show off just a little bit. No one likes to look bad in front of a crowd.)

At the end of the dance, both Jim and Don called a tip and did a great job.

It was a nice dance and, for some, a teary farewell. I’m going to miss everyone.

Until next time, keep dancing!

More (old) news from Square Dance Land…

I know, I know. I promised more updates more frequently. Rats. (I’m on vacation next week that will end at the National Square Dance Convention, so I may or may not have time to make many more updates.)

February 18th was my second to last dance with the Mainstreamers out in Apache Junction.  People were sad to see me go, and a couple asked if it was a political thing. I don’t think it was. My style, I think, is pretty open. I do use more contemporary music than most, but that’s rarely been a deal breaker. The issue was that they wanted to do lessons on the same night that they had dances.

Doing lessons/dances on the same night has both advantages and disadvantages. If people already have that night free, then it is a great fit. Once they learn, they’re used to being away from home that night. The disadvantage is that it can make for a long night, especially for those that come help the new people and then stay to dance.

There were quite a few people that were “walking wounded.” Bad knees, bad hips, and bad backs all get in the way of a good dance experience.

To accomodate the lesson/dance schedule the Mainstreamers wanted, they felt that a better start time was 6:00 and I just couldn’t get there.

Even with a couple of weeks left, I wasn’t about to quit, so we kept plugging along. We’d finished the Basic program and started working the Mainstream movements. I like to work them back to front because, all too frequently, we run out of time at the end. The last call on the list is Recycle and new dancers struggle with it because the see it right at the end and don’t get it worked/reviewed as much as it needs.

It was a night with a lot of review but had lots and lots of smiles. My kind of dancing.

Until next time, keep dancing! (And keep smiling!)

News from square dance land!

On February 9th, I headed up to Scottsdale to fill in for the talented Dale Dockery at Bucks and Bows. I’d learned from my previous experience there to avoid much of what people call DBD. DBD is an acronym that means “Dance By Definition.”

Somehow, somewhere, somebody decided that the term DBD would represent a harder skill level of dance. The thought is that, if you know the definition of a call, no matter the formation or position you are in, you can dance it. The truth is that it is among the more asinine things that has ever been created by the square dance community. If you think about it, EVERY square dance EVER is done using the definitions of the calls. If you didn’t, you’d be wandering around.

Anyway, what I leaned at the B&Bs from my last time filling in was that there are a number of dancers there that prefer the standard positions of calls ONLY. Variations are tolerated in small amounts.

When I teach things, I tend to stick to the standard formations then branch out with more creative uses of calls at workshops and dances. However, I will show some calls from two positions, if it is warranted. For those in the square dance community, calls like Scoot Back, Follow Your Neighbor, and Split Circulate have both sexes doing each of the actions. More than that, it can be detrimental to the learning process.

The note I got from Pat and Dale said to review:

In the beginning there were no standardized square dances. Every caller had their own list of calls and knew how to teach them. Eventually, a few braves souls sat down to flesh out a list that would let callers travel around the nation, then internationally, and call dances.

News from Square Dance Land!

Lessons on the 4th were a little more quiet than usual. We had a few new couples. (Visitors from another club that is learning Mainstream in the area.) However, a number of folks were absent. It may have been the cold/flu-like bug going around, I’m not sure.

It was more of the same this week. Nothing spectacular. Lots of review. The call, Circle to a Line, seems to cause everyone problems. I’m not sure why. I don’t think it is lack of me calling it. However, there are some truisms in square dance land. One of them is, if dancers can’t do something, don’t call it. A corollary to this is, “if dancers can’t dance something correctly, don’t call it.”

I’m afraid that if I use the call too much, and they don’t get it, then I’m just going to make people mad. Though, if I don’t call it enough to get people comfortable with it, I run the risk of not doing my job in preparing everyone to enjoy the wide world of square dancing.

So, for our two hour session, I reviewed calls like Circle to a Line and tried to move into some uncharted territory. By uncharted territory, I mean calls that I either skipped like Half Sashay, or some of the variation of circulates.

I joke about my teaching style is one I learned in the shower… Lather. Rinse. Repeat. That’s what I do. I’ve found that it has been very effective when I combine it with one other instruction, review.

More than ever, I’ve found that having a targeted preparation for every dance is the best thing. In a sense, I’m creating a special dance just for this one night and just for these people. True, sometimes I don’t even get close to what I’ve prepared. However, when I do, there’s little that makes me feel better.

The downside of the night was that talking to the treasurer, he implied that they want to change the start time of the dance after graduation. We’d be going back to 6 p.m. It really frustrates me that no one would come out and just tell me. I have to hear it in whisperings and then ask. So, I asked, rather than hire someone else, let me see if I can make it by 6.

I really enjoy this group. There are a lot of great people here and I want to be part of what they have going on in this park.

We’ll see.

Until next time, keep dancing!

The Desert Mainstreamers is a club that I really enjoy being part of. We’ve got a strong class this year and I’ve seen great inprovement among all participants. It is really a neat feeling when you see people start to feel comfortable with the square dance calls and how they are put together.

It is hard, with only 2 hours, to review all of the material that needs review and teach something new. I’ve pleaded with the club’s management to move graduation out a month, but they say the date is set in stone. I truly don’t understand this (especially when I see SO MANY other dates in the world slip) but I will do as they say. My caveat is that they can’t say that they’ve graduated the MS program. Any diploma must say something about Basics. Implying that they can dance Mainstream would be a lie.

I had to review a lot more than I thought… though, deep in my heart, I’m sure that I knew it would happen like this. I had a choice. Just teach new things, and avoid the review… or, cover it now. The responsible thing was to cover it now… it is one thing to be exposed to the calls, but another to learn and PRACTICE them. This, after all, how we improve. I must say, I have seen lots of improvement. One of my stated goals is to not just make new dancers, but make good ones.

It means that it takes longer, but I’ll wager that they’ll enjoy dancing a lot sooner and keep dancing longer over time.

My teaches included Shoot the Star (from an Allemande Thar… there is no other place) and Wheel and Deal. Seems to me that there was one other… but I’m not sure now. I’ll have to check my notes. I taught it at the end of the night, which I don’t like, but I do what I have to do. Ed Foote, a caller in Pennsylvania says that you should teach every call 3 times… that is teach it one week, then teach it again the next, and one more time the next. This is what aids retention. He may be right. It is all part of getting better.

So, it was a good session and I’m looking forward to the the next one.

Until next time, keep dancing!

In Square Dance Land, there is a tightrope that callers walk. It is system of finding balance between various factions in any club and at any dance.

There are always two distinct groups in any class. One group gets whatever is being taught/workshopped every single time on (or near) the first time. The other group paid their money and wants to learn but doesn’t see it that fast.

There are risks working with both. Go too fast, and you’ll lose the slower population. Go too fast and the strong dancers will disappear. I sometimes think this is why Angels (experienced dancers for those that don’t know the terminology) don’t come around the first few weeks (months) of lessons. These dancers know what is going on, but can’t say anything because the understand there can be only one teacher and frustrated that the new people don’t pick it up quicker. It is, after all, easy to forget one’s own roots.

Though, I’ve been in classes (as a teacher) where someone usually tries to to teach from the floor. Once, while teaching a Plus class, a woman shouted out “just do it!” Just do what? I asked the question (in error from the microphone) and lost control of the situation instantly.  We were doing Track 2 and I was explaining how the tracks worked and that it was a Tandem Partner Trade and that a Tandem can be though of like a bicycle built for two. This woman wanted nothing to do with how the move was done. She just wanted to “do it.”

So, how do we handle such situations? With diplomacy is the only answer I have right now.

I’ve got an issue right now where a couple, where I was calling, didn’t like one aspect of my teach. All I can say is “trust me.” I do, honestly, have the good of the activity in mind while I am teaching. It would be stupid of me to do otherwise. Is there a danger that we’ll lose someone. Absolutely.

However, everyone needs to remember where they are and where they once were. If we’re in a class of beginners and nearly everyone is 50 and older, don’t expect me to teach something once and assume that everyone got it.

Also, if I’m doing a workshop for experienced dancers, and I’m reviewing the finer points of a call (like, for example, Square Thru is a mini Right and Left Grand and that, if you turn, you always face in) then remember that some people may have never seen some of these applications.

A funny thing about square dancers is that nearly EVERYONE I’ve ever worked with thinks that they way that they learned is the right way. It takes a lot of time and energy to see that this might not be true. A common mistake for newer callers is to ignore the written definitions and think that the way that they learned was the best way. You get to be the best by careful study and understanding.

Doing something because you’ve always done it that way is the first ingredient in the recipe for disaster.

Will I be able to make (and keep) everyone happy? Probably not. Everyone seems to think that they know best. My goal is to do the best that I can and encourage people to trust me in that I know what I’m doing.

Until next time, keep dancing!

Wednesday, Martha and I returned to Mesa to teach and call for the Desert Mainstreamers.

Lessons have started at 6:00 and gone until 7:30, but this week I made an “executive decision” to run lessons until 8:00. We’ve not had a full square of Mainstream dancer show up in weeks. This is something that is not unique to this club. There’s something about the first couple weeks of lessons that seems to keep people away. I used to say “scare them away” but I don’t think it is fear. I’m sure that there are a fair number of people that just don’t enjoy starting at “square one.” (No pun intended.)

New dancers, especially in the first couple of weeks, tend to be, for lack of a better phrase, a little rough around the edges. So, experienced dancers tend to shy away. It isn’t that they’re not being friendly, though, I wish their desire for friendship would at least bring them to the dances for more meet and greet time. Somewhere, about week 6 or 7, experienced dancers start to come back and join us.

No one complained about the extra time spend on classes and I used it to reinforce what people knew. I learned, long ago not to teach anything in the last half hour of class. I used to review the first couple of tips and then teach after that. However, I’m modified my style just a bit so that I use my review time as a warmup. If there is something that I’m going to teach that has some sort of prerequisite, I’ll add it. The reason I do this is because I found that it doesn’t take too long before the review takes the best “learning time of the night” or, as time progresses, it is possible for a night of review that uses the full two hours of class.

Yes, I think that callers that say they use every call every night are full of baloney. It’s not impossible to call, in a three hour dance (with no rounds or maybe 1 round between tips) all the calls. However, you’ll only be able to see them in their standard positions with very LITTLE variety. Where’s the fun in that?

So, I try to review, or stagger the revew, but only as a warmup for the evening. Sometimes it is only to get the blood flowing.

I’m not going through my list… top to bottom so that if dancers go to a student dance, they’ll not be caught unaware. Though, the problem there is that I’m using the revised/proposed new teaching order from Callerlab. I’ve got no idea what others are going. (I REALLY need to fix that.)

Everyone had a good time… some of the rough spots are coming off. (Though, I’ve got a few guys that don’t seem to get that when the Ladies Chain they have to work too. Yes, the girls start, but the boys help finish the call. Two of my men stand there and the women are just stuck waiting looking lost for a moment. For now, I’ve added helper words, but I’m going to have to wean them of this crutch.

Also, I introduced square thru…  I won’t say that it was a disaster, but it was harder than it should have been. In an attempt to prevent the “Courtesy Turn” problem (where boys want to turn the girls on the second had of the Square Thru) I’m having just the boys and girls work in their own groups. The added benefit is that it helps teach them how (and where) to turn and face in. Funny thing is that I had a couple of people that would turn and go the wrong way. There’s something about “always” turning left or turning right that seems to appeal to people. I’ve seen it while teaching Wheel and Deal. There’s always a handful of people that want to wheel the wrong way. Once I figured out that it was due to the right/left issues that people were having, I started prefacing my calling with “look toward the center.” That helped immensely.

For now, I’m walking people through Square Thru and saying Right Pull By. Stop. Look In. Face in. Left Pull By. It is helping.

So, I’ll work on it bit by bit over the next few weeks.

Until next time, keep dancing.

Hello from Square Dance Land!

I’ve had a number of private comments about the blog change. One or two have made issues of how readible it is (or isn’t) so, if you have a problem with it, let me know. I’ll try to fix it.

Tonight was full of ups and down. I pulled in two more couples for lessons. I know have a full square, 8 people, as long as they all come back. Several of them are re-treads, they’ve danced in years past, and some of them are brand new. It is a healthy mix and they’re all young. (Youth is in the eye of the beholder. I’d say that everyone, nearly, is in their 50s.)

Nothing earth shattering, as far as material. Lots of Circles and Stars. Tonight, I added Ladies Chain (both 4 Ladies Chain and 2 Ladies Chain), Pass Thru, and Courtesy Turn. I can do a lot with just a few calls. I’m no Marshall Flippo, but I can entertain them.

I was having a great time, and I think everyone else was was well, and suddenly, it was time to be over. An hour and a half is good… but two hours would be better. I’d like the extra time to just let people dance and “let their hair down.”

I’ve got a woman “angel” (in Square Dance speak, an angel is someone that helps teach new dancers) that is struggling just a bit. There’s one man that likes to Swing when he does the Do Sa Do. From her expression and her body language, it isn’t a good thing for her. I don’t know if it is that she’s a tad on the frail side, or if she just doesn’t appreciate the sudden close contact.

Last week,  at a different dance, I had a dancer express annoyance that I wanted him to do Do Sa Do “properly.” (Properly is “back to back” and has no touching involved.) He told me that I took his fun away. Well, the trouble is that a number of the women he was swinging couldn’t get back into the formation they needed to be due to the extra frills. If you can hip swing or highland-fling swing and get back into your formation, go ahead. If not, you’re doing bad things to the square and to the dance and should stop.

The regular club dance was okay. We only had a square, and some of them, I think, weren’t feeling entirely well. They were moving slower than normal. So, I called three tips and we called it a night. We’re supposed to go until 9:00, but we were done before 8:30. I may just suggest that, if we’re not going to get a club of dancers, then we should just teach from 6-8 and have a couple of tips at the end for the angels. Eventually, we’ll get to a point where we’re just dancing and I can workshop calls as I need to.

Sharon (the president) asked me if next week would be okay. I didn’t have a problem with it, but Bill (the guy helping bankroll the group) wants to get lessons moving. I can sneak another couple into my program next week.

When we were done, I heard that another club, that teaches lessons on the same night, decided to stop doing lessons because they were losing money. They had 22 students on the books and had to quit. I was asking why and they said that between the hall rent and paying the caller, they were losing $50 a night. It made me shake my head. Granted, over the past 5 weeks, they averaged 10 people.

If you have someone coordinating the students… someone that could call them to remind them, make them feel welcome when they’re there and missed when they’re not, then half your battle is over.  Get everyone in the door, and raise your prices $2.50 and you’ve covered your shortfall. If you need more… have a 50/50 drawing. I’ve said for years that I think that angels should bear some of the cost of lessons. It doesn’t have to be a full stake, but it would help the club a lot. Granted, I think they should get something for their money… a tip or two, just for them. After all, the dance they save, may be their own.

I can sympathize for those on a fixed income… but I also know that prices for all goods and services rise. Gas, heating/cooling bills, taxes, rent… the bills have to be paid somehow. If not, we lose our halls and our dances.

Sorry for being a downer. I just don’t think stopping lessons is the answer. Lessons are a loss leader anyway. You expect to lose money in the short term with a long term goal of a new member.

I’ll ponder some more and see what I can figure out… until then, I’ll just do what I do best and enjoy the most, calling square dances.

Until next time, keep dancing.

On Wednesday, Martha and I headed back to Mesa to call for the Desert Mainstreamers.

It was their second dance since starting lessons. We’ve picked up a second couple. While I do wish for more, I’m happy with the number that we get. This couple is brand-spanking-new and the first couple danced a couple of years ago. I worked them through a number of basics and then taught Grand Square.

We didn’t have a full square of club members, probably due to the presidential debate. (I’m sorry I missed it myself, but in the end, I catch it, or at least the highlights, on the news.) So, we just kept the students dancing. My tendency is to just keep teaching, but I’ve learned over the years that the teaching has to stop after about an hour. A quick review, then teach something and dance to reinforce what was learned. I’m starting to think that the review at the beginning should really only be centered around the calls learned the previous week.

I used to try to review EVERYTHING before I started teaching. The trouble is that at a certain point. It takes a long time to do that; almost too long. By the time you’re ready to start teaching, dancers are tired.

The first couple of weeks with new people are mostly the same materials. There is some variation so that it isn’t overly repetitious. However, I make note of what I’ve called or taught so that no one gets short changed.

I taught some and we danced and everyone had a good time. Eventually, people started to trickle out so we didn’t have enough to keep going. However, we had at least 2 hours of teaching and dance time. Not too shabby.

Next week, I hope to have more. Please join us, we’d love to have you.

Until next time, keep dancing.