Stephen’s Square Dance Blog

While you may or may not do the “New Year’s Resolution” thing, I believe a good party is always a great way to celebrate your friends, no matter what day it is.

Thankfully, in January, I’ve been blessed over the last couple of years to call a dance in Portland, OR, for the Rosetown Ramblers on the first Saturday of the month. This was, if I recall correctly, my 4th Black and White Ball.

This dance, like so many others I’ve called for the Ramblers, was electric. It was a high-energy dance with a great deal of overall excitement by all the attendees. I’ve called numerous dances where, if the dancers are not dancing, they’re sitting on the sidelines (maybe) making smalltalk with their neighbors.

The flight to Portland was uneventful. (I was even fortunate enough to be able to move my seat on the play to row 6, right behind first class. Score!) The lovely and delightful Shawn Ferguson picked me up at the airport and was my host for the day.  (Thank you for the 4 Star accommodations!)

The dance started with an hour and a half of Advanced dancing. We weren’t sure we were going to have enough for a square, but, as the buzzer sounded, we ended up with 2 squares the whole time. The dancers, overall, did well. I have a working theory about A2 dancing as I think that it requires a slightly different philosophical style from Basic/Mainstream/Plus dancing. With B/M/P, my goal is to keep you dancing with the “wind in your face” as much as possible. At Advanced, especially A2, this is a noble aspiration, but not required. I’ve learned, over the past 14 years doing this, that if squares break down because you’re pushing them harder, it is okay. Just don’t let it happen more than 10% of the time. (Dancers still need to be successful.)

After the A2 portion of the evening, there was a potluck dinner that was absolutely FABULOUS! I’m working at getting my “girlish figure” back so I took it easy, but I did sample quite a bit.

The Ramblers dance started promptly at 7:30 and we everyone just connected. It was great. Since it was the new year, I started the dance with Auld Lang Syne, did some patter, and then another singing call.

I started the dance with some high-energy music and just kept it going. About halfway through, I brought it back a notch or two, but then we kicked it into high gear for the rest of the night. It was great. I love to be able to call dances like that. I think at one point, we had four squares on the floor, but most of the night we had three, with three on the floor at the last tip.

There were, at first no new students, but when 3 walked in the door, I opted to alternate tips between student level and Plus. (I don’t like the term “level” because the dances are usually about content, not ability. However, these were beginners and this requires some special handling.) Not that I took it easy on the students. They got just as much energy and attention as the Plus dancers. I just had to modify my delivery a bit.

I had some requests for some Round Dances, so thankfully, I had some cue sheets in my bag. Mostly Phase 2 Waltzes and 2-Steps. Nothing too complicated, but I had a number of people dancing which was great.

There were visitors from Eugene, from San Francisco, and from the Seattle/Tacoma area, so there were lots of familiar faces and a number of new ones. I had a blast!

I was asked if I’d do next year’s first Saturday dance in January. The issue there is that it is New Year’s Day. I agreed to it, but will have to have them add a rider to my contract so there is pork and saur kraut served at the pot luck. (It is my traditional “good luck” dish for the new year.)

Thank you Ramblers for a great dance! I loved it.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!!! It is hard to believe that it is 2009.

This was my third Black and White Ball for the Ramblers. They told me that I’ve become a “tradition” and I can’t tell you how warm and fuzzy that made me feel. Square dancers have always been like an extended family to me, and the Ramblers (and Heads to the Center) are no exception. What a fun dance!

I started my travels early in the morning. My flight was at 8:00 a.m. and, like every airport, they insist you be there two hours early. That was just too much, so, I made it there about an hour and a half early. Still a 5:00 a.m. wake up call is too darn early. I finished packing and Martha took me to the airport. (No, she couldn’t come this time. The Ramblers covered my airfare, but with the condo in Seattle still unsold, we didn’t have the $$$ for airfare for her. We’re putting the condo back on the market in a few weeks. Please pray for us.)

The flight was fairly painless. One grumpy father was taking his anger out on a fight attendant. I’m not big on drama, but I was wondering if he was going to be ejected from the plane. A couple crying children, but they were far enough away that they didn’t bother me. I took the time in the air to organize some notes and listen to some new music that I’d recently purchased.

I was met at the airport by Jenni and her wicked-cool VW bus. We ran a few errands and was treated to a delightful Thai lunch. Jenni and Tami and I talked about life, square dancing, and Disney. Does it get better than that?

Oh, before I forget… there was still snow on the ground! When I left Tempe, it was in the mid 50s and sunny.

At 5:00 I was calling for Heads to the Center. H2TC (my acronym, not theirs) had some new students of Advanced so I was asked to limit my program to A1. That took some prep, but I was ready. At the end of my 90 minute set, I did a full A2 tip. Nothing crazy hard, but I try to have some creative/interesting material handy. Lots of faces, some familiar and some new. Some of my Puddletown friends came down from Seattle and there was a contingent from Eugene. It was so good to see everyone.

6:30 to 7:30 was a potluck. If anyone went away hungry, they were doing something wrong.  I don’t usually eat while I’m calling. Getting some crumbs stuck in my throat makes for an unpleasant evening, but I was sure to drink lots of water to avoid issues.

7:30 to 10:00 was the dance. We really didn’t discuss how the evening would run, but they had new students there so I ran tips in this order… Beginner, Mainstream, Plus. Lather, rinse, repeat.

My first tip of the evening, I took from the Jerry Story and Tony Oxendine playbook. I started with a singing call, did a little patter, and did another singing call. All of it was kept very upbeat. Since it is the New Year, it is a great time to do Auld Lang Syne. I followed the patter with “Dancing on a Saturday Night.”

It was a high-energy dance all night. I did try to slow it down a few times, but it never really did lose its intensity.

One of my most often requested songs was “A Friend Like Me” it is from the Disney movie, Alladin, and it really moves. I’m so used to having to remove things like Dosado to make the timing work out that I found that they were getting home after their Promenades 2-4 beats early! I added a “Up to the Middle with a Cowboy Yell” two times to fix the timing.

As an aside, you’ve not lived until you hear 5 squares of people yell, in unison, “Who the Heck Stole My Horse!” What a kick!

One of the dancers, Bob, asked if I’d play his CD with Round Dancing on it. I did, and it was… in a word …awful. The cues were fine, but the voice was hard to distinguish from the music. So, I pulled some easy Phase 2 cue sheets out of my bag and added one Round Dance between each tip for the rest of the night. It worked out MUCH better. I’ve got to add some more contemporary Phase 2 music to my bag of tricks.

It was a great night. One of the dancers, Shawn, put me up for the night, treated me to breakfast, and took me to the airport! Thank you!

It was a great evening, and I loved it! Another big thank you to my hosts, Jenni, Tami, and Shawn. I so appreciate you shuttling me around and feeding me. You’re the best.

Until next time, keep dancing!

I got this from an email list of callers:

Hi, I figured it was time to hear some good new about square dance classes.  My home club, the Hoedowners (aka, the Hillsboro Hoedown of Aloha, OR, west of Portland) has just closed our mainstream classes.  Daryl Clendenin is the teacher with 68 new dancers that have come to at least one of the three open introductory nights.  We have an age range from 6 to 76.  With the angels on the floor we had eleven squares dancing on night 3.  Needless to say, we are a little bit excited.

After all the feedback, we are estimating that we will have about 60 students that will continue in this series.  What did we do to get this many students?  1)  The first ten lessons are free (gulp, but it paid off last year with 23 new club members), 2)  The first three lessons are open to all and closed for the fourth, 3) a free spaghetti feed before the third lesson, 4)  We all, as a club, committed to talking to at least 10 people about joining us for square dancing (emphasis on joining us for some fun, not joining a club),  5) small prizes for angels that brought someone with them to lesson 3, 6) yard signs,  7) craigslist, flyers posted everywhere we could  9) club members inviting dancers from other clubs to help angel and 10) every dancer making the effort to talk to, welcome, and encourage the newbies.

No one knows for sure why we have so many this year.  We don’t know how much of this is due to the economy and people seeking inexpensive entertainment but we will happily take in the students and hopefully convert them to square dancers.   Daryl Clendenin is a master teacher and caller and I have no doubt that anyone that shows up will learn to dance.

I have heard that another club 7 miles from us also is doing well with nearly 30 students.

–

That is amazing and exciting. It isn’t just the caller and it isn’t just the club, it is the group, working together, for the betterment of dancing.

If you want to contact the author, email me and I’ll put you in touch with him. I’ve not asked his permission to post his email address or his name. Some people are very private and I can respect that.

Saturday was a busy day!  Last year, while I was still living in the Seattle area, I booked a dance with the Rosetown Ramblers and Heads to the Center.  While I was forced to cancel most of my bookings when I moved, those that I knew would at least pay airfare stayed on the books.  So, off I went.

Martha drove me to the airport.  It was my first time actually driving/riding there and paying attention to my surroundings.  Every other time has been via a taxicab.  We live close to the airport, which was good as I took too long getting ready for the day.  It was a slow day at the airport and my trip through security was pretty quick.  Usually my microphones get me stopped, but I took them out in advance.  The TSA guy said that I didn’t have to do that in the future.  So, we’ll see.

The flight was fine.  It was full, but I had no one next to me.  Sweet!  The idiot, er, guy, behind me was only happy while his knees were in my back, so that was… unfortunate.   The icky part of the trip was when that same guys started clipping his fingernails just before touchdown.   I thought that fingernail clippers were verboten on planes.  Am I the only person on the planet that thinks common courtesy is becoming uncommon?

I was met at the airport by my host, Shawn.  We had some time to kill, so we went and grabbed a bite of Chinese food, and over to his home.  I considered a nap, but thought better of it.  Instead, I finished programming the music for my dance and getting my Advanced cards in order.

Heads to the Center dances first.   I was there on time, but we didn’t have a key to the closet where their amplifier and speakers were held.  So, we waited.  Eventually, someone took the hinges off the closet and we got started.

I don’t like to read my material, but, since I don’t call Advanced on a regular basis, it is easier for me to provide a solid dance experience if I do.  Some day I hope to get back to calling the program, but I’m not going to worry about it much as it is more important to get new dancers in the door.

We danced until about 6:40 since we had a late start.  Then, we booked it out the door for a quick bite to eat.  We went to an “all you can eat” Chinese buffet.  (Yes, I had Chinese food twice, but Martha will tell you that I’d eat the same food 3 times a day, every day for months if needed.)  We ate fast, and got back just in time for me to start the dance.

There are two “schools of thought” when it comes to square dancing.  One of them is to have the dance start slow and build it up to the middle and then let the dancers down gradually.  Me, I went for, start fast and then go faster.

Granted, it helps that this group was on the younger side so they moved.  (After the dance, a number of people commented how much energy the dance had and how much fun they had.  My kind of compliments.)

I used a number of “alternative patter tunes” that were on the energetic side, but I did slow it down a little bit on occasion to give everyone some breathing room.  Still, people paid to dance.

The funny thing for me was that I’m so used to leaving out Dosado and having to cut corners that it was odd to have people end a home during the singing call with time to spare.  They were rushing a bit, but not too much.

My first singing call was a strong one… Swing Down Sweet Chariot.  (On Red Boot.)  It isn’t so fast as to “take no prisoners” but fast enough to make people a little winded when done.  It really set the tone for the evening.  People knew what they were in for.

Another song I did that got people moving was “Fisherman’s Luck.”  I like to start this one slow and then move it up 2-3 bpm after every sequence.  It starts at 123 bpm and ends at 136.  This really isn’t that much faster than the standard 128 bpm.  Every minute they’re taking 8 extra steps.  However, in the context of the dance, it feels like they’re running.  People were having a blast!

In the middle of the dance, they requested that I review a pair of songs that they want to do at a demo in two weeks at a roller derby.  (They still have those?  I suppose the roller derby people say “square dances, they still have those?”)  One of the songs was Deborah Carroll-Jones singing “Ghost Chickens in the Sky” and the other was a parody of King of the Road called, Butch of the Road called by Anne Uebelacker and Et Macatee. I had to tell them that Anne and Et used some colorful language that I just couldn’t repeat.  However, I did the figures as written.  There was a little bit of confusion with the King/Butch of the Road, but I walked them through it and explained what was going on and what they should look for.

Piece of cake.

After the dance, Shawn drove me home and I just crashed.  It had been a long day.

Sunday morning, we went to breakfast in Portland at a place called the Cup and Saucer.  It was one of the best breakfasts ever.  I had a pancake with chocolate chips, rice crispies, and marshmallows and a small serving of scrambled eggs, potatoes, and bacon.  Oh, and I can’t forget my diet pepsi.  It was divine!

We had some time to kill before I had to be at the airport, but I’d rather just get through security and chill.  Portland (like Phoenix and unlike Seattle) has free wireless Internet access.  So, I chilled in style, got on my plane and headed home.  (The plane had more than its fair share of crying children.  Two of them, a brother and sister were right behind me, and the brother did his best to keep his sister annoyed and loud.  Their mother was next to them, but she just put headphones on and tuned them out.  Lucky me.)

Until next time, keep dancing!

I’ve got to get on top of my postings.  Egads, I can’t believe that a month has gone by since this dance.

This was a whirlwind trip for me.  Initially, the plan was for Martha and I to take the train to Eugene, so we stuck with it.  I flew into Seattle and met her at the airport.  Woo hoo!  (It’d been WAY too long since I’d seen her.)  We went back to the condo (that we’re still trying to sell) and a cab picked us up to take us to the train station.  We had some time to kill, so we went out for lunch.  Mmm mmm mmm!  Azteca!  (I’ve yet to find a Mexican restaurant here in Arizona that I like as much as Azteca in Bellevue.  Go figure.)

The train ride was my first ever.  I enjoyed it, but it wasn’t what I expected.  I thought it’d have been faster and a little larger.  Still, it was nice to not have to drive.  On top of that, it was nice to be able to see Martha and be able to interact with her rather than be focused on the drive.

We stayed with Lorna Mercer and Kurt Jensen.  They were great, as always.  We love their home and their hospitality.  Lorna picked us up from the train station and we stopped for some Thai food on the way to their home.

Saturday, the dance started in the afternoon.  I called the Advanced program for about an hour and a half.  I use a number of cards for it, and they were out of order.  As such, one of my killer-hard cards was first.  I’ve got to number them better.  Still, it was fun.  We only had one square of A2 dancers.  (With a few extras too.)  Kurt pried himself away from his World of Warcraft game to join us.  I’m sure this fact alone made his sister proud.

We had a terrific potluck after Advanced.  Wow.  They had something for EVERYONE.  (Even those that require gluten free products.)

After dinner I had a multi-Program dance.  Basic/Mainstream/Plus was the menu for the day.  They had two brand-new people.  Then, they had nearly a square of dancers that had been through the Basic program.  There was also a two squares of Plus dancers.

One time they wanted a full Mainstream tip so as to try to “pull dancers through it.”  This is not my favorite thing to do, but it turned out okay.

There was, I think a square+ that came down from Portland.  Thank you!!!  It was great to see them all.

The dance was fun and lively.  I really enjoyed it.  I don’t know when I’ll be able to make it back to visit/call, but we’ll work something out.

The trip home was uneventful.  The train was full and we met some new folks.  We also had to deal with some motion sickness.  It wasn’t horrible, but just uncomfortable.  Martha’s equilibrium was off for a few days though.

I flew back to Arizona Sunday night with our cat Sarah.  She was not too happy about it.  Nor was my other cat happy to have to share the apartment, however, we’ve reached a certain level of peace since them.

As I said, it was a whirlwind trip.  I wish I could have been able to visit some friends, but alas, it was not to be.  I got a call, while on the way to Bellevue from Cathy Bruhn.  She was in Arizona and wanted to see if she could visit with me.  How bizarre!

Until next time, keep dancing!

I’ve long said that a fellow square dancer is a friend that you’ve not yet met.  The Rosetown Ramblers are no exception to this.  What a fun dance. 

Martha and I went down early to visit family.  Our Aunt Rosalie and Uncle Bill rented an apartment in Portland to be close to their son and his family.   It was great seeing the whole family. 

The dance was actually two dances.  The first dance was actually sponsored by the Advanced club, “Heads to the Center.”  I frequently omit them when I talk about Rosetown, but that’s an error on my part.  They are their own club.  We had two squares of members and visitors.  I’ve not been calling the program regularly for a while, so I don’t sight very much of my Advanced material.  If something breaks down, I’ll go into sight-resolution mode to work a call or two.  The material I use for this I call my “festival” material.  It is a number of shorter sequences (10-20 commands long) that end with Right and Left Grands, Allemande Lefts, or “You’re Home.”  They work really well.  I’ve said for years that “Right and Left Grand” is the chicken soup for the square dancers soul.  If nothing else goes right, that one will work, or, if a square is broken down, it helps with a reset.

There is a potluck between the Advanced dance and the Basic/MS/Plus dance.  Last year there was a wedding too.  (I heard that the newlyweds were doing fine, but they were working on some non-SD stuff for a bit.  Congratulations to them on their first wedding anniversary.)

The food was (once again) amazing.  There’s another (nearly) universal truth that square dancers eat well.  That is very true here.  A big thank you to everyone that brought food.  It was delightful.

After dinner and during the dance Martha visited with as many people as I did.  I’ve known a number of my peers that bemoan the fact that they don’t know how to meet new people.  I love how square dancing lets me connect with so many people from so many walks of life.  I know Martha feels the same way. 

Several friends came down from Seattle to dance and visit, as did a number of people from Eugene, OR.  There were a few students present, so I did do a few beginner tips.  I also split the night between Mainstream and Plus.  I initally was going to workshop a new call or two, but then thought better of it.  This was a “fancy dress dance.”  There was no need to stop the momentum of the dance with learning.  So, I stuck to the programs. 

Like so many evenings, this one ended too soon.  (I’ve been to dances where I look at my watch and say “it’s only been an hour?”  Yuck.)  At the end of night I still had three squares of people dancing and one (maybe more) square of people sitting out, out of the 5 squares that were there in total. 

When people stay to the end of a dance I know that I did a good job.  No amount of praise means the same thing.  A Seattle area caller will tell you that everyone lies.  If you’re bad, people that like you will tell you that you were great because they don’t want you to change.  If they do like you, they’ll tell you that you were good because they don’t want you to feel bad.  People staying to the end is people talking without speaking and they’re saying nice things.

We’ve not scheduled next year’s dance, but I’m going to talk to the club about it.  Even though we’re in AZ now, I’d still love to come up and call for the Heads to the Center (see, I didn’t forget) and the Rosetown Ramblers.

Until next time, keep dancing!