There’s an LDS church in Litchfield Park, AZ that had me do an event earlier in the year for an adult Sunday school group. They had me come back and do one for their teenage Sunday school group.

These were mostly 12, 13, and 14 year olds (some older, some younger) whose leadership wanted them to engage of an activity that would help teach them respect an interaction. What better than square dancing?

I went in prepared for a massive gender imbalance. I know teens and dancing. (At least teen boys.) However, it wasn’t horrible. I think I only had 2 women dancing as men the whole time *and* I had five squares.

I had a fabulous time and I think they did too.

I thought that I would be doing some non-square dances, but it wasn’t really needed. I did mostly squares.

My beliefs may be different than then theirs, but I’ve got this to say about the LDS events I’ve done. (I’ve done either 4 or 5 since I’ve been here in AZ.) Every group has been polite and helpful at every event. Everyone participates (even if it is only once) and, afterwords, a sizable number number approach me to offer thanks and/or offer to help me carry things out to my car. They are fabulous folks and I appreciate them.

I hope to get at least one more blog post in before I leave for WA. However, if I don’t, I see you all in Washington!

Keep dancing!

The big news is that we’re moving back to Seattle. The back story behind it is mostly drama and not really worth telling.

I’ve purchased some new music. I want to critique it here, which I will do in the next few days.

Finally, here’s something that I’ve noticed about modern western square dance callers, in general. (If you’re a caller and this doesn’t apply to you, then you are a square dance caller in “specific.” General won’t apply to you.)

I’ve noticed that, when you get a group of a callers together and talk about a random application of a specific call, there is nearly always (I said nearly, not 100%) someone that will say that they use some variation of said call at EVERY dance. Not some dances. All dances.

I was part of a discussion to limit how one particular call was danced at the Mainstream program. It was a common sense thing more than anything. (The details are going to remain unspoken so as not to call out anyone in particular. That would be rude.)

This application was so obscure that I couldn’t even fathom why someone would try it, yet there was one caller willing to defend the application of this call (seemingly) to the death.

Seriously. With numbers as low as they are, why does anyone fight like this?

A similar argument came up 6 months ago with a different group of callers about a different call. What came out of this was that someone didn’t like being told “what to do.” Really?

When your peers decide that something is the best interest of the activity  (and getting something to a vote is nearly impossible with some of today’s leadership) the answer is not to conform but to rebel?

There is no call in square dance land that I can’t live without.

You could cut the list in half and I could still put together a dance that would be fun and engaging. I might even use calls missing from the list, but I would introduce them in such a way that no one would have to know them when they walked in the door.

It saddens me to see and hear people argue over the trivial.

My house is full of stuff I don’t need. (I know, because I’m packing it.) Some of my books are a case in point. There are many that I want on my shelves. However, there are many more that I would have gotten just as much use out of had I borrowed them from the library.

I think that we’d have better luck in Square Dance Land if we had a smaller bookshelf with a stronger library.

Though, I’ve been wrong before.

Until next time, keep dancing!

On Monday, April 5th, I headed to Scottsdale to fill in for Dale Dockery at the Bucks and Bows. They are a Plus club that, like many, teaches their new dancers from zero to the Plus program. It’s a lot of material to cover, but the B&Bs are coming along nicely.

This was my first outing with this group, so I started slowly to figure out how proficient they were. Dale and Pat sent me a list of the Plus moves they’ve covered so far, which was great, but it turns out that one couple had missed the previous week, so I had a little ground to (re)cover.

The calls they knew were Ping Pong Circulate, Linear Cycle, Coordinate, Fan the Top, Relay the Deucey, Crossfire, All 8 Spin the Top, and Chase Right.

The review was pretty smooth. I had to spend some extra time on Relay the Deucey and Crossfire. Also Coordinate caused us a little hiccup. All things considered, it went pretty smoothly.

I wasn’t sure what to teach, so I went with Load the Boat and Peel Off.

I teach Load the Boat a little differently than most. As such, I have the hardest time getting existing dancers to do it. My experience has been that it works INCREDIBLY well, but many won’t do it because they like working alone. (Or, show off.)

Modern Western Square Dancing is the “Art of Dancing with Hands.” When you do Load the Boat, if the Centers Pass Thru then *touch hands*, they will know who to turn their backs on. Then, *touching hands* with the person next to them, they’ll know who their partner is in order to Trade. Then, they can do their final Pass Thru.

The key is touching hands and it helps everyone. Trouble is, I can’t get the experienced dancers to do it. I suspect that many dancers like to demonstrate that they know the route of the call. (Hence the “show off” aspect I mentioned earlier.) It is, technically a hands-free move, but again, if everyone is helped by touching hands, why not do it?

I’ll be back for lessons on the 12th and 19th and calling a dance for them on the 23rd. (Thank you Dale and Pat for the opportunity. I appreciate it.)

In my next post, I’ll talk about some of my new music….

Until next time, keep dancing!

In the meantime, I got a compliment via email that I wanted to share…

“Thanks for a great dance. We needed a fun time as a club. Everybody is talking about it.”

That was one of the nicest things that anyone has ever said to me. It’s going in my “attaboy file.”

I agree, it was a fun dance… I just wish they weren’t so far away.

Until next time…

Keep dancing!

I’ve been doing some research on square dancing’s history and traditions. To this end, I have found a number of old books and magazines to use as references. One of this year’s goals for me is to start an online “note service” like the ones from yesteryear. My plan is to publish something weekly (short articles) and have longer and more detailed issues every now and again.

Anyway, this is what I found in a booklet dated 1952.

“We are living in an urbanized period in which people are struggling desperately for something real. Life is so individualistic that they try hard to find something to bring to the group satisfaction that they find in their families. (Or once found.)”

60 years later, and this hasn’t changed.

Later, in the same introduction… “What about dancing? It is hardly fair to place this social activity in the same category with anti-social “social dancing.” Unless dancing borrows its forms from its older brother, the two are not in the same class at all.

The spirit of folk games and dances is inclusive (“everybody come”) while the spirit of ballroom dancing is more likely, “just us two.” Special dress is not usually necessary for folk games – but it is in ballroom dancing.

If people do no know how, there is usually friendly instruction in connection with folk games and squares. Nobody seems to care, usually in ballroom dancing. The assumption is that you either know how, or don’t care to. Folk games involve cooperative group activity – ballroom dancing involves individual activity.

Ballroom dancing often eliminates, or sends to the wall as a wallflower, the ungraceful, the unbeautiful, or the poor. Folk games, and squares – in their true spirit – genuinely welcome the ungraceful, those who need social activity. For this reason, church groups and many others who have similar objectives, find them valuable. they do something for people by including them.”

From “…and promenade all” by Helen & Larry Eisenberg. Copyright 1952

In this post 9/11 world, I fear that society, at least in the United States, is becoming increasingly anti-social. For whatever reason, we’re not connecting with our neighbors as we probably should. My hope is that I, as a square dance caller, can help people connect (and reconnect) with one another.

They had two squares on the floor the whole night with a few sitting out. Martha and I enjoy this club a lot and we always have a good time when we go.

We got an early start on our trip up due to construction on the way. (With a lot of it in our own neighborhood.) We also wanted to go eat at a Mexican restaurant that was on the way to the dance. We found it, actually, when we went to Lake Havasu and it is called Casa Bonita. Sadly, it wasn’t the same as our Lake Havasu experience. Close, but not quite. (My criteria? Fajitas and chips.) While it didn’t meet my (high) expectations, the food was still tasty and the service was excellent. (We’ll eat there again, I’m sure.)

The dance was a lot of fun. The have a new class that is through Mainstream so, for them, I split tips; alternating Mainstream and Plus. It is not my ideal situation, I prefer to call one program so that everyone gets the same value for their money, but I do what I have to do to entertain everyone.

The dance was fun, and everyone was having a great time, but what made the dance an event was their pie auction/fundraiser that they did about halfway through the dance. The week prior, the club asked me if I’d be the auctioneer for it. I’d never auctioned anything before but offered to help. Thankfully, I’d observed the auctioneering talents of Jerry Story and Jon Jones at a pair of Callerlab conventions, so I did what I could to emulate them. I must have done a good job as we turned 15-20 pies into $249. (I didn’t count the number of pies, but did remember the dollar figure.)

I used some of my new Royal Platinum music (which I’ll review in the days/weeks to come) and a fair amount of pop music as hoedowns. (A number of people remarked on how much they liked the sound an feel of the new music.)

Also, I was the Round Dance cuer for the night. This isn’t the only club that asks me to pull double duty for a dance. I enjoy it, but I have to add more Round Dances to my library. I am going to be reaching out to some of my cuer friends to put together a book of “Round Dances for the Square Dance Caller.” I think that if I could find Round Dance cue sheets that were all Phase 2, I could put together a book of them and (with the choreographer’s permission) sell it with the proceeds going to the Callerlab Foundation for the Preservation of Square Dancing. I’ll update everyone with the status of this project over the next few weeks/months as well.

It was a good day and a fun dance. It was a long day though. We left home at around 2:30 and got home after Midnight. Eli had no issues at all. He enjoyed everyone’s attention and did fuss at all. (Outside of his normal fussiness, anyway.)

We’re looking forward to our next visit to the Mile High Squares!

Here are some random things for today, and I’ll get more posted over the next few days.

I’ve not had a huge number of gigs in Arizona so far this year, but I’ve been busy. (Especially with Eli, but that’s another story for another time/blog.)

Here are the highlights from the dances I’ve had but not blogged about.

January 9th – This was a (solo) visit to the White Mountain Rim Rompers. We’d had a busy few days with Eli the week prior, so felt that it would probably be best if he stayed home and just “chilled.” We had a nice dance. A square of folks for the Plus workshop and then two squares (with some extras) for the dance. They are a Mainstream club, but many of their members dance the Plus program. So, if they had only Plus dancers on the floor, I called Plus. If Mainstream only dancers were up, then I kept it Mainstream. (No matter what, I made sure they had fun all the time.)

January 16th – I was honored to be able to call for part of Dessert Valley Squares’ annual fly-in. It’s a mini-festival of square dancing and always fun. It’s the third fly-in that I’ve called for and all of them have been real events. I worked with the legendary Bob Jones for my set. The dancing was fun, and the food was outstanding! DVS knows how to take care of people.

January 28th – I took the family on a road trip to Lake Havasu for the London Bridge Squares. We had a blast. LBS is a great group and a lot of fun. They’ve booked me for next year already. We had, I think, 4 squares, but 3 danced most of the night. The lovely and talented Nancy Mouser did the rounds. They put us up for the night and we played tourist on Friday. The London Bridge was cool, but I was disappointed in the kitsch around it. I expected more British fare, but it was more geared to the college/bar-hopping set.

February 12th – The family and I headed to Washington state for a small vacation and some calling dates. This initially was supposed to be a Woodinville Toe Stomper dance, but they have since folded.  Our friends Susan and Larry Morris helped me put on the dance on our own. We landed and got to the dance no problem. We had 4 squares and a fun time. I tried a “Take No Prisoners” set in place of pre-rounds. It didn’t go as well as I’d have liked, but we had fun. I called and cued the whole dance. It made for a long night, but we all had a good time.

February 13th – We headed to Puddletown for their Valentine’s Day dance. What fun! We did some mixers and split the tips for the new students and the experienced ones. Martha and I love this club and its members/guests. We had a blast. (And we had some visitors come just to see Eli.)

February 14th – Just a quick visit to Spike Reid’s Sunday Plus. I wasn’t calling; we were just visiting. However, Spike let me call a tip which was great. I thought they started at 8, but they started at 7, so we missed some dancing. However, better late than never.

February 15th – We headed over to Monday Squares where Rem Remington let me split the night with him. Just like old times. We didn’t have enough for 2 squares.  So, we kept the tips short/sweet and had some fun with it.

February 21st – We headed to Solo Squares for a visit with our square dance family there. Their caller, Cliff Nichols, took over when we moved to AZ and has done a great job of entertaining them. He even asked me to call a tip of which I was (and am) thankful.

Tomorrow, March 20th, I’m calling at the Mile High Squares in Prescott.

Over the next week or so, I’ll be providing more updates of some behind the scenes things I’m working on here in AZ. Never a dull moment!

Until next time, keep dancing!

The formation of the ARC in 1998 was designed to discourage, and (hopefully) eliminate, the misuse of Callerlab call applications and to protect the integrity of the Basic, Mainstream and Plus Programs.

Membership is by invitation only and the size is limited. This means there are only openings if someone leaves the committee and that happens rarely. Sadly, the opening that came about for me to join was the passing of the legendary John Sybalsky.

I was (and am still) honored to be considered and selected.

Here are a couple of interesting facts about the committee that I did not know.

Everyone on the committee is to participate in all discussion and everyone votes on every issue. There are no abstentions. If there is an issue that is outside of my realm of understanding or expertise then I’m to research it and vote.

The understanding is that the majority rules, period. I’ve also signed a form that says that I will abide by and support the decisions of the committee. So, if there is an ARC ruling with which I disagree, I’m to follow the lead of the committee and change how I call.

(What is funny to me is that I wish that we could hold more caller’s feet to the fire and have them follow the rules this way.)

Pretty cool stuff, I think!

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!

Bob Elling, owner of Riverboat Records (I think) is forsaking dosado.com and is going to sell his own music. I’m not sure why as I didn’t ask him. Buddy forwarded a few clips and, after I emailed Bob directly, he replied with two emails worth of music snippets.

Music is purchased via PayPal and is emailed to you from Bob as mp3 files. Songs were $5 each plus a $1 handling fee. Nothing’s free in this world, and I expect that the $1 covers PayPal’s service charge.

I bought two hoedowns. Fur Elise and Take Two. Fur Elise is a VERY WELL made reproduction of a “homemade” hoedown that has made the rounds in the Pacific Northwest. The original is by an artist named DJ Mystic. (I have a copy of the original via eBay. The problem with it is that it is a mashup of other people’s work, so it’s legality is suspect even with an original copy.) DJ Mystic’s version is fast and, to make it work for square dancing, it has been edited heavily and slowed down. Bob and his musicians did a very nice job recreating it.

The musicianship is great and the instruments are rich and full sounding. There’s no doubt, when you listen to it, where to put your feet down.

Take Two is what I would call an “interpretation” of Ann Lee’s song, 2 Times. While not an exact recreation, it is a stellar arrangement with excellent instrumentation. There are a few electronic instruments on both of these tunes but they never distract from the enjoyment of the music.

The third song I bought was “This Land is Your Land.” This was more of a random purchase, but I need some more “Americana” type music for holidays like Memorial Day and the 4th of July. Again, a nice full arrangement with nice sounding instrumentation that should be easy to dance to.

If you’re so inclined and want to give Bob’s music a listen, give him a shout. Here’s his email:

bob.elling@gmail.com

He’s got a host of other tunes as well, some contemporary, others not. I’m on the fence for a couple songs as well.

This music was just too good and I had to let people know.